원정 개요

German-Austrian Lhotse, led by Ralf Dujmovits - 4 June 2008

The three members met at Deboche, Khumbu, following Dujmovits' ascent of Makalu on 11 May and the 1 May ascent of Dhaulagiri I by Kaltenbrunner and Goettler. Dujmovits arrived by helicopter from Makalu's Hillary BC; Kaltenbrunner and Goettler flew from Kathmandu by plane to Lukla and trekked to Deboche.

They arrived at BC on 19 May. On the 20th, Kaltenbrunner and Goettler went to C1 at 6100m to re-acclimatize. They returned to BC the next day.

On the 24th the three members began their summit push. They went directly to C2 at 6450m on the 25th to C3 at 7200m and on the 26th to C4 at 7700m.

They left C4 for the summit at 3:00 am on the 27th. Thirty minutes later, at 7800m, Dujmovits realized he was too weak to continue. He had never felt healthy again after the head cold (or something else) that he had contracted when climbing Makalu without his proper kit. He went down to C4 to wait for Kaltenbrunner, his wife.

She and Goettler continued climbing and reached 8150m at 5:00 am at the bottom of the couloir. Now they, too, turned around. Goettler's nose had become white in the first stage of frostbite, and he had no feeling in his feet; Kaltenbrunner went down with him. They met Dujmovits at C4 and waited for direct sunlight to warm them, then at 9:00 am all three descended to BC the same day.

Now their climb was finished: Dujmovits was told by a doctor at BC that he had an infection in his right lung, Goettler had a slightly frostbitten nose, and all were worn out from their strenous oxygen-less, Sherpa-less climbs on Dhaulagiri I and Makalu since mid-April. They left BC on 30 May.