Trip Reports

Lhakpa Ri & The North Col - 21 Apr to 19 May '07

Lhakpa Ri from our camp at ABC on Everest
Trip Report

Written by Leader Mic Rofe, June 2007

We had great success on our climbing objectives, 100% up Lhakpa Ri and five of seven team members as well as leader, sirdar and climbing sherpa up to the North Col. But ignore these mountaineering highs and we still had an amazing, once in a lifetime expedition traveling across Tibet.

We spent just long enough in Kathmandu to get our ears ringing with car and bike horns and to buy any final bits of kit for the hill, before jetting across the tops of the Himalaya and touching down in relatively quiet Lhasa.

As we rolled along billiard table smooth roads into the city, passing under the brand new train line, it struck me how many new buildings had gone up in twelve months. From our comfortable hotel a short walk with a few twists and turns along narrow alleyways took us from being in any Chinese city to discovering Tibetan Lhasa. Popping from one lane full of shops quietly selling tea and cloth and groceries and buckets we were swept up in a surge of buddhists surfing clockwise around the monastery in Barkhor Square. As we passed stall after stall selling tourist trinkets - prayer flags, potala aprons, singing bowls and beads - every now and then we would have to side-step to avoid the pilgrims making their circuit by means of deep, ground scraping prostrations.

Lhasa lies at 3,600m so we could not immediately continue our approach to Everest. We spent the next couple of days exploring the city whilst everyone acclimatized well, displaying a minimum of headaches and good appetites. One day we took a short drive to the Drepung Monastery. Here we wandered from building to building, each better than the last drawing us to take more and more photos. The start of a big theme for the expedition which filled Bunter’s 8Gb card rapidly and sent others searching for more rolls of film. Another day the group explored the Potala Palace guided diligently by Tashi, our Tibetan Guide supplied by the Chinese Mountaineering Association.

We left Lhasa hungry to taste the mountains and rolled swiftly across the countryside on more sealed roads. Lunches and dinners on the drive were Chinese and we enjoyed some great dishes. However, some of us stepped a little out of comfort zones when a plate of chickens’ feet walked through the door in Xegar. Fortunately, Saint Mark saved us by consuming nearly half of these delicacies.

In Xegar we went for a fantastic acclimatization walk up above the town. As soon as we started walking towards the monastery we were approached by a number of three foot high entrepreneurs who took us on a delightful tour of the monastery, and then upwards, winding higher and higher, to reach a beautiful summit blanketed in prayer flags. They were so thick and the summit so broken that at points we must only have been supported by a wing and a Buddhist prayer.

Just the final few hours of our drive when we cut left off the main road were unsealed to take us up to Everest Base Camp. Here we met our Nepalese staff who had come overland from Kathmandu. From here on appetites generally declined or for some went on strike and transient headaches appeared. Our cook, Kajee, did his best trying to entice our appetites with pizza, momos, apple pies and cake. We spent a few days here at 5,200m going on short walks and photographing Everest in every light condition.

To ease the 1,100m leap to Advance Base Camp we set two interim camps; the old Japanese Camp and Changtse Base Camp. The second half of the walk was the more stunning as we passed the pinnacles, enormous sharks’ fins, of the Magic Highway. Due to particularly the warm conditions we had to do a little scrambling at one point to get around an icy lake, into which I saw one brave yak dive headfirst!

It was very pleasant waking up in Advance Base Camp as the sun hit the tent and sent the temperature rocketing, even though nighttime temperatures were quite balmy really. The coldest our good weather charm Mark recorded inside his tent was minus 11degC, though minus five or six was the norm.

We spent our days settling in to 6,300m by exploring Advance Base Camp. A whole hour to get from the bottom end where we were up to the final Chinese camp! Just a stone’s throw from our tents the glacier threw up some jagged pinnacles of ice which were perfect to play on. We had ropes running up, down and across, and sharpened our skills well beyond the demands of Lhakpa Ri and the North Col.

Chomping at the bit we headed off on the eleventh of May across the East Rongbuk Glacier bound for Lhakpa Ri. It was a big long day and painfully slowly the summit seemed to get closer. The going was steady, slowed a little by finding a way through crevasses just past the shoulder. Having passed by the Lhakpa La, where Mallory first saw the North Col and thought it was a good line up Everest, we hit our major difficulties. The snow was not holding steps too well so all had to dig deep to make their own steps. Then on the final hundred metres fresh snow over the rocks was a little treacherous and we placed a fixed rope to secure this section. On reaching the North Summit we declared our high point reached and took our summit photos. Chris, Petr, Tim, two Marks, Bunter, Ian, Nima Dende, Sangee our Sirdar and myself all happy to have pushed our way to top-out at over 7,000m. The snow conditions not warranting the risk of the airy traverse to the slightly higher Southern Summit. Leaden legs dragged us down and it was a big boost to be met in the middle of the glacier by Kajee and Pasang, one of our Kitchen Boys, with hot lemon and tea which sustained us as we took our final steps back in to camp.

The impetus to climb on Everest was a little different for everyone. Petr came to support his daughter, Klara, who was attempting Everest. Due to luck with the weather there schedule fell fairly close to ours and we shared the same day to climb to the North Col. It was wonderful for the rest of us to share this direct link with the summit of Everest. And no doubt Petr was the proudest Dad in the world as Klara became the first Czech woman to summit on the 16th May.

After an essential rest day we made a leisurely start for the North Col. Easily up through ABC and on to the crampon point. Whilst the going was easy the effort required was huge. I felt a huge disappointment for Petr and Chris who turned around early; both having dug so deeply to succeed on Lhakpa Ri they unfortunately did not have enough left for the North Col. The rest of the group moved on over the glacier and to the foot of the fixed ropes. Ian led the group up, followed closely by the two Marks. Bunter and Tim brought up the rear not worried about when they would arrive, just that they would. After a steep start on the fixed ropes the angle eased off and it was possible to enjoy the beautiful setting at the head of the East Rongbuk Glacier. The final rope length before the North Col was the toughest as the angle steepens again. It was soon over and then we were amongst the tents having taken seven hours to get up. The place was abuzz with activity as the meteorologists had forecasted a good summit window for the next few days. We took pictures looking up to Camp Two and on to the summit as well as back the other way with the backdrop of Changtse’s sharp south-east ridge. We descended rapidly; keen to get back for a cup of tea and soup or for some straight to bed.

Our yaks arrived a day early so we departed for Base Camp the following day and on the next continued on our way home in the Landcruisers. We returned to Kathmandu overland, crossing into Nepal at the Friendship Bridge. It was a spectacular drive down through the gorge passing thousands of Chinese roadworkers working mainly by hand. Though in a couple of points they were aided by dynamite and a couple of bulldozers.

Back in Nepal we embraced the luxuries of hot water, beds, steaks and cold beer before flying back home. We covered huge distances and some dramatic terrain on this expedition from the Potala in Lhasa to over 7,000m on Everest then back down all the way to Kathmandu. A huge thanks to the drivers who took us safely to our hotels, the friendly yaks for carrying our bags, and mostly to our Nepalese staff; Pasang and Dawa, Nima Dende, Kajee and our Sirdar Sangee.

Mic Rofe
Expedition Leader « | »

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