원정 개요

C4 below couloir on West Face
High point in couloir.

Mountain Madness Nuptse/Lhotse led by Jamie Laidlaw - 29 May 2007

Laidlaw's first job was to guide a "sightseeing" group through the Icefall into the Western Cwm on a Nuptse permit; there was no intention to actually climb Nuptse. The group's members were:

1. Ms. Erin Cally, American - went to C2 at 6400m in the Cwm
2. John Inderdall, Norwegian - went to C2
3. Grant Musgrove, American - went to C1 at 6100m at the top of the Icefall
4. Henry William Querfurth, American - went to C2
5. Trond Stenevson, Norwegian - went to 5500m in the Icefall

Cally, Inderdall and Musgrove left BC on 21 April; Stenevson, had left earlier. Laidlaw guided Querfurth to C2 on the 23rd, and Querfurth left BC on the 26th.

After taking Querfurth to C2, Laidlaw got pulmonary edema and went down to Namche Bazar to recover. He returned to BC 1 May, moved up through the Mountain Madness Everest Expedition's C1, C2, C3 and alone went for Lhotse's summit. He pitched his C4 at 7700m and left it for the top at 11:00 pm on the 23rd. He reached 8300m in the couloir at 2:30 am on the 24th; now, when he changed oxygen bottles, his oxygen regulator broke, and he turned back. (He had been on oxygen from C3). He now had no oxygen and had just had pulmonary edema, so he decided "not to push things further" and was back in C4 at 4:00 am. He skied from 8300m to C4 in the dark without oxygen but with a headlamp to see by. Next day, the 25th, he descended on skis to C2 in the Cwm in just 30 minutes, was tired on arrival and slept in C2. Went down to BC on 26th.