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Thompson - 6 Oct 75

2 days ago BC last loads left. Some frostnip but nothing serious - Boysen, Boardman and Doug Scott.

Arrivals 1st flight this morning
Mike Thompson
Jim Duff
Dave Clarke
Ian Stuart


Khanal, MFA - 2 Oct 75

Report on M. Burke from Bonington

On 26th 2nd attempt to reach summit of Everest was made by Martin Boysen, Mike Burke, Peter Boardman and Sherpa Pertemba. They party set out at 4:30 in from C6 following fixed ropes put out by pair making ascent. Boysen was forced to turn back at about 5:30 after his crampon fell off. At this point Boardman and Pertemba were ahead and continued to summit off Everest which they reached at approx 13:10. On way down a short distance from the top, they were suprised to meet Burke who had descended to continue following the well-marked track after Boysen's return. He was in good spirits and continued to the summit whilst Boardman and Pertemba made their way down towards South Summit climbing one at a time. They had agreed to wait for Burke at this point before returning across the traverse to top camp. They waited for over an hour and the weather deteriorated seriously into white-out conditions and a violent gale. Burke did not arrive and they assumed that he must have slipped on way down since he had plenty of time to reach them. Their own position was now critical since they only had a short period of daylight left and they could not possibly have survived the night in the storm. Boardman therefore took the agonizing decision to continue down. They only just managed to get back to their camp an hour after dark. The storm raged through out next day making any kind of movement impossible. There was therefore no question of making any kind of further search and on 20th Sept in the interest of safety the expedition leader ordered the mountain to be cleared.


Chris Ralling - 1 Oct 75

Bonington given letter to Reg Halloway and MFA will rocks full statement.

A tragic thing because 1st summit such enormous success; exactly what happened I don't think anyone will ever know; they'd broken off into 2 parties. Mick was going to summit to take pix for BBC and had BBC below Peter flag - serious almost certain he did make the summit - 10 min gap when he did make summit; camera and body not recovered. "Weather closed down extremely fast." Chris Bonington speculates Doug Scott arrived just at sunset and got summit shots - arrived just in time for magnificent sunset.

Biv very close to South Summit - they think they were in toilet, know of no one with serious frostbite.

Everyone is in BC; all camps closed and all members in BC; Sherpas ferrying loads down still.


Hamish MacInnes - 30 Sept 75

I got caught in avalanche earlier climb, Ok now. Climb just surmising after that heavy snowfall - down below about 60 hours [of snow] very heavy indeed - just Peter and PT Chris Bonington at C2 lasted hard
Dougal and Doug at BC and well a terrible tragedy"

"Up a bit which Tut (Braithwaite) and Nick led that was quite hard of course the band that was reasonably hard - but up to C5 it was about the same" (as earlier years) C3 but "old Camp 4 had would not have been a hope of someone who has frostbitten feet - that's the person who should have been picked up today and I don't know who it "is" - not yet reached BC.


Hamish MacInnes - 30 Sept 75

Tut (Braithwaite) and Nick Estcourt made route up gully which led through Rock Band - fixed rope whole way up from C5 to couple hundred feet below C6 and down to C2 that night. C6 next day or 2 days later probably by Haston, Scott and support party he thinks including Chris and support party to C5.

MacInnes just before Dougal between C4 and C5 - powder snow avalanche channeled right on top of me. I passed out and another few seconds I'd have had it. Powdered snow in his lungs: he was not on oxygen. Dougal was and didn't see small avalanche channel and with his oxygen mask didn't hear. MacInnes wrapped fixed rope around and held on - about 12 days ago: going up to establish C5 which was establish next day.


MP Khanal, MFA - 29 Sept 75

Mick Burke died in 2nd summit bid on 26th Sept . Peter Boardman and Sirdar Pertemba reached summit 26th Sept. Burke was with them. Cause of death not known. Team coming back without further sleep.


Tenzing - 26 Sept 75

My heartiest congrats - done very quickly - does at just right time - after monsoon too high winds. They've done it - wonderful.

