원정 개요

C1 on West Ridge
C2 at top of icefall below West Ridge
C3 just below ridge on side of a col.

The team chose to climb Himlung from the southwest via a route they said had been established only three years earlier. They pitched their BC on 18 October at 4500m on the south side of the Pangi Glacier. (There was too much snow on the north side). They crossed the glacier to the south side of the West Ridge, a steep climb. On 22 October they made C1 on the West Ridge. The next day they placed C2 at the top of an icefall below the West Ridge, and C3 was made just below the West Ridge on the south side of a col.

Finally on 26 October, the five members and their five Sherpas went for the top from C3 at 2:20 am. At 6300m Vardy turned back because he feared that his right foot, which had previously been frostbitten, was going to be affected again; he went back to C3 with one of the Sherpas, Bir Kazi, and next day descended to C1.

The remaining four members and four Sherpas continued up. The leader, Christian Denicolo, was the first to reach the summit at 1:30 pm, with Dawa Gyalje Sherpa; the rest of the team got to the top at 2:30 pm.

They were slow in their ascent, they explained, because it was a new route and there were no other climbers there, so they had to find the way and the do all the rope fixing themselves. The ridge was blue ice all the way; they had to fix 1000m on the ridge. (They did not have that much rope with them, so they fixed 600m and brought up 400m of rope they had fixed and reused it). From the top, they descended all the way to BC the same day; it was 8:00 pm when they reached BC.

None of the climbers were injured, but Denicolo did fall into a crevasse while on his way to the summit. However, he was roped to another climber; he didn't fall far and was not injured.

Oxygen was used by two members only. Niebur used it from 6500m to 6700m because he got tired on his way to the summit, and James Glazebrook used it for his last 15 minutes below the top.

Sherpas:
Ang Gele
Bir Kazi
Dakipa
Dawa Gyalje
Nima Gyalje