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 2004 Italian Everest North East Ridge Route Expedition | ||||||||||||||||||
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Mt Everest 2004 Cresta nord est Expedition. We are an Italian team of 4 members (3 men and a woman). We will make an attempt alpine style (no porters and, for 2 of us, without oxygen) to the Chomolungma North East Ridge Route (Chinese side). Below find a short English summary. 2004 Italian Everest North East Ridge Route Expedition Introduction: Many modern Himalayan expeditions differ from the very first ones of half a century ago mainly by a technical viewpoint. No more use of large amount of men and money but instead small groups of climbers who perform quick ascents alpine style, without the help of Sherpas, oxygen and fixed ropes. All this is made possible by the better knowledge of mountains, by the great medical advancements in high altitude physiology and, last but not least, by the tremendous improvements in technical materials. Following this philosophy, our ascent will try to show that reaching one of the most challenging goals of the recent past (i.e. climbing Mt. Everest by fair means) can now be within the reach of the non-professional, amateur climber, provided one undergoes a serious training together with an adequate experience of high altitude ascents. The North East Ridge Route: The route following the north east ridge is one of the two "normal routes" of Mount Everest. Historically, it was the first route where serious summit attempts took place (1922 and 1924). After the first successful climb in 1953 from the Nepal side, the second successful expedition was the Chinese team on the North Ridge in 1960. Although there are several variations known, the route of 1960 is the most frequently used one on the north side. Conditions change from year to year. The overall difficulty is about PD, not considering the altitude. Except for the three Steps, there are only short sections where one needs the hands for climbing; the rest is walking terrain. On the summit day, this walking terrain is rather exposed over the complete length. The Ascent: Our Expedition considers a whole duration of about 2 months during 2004 spring. From Italy to Kathmandu, one leaves the main road near Tingri (from where also Cho Oyu is reached). Via Lamna La Pass (5100 m), we enter the Rongbuk valley which leaves the Everest region northward. Here, at an altitude of about 5000 m, Rongbuk monastery is located. The base camp is located in the valley about 8 km south of Rongbuk monastery at about 5170 m. This is the furthermost point which can be reached by vehicle. Unfortunately, the distance to Mount Everest is still twenty kilometres as the crow flies. It would be desirable to have the base camp no higher than 5300 m, since one cannot acclimatize completely above this height. Therefore, an advanced base camp, ABC, will be established closer to the mountain. Here one spends most of the time. In case there are acclimatization problems, one has to return to the base camp for a couple of days. Also for a better recovery before a summit attempt one might want to spend some days at base camp. From a tactical point of view, the advantage of being close to the mountain compensates for the hard life in the ABC. From the base camp we follow the Rongbuk Glacier for some five kilometres until the valley of the Eastern Rongbuk Glacier joins. Then we follow this valley; it soon levels off. The junctions of the Far East Rongbuk Glacier and Changtse Glacier are passed by around several curves, until - having made about 13 kilometres in the valley - the place of the ABC is reached. It is situated at about 6400 m on the north-western side moraine of East Rongbuk Glacier, under the slopes of Changtse. From ABC we plan to reach the summit by three high camps. Giuseppe POMPILI
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