J&K Police summit on Nun and the IMF arrive in Leh.

A small article in the Daily Excelsior claims that J&K Police have recently summited on Nun, one of Zangskar's two 7000m peaks. The team summited several days before the IMF (Indian Mountaineering Foundation) announced the opening of a branch office in Leh. Reported in Magpie, the office is arriving in Leh to make it easier for local agencies to apply for permissions for Stok Kangri (although personally I think the office is designed to capture revenue as the majority of foreigners that climb Stok Kangri usually do so without permission). However, the IMF have made the refreshing move (that's the second one documented on these news pages) to reduce the fee for Stok Kangri to Rs2000 per head. Perhaps of more interest for budding mountaineers who do not want to queue, is that the IMF has also announced the opening of 100 new peaks for mountaineering expeditions in Ladakh. I suspect however the red-tape will be the usual turn-off for all but the most determined and wealthy teams, although I would love to be proved wrong.