Trip Reports

Khumbu Climber - 9 Oct to 5 Nov '10

Written by Team Member, March 2011

Overall the October 2010 Khumbu Climber was an amazing trip where many of us lived out our dreams of climbing a Himalayan peak over 20,000ft.

In fact most of the group summited all three of the peaks attempted.

The trip started with some frustrations when Lukla airfield had some of the longest delays it had ever experienced in recent years and we had to wait for four days for a flight.

Fortunately our agents handled the flight booking situation on the ground at the airport so we didn’t need to join the crowds of frustrated travellers at the domestic terminal.

Instead we relaxed in the pleasant grounds of the Summit Hotel with its 20 species of wild birds and 20 species of butterflies along with evening sorties to visit the classic Kathmandu attractions such as Swayambunath, Durbar Square and Bodnath.

Finally we whizzed off to Lukla in a hired helicopter – an exciting start to the trip.

Then it was the beautiful six day walk in from Lukla to Dingboche spending plenty of time acclimatising and generally taking it easy and enjoying the scenery – and weather – which dramatically improved on the third day of the walk in.

After that weather window was fantastic and we had blue skies and bright sunshine every day for the next nine days – perfect conditions for climbing.

Pokalde 5,806m (19,048ft) was our first objective. A steady hike via Bibre towards the Kongma La took us first to our base camp below a rocky cliff at about 5,000m.

The following day it was up to high camp at a c5,400m within sight of the Kongma La. The heat was fierce but the campsite very beautiful with crystal clear lakes and dramatic rock faces all around.

Pokalde itself was well covered in snow which delivered an interesting climb when we woke at 4am the next day ready for a 5am start.

It was a necessarily slow and steady lung-stretching climb on snow and rock which steepened a couple of times to the extent where an ice axe was needed. As the dawn broke we had amazing views on all sides.

Just before the summit, in particularly crumbly scree, we clipped in to a line for safety and the scramble to the airy summit which gave good views of Makalu, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, and even a particularly small looking Kala Pattar.

Crowding onto the small summit, all clipped in for safety, we enjoyed a photographic frenzy before descending in about two hours back to high camp – many feeling the effects of the altitude.

The following day it was on to Island Peak 6,119m (20,305ft) base camp via an interesting ridge walk dropping down into Chukkhung for lunch.

Our base camp was in a nice secluded area by a river away from the main expedition camps within sight of the Amphu Laptsa pass.

The next day it was on up to a rocky high camp about 5,500m for acclimatisation before waking at 2am for a 3am start.

It was a relatively mild -12C as we set up a rocky gulley in the pitch black arriving in the cold light of dawn at the roping up point on the edge of the glacier.

As we chugged up and down the ‘moguls’ on the glacier it was again a testing time but dawn broke spectacularly clear as we approached the snow slopes up to the final knife edge ridge and summit.

Fortunately our Sherpa team had fixed ropes up an entirely new and pristine line to the ridge avoiding the need to share ropes with other teams on the mountain.

I was lucky enough to get first crack up the 50 degree snow and ice which was fantastic, all that front pointing and ice climbing on the Jagged Globe Scottish trip earlier in the year, coming into play.

Finally up the knife edge ridge with amazing views from all angles to the top of a truly memorable and full on summit. It is easy to see why Island Peak is most popular of all the Asian summits.

The summit was soon crowded with a league of nations of teams and we were glad to be on our way down again with some nice thrilling abseils down some lovely hard crunchy snow.

Because of the flight delays early on there was no time to waste so after our descent to base camp (at the end of a long 12 hour day) we moved on to Dingboche and then straight on up towards Tugla.

As we spotted the lines of trekkers heading up towards Lobuje it was nice to be branching off here, off into a much wilder and less travelled route which heads up towards the Cho La pass.

After a couple of hours we headed off right towards the lower slopes of Lobuje East 6,105m (20,029ft) our next objective.

A pleasant base camp and then a short ascent to a rocky high camp – next to a very pretty lake – and we were poised for our final summit bid.

A brutal 1.30am wakeup is followed by a 2.30am start and then an interesting four hour slog up some amazing slabs up to the snow line.

Then, in the bright lights of another beautiful day, we headed up the last two hours of ascent up steep snow slopes – jumaring our way up and up into the deepest blue sky imaginable.

We hit the South Summit about 8.30am to handshakes all around and once again stunning views – this time including Everest.

The bravest of the brave, our leader Andy, guide Dawa, and the intrepid Mark and Jonathan, roped together and decided to go for the true summit further along the ridge line.

Unusually (it is usually blocked by a crevasse) it was accessible and the team topped out along the very exposed ridge after first descending to a notch.

Then our exhausted team did yet another fantastic abseil and slog back down to high camp, and base camp…….another long 12.5 hour walking day by the time we collapsed into base camp tents.

As an avid wildlife watcher it was with amusement most of the team watched as I notched up the species along the way.

Overall I recorded 51 bird species including Golden Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Lammergeier, Long-Legged Buzzard, Himalayan Monal, five species of redstart, seven species of warbler and five species of rosefinch.

Mammals were, as ever, in short supply but we saw good numbers of Himalayan Thar around Namche, Himalayan Pika at Lobuje East high camp and a mysterious field mouse – which doesn’t appear to be listed for the Khumbu – sitting tamely for its photographic admirers near the river at Sanasa.

No sign of the Snow Leopard – although one was photographed near Namche in 2008 and a 2004 study found evidence of them near Namche, Phortse and Gokyo.

Thanks must go to our excellent leader Andy Chapman whose climbing ability was only matched by his ability to recall the actual lengths of rope and numbers of teabags taken by Chris Bonnington’s 1980 Everest expedition.

Equally the whole experience would not have been possible without the excellent support of our Sherpa team led by the amazing Nima Temba, Dawa and Tam Ding.

All in all a truly memorable and life enhancing trip enjoyed by all.

David Tomney, Team Member « Previous report | Next report »

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