원정 개요

The two members did all their climbing together. They had no Sherpas or bottled oxygen, had no fixed camps above BC, and fixed no ropes.

First they did some acclimatization climbs from their BC from the afternoon of 17 October to and including the 24th. They summited one 6200m peak and attempted two 6000ers in the area north of Pangpema village, near where they had pitched BC in the morning of the 17th.

They shifted their attention to Ramtang Chang, or Wedge Peak, on 25 October, when they deposited gear at the bottom of the mountain's unclimbed North Face at 4900m. They rested in BC for the next two days, then moved to the deposit site, where they bivouacked for the night of the 28th.

Then they started up the face to the top in a series of three bivouacs, all on the face. On the 29th they made a 1000 meter-high direct line, starting from the first bivouac at 2:30 am and ending at 3:00 pm by dogging out a platform on a snow field above a rock formation for their next bivy at 6000m.

On the 30th they gain much less altitude because of the difficult terrain. They begin at about 7:00 am up very steep bare rock, which in parts was vertical and even overhanging slightly; this section averaged about 80 degrees. They bivouacked at 7:30 pm above the rock at 6200m.

Next day, the 31st, they again started climbing at abot 7:00 am. Now they moved slightly to their right onto the right side of the face on very loose snow "with little bits of rock as well" to 6550m at about 4:30 pm for their final bivouac.

The 1st of November was their summit day. As usual, they got started at about 7:00 am. They climbed snow fluting to 100m below the summit, where they joined the snow-covered West Ridge and followed the ridge to summit, enjoying the first direct sunshine they had since the start of the North Face climb. At 12:00 noon they stood on the summit in the first ascent of the face. They were back in their last bivouac at 6550m, where they had left their rucksacks, at 3:00 pm.

The 2nd of November was their last day on the mountain. At about 7:30 am they began their descent of the route they had just come up, and they down climbed the entire route to their first bivy at 4900m at 9:30 pm. Bullock confessed that they were "quite tired" when they reached the bottom of the face.

They were back in BC on the 3rd and left it on the 5th. They flew to Kathmandu from Sukitar's grass airfield via Biratnagar on the 11th.

At the time from arrival at BC to their departure, they had winds coming from the west, which were especially strong in the afternoons above 6500m. The temperature was about minus 10 to 15 Celcius, so the chill factor was "uncomfortable."