원정 개요

BC at 5350
C1 at 6100m top of Icefall
C2 at 6400m West Cwm
C3 at 7400m Lhotse Face
C4 at 7900m South Col
xxx at 8748m at South Summit.

Moved to C3 intending to make summit bid; got to C3 20 Oct: high winds and went down: this trip by all 5 members while Sherpas stayed in C2. Had been down to Pangboche about 15 Oct to rest.

Carney decided not suitable or safe enough for complete ski descent because of snow accumalation, avalanche danger and wind strength, she lost motivation to wait; she left BC 23rd; Johnson also left on 23rd to return home for personal and business reasons.

Snow storm lasted from 22nd to 26 Oct, then had to let snow settle and stop avalanching. Left BC again on 29th and got to C4 on 1 Nov, first time members had gotten to C4, but Sherpas had been before to dump gear. From C4 in summit bid were Berg, Burger, Porter and 4 Sherpas. Left C4 11:45 pm of 1 Nov and got to South Summit at 8:00 am; at South Summit "blasted by very abrupt strong winds" and winds from South Summit up were clearly going to be a big challenge" and Berg decided they must go down. When returned to C4 11:00-2:00 pm (Porter moving slowly) and found 3 tents torn apart, so descended to C2 (stopping at C3 only briefly to rest). Berg and Porter got to C2 at 10:00 pm while Burger and 4 Sherpas at 4:00 pm. Porter very tired and moving very slowly; aged 61 years. Now climb finished.

Berg regarding only team now on mountain. "We were lucky and privileged" with only ourselves to rely on" when there were not hordes of others and tents too as in spring '03. "This was really mountaineering."

Fixed no rope above South Col by plan since too small group and would have slowed them down.

Oxygen: Berg, Burger and Porter from C3 to C4, in C4, to South Summit, down to South Col; 4 Sherpas in summit bid in C4 to S Summit to South Col.

Burger's 4 frostbitten toes may lose toenails; boots not adequate; frostbitten 2 Nov.

Printouts from Explore web correct information 2 Nov, down all the way to C2.

2500 ft of rope fixed including rope provided by team to Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee who fixed and maintained route through Icefall and did a good job. Other major fixing was on Lhotse Face.

Nima Tashi mild concussion was from avalanche on Lhotse Face at 6900m on 2 Oct when he was hit by snow avalanche that carried down Nima Tashi 100m; at bottom of avalanche 2 others, Arita and Nawang Pasang, were knocked over by this avalanche, but not hurt.

Sherpas:
Da Sonam, Pangboche, 1965, Everest X3
Lhakpa Gyalzen, Tapting, Solu, 24/6/71, no 8000ers
Nawang Pasang, Beding, 18/10/78, no 8000ers
Nima Tashi, Pangboche, 4/4/60, Everest X5