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Youngest French lady climber to climb Lhotse
Daily Video Journal of the Sophie's Lhotse climb
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Showing posts with label Lhotse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lhotse. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Daily Video Journal of the Sophie Denis' Lhotse climb
Day 1 - 05-14-11
Lhotse Base Camp : First weather report feedback
On the 18/19th the wind should low down early morning and it should start snowing in the afternoon. So we are trying to hit a very small weather window just few hours of ok weather.
Feedback on weather report
Day 2 - 05-15-11
Lhotse Base Camp : We are leaving tomorrow morning
I am pretty sick. I have a nasty sore throat and some stomach issues. Due to bad weather we postpone by a day our climbing summit push.We are leaving tomorrow instead of today . I am happy because I have one more rest day to recover.
Day 3 - 05-16-11
Lhotse Base Camp to Camp 2
Day 4 - 05-17-11
Camp 2 to Camp 3
Day 5 - 05-18-11
Camp 3 to Camp 4
DAY 6 - SUMMIT PUSH
We start climbing pretty late due to the bad weather condition. It was snowing for 12h straight. We start at 4am, then along the climb we had the bad surprise to discover that the line was not fixed. So Tsering and I start fixing the line. We fixed about 100m. Thankfully, the Himex Sherpa team came up that day o fix the line, so our job was done.
Early Morning Feedback
Feedback before climbing the icy couloir
We fixed 100m rope - happy to have helped ...
Himex Sherpa fixing the line on Lhotse - deep snow
almost there ....
Last steps ...
5m away from the top
Sophie's big smile at the top of Mount Lhotse. Sophie summit at 3pm on 05/19/11
Panoramic view from the summit of Lhotse. (you can see Makalu, Everest, Cho Oyu ... )
View of Everest on the way down from Lhotse Summit .... SPLENDID
Day 7 - 05-20-11
Camp 3 to Camp 2
We start from Camp 3 pretty late due to the bad weather. Once arrived at Camp 2 at 11am, we had lunch. When we finished packing our personal stuff at Camp, 2 it was already noon. We were tired from our climb and it was a bite late to go to the ice fall. So we've decided to stay and sleep at Camp 2. (We are in no rush, so let's take it easy and try to take a minimum of risk in the Ice fall.)Camp 3 to Camp 2
Day 8 - 05-21-11
Camp 2 to Base Camp
Breakfast at Camp 2
World Record of Altitude in Paragliding
(the tiny red dot is Babu and Lakpa view from Camp 1)
Crossing crevasse in Kumbu Ice fall is a very slow and quite dangerous process
video coming soon
Pumori big Avalanche
When you climb Mount Everest or Lhotse, you mainly hear 2 sounds : the sound of avalanches and the sound of crevasses cracking (under your tent)
video coming soon
Day 9 - 05-22-11
Last Day at Base Camp
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Lhotse daily news: SUMMIT May 19th 2011
From Ryan blog
Very pleased to announce that on May 19th, Lakpa Dorjee Sherpa, French climber Sophie Denis, and Ryan Waters reached the amazingly beautiful summit of Mount Lhotse.
Nous sommes très heureux de vous annoncer que le 19 mai, Lakpa Dorjee Sherpa, l'alpiniste francaise Sophie Denis et Ryan Waters ont atteint le magnifique sommet de Lhotse.
We are pleased that we pushed on that morning after lots of questions kind of floating about, first there was a lot of snow falling most of the night, we knew that parts of the route had been fixed but not all of the route, and one other group started the climb then returned to camp 4 since they were unsure about it being "the day" for those very reasons.
Nous sommes très contents d'avoir poursuivi l'ascension ce matin là malgrès de nombreuses inconnues: premièrement on avait peur qu'une grosse quantité de neige fraiche gene notre progression car il avait neigé une grande partie de la nuit et de plus son savait qu'une partie de la route n'avait pas été equipée (de protection). C'est d'ailleurs pour ces précédentes raisons qu'un autre groupe a préféré renoncer considérant qu'il valait peut être mieux attendre de meilleurs conditions.
Our scrappy little team just basically said lets be mountaineers and get up on the route and see what we can do. We left camp 4 at 7,800 meters relatively late at 4 a.m. and started climbing, and were soon joined by the teams that had turned back.
