원정 개요

C2 in Western Cwm
C3 on Lhotse Face
High point on West Face.

Expected more support from Nepalese team in exchange for American's oxygen but they did not carry gear to C2 as expected. Made C3 and had high cache at 7600m top of yellow band; pitched C3 10th Oct. Oxygen cached next day but never slept above 6500m. Didn't need to sleep higher till making summit bid. 13th started for C3 with plan to summit later that night but winds strong and sign posted at BC indicated that icefall would be closed on 16th, so took down all gear from C2 and C3 to C1 then found it to be open longer - gave up. Team had reached BC late because because planned climb of Cho Oyu from Tibet fell through and they decided to try Lhotse after that.

Lhotse very dry and lot of bare rock and blue ice. Whole of Lhotse Face "blinking blue ice." Icefall huge crevasses; so with partner and rope Athans would have gone for Lhotse summit but not alone (Athans not soloist, likes sharing experiences with someone else).