원정 개요

Richards flew to Lukla in April to be a member of a glacial survey team led by Conrad Anker. They did no climbing, and when the survey work was done, Richards "wanted to climb something." His trekking agency got him on a permit for Lhotse.

He left BC to climb Lhotse on 18 May and spent that night in C2 in a tent belonging to the Everest expedition led by Damian Benegas. He spent the 19th at C2; on the 20th; he climbed up to C3 and returned to C2 to sleep. On the 21st, he moved up to C3, again using a Benegas tent.

On the 22nd he moved on up to Lhotse's C4 at about 8000m with a Benegas client from Argentina, Matias (Matoco) Erroz, who was also on a Lhotse permit. At 1:30 am on 23 May, Richards and Erroz left C4 for the top. Richards summited at 6:30 am and waited there for Erroz to join him an hour later; Richards was faster because he was using oxygen, while Erroz was not. They descended together to C2 at about noon.

Richards used oxygen at a very low flow during the night of 22/23 May and all the way to the summit. He did not use it during his descent from the top.

Richards got back to BC on the 24th after having joined in the efforts to rescue the independent Spanish woman, Eva Maria Zarzuelo, who had fallen when a ladder in the Icefall collapsed beneath her. He left BC the next day and returned to Kathmandu on the 27th.