Notre petite équipe s'est alors dit: Réagissons comme des montagnards et Allons-y. Nous verrons sur place ce que l'on peut faire. Nous avons donc quitté le camp 4 à 7800m vers 4h du matin (pas vraiment en avance) pour commencer l'ascension et nous avons rapidement croisé des équipes qui avaient fait demi tour.
At the base of the couliour, we met up with a team of Sherpas who were meant to fix the upper part of the route for Himex, who had clients coming later to climb. A big thanks to those boys who did a lot of work on the route that day! So we joined into a big team of foreigners and Sherpas all enjoying a wonderful day of warm weather with low winds, up the 500 meter awesome gully over mixed rock, snow, and ice to the summit!
Ensuite, à la base du couloir, nous avons rejoint une équipe de Sherpas qui était en train de sécuriser la dernière partie de l'ascension en fixant des cordes fixes pour leurs clients qui arriveraient un peu plus tard (compagnie Himex). Un grand merci à ces gars qui ont fait un gros boulot ce jour là. Nous avons donc finalement rejoint une grosse equipe de grimpeurs étrangers et de Sherpas, tous ensemble, nous avons pu profiter de cette journée magnifique: chaude avec peu de vent. Nous avons poursuivi de cette façon pendant les 500 derniers metres de l'ascension alliant rocher, neige et glace.
Sophie summit at 3pm - Ryan at 4pm
It has been a whole lot of work but we succeeded and ready for the warm, sunny, beer and food filled walk out the solo khumbu in a couple days.
Cela a été un gros boulot mais nous y sommes arrivés et nous sommes désormais pret pour enfin profiter dans quelques jours de la chaleur, du soleil, d'une bonne bière et d'un bon repas dans la vallée.
Nous sommes très heureux de vous annoncer que le 19 mai, Lakpa Dorjee Sherpa, l'alpiniste francaise Sophie Denis et Ryan Waters ont atteint le magnifique sommet de Lhotse.
We are pleased that we pushed on that morning after lots of questions kind of floating about, first there was a lot of snow falling most of the night, we knew that parts of the route had been fixed but not all of the route, and one other group started the climb then returned to camp 4 since they were unsure about it being "the day" for those very reasons.
Nous sommes très contents d'avoir poursuivi l'ascension ce matin là malgrès de nombreuses inconnues: premièrement on avait peur qu'une grosse quantité de neige fraiche gene notre progression car il avait neigé une grande partie de la nuit et de plus son savait qu'une partie de la route n'avait pas été equipée (de protection). C'est d'ailleurs pour ces précédentes raisons qu'un autre groupe a préféré renoncer considérant qu'il valait peut être mieux attendre de meilleurs conditions.
Our scrappy little team just basically said lets be mountaineers and get up on the route and see what we can do. We left camp 4 at 7,800 meters relatively late at 4 a.m. and started climbing, and were soon joined by the teams that had turned back.
Notre petite équipe s'est alors dit: Réagissons comme des montagnards et Allons-y. Nous verrons sur place ce que l'on peut faire. Nous avons donc quitté le camp 4 à 7800m vers 4h du matin (pas vraiment en avance) pour commencer l'ascension et nous avons rapidement croisé des équipes qui avaient fait demi tour.
At the base of the couliour, we met up with a team of Sherpas who were meant to fix the upper part of the route for Himex, who had clients coming later to climb. A big thanks to those boys who did a lot of work on the route that day! So we joined into a big team of foreigners and Sherpas all enjoying a wonderful day of warm weather with low winds, up the 500 meter awesome gully over mixed rock, snow, and ice to the summit!
Ensuite, à la base du couloir, nous avons rejoint une équipe de Sherpas qui était en train de sécuriser la dernière partie de l'ascension en fixant des cordes fixes pour leurs clients qui arriveraient un peu plus tard (compagnie Himex). Un grand merci à ces gars qui ont fait un gros boulot ce jour là. Nous avons donc finalement rejoint une grosse equipe de grimpeurs étrangers et de Sherpas, tous ensemble, nous avons pu profiter de cette journée magnifique: chaude avec peu de vent. Nous avons poursuivi de cette façon pendant les 500 derniers metres de l'ascension alliant rocher, neige et glace.
