The summit of Lhakpa Ri

Lhakpa La and the Kharde Glacier

Summit success - Lhakpa Ri 7050m
24 Aug 2005    
This morning at 9am Nepal time our climbing team reached the summit of our seven thousand metre objective, Lhakpa Ri. We spent about half an hour admiring the view in gorgeous clear conditions. We could see all around – Lhotse, the rarely seen North Face of Makalu, Chomolonzo, Kanchenjunga off in the distance, and a sweep of 6000 and 7000m peaks. Gyachung Kang, Cho Oyu, Changste, and of course, Everest – right there! The North Col, the West Ridge, Fantasy Ridge (NE Ridge), and the Kangshung Face. You get the idea.

Summiteers were:
Jim Morrow
Emma Wilson
Richard Moriarty
Duncan Chessell
Jyamchang Bhote
Jamling Bhote
Purba Bhote
Passang Sherpa

We’re all taking a well-earned rest back at our camp on Mallory’s Lhakpa La. Well, all except for Jamling - he’s delivering me another cup of tea. From camp we can see the yak drivers at ABC loading up the yaks, and Kevin, Densa and Gyanu are setting off back to Base Camp and Rongbuk Monastery.

Kevin is feeling fine and he and the guys will travel with their Tibetan guide from BC by road to Yuba. From there they will walk up the valley to meet us as we descend from our high traverse. So – Kevin will be having a custom-adventure with Gyanu and Densa. Gyanu has been DCXP’s trekking guide, sirdar and head cook for more than 10 years and has worked in Tibet many times. And Densa is from the Nepalese valley just over the border from Yuba, so Kevin is in for a treat.

We (the traverse team) plan to head off tomorrow - Thursday - in Mallory’s footsteps. With sunlight from 5am to 7pm and our Paris expedition sleds to help bear the loads, we should make good progress to our camp on Karbo La. Hank at Paris will be pleased to know that the sleds have again made great snow and wind shields for the kitchen as well as making load-carrying much easier.