Team spirit very important. This route more difficult then West Ridge - 1000 ft loose rock which in June is falling. East Face probably as difficult as SW Face.


JOM Robert - 26 Sept 75

"Amazing speed they climbed it bt - extraordinary that weather was so much more favourable than anyone expected ;"the weather gamble came off."
These same climbers have been on Everest before.

"Speed of execution" is the wonder.

"Poor old Everest had a bit of beating - Japanese ladies climb and now this
hope it doesn't lay up.
Too much ill will for any next year.
Was doubtful about weather himself

"fortune favours the brave."

"He deserves it very much" = Chris himself on top - think Chris will make attempt.


MP Khanal, MFA - 25 Sept 75

Haston and Scott

24 Sept - 18:00 hrs

On way down made biv at South Summit on 25 Sept at 08:05 hrs
reached C6 came down C2 at 14:00 hrs today.

Scheduled to make further attempts.


Progress Report by Mike Chenney - received 24 Sept 75

Very fine morning. Bonington and Richards at C5. Bonington proposes to stay at C5 and lead from there. Richards to C2 on 18th. Not much progress today due muddy over shape camp C2 to C4. Chris Bonington and Richards met 3 lengths of rope and towards C6. Doug Scott and Nick Estcourt to C5 on 18th. Weather fine.

18th Sept - route to foot of Rock band established and roped, otherwise not much progress; still short of rope at C5
At C5 Bonington, Richards, Scott. Chris Bonington says we plans to stay at C5 until Summit reached in 6-7 days.
At C4 Mike Thompson in charge.
At C2 Adrian Gordon - manager.
At C1 Mike Rhodes in charge but will shortly manage to C2 leaving Sardar Ang Phu in charge.
Weather remaing very fine - no snowfalls.

19th Sept - Today (I understand) climbing of Rock Band started; may take 3-4 days from C5; C6 almost certainly will be above Rock Band.
Summit on 27/28th still very real possibility.


MP Khanal, MFA - 23 Sept 75

LO says yesterday C5 at 27,200 ft above rock band by Haston and Scott


Peter Schefield, Stratford on Avon - 23 Sept 75

C6 made 19th mailrunners said at Syang on 20th

Schefield at BC 17th - were 2 days from making C6 then - planned a C6 at bottom of Rock Band then perhaps C7, perhaps not - on schedule which would mean summit on 28th - why 9 days more, Schefield doesn't know.

No information about anyone injured.

Winds only 25 knots - much less than they expected.


MP Khanal - 17 Sept 75

C5 - 16 Sept 25,500 ft
Bonington and Richards

Final camp will be C6 according to present plan says LO


MP Khanal, MFA - 8 Sept 75

C3 established yesterday - altitude probably 23,000 ft.
All well.
Camp pitched by 2 members and 2 Sherpas.


MP Khanal, MFA - 3 Sept 75

C2 established 2 Sept 22,300 ft - "despite bad weather, progress is on."


Richardson - 3 Sept 75

C1, established 27th August by Estcourt and Richards at top of Icefall
BC at about 17,600 ft - usual site.


Richardson, BC - 23 Aug

BC established 2 days ahead of target and first climbers already made their way halfway up Icefall.

22 Aug advance party of Haston and Estcourt, who arrive BC 21 Aug, reached 1/3 way up Icefall. Looked not too difficult despite soft snow.


MP Khanal, MFA - 31 Aug 75

BC established 22nd Aug at 17,000 ft and from 23rd started making route
message date 26th Aug from LO.


Cheney - 2 Aug 75

Today to Lamosangu and a trail:

7 climbers Bonington
1 BC mgr Haston
1 Sun Times 2 Climbers
4 BBC Estcourt
1 LO Fyffe
6 Sherpas Richardson
70 Porters Cheney
Richards
4 BBC (ex Kelly)

180 miles Lamosangu to BC


Bonington - 2 Aug 75

"I think we've got a reasonable chance of success. I have never known smoother rhythym in KTM. Got gear out of KTM before monsoon and Cheney's super organization and very good relations between members and Sherpas." "If we do succeed as much to teamwork as to planning and equipment."

