Trip Reports

Lhakpa Ri & The North Col - 28 Apr to 26 May '07

Lhakpa Ri from our camp at ABC on Everest

Written by Leader Paul Donovan, June 2007

Success in Tibet - Jagged Globe team members reach 7,000m for the first time, on Lhakpa Ri & the North Col of Everest. Most of the team met at LHR before departing initially for Doha & onward to Kathmandu where we met our penultimate team member. A day in Kathmandu allowed us to organise our Chinese visa as well as explore the sights and meet up with the Jagged Globe EBC trek team & Cauldwell Everest Extreme 'Brain' Team.

Time to leave Kathmandu & head for Lhasa. This was a 50 minute flight over the Himalayas, taking in some stunning sights, including Mount Everest. On arrival at Lhasa airport, we travelled some 55km to the main city of Lhasa & our hotel for the next 3 nights. Here we met our final team member. With the team now complete, it was time to explore Lhasa and its many wonders, including the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple. A half day trek up a nearby holy mountain allowed us great views across the valley, back towards Lhasa.

With all the team acclimatising well, it was time to move on, along the 'Friendship Highway' - a road that has been built by the Chinese from Lhasa to the Nepali border. Firstly to Shigatse (240km from Lhasa & at 3,900m), then onto Shegar (500km from Lhasa & at 4,300m). We spent two days in Shegar to allow us to acclimatise further as we were now at 4,300m. An acclimatisation trek to a nearby hill top ruin gave us a height of 4,575m, which helped us to further acclimatise in preparation for EBC.

It was time to move onto the next leg of our journey, driving the 100km from Shegar to EBC. Our Nepali Sherpa team greeted us on our arrival, and we said our farewells to our Tibetan guide & drivers. Everest felt close now as it loomed 3,650m above us. Camp was established below the memorial hill. We spent the next four days preparing ourselves for what lay ahead, including a couple of acclimatisation treks and ropework for glacial travel on Lhakpa Ri & fixed rope travel up to the North Col.

The team continued to acclimatise well, so there was no putting off the next stage. This began with a trek to Advance Base Camp (ABC) which us took three days. Some do this in two days, whilst the most acclimatised do it in one day - 23km with an ascent of 1,200m. During our ascent to ABC, two of our team members left us and returned to Kathmandu. This was a loss to the team, but we had no option but to continue. On the third day we arrived at ABC. Here we made ourselves comfortable. We were here for the next eight days. What a great view to look out onto as we unzipped the tent door each morning! The time spent here gave us plenty of opportunity to acclimatise to the height of 6,350m, and work on our skills that would assist us in our progress up the mountain - glacial travel, use of crampons & ice axe, crevasse rescue, moving on fixed ropes. We were situated on the fringe of the main East Rongbuk Glacier - an ideal location for all our training needs.

Day 21 was now upon us and time to climb Lhakpa Ri. The day began early as we made our way across the glacier in darkness, to the foot of the rise. Slowly but surely we made progress and at 6,650m Martin had made a decision to return to ABC. This he did with Tashi, one of our climbing sherpas. At 6,800m, it became apparent that one of the team members was unwell and needed to return to ABC at once. The lead rope team continued, while we returned to ABC. They eventually summited at around 12:30, just as we made it back to ABC. The summit team returned by 16:00, exhausted after a 12 hour day.

It was important that we rested the following day as there was only one day between Lhakpa Ri & the ascent to North Col. Yet another early start, we made our way up towards the North Col, stopping only at 'crampon point' to, yes, you guessed it, put on our crampons. We continued across the glacier to the bottom of the fixed ropes and looked up. Wow! It was at this point that Pete decided to return, exhausted from his summiting of Lhakpa Ri. David wasn't far behind him and following some progress on the fixed ropes decided to return with Pete. The rest of us continued. It was slow steady progress but very worthwhile. The weather was great, but the temperatures did exceed 30 degrees, making it very hot at times. We made the North Col by midday and celebrated together for a while before beginning our descent back to ABC.

A rest day at ABC, allowed us to refuel before returning initially to EBC, then onto Zhangmu on the Tibetan/Nepali border. A further day’s drive returned us to Kathmandu. A very successful trip with three team members reaching the summit of Lhakpa Ri & three team members reaching the North Col.

Many thanks to all the team members, including our Sherpa Team, the Tibetan guides & drivers and of course the Jagged Globe team members - James, Martin, Pete, David, Clare, Richard, John & Trevor.

Llongyfarchiadau Pawb

Paul Donovan
Expedition Leader.« Previous report | Next report »

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