원정 개요

BC at normal N Face site
C1 at normal C1 site for N Face
High point below NW Ridge.

Slovak Army Expedition to Annapurna led by Jan Matlak - 14 May 2008

Expedition arrived at BC at 4300m on 3 April and made an ABC at 5050m. because otherwise C1 would be too far from BC, and from BC it was not possible to see the route and the summit, whereas they could be seen from ABC.

Their route from BC to their high point was basically the same as the German 1980 route. But they went no higher than 6700m because of serious avalanching.

They first occupied C1 on 14 April at the site for C1 on the normal N Face route (French 1950 route). C1 was destroyed on 16 April and again on 30 April/1 May, when no one was in the camp. They made a new C1 following the first hit and from it they occupied C2 on 28 April.

The team had been joined on 22 April by the two-member Czech-Slovak Annapurna team led by Roman Langr. These two went to ABC on 24 April and C1 on 28 april; Mrava turned back to ABC on the 29th because of pain in his knee while Langr joined Matlak's members in C2 on the 29th and went with three of them, Namcok, Supica and Svancar, to the high point of 6700m that day.

The route was impassable above 6700m because the two large couloirs to their right and left contained big seracs, and snow and ice avalanches were coming down from the buttress farther right. The summiters went down to C2 and spent the nights of the 29th and 30th there and were back in BC on 1 May.

Snow had been falling and piling up every afternoon in late April. Finally, a big avalanche from the buttress hit C2's two tents at 8:00 pm on 30 April and swept them down 300m. It hit the tent occupied by Da Temba and Dendi Sherpas with greater force. While the members in their tent at C2 were not hurt, the Sherpas in the other tent were seriously injured. Dendi was partly buried in an ice cave and stuck there all night with a fractured right arm and frozen toes, while Da Temba's ankle was sprained and he suffered chest and head contusions; a few days after the accident, he lost the sight in his right eye, which apparently was due to his head injuries. The two Sherpas were evacuated from BC to Kathmandu.

The expedition had fixed 1000m of rope from BC to C2.

Sherpas:
Da Temba, 29/12/84, Gudel-4, Solu, no 8000ers
Dendi Sherpa, 25/11/72 (10/8/2029), Sanam, Gudel, Everest X2