원정 개요

High point at NW Face.

The leader, Martin Minarik, left Kathmandu on 23 Sept with a trekking group to Tilicho Lake. The other two members left Kathmandu on the 27th; they went to Jomsom via the Thorong La. The three met in Jomsom on the 4th of Oct and to the normal site for expeditions on the northern side of Annapurna I; they arrived at BC on 8 Oct.

On the 11th, they climbed to a glacier under the NW Face and camped there at 4800m to acclimatize a bit and to look for good access to the face. They were back in BC the next day.

On the 14th, the three men moved through the glacier and up onto the NW Face through seracs to camp at 5200m. This was the most dangerous part of their climb because of the seracs.

On the 15th, they took their tents and climbed the steep section of the face at up to 80 degrees and camped at 6000m.

On the 16th, they took their tents to 6400m, where there was plenty of space to pitch them, "a nest between seracs." But next day they stopped at their "poorest" camp site on snow under the largest serac at 7000m. There was little space here, and it was very windy.

On the 18th, they camped at 7400m in the middle of a snow slope. From that afternoon till midnight half-meter of snow fell on their campsite.

The next day, they tried to go up with a tent, but at 7500m it was very cold, very windy, and there was new snow on the mountain side. Here they turned around and descended to 6400m.

The weather forecast was for continued strong winds. The team decided on the 19th that they had no chance to climb the NW Face, but thought they might be able to climb the North Face. In the evening of the 20th they arrived at a new BC.

On the 21st, all three members were suffering from food poisoning and stayed in camp, but on the 24th they moved up to the normal site for BC for climbs of the North Face.

However, the forecast was for a temperature of minus 30 degrees and 70-80 km/hr winds above 7500m. They decided that night not to try to climb the North Face, and on the 25th they left the North Face BC to return to Kathmandu.