원정 개요

BC at east end of Namta Khola
C1 north of mountain on glacier
C2 at Saribung pass, NNE of summit.

French Saribung, led by Paulo Grobel - 26 Oct 2008

The Saribung summit party consisted of all members except Mrs. Mary Cler and Grobel, who on 11 Oct climbed to the tops of two 6225 meter peaks (Sonam Himal and Karsang Peak) just north of Saribung in order to take photos of the team on Saribung, and also to scale some unclimbed mountains. Mrs. Cler and Grobel left C2 at 8:00 am and summited their two peaks at 11:00 am and 12:30 pm, were back in C2 at 2:00 pm.

The Saribung summiters, Michel Cler, Le Disque, Milteau, Naude, Pueyo, Stellato and Vulin, plus Cho Temba and Rinji, left C2 on 11 October at 8:00 am also and climbed the easy 30-35 degree slope to the top, which they reached at 11:00 am. They stayed on the summit for half an hour and returned to C2 at 2:00 pm.

On the 12th, Le Disque and Milteau scaled one of the 6225m peaks (Karsang Kang or Sonam Himal) while Mary and Michel Cler with Naude descended to a different BC at 5050m, the normal site for Bhrikuti base camps, from which they would trek out via Phu.

On the 13th, Grobel, Milteau, Pueyo and Stellato scaled a 6226-meter peak (aka Alfred's Belvedere) northeast of Saribung via its east ridge, which was 45-degree bare rock. They left C2 at 7:00 am, summited at 12:00 noon, stayed an hour and a half enjoying the scenery, and returned to C2 at 4:00 pm. On the same day, Le Disque and Vulin went up one of the 6225m peaks.

On the 14th, Grobel and Vulin went from C2 to Kumlung, a 6355m mountain north-northeast of Saribung and south of C2. They started from C2 at 9:45 am and were on its summit at 1:00 pm via the west face of a pass at 6273m to Kumlung's NW Ridge and the snow-covered flank of the ridge when the ridge itself turned into very loose rock. From Kumlung, they went down to the team's new BC. It had been a very difficult climb, but very beautiful.

By the 14th the entire team had gathered at the new BC, and on the 15th they trekked from there to Phu.

Sherpas:
Cho Temba Sherpa, 5/10/84, Makalu-9, no 8000ers
Rinji Sherpa, 24 yrs, Walung village, Makalu-9, no 8000ers