Mick Fowler

The mountaineer known as the climbing taxman will tackle a little known Himalayan peak to celebrate 30 years of expeditions to the greater ranges.

Mick Fowler will head for Shiva, a 6,142m (20,151ft) mountain in India with three others this autumn.

The buttress line up the mountain is unclimbed, and the HM Revenue and Customs employee will use the latest technical gear developed by his sponsors Berghaus for the expedition.

He will be climbing with Paul Ramsden, with Steve Burns and Ian Cartwright completing the team.

Shiva lies in the area of Lahaul in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The peak is remote and not easy to get to, and was first climbed in 1988 by Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Everest, but the side of the mountain that Fowler and Ramsden are to attempt is even more distant and appears not to have been photographed by mountaineers until teams from Russia and Italy visited in 2010.

Fowler will use his annual holiday allowance for the venture and his team will head to the area in September or October for an expedition that is scheduled to last four weeks.

Shiva. Photo: Andrey Muryshev

Alpine Club president Fowler said: “The buttress line that is our objective is eye catching, unclimbed, challenging, visible from afar, goes direct to the summit and is in a culturally interesting area that I have not visited before.

“In short, it satisfies all of my perfect climbing criteria and the trip promises to be another memorable adventure.”

During recent expeditions, he has tested prototypes developed by Berghaus’s MtnHaus innovation team, and he will be putting new kit through its paces again in India.