원정 개요

From Fredrice Degoulet website:

What a great adventure ...

Separated September 13 in Nepal, the objective to open a new way in the south face of Nuptse Nup II, 7742m. This summit is located in the Khumbu valley just in front of the Everest and on the same ridge as the Lhotse (8516m). The team will be the same as that of the Siula Chicco (Ben Guigonnet, Robin Revest, Helias Millerioux and myself), a team that works. After an acclimatization of about a month we are ready to try the face ...

Success, so close and so far away.

We were not far from succeeding, giving up towards 7350-7400m. But up there any decision is crucial.

Weather forecasts, wind, fatigue, bivouacs, stress, objective dangers, altitude, hydration, food that no longer passes, lack of energy, small bobos, stoves that take more and more time to supply the vital water, the management of socks, downs and gloves that become impregnated with moisture diminishing their performances, while the conditions become more and more extreme. All this mixed up is absolutely extreme to handle ...

We have surely taken a bad decision up there by trying it all on this fifth day in one push mode, with no backpack, without back up if we drank on difficulties too long in time to overcome. 700m to swallow to over 7000m, too presumptuous, too confident. Especially since the itinerary was uncertain, we all said that it would not be obvious, but surmountable. It was not, we climbed steep slopes, then flute ices extremely steep, unsuitable on 300m in 8 hours ... We had not made half the way we still had to do and we were still not In easy terrain. The altitude undermined our confidence, our dexterity, our mind, our abilities simply. And everything would take even more time. A final length that led to a cul de sac ended up completing us and we realized at one blow that everything was over, that it was too long, too hard to reach the top that day. Without bivouac on us, it was impossible for us to remain here and to try again the next day, from our highest point, to reach the summit. A blatant strategic error, but at that time it seemed obvious to us.


Fred Degoulet (via Rodolphe Popier)

Details of climb :

14 Sep: Arrival in KTM
16 Sep: KTM to Lukla (2 days waiting for luggage!)
19 Sep: To Namche Bazar
20-22 Sep: Namche Bazar to Tengboche to Dingboche to Chhukung
23 Sep: Chhukung to Chhukung Ri, back to Chhukung

24-27 Sep: First acclimatization stay, 3 nights at 5430m base camp (below Nuptse South Face, immediately southeast of peak 5740 at two lakes). On 27 Sep, reached a peak at 5535m, then back to Chhukung on that day. Hard to find a good place at 6500m for acclimatization in surroundings.

01 Oct: Spent one night at Amphu Lapcha (5845m).

02-06 Oct: second acclimatization stay, spent 4 nights short below summit of peak 6230m in an igloo (reached after a crossing on south side of the ridge coming from Amphu Lapcha and a corridor/couloir). "Boring time, but good views on the South Face of Lhotse and Nuptse" says Degoulet. Back to Chhukung on the 6 Oct for rest, descending by the north side of the peak.

12 Oct: Weather begun to improve.
14 Oct: Chhukung to 5430m BC.

15 Oct: Ascent started. C1 reached at noon. 2 hours preparing the camp terrace.

16 Oct: C2 reached at 6 pm after a start at 4:30 am (13-hour ascent). Long day, exposed to the objective risks. 7 hard pitches (5+/4/4+/5+,6/3+,4/3+/3) then steep snow. 2 hours hard work to prepare the camp terrace.

17 Oct: during the night, a small stone traversed one of the tents. Started at 4 am, reached C3 approximately at noon. 30 min searching for the bivouac place. Difficulties on that day: 4 hard pitches (4+,5/idem/idem/4+), a snow shelf, an easy ramp (3,3+), then the second snow shelf exposed to the falls risk (tried to shelter the bivy thanks to the relative overhanging of the cliff).

18 Oct: after a hard night, 4:38 am ascent to pass the ascent crux section (200m high). After reaching a first belay 30m from their bivouac, Helias led a grade 6 pitch (M5 in second of rope according to Degoulet; Helias aided a short overhanging section at the end of that pitch). Then had a gorgeous 60m section (ice grade 3) in a gully (bit exposed to ice falls). Then forced a last dreadful rotten section ("rock-like sand"), having a 1,5m aid section (A2); second of ropes tried but couldn't pass it in free climbing (estimated to M5).

Reached that day the bottom of the final corridor leading almost straight to the most western summit of Nuptse. Using a bivouac hidden from the falls going down by the corridor.

19 Oct: group decided to leave for a summit push without any bivouac gear to go faster. Started at 5:30 am from bivouac. After an 8-hour ascent, just after they had reached a point at the highly ice fluted ridge, Guigonnet was blocked 60m higher at 7450m in hard ground right of the ridge, being in fact out of the initial theoretical route they had planned from peak 6230m and still quite far below the theoretical C5 in such technical ground at this altitude.

Back to the belay, the group had a short briefing. They knew that the weather window with no wind would last from 2 pm to 10 pm on that day. So they still had 8h in front of them, but without bivouac gear and with relatively slow progress so far (400m in 8 hours), Degoulet and Revest also beginning to feel some first minor signs of high altitude deterioration (frostbites beginning for Revest, mental loss of confidence beginning for Degoulet), they instead decided to go back down to their bivouac and make up new plans. Back there, after contacting their weather forecasters, Guigonnet feeling well and Millerioux being keen to continue, both evoked the idea to try again on the next day from their last bivouac, mostly as the weather forecast had informed them about a weather window from 2 pm to 6 pm on 20 Oct (shorter in se, and on 21 Oct, the weather would turned bad). Revest and Degoulet would wait for them at the bivouac. However, they eventually decided to turn back all down and descended straight to C2 and slept there.

20 Oct: after a wrong attempt to abseil straight (in a complete overhanging section), they choose to retrace their ascent line instead, thus reaching footstep of the face at 11:30 am, BC at 13:00 pm, then Chhukung at 15:30 pm.

The route is a bit exposed to objective risks, but quite well sheltered from western winds. The quartet intends to come back and try again, if no one has managed to succeed in-between.

Nicolas Ferraud, Stephane Benoist and Damien Tomasi were helping with the forecast routing.

High point on 29 Pct at 7450m by all four members.

Fixed rope: 1 pitch (ice 5+) fixed just above C1 for next day.

Climb abandoned on 19 Oct due to strategy and itinerary mistakes, short weather window.