원정 개요

There were two separate teams, one Irish and one French.

The 4-member Irish team climbed in late March-early April and reached 6800m and turned back due to difficult conditions.

The 6-member French team climbed in mid-April and summited on 23 April. This was acclimatization for Everest.


Report from Ed Jackson's Facebook page:

As the dust settles it’s still hard to comprehend what happened, especially from the comfort of home. I kept a diary throughout the expedition which I’ll be posting from in the coming weeks but here’s a summary of what went on during that summit day as I appreciate its not fair to keep people in the dark.

We were the first team on Himlung Himal (7126m) in over 2 years which was both an exciting and daunting prospect. Although remote, usually the mountain is reasonably well mapped, camps 1, 2 & 3 are established and lines are fixed to the summit. We were aware that job now lay to us, however the unusually heavy snow conditions made it impossible for our climbing guides to set up camp 3 or fix lines all the way to the top. Our summit attempt therefore had to start from the lower Camp 2 (6018m) leaving a giant effort if we were to summit.

Undeterred on the 31st March at 10 pm we set off from camp 2. We were 16 hours in and had reached a height of 6800m when we made the tough decision to turn back, continuing without fixed lines and with the level of exhaustion we were experiencing was too dangerous. [Ropes didn’t go to the summit and it was too dangerous to free-climb as noted on Aaron Campbell's FB page].

We spent the next few hours descending and by the time we reached the crevasse field it was late afternoon. The snow was a lot softer now and with no marked route we were entering a minefield. Within 10m our lead guide disappeared through a crevasse, trapped 2 stories below for over an hour he was eventually rescued but to continue would have been madness so the decision was made to call for a helicopter evacuation.

Darkness was setting in and we were informed that the helicopter wouldn’t be able to fly at night so we’d have to wait until morning. We ended up spending the night at over 6000ms with no shelter, food or water and temperatures below -20 degrees, huddled together for warmth in a battle to see sunrise.

An unprecedented but epic end to a life changing adventure that has left me with more respect for the high mountains than ever before. It’s fair to say that without the state of the art kit and the energy of a heroic few this story could have had a very different ending.