원정 개요

Approach: Kangchenjunga trail

BC 21/09 4700m
Biv1 06/10 6300m
HPt 07/10 6700m at N Face of Jannu East by all 3 members.

Climb abandoned on 7 Oct due to tiredness of one member.

• Acclimatization on Merra Peak:

Out of the daily trips towards Merra peak, the team spent two nights acclimatizing on the peak’s southern slope.

23/09, slept at 5600m
24/09, slept at 6100m
Then trio went back to BC. Storm caught them there for coming days.
Trio then had a sleep at 6200m during the night of the 1st/2nd Oct.

• Jannu East Attempt:

The line chosen by the French on the North Face of Jannu East ascends a logical line of placages located between the direct couloir to the col north to Jannu East (reached by the Brits in 1978 from the opposite side/Yalung side) on the left and the direct line of the Americans to the right.

Day 1, 06/10:

Start from BC at 2:20 am. Reached footstep of the face at 5 am, starting to climb at 5:30 am, in the tracks already done one day before by the American team. At 4:30 pm, team made a first bivouac at circa 6300m in the face.

Day 2, 07/10:

Start from bivouac at circa 6 am. Trio climbed until 10-10:30 am, reaching about 6700m, not far from the exit to the aforementioned col to the left. Here Leo showed an extreme state of tiredness; symptoms not precisely like the start of the AMS, but like a strong hypoglycaemia due to altitude (couldn’t eat, not more energy left). The trio had to abandon.

In 7 hrs of abseiling, the trio was back to the footstep of the face at circa 5-5:30 pm. During that descent, at circa 5800m, the met with a lone Samuel Hennessey (his partner Michael Gardner had fallen to his death) who joined them for the end of the descent.

In fact, the start of the Americans and French attempted lines is common, then at circa 5800m, the lines split then the teams cannot see each other, being separated from each other by a spur.

General grading for the difficulties of the line attempted by the French: circa 4+ in ice, circa M4+/M5 for mixed ground.

Left BC on 10 october 2024.

Oxygen: Not taken, not used