Sophie summit at 3pm - Ryan at 4pm
It has been a whole lot of work but we succeeded and ready for the warm, sunny, beer and food filled walk out the solo khumbu in a couple days.
Cela a été un gros boulot mais nous y sommes arrivés et nous sommes désormais pret pour enfin profiter dans quelques jours de la chaleur, du soleil, d'une bonne bière et d'un bon repas dans la vallée.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Lhotse Daily News: May 14th 2011 - Time to Go
Message From Ryan Summit Push On!
14 May, 11 - 11:30
We plan to leave for camp 2 on the morning of the 15th. The weather report is not necessarily the best but sometimes you got to go climbing and see! We feel there will be a lull in the winds up at the Lhotse summit on the 18th and 19th, the downside is there will be a good chance of late afternoon snows on these days.
Nous prévoyons de partir pour le camp 2 le 15 au matin. Les prévisions météo ne sont pas idéales mais parfois il faut mieux y aller et aviser sur place! Nous présetons une accalmie les 18 et 19 avec une baisse du vent mais d'un autre coté il risque d'y avoir des chutes de neiges en fin de journée.
So we will try and sneak up to the top the morning of the 18th. Exciting time to be planning for the summit now. I have been up through the Icefall 4 times already this year on load carries and acclimatization, so am anxious to make this the final time!
Nous allons donc essayer de se faufiler vers le sommet à partir du 18 au matin. Et rien de plus excitant que de prévoir son jour d'ascension. Cette année, j'ai déjà traversé 4 fois la cascade de glace entre le camp de base et le camp 1 , pour transporter du matériel ou pour l'acclimatation. Aussi je suis impatient de le faire pour la dernière fois!
Each time up in the Western Cwm it has been blazing hot and very strong reflection of sun off the snow. I have been using my ZEAL Optics Flyers and the lenses cannot be beat! These are the lenses I used during 70 days of sunlight across Antarctica as well. For summit day I have my ZEAL goggles with SPX lenses to protect from wind and sun.
All the Sierra Designs down clothing has been awesome, the Gnar Jacket is the ultimate mid warmth layer and I will wear that along with wool long underwear bottoms under my SD down Top and Bottom, for total warmth on the predicted -24 degree C summit elevation.
Anxious and excited are how we feel now, all the books are worn out, tea and coffee with friends... check, pouring over weather reports... they all blend into one now, lets go climbing!
Nous nous sentons anxieux et excités, tous les livres sont usés, et prenons du thé et du café avec des amis ... à éplucher les différents bulletins météo ... mais nous avons fait notre choix maintenant et désormais le temps est venu de grimper !
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Lhoste News: May 12th 2011 in Everest Base Camp
From Here
Sophie and Ryan plan to wait a few days to pick a good summit day according to upcoming weather reports. Sophie has arrived in the valley fresh off an ascent of Cho Oyu in Tibet, so the plan will be to climb straight up to camp 2, then camp 3, with a stop at camp 4 at the base of the Lhotse route to the summit. So stay tuned in as we pray to the weather gods and pick a date very soon to launch off into that summit push world and out of the base camp weather talk bubble!
Sophie et Ryan prévoient d'attendre quelques jours pour tenter l'ascension en fonction des bulletins météorologiques à venir. Sophie est arrivée au camp de base tout juste descendue de l'ascension du Cho Oyu au Tibet, si bien que Sophie et Ryan prévoient de monter directement au camp 2, puis le camp 3, avec un arrêt au camp 4 là ou la route vers le sommet du Lhotse se différencie de celle de l'Everest. Alors restez à l'écoute et souhaitez leur du beau temps pour qu'ils puissent enfin s'élancer à l'assaut du sommet (en plus cela permettra de parler d'autre chose que de la météo...).
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Cho Oyu and Lhotse Climbing Strategy
CHO OYU
Cho Oyu is the 6th highest peak in the world (8201 meters) and is part of the Greater Himalaya, where the central Asia plateau meets the Indian subcontinent.
The Tibetan folktale of Cho Oyu (meaning Turquoise God) is that he fell in love with the Goddess Chomolungma (Everest), who later married her closer neighbor to the southeast, Makalu. Cho Oyu never married and he now faces the opposite way of Chomolungma.
