원정 개요

BC southeast of normal site
C1 below largest serac field
C2 on SW Ridge.

6th summit party of 3 left C2 3:30 am and on top 11:00 am, and in C2 4:30 pm and slept there. 9th party of 2 left C2 2:15 am and on top at 10:30 pm and back at C2 at 6:00 pm, tired. Moderately difficult. There was some rockfall below ABC and avalanche danger above ABC but this had no accidents.


Hilton's White Line - Pumori 1998 by Philip Suisted

One can search a long time for an angle on a story before finding that the answer was with you all along. Not on the tip of the tongue in this case, but rather just behind me, waiting to be discovered. Hilton's Line the working title for our token variation on the technical southwest ridge of Pumori (7161m) in the Khumbu Himal, Nepal.
Kynan Bazley and Philip Suisted made up the New Zealand contingent of the privately funded Australian/Canadian Pumori Expedition in the post-monsoon season 1998. In early September we joined one Canadian and four Australian climbers in Kathmandu to complete preparations. Together with twelve trekkers we made our way via tea houses to Pumori BC arriving on 19 September.
The monsoon showed no sign of relenting and in fact the weather appeared to deteriorate. Views of Pumori, Everest and the surrounding mountains were not forthcoming and it was during a rare lifting of cloud that we tentatively selected a site for Advance Base Camp on the lower limit of the snow. Our route followed a rough trail over moraine and up a talus gully to access the glacial shelf below the obvious cheval. Nestled amongst seracs at 5630m, ABC was established on 23 Sept after ferrying two loads.
Above ABC we diverged from the norm in deciding to acess the southwest ridge at the right hand end of the cheval. The rationale being to avoid travelling and fixing rope across the top of this heavily corniced feature. The result was pleasing. By 30 Sept we had dug Camp One into a snow shelf below bluffs at 6000m. We had economised on rope and had pioneered a line of our own thinking, Hilton's Line. Hilton's White Line, to be specific, and getting whiter by the day. New snow was becoming an issue.
Thirteen climbers from the Ukraine had now arrived on the same route necessitating a certain diplomacy and a degree of international co-operation. Thus the route was fixed through the more technical section skirting below gendarmes, up a steep mixed gully, and back onto the ridge proper. Something like 800m of rope was fixed to the point where we planned to locate Camp 2. Previous expeditions described a suitable site at 6450m, being large enough to accomodate four. The Ukraine team elected to establish their high camp on slopes at 6600m, fixing ropes to that point and leaving our site free. An arrangement we found suitable.
Having adequately prepared the route we retired to BC for rest. While we passed the time waiting for the weather to clear, our expedition doctor guided us through the gastro-intestinal section of his anatomy handbook on a voyage of discovery into our various bits and their function. And so time passed.
Early on 5 October Scott, Kynan, and Phil left BC for Camp One in clear, cold conditions and continued up the following day, establishing Camp 2 in preparation for the summit. After leaving this camp at 3:30 am on 7 October, we soon moved above the last of the fixed ropes then climbed separately to reach the summit at 11:00 am, returning to our camp at 4:30 pm and glad for the rest. Two days later Theo and Grass summited using an identical program.
Of the other two climbers: Matt never made it to BC due to illness and John reached his high point at Camp One having struggled to acclimatize sufficiently. Once clear, the weather remained true to tradition and stayed clear till we left the area. To the Sherpa helpers I am grateful, the BC conditions were entirely tolerable and their company remains a highlight. And Hilton? Well, who knows.
A successful season on Pumori once you do the sums. To my knowledge 19 climbers summited and safely returned. To be counted amongst them is indeed a triumph. But to discover Himalayan climbing as a realistic and an attainable experience is, for me, the greater success.