원정 개요

BC at Pangpema
ABC at Pyramid Glacier below West Face
Biv at West face
High point at West Face.

Because of climbing delay due to doctor's false claim that she had typhus, team not acclimatized above BC's altitude and now had only 5 days left to make ABC and looked at West Face to decide on good line up it. All 7 Kirat Chuli members; Pasang Tenzing, Padam Tenzing and Uthar Tamang to carry loads to ABC.

23 Oct all 7 members started West Face and got to 5800m just below steepest part of wall and bived there. 24th Oct tried to push to top and all got to 6700m, after summiting all steep rock (25%), not very difficult, and above was snowfield, at 4:00-4:30 pm and then too late and climb abandoned; slept again at biv. 25th and 26th down to BC. Very strong wind through Kirat Chuli climb.


Tuesday Oct 29, 7:33 pm - Reuters interview by Mr Gopal Sharma

Nepal rebels held foreign climbers at gunpoint

Kathmandu - Four suspected Maoist rebels held several foreign mountain climbers at gunpoint in Eastern Nepal demanding $7000 to let them go, team members said on Tuesday.

The hold up happened in late Sept at Chiruwa, 500 km east of KTM, as the climbers hiked to a base camp in the Kangchenjunga area, said team leader Gregor Kresal.
"The climbers were caught by the Maoists who locked them up in a lodge demanding money," Kresal, a Slovenia, told Reuters after flying to KTM by helicopter.

The climbers told the gang all their money was with colleagues already up the mountain and they were freed unharmed after a few hours. But they were told to pay on their way down.

Climbers say the rebels, fighting to topple the monarchy and establish communist rule, often steal cash, cameras and other items from tourist, although the rebel leadership denies this.

There was no comment from the rebels on the latest incident.

British climber and team member Stevie Haston, who also returned to KTM on Tuesday, said the Maoist held the climbers at gunpoint.

"The Maoists kept them for a short time. They were demanding $7000," the 45 year old Haston, one of British's best known mountaineers, told Reuters.

Kresal said his team was afraid that the Maoist might comfront them again on their way out after the climb.

"So we decided to fly out of the area to avoid the rebels," he said.

The rest of the 11-member team -- Haston's French wife, Laurence Gouault Haston, and eight Slovenians -- are still waiting at Ghunsa village for a helicopter pick-up.

Kresal and Haston -- who were not among those held by the gang -- flew in small helicopter with a sick Danish climber being evacuated from the same area.

Each year, thousand of tourists, including trekkers and mountain climbers, visit Nepal, home to dozens of major peaks including the world's highest, Mountain Everest.

But Tourism has been hit by the Maoist rebellion and foreign travel warnings. More than 5100 people have been killed since the increasingly bloody revolt began in 1996.

In the latest violence, 10 rebels and four policemen died in separate clashes over the past 24 hours, officials said.