원정 개요

BC 07 Sep 5000m
ABC 10 Sep 5702m
C1 14 Sep 6400m
C2 20 Sep 7027m
C3 01 Oct 7500m
Smt 02 Oct by Mueller, Chuldim Sherpa at 7 am; Laengerer, Pema at 11 am;
Schmuck, Pema (again) at 12.30 pm; Eckhart Gerhard, Rech at 1 pm

Summit team, Andreas Eckhart and Villarroel left C3 at 1 am. Villarroel turned back after about 20 minutes as he was feeling weak. He had not eaten for 3 days and felt dizzy. Straightforward climb. Mueller spent about 3 hours on the summit to wait for the others. However, as nobody came he got too cold and started descending. Lanegerer summited with Pema and on their way down, they bumped into Schmuck, who was on his own. Pema went back to the summit with Schmuck and summited again.

Mueller bumped into Gerhard and Andreas Eckhart at about 11 am and told them it was getting a bit late. At about 1 pm Andreas Eckhart decided to turn back at about 8100m as he was too tired. He did not say anything about cold fingers and toes. When Schmuck was on his way down, he bumped into Andreas Eckhart and descended with him; Schmuck had lost his figure of eight at this point and did not want to be on his own. Rech, Gerhard Eckhart and Laengerer overtook them at one point and descended to C3. Apart from Andreas Eckhart and Schmuck, everyone was back at C3 at about 6 pm.

At about 8:30 pm, Schmuck and Andreas Eckhart, who had been fine up until then, called C3 by radio to tell them that they were in trouble. Their headlamps had run out of batteries and they had trouble abseiling. Andreas Eckhart had also lost one of his gloves. Chuldim went up for about 100m to rescue them. He used the emergency oxygen to go up and arrived there at 9 pm. He gave Andreas Eckhart oxygen and dragged him down to C3. Schmuck was able to descend himself.

At about 10 pm everybody was at C3. During the night, Andreas Eckhart's fingers turned blue and it was clear that he got frostbite. At 8 am on 3 Oct, the team left C3 (Andreas Eckhart was using oxygen and had trouble with his hands and needed support) and descended to C1. Schmuck and Laengerer descended directly to BC, where they arrived 6:30 pm. Schmuck, who had played the trumpet on the summit, noticed that he had slight frostbite on three fingers on the left hand. Mueller and Gerhard and Andreas Eckhart were together, and arrived at C1 at about 6 pm. After about half an hour, Mueller ascended again to get Rech and Villarroel. They arrived at C1 at about 9 pm.

On 4 Oct, Andreas Eckhart woke up at C1 with serious frostbite on all 10 fingers and toes and was snowblind. He had run out of oxygen during the night. Mueller radioed Pema to come up with oxygen, drinks and food and to help bring Andreas Eckhart down. The team left C1 at about 9 am and met Pemba at about 6100m. On the bottom of the killer slope, 20 Tibetans, who had been hired by Chuldim, arrived and carried Andreas Eckhart to ABC.

On 5 Oct, the 20 Tibetans dragged Andreas Eckhart down to the roadhead, from where Gerhard and Andreas Eckhart, Schmuck and Villarroel took the first jeep to Zangmu, where they spent the night. The arrived in Kathmandu on 6 Oct. Rech, Lanegerer and Mueller stayed at ABC until 6 Oct and arrived back in Kathmandu on 7 Oct.

Schmuck and Andreas Eckhart immediately went to the Vayodha hospital, where both patients stayed the night. Schmuck left Kathmandu on 7 Oct (his fingers will be fine). Andreas Eckhart spent three nights in hospital and left Kathmandu together with Gerhard on 9 Oct.

Oxygen:
Medical oxygen taken and used by Chuldim Sherpa from C3 to Yellow Band;
by Andreas Eckhart on the descent from Yellow Band (7650m) to ABC.

Sherpas:
Chuldim Sherpa, Khumjung, Khumbu, 10/09/1971
Pema Nuru, Paiya, Jubing, Solukhumbu, 27/01/1975