원정 개요

Breashears - 3 Nov 86

Dawa Norbu who summited with Bonington was killed by slab avalanche 17 Oct descending North Col - cremated at Rongbuk nunnery.

C4 established by Breashears about 20 Oct with 3 Sherpas. Loads had been dumped there but occupied only by this team. Winds about 80 mph that night drove them down next morning. Later that week tent at C5 shredded by winds and no one even reached it again.

15th Oct push to go up again. 4 Sherpas reached North Col and stayed till 17th at C3 there but 17th descended in high winds and Dawa Nuru killed.

2 more attempts to regain Col on 20th and 22nd Oct but conditions of slab avalanche had worsened and Col primed for massive slab avalanche and not regained.

23rd Breashears decided too dangerous to resume climb and Sherpas declared they would not go up again as had others. 23rd Oct climb abandoned.

Oxygen used for sleeping at C4 on theory they would continue up to next day - only use of oxygen was by 4 men night of about 2 Oct.

No accidents except one fatal avalanche. No serious illness or frostbite.
13 Sherpas and all 16 members went above BC.

Holzel was not permitted by leader Andy Harvard and deputy leader David Breashears to take metal detectors above ABC at 21,300 ft but let him take them that high to keep him busy. Andy and David sensitive to criticism.

1 crampon found from 1930's Chinese expedition


Peter Athans - 24 Oct 86

Dawa Nuru, Thami, killed by big hard wind slab avalanche from North Col
C3 on Col
C5 at 7500m
Trying to put in C6 in mid-Oct when winds were high
Planned to leave BC 29th


Newsletter, Mt. Everest BC

From Lhasa it was a two-day bus ridge (via Gyantse and Shigatse) to Xegar, the romantic Shekar Dzong of early Everest literature. Here we stayed three nights and were able to climb the Dzong.

From Xegar an interesting day's truck ride over the Pang La, rising gradually into the mountains brought us at last to Everest. There is a difficult river crossing at the entrance to the Rongbuk Valley, then a steep rough ride up to the Monastery (where again restoration is in progress) and beyond to our BC on the moraine of the Rongbuk Glacier.

With four Sherpas, David Swanson led our first train of yaks up the East Rongbuk Glacier to ABC at 21,300 ft on Aug 28. He wanted to see the mountain at close quarters before having to return on Sept2. Frantic sorting of equipment and high altitude rations occupied the next few days days and today a second yak train went up with Mike Weis and Mike Yeager, to be followed by another in a couple of days time.

The C3 has now been set at 23,200 ft. Everyone seems to be acclimatizing well. We have been suprised, and somewhat dismayed by the heavy volume of snow on the mountain. We are hoping season winds will help to remove some of it.


BC - Sept 15, 1986

We have now been established in BC for two and a half weeks. The monsoon is not yet over and the weather is harsh, but that hasn't prevented us from setting up and stocking our approach camps.

By Sept 4 we had 40 yaks loads delivered to our ABC at 21,000 ft and on Sept 5th five members reached the North Col, which will be the sight of our next camp. The route up to the Col was reconnoitered in chest deep snow by Mike Weis, David Breashears and Nima Temba, following the line of an enormous avalanche which had carried and killed one of the young Chileans, tearing through their line of fixed ropes.

On the following all members began drifting back to BC for a puja ceremony of blessing, which the Sherpas had arranged for Sunday 7, as being an auspicious day in their calendar.

During this period in BC, our first group of trekkers arrived under the leadership of Jed Williamson. The more energetic among them were able to visit our advanced camps in the next few days, while Jed himself agreed to stay on as a full member of the expedition.


Oct 1, 1986

More than a week of fine weather has greatly improved our fortunes and our spirits. Our way to the North Col is now re-established, after a five day storm, and we are able to make regular trips up there ferrying loads and getting a substantial camp organized. We need to be as strong as we can on the Col as this is the camp from which our film teams will operate.

We have also had good luck recently breaking trail above the North Col. Camp 4 at the sight of the early British Everesters C5, has been established and stocked at 25,600 ft. Efforts have been made to locate C5, at accomodate the first summit teams, and thereafter the search teams looking for artifacts from the 1924 British expedition. The camp is located high under the Northeast Ridge.

To ensure that climbers remain fit and frest for the hardwork that lies ahead high on the mountain, they are being rotated back to BC for short rest periods. The coughs and colds that plagued the members in the early weeks of the expedition are almost a thing of the past.

The team has been further strengthened by the arrival of Dave Cheesemond, straight from the American expedition K2. Almost immediately after his arrival in BC, Dave headed for Advanced Base, where he will assist David Breashears and Mike Weis with film duties.

