원정 개요

High point at above C1 on North Face.

Annapurna West Face Russian Expedition led by Valeri Babanov - 26 April 2009

The two-member team left Kathmandu on 22 March with no climbing Sherpas but with 30 porters to carry their loads to BC. They followed the Kali Gandaki River north to Lete, where they arrived on the 23rd and from where they turned east on the 24th to reach BC. But the route from Lete is difficult, and the porters were not prepared for this; on the 24th they quit. The party returned to Lete; here the Russians waited for the return of porters who had carried loads to the normal North Face BC site for a Korean expedition. On the 3rd of April they arrived at the Russians' BC site, which is only 50 minutes from the North Face BC site.

On the 4th, the Russians, their cook and kitchen boy rested and had their puja. On the 5th they went over to the North Face route to acclimatize and followed the Koreans fixed rope to C1 at 5000m to bivouac there. The next day they moved up to a new bivouac at 5450m and climbed above it to 5600m. They now realized that the North Face is a dangerous place to be because of seracs everywhere threatening to fall. They returned to their own BC to rest on the 7th.

A few days of bad weather followed. Then on 12 April they decided to do more acclimatizing on the Czechoslovakian autumn 1988 route on the NW Face (Babanov calls it the West Face), which is to the right of the Russians proposed route on this face. The climbed to 4900m and returned to BC on the same day.

They spent the 13th resting. On the 14th, Babanov found that he had no motivation to attempt the NW Face. He cannot explain why. He had been doing a lot of climbing in recent months, and it would seem that perhaps he was simply burned out.

Afanasyev was ready to try their face, but he understood how Babanov felt and agreed with Babanov to go back to the North Face for an attempt there. On the 16th they went over to the North Face and up to C1 at 5000m. But they could see no safe route on this side, so they went back to their BC, and their climb was over. They left BC on the April 19, were in Lete on the 21st, in Beni on the 23rd and in Kathmandu on the 24th.