"But still a hell of a lot against us."

Best acclimatization when reach BC, but have Khunde and Lobuche walking because can't get late in mid-monsoon and 12-day walk makes you fit and gets you in mood of expedition."

Takes time to get to be team and from fitness point of view.


Bonington - 30 July 75

First feeling in 1972 that post-monsoon not favourable modified by reviewing experience and could get Canada's slot so decided could actually tackle mountain in post-monsoon - plus in spring, face can be bare.

success can come now from
1) earlier
2) stronger
3) experience on face by members
4) route via lefthand side of rock band - a gully through this lefthand side -
rock step in this gully appears 300 ft high and thus tackle-able and from
C5. Logistically impossible to put more than 2 camps above 26,000 ft
5) excellent, strong, warm equipment for an autumn attempt - boxes "absolutely
vital function" to enable succeed.

French ran into trouble because they chose route of like of avalanche risk area and thus part of each camp taken away. Their weather from mid-August was very reasonable until violent storm of 9 Sept with heavy snowfall. "We certainly not taking undue risk" - nor did French: French problem was location their camps C1 and C2 could be particularly susceptible to avalanche risk and we will be very careful to place them. If weather forecast says temperature going up, climbing will stop and members stay in camp. Will use forecasts but also our own judgement.

Always is some risk of avalanche on Everest and one can always still get caught. Our prime purpose is to climb SW Face of Everest and solve intriguing mountain problem. If we happen to put Briton top, as far as down concerned its coincidental.

"Must be most tremendous experience" for one to stand atop world's highest peak.

Incredibly lucky to get just one team on top of Everest - will try get as many as possible - most unlikely Bonington himself. Rock band is the key - "if we could climb rock band, very good chance success."

As of now "sporting chance of success" that 5 good expeditions failed proves difficulty.

Band 800 ft high - but 300 ft of this looks hard climbing (steep rock) very high altitude, which earlier expeditions were not in state to try it - on left side band from 26,500 ft altitude.

"SW Face is absolutely gigantic problem." If we equipment ourselves as well as possibly can, still human element decisive and "we just give ourselves chance of survival." Hopefully we in 1975 have just good enough equipment to get to top by face as in 1953 British equipments.


Cheney

Sherpas and Sahibs co-ops and all equal members to climb together - Sirdar Pertemba in England since last year working closely with Chris - Sherpa co-operation contracted to get gear to Khunde from KTM.


Bonington

International expedition can work if have common aim - Changabang extremely pleasant experience face expeditions

Spring 1970 29 members above BC
40 Sherpas

Spring 1971 22 members above BC
35 Sherpas

Spring 1972 20 members above BC
29 Sherpas

Aut 1972 10 members above BC
39 Sherpas

Aut 1973 36 members above BC
62 Sherpas

Aut 1975 16 members above BC
60 Sherpas

Climbing Everest in autumn is race against the cold
MacInnes bullet - pad glass on boxes to ward off stones

Environment 200 loads firewood this time; 900 loads in 1972 - real effort to clean up BC times etc and special rakes to keep clean image in march.


Chris Bonington, airport - 30 Aug 75

We've come with several somethings going for us

1) 3 weeks earlier - BC latest 25 Aug
2) larger and stronger team 18 climbers
16 Sherpas
3) better equipment then any expedition has had on Everest - MacInnes boxes extra strong, planning on different route - left hard route - only 1 rock step of 300 ft at 27,500 ft rock band - from C5 and not C6 as on right hand - C6 at 27,800 ft above rock band and thence long traverse to Col (between South Summit and main Summit - thence on SE Ridge.

Summit "logistically feasable early Oct - but depends entirely on how many periods of bad weather between 25 Aug and 30 Sept.

So even if one delayed have chance as shown by Japanese getting to top from col

MacInnes - this 3rd time on SW Face
Scott
Haston
Bonington
Burke
Estcourt 2nd time

If face defeats team "will take stock" re Col route.


