원정 개요

C1 at top of Icefall
C2 in Western Cwm
C3 on SW Face
C4 on SW Face
High point at C5 site.

2008 Park Everest Southwest Face Expedition - 4 Nov 2008

Nineteen days elapsed between the expedition's arrival at BC and their occupation of C1 because the government-appointed group to make the route through the Khumbu Icefall, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), assigned only two Sherpas and 1000m of rope to the job. So Park's seven members for Everest, three members for Lhotse, and ten Sherpas went to work on the Icefall with the SPCC men, contributing 1200m of rope, and carrying rope and ladders to where they were to be installed.

This delay in starting their climb of Everest cost the expedition the summit, Park claimed. If the route had been ready just one week earlier, his team would have summited, but by the time they were in position for a summit bid, the fierce winds had blown up.

The expedition atttacked Everest's SW Face by a new route well to the left of the Bonington route. Their high point was 8400m, very near the West Ridge. It was to be the site for their C5, and they reached it twice.

On 14 October the final section of the route to C5 was fixed to the site by two members and a Sherpa, Lee Hyeong-Mo, Shin, and Sangay Phuri, but they did not sleep there. They went down to C2.

The site was visited again on the 24th, when Kang, Shin, Mingmar Tamang, and Lhakpa Wangdi moved up from C2 to C3 and on the 25th up to C5 site and down to C4. The very strong wind forced their retreat to C4, where they waited on the 26th for another attempt to occupy C5 and to go to the summit, but "too much windy" at 70-80 km/hr. On the 27th they descended to C2 and the climb finished.

During the night of the 26th well-anchored tents at C2 had been ripped apart by the wind, and all tents at C3 were broken and sleeping bags inside its tents were found in C2.

Two of Kang's fingers were frostbitten during the last days of his climb. He left BC on the 28th while the rest of the team evacuated BC on the 31st.

Oxygen was used by all members and Sherpas in and above C4 unless their supplies ran out during their descents.

Sherpas:
Lhakpa Wangdi, 11/25/77, Chheskam-2, Solu, no 8000ers
Mingmar Tamang, 36 years old, Pirangding, Kerung, no 8000ers (but had climbed
very high with Korean climber, Um Hong-Gil, on at least one expedition)
Sangay Phuri, 24/10/70, Makalu-9, Kangch X1