Short note about climbing route:
Camp 1 is at altitude of 6400m. To reach at Camp 1 we have to walk for about 4-6 hours from advance base camp via an initial walk up the Gyabrag Glacier, up steep screc to a broad snow shoulder.
Camp 2 is at altitude of 7150 m. We have to follow the snow ridge out of Camp 1 to a steep 50 meter ice wall, which provides most challenging climbing on this route.
Camp 3 is located at altitude of 7500m. After 4/5 hours walk from Camp 2 we can reach camp 3. At this altitude there is a tremendous sense of effort to gain further height. The final summit push will be made from this camp and takes about 6-9 hours
ITINERARY
Day #1 - April 11th - START drive to Nylam (CHINA) ~3000m/12,303ft
Day #2 - April 12th - Acclimatization Hike (up to 4000m)
Day #3 - April 13th - Drive Tingri (4390m/14,420ft)
Day #4 - April 14th - Acclimatization Hike (up to 5000m)
Day #5 - April 15th - Drive to Cho Oyu Chinese Base Camp (CBC)
Day #6 - April 16th - Trek to Intermediate Base Camp (IBC)
Day #7 - April 17th - Trek to Advanced Base Camp (ABC) : 5800m/19,024ft
Day #8 - April 18th - Acclimatization Day at ABC
Day #9 - April 19th - Rest day at ABC
Day #10 - April 20th - Climb to Camp I (6500m) spend a night at Camp I
Day #11 - April 21th - Go down to ABC
Day #12 - April 22th - Rest day at ABC
Day #13 - April 23th - Rest day at ABC
Day #14 - April 24th - Climb to Camp I (6500m) spend a night at Camp I
Day #15 - April 25th - Rest day at Camp I and spend a night at Camp I
Day #16 - April 26th - Climb to Camp II (7100m/23,288 feet) spend a night at Camp II
Day #17 - April 27th - maybe another night at Camp II or go down to ABC
Day #18 - April 28th - Rest day at ABC
Day #19 - April 29th - Rest day at ABC
Day #20 - April 30th - Rest day at ABC
Day #21 - May 1st - Climb to Camp I (6500m) spend a night at Camp I
Day #22 - May 2nd - Rest day at Camp I and spend a night at Camp I
Day #23 - May 3rd - Climb to Camp II (7100m/23,288 feet) spend a night at Camp II
Day #24 - May 4th - Climb to Camp III (7400m/24,272 feet)
Day #25 - May 5th - Summit Day if window of good weather (otherwise I will wait at Camp II until good weather) : On summit day we leave at 2 a.m. and I should summit between 9-11 a.m.
Day #26 - May 6th - Spare Summit Day
Day #27 - May 7th - Spare Summit Day
Day #28 - May 8th - Spare Summit Day
Day #29 - May 9th - Spare Summit Day
Day #30 - May 10th - Spare Summit Day
Day #31 - May 11th - Spare Summit Day
Day #32 - May 12th - Spare Summit Day
Day #33 - May 13th - Go back to Chinese Base Camp
Day #34 - May 14th - Drive back to Kathmandu
LHOTSE CLIMB
Day #35 - May 15th - Fly to Luckla, trek up to Namche, sleep at Namche
Day #36 - May 16th - Trek From Namche to Dingboche, sleep at Dinboche
Day #37 - May 17th - Trek From Dingboche to Everest Base Camp
Day #38 - May 18th - Rest day at Everest Base Camp
Day #39 - May 19th - Climb to Camp II
Day #40 - May 20th - Rest day
Day #41 - May 21th - Climb to Camp III
Day #42 - May 22th - Climb to Camp IV
Day #43 - May 23th - Summit day back at Camp III
Day #44 - May 24th - Climb down to Everest Base Camp
Day #45 - May 25th - Rest day
Day #46 - May 26th - Go down to Pheriche
Day #47 - May 27th - Go down to Namche
Day #48 - May 28th - Rest day
Day #49 - May 29th - Go down to Luckla
Day #50 - May 30th - Go back to Kathmandu
Day #51 - May 31th - Enjoy Rest in Kathmandu
Cho Oyu is the 6th highest peak in the world (8201 meters) and is part of the Greater Himalaya, where the central Asia plateau meets the Indian subcontinent.
