Trip Reports

Khumbu Climber 1 April to 29 April 2001

Written by Leader Chris Pearson, May 2001

Heavy sporadic snowfall throughout the expedition season made for hard work breaking trails on easier angled slopes / glaciers, and some demanding high camps in deep snow. Conversely conditions on the steeper sections of the mountains were found to be particularly icy (due to lower than average winter snowfall?.)

In particular Khumbu Climber I, having all summited on Pokalde and enjoyed excellent views, was delayed on Island Peak at High Camp (5700m) by heavy snowfall - a real taste of expedition life was leaving a warm sleeping bag at midnight to dig the tents out. On the summit day the headwall was found to bare hard ice - rather than a uniform snow slope, requiring some awkward climbing up giant ice steps and a strong reliance by most on the fixed ropes placed by Pasang Sherpa - our main Climbing Sherpa. The summit ridge produced a sting in the tail with a 60 degree 10 m ice wall that required good front pointing technique.

Lobuje was omitted due to the loss of a day from our schedule and the team concentrated its efforts on Parchemo. After the busy trails towards Everest all the group enjoyed the total solitude of the stunning valley above Thame. More snow fall meant for a very hard day in hot sunshine breaking trail to establish a high camp on the Tashi Lapcha (5700m),below Parchemo. This deep snow made the task for the porters particularly hard and the team rallied together shuttling loads in order to help establish the top camp before darkness. All that night the wind blew and the snow fell, and with little sign of improvement next day an arduous descent was made in strong winds and deep sinking snow proving that even going down hill is not always easy ! « Previous report | Next report »

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