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Everest North fall debrief - Tendy's side of the story

Nov 26, 2004 18: 39 EST

They were the only Everest expedition this fall, and they went from the tricky North side. But the bold attempt ended in heated feelings somewhere around camp 2 - in great weather. Sep 21, the Everest North side expedition called it quits:

"On 7000 meters a discussion with the sherpas arose. There was too little rope and the sherpas considered the circumstances too dangerous climb. Last week they had a close call when an avalanche came down. Now they wouldn't advance. Perhaps this is a wise decision, considering all circumstances, but we are of course terribly fed up!" wrote Werner, the expedition leader.

Harry: The Sherpas were unmotivated

Harry Kikstra, a member of the expedition, was less diplomatic. About the team Sherpas he said: "Normally they work for 2 days, then rest one day, but the last 3 weeks they had only fixed rope to 7200m and carried few loads, equaling about 4-5 days of work."

The Sherpas were unmotivated, he wrote - there wasn't enough rope, they kept avoiding answering straight questions and acted emotional. There were too few yaks ordered which rendered high extra costs.

Harry: Tendy said the reason was finacial

After the expedition, the team discussed the situation with the outfitter Tendy from Iceland trekking, who refunded the extra yak costs: "Tendy also told us that the reluctance and low moral of the Sherpas was very likely just financial: They used security as a way to secure extra bonuses for climbing, negotiating so to speak... So their game and 'mutiny' was the main reason the team had decided to stop, trusting the experience of the Sherpas, one of them who had summited 4 times before."

Werner: The Sherpas said there wasn't enough rope

Added Werner: "I asked our trekking agency if there was enough rope on the truck: We are all alone and needed much rope on this snow covered mountain. They repeatedly assured us that there was about 4-5 km rope in the truck.

Later on the mountain, as I was climbing to camp 2 on 7.500 m, the sherpas were sitting in the snow, telling me that they had no rope left and could not finish their job. I was very surprised. No more than 3 km rope had been brought on the truck. A big mistake by the trekking company.

Because there was no more rope, needed so badly for higher camps, the sherpas didn't want to climb anymore or were not motivated to do so, and the rest of the team only wished to go home - further climbing was unsafe."

Tendy: There was enough of everything

ExplorersWeb checked with the expedition outfitter, Tendy of Iceland trekking, for some answers. Here's his side of the story:

ExWeb: Did you send 5 km of rope?

No, I sent only 3000 meter rope, because 5000 meter rope is not necessary for 2348 meters distance. But sherpa's and climbers told me that they lost 6 rolls of rope which is 200 meter each. That means they lost 1200 meter rope. They said it had been stolen.

We needed to fix rope only above ABC, 6500 to 8848 summit is only 2348 meter. I'm sure 3000 meter rope would have covered it. If they really were short of rope they should have called me to send more rope, but unfortunately they never informed me.

I replaced their solar panel and heater, if they had asked for more rope, I would have had it at Base Camp within 24 hours. When they came back to Kathmandu, I found 1100 meters unused rope in a barrel in my store.

ExWeb: Did you order the correct number of yaks?

Yes, I ordered 4 yaks for each member to ABC and 3 Yaks each back - which is the Rule of the Chinese Agency. All other expeditions pay their own extra yak, but our Dutch team did not pay for it.

How many days in total did the Sherpas climb above ABC?

I'm not sure about that - I think the Sherpa's fixed rope and supplied food & equipment about 10 days up to Camp 2, at 7500 meters.

Are the Sherpas you contract aware of the dangers that come with the job of climbing Everest in autumn season? (Avalanche, fall, etc)

Yes, they found it very dangerous with avalanche and several days of heavy snow fall. One of my climbing sherpa was in an avalanche and almost killed, he could protect himself because he is very experienced and a Nepali climbing instructor.

Why exactly didn't the Sherpas proceed higher?

All my Sherpa's came down to ABC after they set up Camp 2 to have a rest day. But at that time the climbers in ABC decided to cancel the expedition. They had already called for the Yaks and so the Sherpa's agreed to cancel and didn't force them to continue.

What date did the Sherpas decide to abort the expedition?

It is 100% not true that the Sherpa's aborted the Expedition. The climbers made the decision. Sherpa's have no right to abort an expedition because they are staff.

What are the 3 Sherpas previous experience on 8000+ mountains?

1. Lakpa Sherpa is an Instructor of Mountaineering in Nepal. He has Climbed Everest/Cho-Oyu and many other 6000+ peaks.

2. Pemba Nuri Sherpa is a very strong climber. He has summited Everest from both sides, and has done many expeditions.

3. Boka Lama has been to Everest Summit 4 times, and he has done many other expeditions.

ExWeb: Why did Boka Lama state that he did not want to go to the summit?

Boka Lama is a very experienced Sherpa. He didn't like that the climbers were only staying at Base Camp + ABC and talking only about the Summit. He is not happy because the climbers weren't supporting them and only forced them to quickly build a route up to the summit. This man always likes to talk about the summit only when the last camp is fixed and if climbers feel fine at last Camp. Only then does he want to talk summit.

He said that to talk about summit at ABC, is like a young student who doesn't want to study but dream to become a doctor. That's why he just said that he is not going to summit. On the other hand he also said that there should be one person at the last Camp for rescue purposes. He wanted to remain at 8300 meters last Camp on stand by, to help summit climbers and Sherpa's.

A Dutch expedition attempted Everest from the north side this fall. Everest north autumn expeditions are rare. The team was to be on the mountain to October 15th, but aborted Sep 21. Universal Summit’s ‘Dutch Chomolungma Expedition 2004’ is a non-profit expedition of low cost.

Iceland Trekking are outfitters of treks and climbs in Himalaya. This year they outfitted a Shisha Pangma Expedition (Alpine style climb), Cho Oyu, Baruntse, Amadablam, and a number of trekking peaks.

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