원정 개요

BC at Lirung Glacier at shepard's stone huts just halfway up slope to SE ridge
east of point 5229 SE Ridge.

Spectacular hourly avalanches off East Face. Established C1 5 April but then went to Ganja La Chuli (Naya Kanga) on which established 2 camps (7th April at 14,000 ft and 8th April at 16,000 ft) and 9th April all members except Kohn and Wedmore to top (Wedmore not yet in Nepal). After this climb 4 left team as planned.

Others returned to BC 11th to 12th April. Yardley, Kohn and Kendall went to another small peak because Kendall and Kohn clearly unable to climb Langtang. Yardley then joined Langtang climb while Kendall and Kohn stayed at BC. Chauvin, Doherty, Bill [Yeo] and Pheasant established C2 on SE Ridge on 14th April but did not sleep there. 16th Chauvin and Doherty to sleep in C2 (fixed rock ridge above C2) but down to C1 with view that route too difficult for inexperienced climbers in group and with only 5 days left to attempt Langtang because of client's program, decided to abandon climb. 18th up to C2 to bring it down to C2 and on 20th C1 cleared. Left BC 24th April, arrived Dunche 26th. It's an excellent route for experienced climbers; 6 on this team were qualified to do it but had to look after others. Had unusually deep snow but route safe if stay well away from East Face and its avalanches. Need 4 weeks to climb Langtang Lirung with lot of works needed at 18,000 to 20,000 ft.

Most of the expedition's members were inexperienced in the Himalaya, and the leadership decided this mountain's southeast ridge was technically too difficult for them. "It's an excellent route for experienced climbers and six on this team of 20 were qualified to do it, but we had to look after the others. We had unusually deep snow, but the route is safe if you stay well away from the East Face," where there were "spectacular" avalanches every hour. It would have taken four weeks to climb the route successfully and safely, Wilcox estimated.