Stoodley and Richards - 3 May 75

expedition trucks arrive today

6" Ford trucks from Godfrey Davis, London
Left 9 April. Drove 24 hours/day whenever could; every day except 5 days, even last night drove till 12:30 am. Worst part of route for such long tracks was from Birgung to KTM except towards from Turkey onwards

7200m ex-Leeds
7000m
2 hrs sightseeing and walk around Mashhard; plenty of sightseeing up Khyber Pass and at all Customs houses.

2 times together all way - no major breakdowns

Raft Stoodley, leader of Manchester Garages.

20 tons expedition camps - 100-200 lbs to be flown out but food and equipment was including 180 oxygen cylinders and all gas fuel.

1700 cc feet vol. each truck - down clothing sleeping bags and foam mattresses vacuam packed to reduce vol.

Longest stop at Customs was 1 day at Buglaria-Turkey border - normal 3 days for commercial trucks because of sheer volume.

3 drivers, stay 4 nights then take 1 truck back to England - allowed 28 days back

Cargo flown to Lukla starting March or Tuesday. One truck stays on till end of expedition aand takes back equipment when expedition finished.

Hamish, modified stronger box tents - summit assault camp box designed. Also improved lighter oxygen cylinders and regulators - down equipment tailored to fit shotgun shot at Allahabad.

Low bridge major problem especially in India - these trucks 13'2" - another hazard is low power lines.


Nepal Mountaineering (Sagarmatha) Week Souvenir booklet - May 1978

On the 24th Sept 1975 Doug Scott and Dougal Haston reached the summit of Everest by its South West Face. This was the fifth attempt to climb to climb the steepest facet of the worlds highest mountain and the British Everest Expedition had completed the climb in thirty days from BC.

Our success the speed of our ascent was largely due to the tremendous support and enthusiasm of our sixty high altitude Sherpas and the fine leadership of Pertemba, our Sardar, and that of Ang Phu, our deputy Sardar. On the 26th Sept, Peter Boardman and Pertemba made a second ascent, though tragically another member of the team, Mick Burke, lost his life in the attempt.

We also owed much to what we learnt from experience and advice of others who had been there before us. The Japanese were the first to attempt the South West Face, sending out a reconnaissance in the Autumn of 1969 and then a full scale expedition in the following Spring. They reached a height of approx 26,500 ft and were stopped by the principal barrier of the Face, a feature known as the Rock Band. This wall of rock stretches across the face at a height of between 26,500 ft and 27,000 and is between 500 ft and thousand feet high. The Japanese expedition attempted it at its left hand end where a gully appeared to give a path through it. In the Spring, however the slopes below the Rock Band were clear of snow, swept by stone fall and had ledges for camps.

We had already sent all our gear and food by light aircraft to Lukla and it had then been carried by our Sherpas to the village of Khunde. This was the idea of Mike Cheney, who now manages the Sherpa Cooperative and who was to be my BC manager. He delegated all responsibility to the Sherpas and it was thanks to the efficieny of Pertemba and his collegues that over twenty tons of equipment were transported to Lukla without a single item being lost.

Our own party reached Lukla on the 14th Aug; this was where we met up with our sixty high altitude porters prior to our march into the Everest BC which we reached on the 23rd Aug. We immediately started climbing the the Everest Ice fall and had established C1 at its head by the 28th Aug. Our initial success was marred by the tragic death of Mingma Nuru, a young deaf and dumb porter, who fell into a glacier torrent whilst carrying a load up to BC.

C2, our advanced BC was established on the 2nd Sept. So far the weather had been as I had anticipated, with settled, cloudless and windless mornings and snowfall each afternoon. As a result there was an avalanche risk, both on the face and in the Western Cwm, but with careful judgement we could reduce this risk and were able to make fast progress untroubled by excessive wind and cold.

It took us another forthnight to run a line of fixed rope up to the site of C5. We had chosen different sites from the past for each Camp. On the 16th Sept I moved up to C5 at a height of 25500 ft and on the 19th, Nick Estcourt and Paul Braithwaite, who had moved up the previous day, entered the gully at the left-hand side of the Rock Band and succeeded in finding a way through it, thus solving the critical problem of the South West Face.

