원정 개요

Approach: Phakding, Namche, Thame, Thunder Peak, Dimjung, BC

BC 15/10 4550m
ABC 25/10 5150m
Biv1 26/10 5640m
Biv2 27/10 6140m
Smt 28/10 by all members in the morning
Biv3 28/10 afoot of Tashi Laptsa

The team could fulfill its plan A, opening a new route for the first time on the North Face of Langdak. The line is beautiful and homogeneous, sizing 1000m in height for estimated difficulties of 4+/M5/A1.

Main difficulties:
- The face doesn’t see the light at all during the day.
- Finding good places for putting protections.
- Commitment between protections.
- Crawling within very deep and inconsistent snow for some snowy slopes.
- Descending in the face was a priori too delicate offering very few spoilers,
not many cracks for pitons, blistered ice not much appropriate for building
abalakovs/lunulas...

25/10, Day 1 : established ABC at circa 5150m, then fixed circa 100m at the route start.

26/10, Day 2: climbed until 4 pm stopping at circa 5640m for bivouacking. After that bivouac places seemed harder to find and night was quickly arriving...Fixed 2 pitches of 30m for the next day.

27/10, Day 3: climbed until 5:30 pm, stopping at 6140m since digging a ledge was simpler and had nothing to fix for the next day (being now close from the summit).

28/10, Day 4: summit reached after 1 hour of climbing. Then 8 hours were necessary to join the footstep of Tashi Laptsa, first descending the West Ridge of Langdak, then walking south along the Rolwaling Glacier.

29/10, Day 5: crossing Tashi Laptsa peacefully, reaching Thame in the middle of the afternoon.

30/10: team went back to BC, then took a rest day.

01/11: left BC.

Oxygen: Not taken, not used

Records: 1st ascent of the N Face.

The team were clients of Mountain Mania Treks on the Holiday Himalaya Treks permit.