원정 개요

Polyakov and Benovici did all the climbing. Veniamin But went to ABC with Polyakov and Benovici and tried to go to C1, but his badly swollen feet prevented his getting there, and he left the expedition on 2 May.

The team established the normal set of high altitude camps above ABC. Benovici was not an experienced climber: he did not know how to jumar, and he wore no goggles. He developed serious eye trouble (perhaps it was snowblindness). So Polyakov was the only member to occupy the last camp, C3 at 7400m, and it was he, with Pemba Gombu, who set out for the summit.

They left C3 at 3 am on 6 May. They reached 8100m in unfavourable weather: it was windy and snow was falling as they moved up slowly. It took them 12 hours to reach the altitude; now it was too late to get to the top and back to their camp safely. They retreated to C2 that night. They descended to C1 on the 7th, returned to ABC on the 8th, and left ABC directly for Tingri village on the 10th.

Benovici was the only person to use oxygen. He was on it between C2 and C3. Polyakov did not use oxygen at any time.

Sherpa:
Pemba Gombu, 14/12/1965 (29/8/2022), Kurima, no 8000ers