We were now in a position to make a summit bid and I had selected Dougal Haston and Doug Scott for the first attempt. On the 22nd Sept they moved up to C6, on the 23rd they ran out a line of rope towards the South Summit gully and on the 24th made their summit bid, reaching the summit at six-thirty that evening. It had been a magnificient push comprising some difficult climbing and a struggle with very soft snow in the South Summit gully.

They were rewarded with an incredible view of the sun setting amongst the monsoon clouds clinging to the foothills of the Himalaya.

That night they managed to get back down to the col between the South Summit and the main summit, where they dug themselves a snow cave. This saved them from severe frostbite, though they both found this the coldest night they had ever spent. The following day they dropped back down to our Advanced BC, and our second summit team moved up to C6. Largely because of the magnificent support of our Sherpas, we were now able to make a second summit bid of climbers, one of whom was our Sardar Pertemba. We were also planning a third summit bid, in which Ang Phurba, one of our strongest and most talent Sherpas ws going to take part.

The second bid was dogged by misfortune. Martin Boysen's oxygen system failed just after they set out from the top Camp and he was forced to return. Pete Boardman and Pertemba pressed on, assuming that Mick Burke, the fourth memebrs of the team had returned with Boysen. They made a fine fast ascent, reaching the summit at one o'clock in the afternoon, then just below the top, in fast deteriorating weather conditions, they met up with Burke, still on his way up the mountain. Burke continued on up towards the summit and was never seen again. Boardman and Pertemba waited for him on the South Summit, battered by a savage blizzard, and after three quarters of an hour were forced to assume that he had slipped on the way back down, since he should have only been a few minutes behind them. If they had waited any longer they would have been benighted and it is most unlikely that they would have survived such a stormy night.
They just managed to get back themselves. The mountain was now in a very dangerous state and Mick Burke could not possibly have survived the night without any kind of shelter, even if he hadn't slipped and fallen. I therefore summoned every one down. We returned to BC with a whole mixture of feelings of deep sadness at the loss of a close friend and yet at the same time of real satisfaction in what had been a very successful expedition, not just in terms of climbing the mountain swiftly and smoothly, but also in terms of human relations, where our eighteen climbers and sixty high-altitude Sherpas had become united into a close knit team.


Letter 19th Sept C2 from Adrian Gordon

In a little over three weeks since arriving at BC, expedition leader Chris Bonington accompanied by Ronnie Richards established C5 at 25,500 on the South West Face of Everest on 16 Sept. This resulted from three days of exhausting trail breaking by the deputy leader Hamish McInnes, Dougal Haston, Martin Boysen and the Peter Boardman. Despite the staggering pack of the expedition to date, helped by good weather and the swift back up of the tons of food and equipment, the team is now in a strong position to prepare for a summit bid with in the next ten days.

Indeed this evening Chris Bonington outlined his plans for the assault and named the first pair to attempt the summit as Dougal Haston and Doug Scott, both of whom have been more than two previous Everest expeditions and are amongst the strongest and most experienced climbers in the team. This decision had inevitably led to some disappointments amongst other climbers even though all have essential tasks in climbing the world's highest mountain. For instance Nick Escourt and Paul Braithwaite must force the never before climbed Rock band to establish C6 and Mike Thompson at C4 with a team of eight Sherpas has been responsible few supplying the lead climbers with food and equipment up the most lung bursting carries on the whole climb.

While all these plans are being formulated, there are other problems which cannot be ignored. C1 situated on the lip of the Khumbu Icefall before it 3000 ft is continuously moving with the Glacier and may have to be completely resited. The routes through the Icefall itself and up the Western Cwm have to be continouslyt watered because of glacial movement and effects of heavy avalanches which continuously pour off Nuptse or the West Shoulder of Everest. Efforts which must be made to counteract these dangers require manpower which can effect both the flow of supplies up the mountain and availability of climbers.

And never to be forgotten is the weather which could halt all movement above BC for days during a bad storm and cause irrepairable damage to equipment.

The morale and humour of all climbers is high, but Everest defences cannot be underestimated.