원정 개요

The two members, Conrad Anker and David Lama, were accompanied to BC by two photographers, Austrian Martin Hanslmyar and Swiss Menk Rufibach, but no one went above BC on this expedition except the climbing members.

The entire team flew to Lukla on 28th October and trekked into the Thami valley. They established their BC on 2 November at 5000m on the south side of the junction of the Lunag and Nangpa Glaciers, and two days later placed on ABC five hundred meters higher up the Lunag Glacier. On the 5th, they bivouacked briefly at 6100m, as part of their acclimatization program, then descended to BC.

From the 7th to the 10th, they acclimatized in the area. On the 11th they moved back to ABC, on the 12th moved up to their bivouac at 6100m, and on November 13 climbed to their high point of 6500m, but immediately returned to their bivouac at 6100m.

They had expected to go all the way to the West Summit of Lunag, the highest point on Lunag Ri at 6907m, that day the 13th. But they had not planned to have to cope with fierce cold winds: it was gusting at 70 km/hr in temperature down to -20 Centrigrade. They had set out for the summit at 3:00 am expecting to reach the top and return to their bivouac the same afternoon, so took no gear for another night out. They realized at 3:00 pm that this was not possible.

They were back in ABC on the 14th, in BC on the 15th, left BC on the 16th for Lukla, and were in Kathmandu on the 19th.

But they had not abandoned Lunag Ri. They were already making plans to return to the mountain in the following spring, when the weather would be warmer and the daylight hours longer.