On Sept 19 George Bell and Donna de Varona arrived in BC. Donna is the on-camera host of the hour long ABC Sports special we are shooting about the first American woman to go to the summit of Everest (keep your fingers crossed). George will produce and write it. It was a pleasure to see Donna out shooting within hours of her arrival, paying scant regard to her sudden elevation in altitude. Donna even made the trip to Yak Camp at 19,000 ft with hopes of getting to Advanced Base, before being turned back by a snowstorm. George also got footage for NBC News. Today Show and worked on sequences for the historical documentary with David Breashears and Andy Harvard. George and Donna left BC on Oct 1st.

BC remains a place of unexpected sociability. John Roskelley was here with a group of trekkers that included several old friends. They were bound for the Lho La, the pass that looks into Nepal.

The good weather has also enabled our neighbours, the British Northeast Ridge Expedition, once more to make progress on their route. The "Air Over Everest" group across the parking lot have attempted two test flights with their first saw speed skier Steve McKinney launch into uncertain wind condition, culminating in a spectacular and uncomfortable landing. It was, Steve told us, what is known in the trade as "beaking" - when the nose of the glider and pilot impact the ground somewhat forcefully. Lucky for Steve, his customized helmet allowed him to get away with superficial bruises and cuts.


1986 Mt Everest - 26 Nov

October in the Himalaya was marked by unremitting high winds and heavy snows. Almost daily storm clouds moved up the valley, dropping few inches of snow on our base camp at 17,000 ft and dumping much heavier falls high up. Sue Giller remembers reading four books in five days, while occasionally peering out her tent flap at Advanced BC only to see her chances of making the summit buried in an apparently endless snowfall. This was a typical feeling for most of the team members who were on the mountain in the first half of the month.

The frustration was compounded by the fact that virtually all members of the expedition had made great progress in early Oct. After nearly two months in BC, and a week long hike, Audrey Salked reached ABC. All three of the women climbers - Sue Giller, Mary Kay Brewster, and Catherine Cullinane, were well acclimatized and ready for a push to the upper slopes. Indeed, Mary Kay and Catherine set personal altitude records by reaching 24,500 ft one morning under a bright sky of fast moving clouds. Accompanied by three Sherpas, David Breashears had established C5 on Oct 4.

On Oct 12, the Air-Over Everest group decided to leave the mountain. Led by Heidi Benson, the team was ultimately frustrated by heavy snows on their route.

On Oct 16, the British team - our neighbours in BC for two and a half months - determined that they had had enough of the weather and began to retreat from Everest. We remembered Joe Brown's cramped birthday party in the British BC, and the friendship we had made with the British climbers, and we were sorry to see them go. Clearly and early winter had arrived in our part of Tibet.

On the next day, one of our best loved Sehrpas, Dawa Nuru, 32, was killed in a small slab avalanche at 22,000 ft while descending from the North Col camp. David Breashears pulled him from the debris of snow and ice. Two days later, Danudu, as he was known to all, received a proper Buddhist burial, with cremation and prayer performed at the Rongbuk Nunnery. His death surprised and deeply saddened all the members of the team, and put us on alert to the danger of avalanche in the col.

In the days that followed Danudu's cremation, attempts were made to hike above Advanced BC to reassess the avalanche danger. The prognosis was not good. On Oct 23, leader Andrew Harvard, made the decision to call off the expedition.

The team spent nearly a week getting of the mountain and packing up gear in the BC. The sadness over Danudu's death and the frustration of the expedition were inescapable, still there was a sense that no other team could have done any better under a similar conditions. Everyone performed well, and a few climbers went higher than they had ever gone before. When it was time for the trucks and jeeps to leave BC, we reluctantly split up: half the team headed for Lhasa, the other half for KTM.

On Nov 2, Andy Harvard carried the first Earth Run torch through the streets of Lhasa.

On the same day in KTM, David Breashears consoled the brothers of Danudu and offered the assistance of the expedition in helping Danudu's wife and three young sons.

Despite Danudu's death and the weather which prevented any of the women from trying for the summit, moreover, leaving us unable to conduct a thorough search for Mallory and Irvine at the 28,000 ft terrace, there was a positive feeling about the expedition. It came out of the heartfelt conviction that we had done everything that we could on the mountain.

We knew there were risks. Danudu knew there were risks. Still, we went and he went with us. I think everyone of us would go again. And almost immediately, there was talk of going back. It was this enthusiasm for the experience that most of us will remember.


Peter Hackatt - 28 Oct 86

Got to pinnacles just little below where Boardman and Taskar disappeared; snow and more especially strong winds. All Ok. Left BC 20 Oct.