원정 개요

Joshi, Mader, Waters and Wiessner went up to 6400m on 3 Nov. Weather was very bad and windy, so they descended to C3. On 4 Nov started snow fall. Joshi, Waters and Wiessner descended to BC.

Chhetri while descending had accident between C2 and C1. On 4 Nov other climbers helped him to descend to BC. Chhetri was evacuated from BC on 6 Nov. He left for Delhi on 8 Nov. Rest of the team returned to Kathmandu on 8 Nov and will leave on different dates. Waters left on 10 Nov. Wiessner and Mader on 15th, Joshi on 14th.


Email from Rajan Chhetri - Dec 13, 2006

The highest altitude I got up to would be around 6400m [6200m], the same height as the mushroom ridge. I don't know if I reached the mushroom ridge but I was very close to it. As I did not have an altimeter with me at that time, I can give you the exact altitude that I got to.

The reason why I decided to turn back: 1) relatively bad weather 2) The previously set turn back time 3) Also I was not carrying any food or stove with me.

I did have an accident between C2 and C1 on my way back to base camp. The accident happened on a tricky abseil when the rope moved above me and threw off balance causing the pack on my back to pull me upside down. The rope hit me on the knee instantly tearing my ligaments. I've found from my MRI scan that I have torn medial ligament, posterior cruciate ligament and the anterior cruciate ligament as well. I was helped by Kaska Karwaycka from Poland as she was the first person on the scene. I used her radio to notify base camp. Then Sumit Joshi tried to organize a rescue from base camp and also asked people from higher camp to help me out. John Mader from my team who was at C2 came down immediately to help me, but took him more than two hours to reach me. We made a support for my knee using my sleeping mat as it didn't support my body weight properly. After that, I continued abseiling down to C1 with John who stayed with me all the way to C1. I left my pack at the scene of accident and our friend, mountain guide, Lhakpa (Sherpa?) brought it down for me later on. We stayed at C1 that night and I left for base camp in the morning still doing the same with Mingma Sherpa. About 400 meters below C1, I met Kancha and he and Mingma carried me on the doko on easier sections while I walked on the difficult sections using my poles. On this section I was helped by an American guide Stu with keeping my knee immobilized. We reached base camp around 3:30 and waited for the helicopter. The helicopter arrived the next day and I went to see the doctors the same day. I think the accident may have happened around 6000m, on the yellow tower. (I'm not sure about the alitude again.)