The Tibetan folktale of Cho Oyu (meaning Turquoise God) is that he fell in love with the Goddess Chomolungma (Everest), who later married her closer neighbor to the southeast, Makalu. Cho Oyu never married and he now faces the opposite way of Chomolungma.
Short note about climbing route:
Camp 1 is at altitude of 6400m. To reach at Camp 1 we have to walk for about 4-6 hours from advance base camp via an initial walk up the Gyabrag Glacier, up steep screc to a broad snow shoulder.
Camp 2 is at altitude of 7150 m. We have to follow the snow ridge out of Camp 1 to a steep 50 meter ice wall, which provides most challenging climbing on this route.
Camp 3 is located at altitude of 7500m. After 4/5 hours walk from Camp 2 we can reach camp 3. At this altitude there is a tremendous sense of effort to gain further height. The final summit push will be made from this camp and takes about 6-9 hours
ITINERARY
Day #1 - April 11th - START drive to Nylam (CHINA) ~3000m/12,303ft
Day #2 - April 12th - Acclimatization Hike (up to 4000m)
Day #3 - April 13th - Drive Tingri (4390m/14,420ft)
Day #4 - April 14th - Acclimatization Hike (up to 5000m)
Day #5 - April 15th - Drive to Cho Oyu Chinese Base Camp (CBC)
Day #6 - April 16th - Trek to Intermediate Base Camp (IBC)
Day #7 - April 17th - Trek to Advanced Base Camp (ABC) : 5800m/19,024ft
Day #8 - April 18th - Acclimatization Day at ABC
Day #9 - April 19th - Rest day at ABC
Day #10 - April 20th - Climb to Camp I (6500m) spend a night at Camp I
Day #11 - April 21th - Go down to ABC
Day #12 - April 22th - Rest day at ABC
Day #13 - April 23th - Rest day at ABC
Day #14 - April 24th - Climb to Camp I (6500m) spend a night at Camp I
Day #15 - April 25th - Rest day at Camp I and spend a night at Camp I
Day #16 - April 26th - Climb to Camp II (7100m/23,288 feet) spend a night at Camp II
Day #17 - April 27th - maybe another night at Camp II or go down to ABC
Day #18 - April 28th - Rest day at ABC
Day #19 - April 29th - Rest day at ABC
Day #20 - April 30th - Rest day at ABC
Day #21 - May 1st - Climb to Camp I (6500m) spend a night at Camp I
Day #22 - May 2nd - Rest day at Camp I and spend a night at Camp I
Day #23 - May 3rd - Climb to Camp II (7100m/23,288 feet) spend a night at Camp II
Day #24 - May 4th - Climb to Camp III (7400m/24,272 feet)
Day #25 - May 5th - Summit Day if window of good weather (otherwise I will wait at Camp II until good weather) : On summit day we leave at 2 a.m. and I should summit between 9-11 a.m.
Day #26 - May 6th - Spare Summit Day
Day #27 - May 7th - Spare Summit Day
Day #28 - May 8th - Spare Summit Day
Day #29 - May 9th - Spare Summit Day
Day #30 - May 10th - Spare Summit Day
Day #31 - May 11th - Spare Summit Day
Day #32 - May 12th - Spare Summit Day
Day #33 - May 13th - Go back to Chinese Base Camp
Day #34 - May 14th - Drive back to Kathmandu
LHOTSE CLIMB
Day #35 - May 15th - Fly to Luckla, trek up to Namche, sleep at Namche
Day #36 - May 16th - Trek From Namche to Dingboche, sleep at Dinboche
Day #37 - May 17th - Trek From Dingboche to Everest Base Camp
Day #38 - May 18th - Rest day at Everest Base Camp
Day #39 - May 19th - Climb to Camp II
Day #40 - May 20th - Rest day
Day #41 - May 21th - Climb to Camp III
Day #42 - May 22th - Climb to Camp IV
Day #43 - May 23th - Summit day back at Camp III
Day #44 - May 24th - Climb down to Everest Base Camp
Day #45 - May 25th - Rest day
Day #46 - May 26th - Go down to Pheriche
Day #47 - May 27th - Go down to Namche
Day #48 - May 28th - Rest day
Day #49 - May 29th - Go down to Luckla
Day #50 - May 30th - Go back to Kathmandu
Day #51 - May 31th - Enjoy Rest in Kathmandu
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