The Himalaya by the Numbers: A Statistical Analysis - Himalayan ...

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100 75 50 25 0 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 Chart C-5g: Climbing activity (members above base camp) for the Kanjiroba-Far West region from 1970-2006 from the Kali Gandaki valley. Maoist presence has discouraged approaching through Dolpo from the west or up the Myagdi Khola from Beni. The Kanjiroba-Far West region generally has experienced very low activity except in 1996 and 2000. But in both these cases, the two spikes in Chart C-5g are the result of only two expeditions. A 12-person Slovenian expedition in 1996 led by Roman Robas Api-Bobaye-Nampa Trilogy From The Seasonal Stories of Elizabeth Hawley – Autumn 1996 The first ascent of Bobaye, a 6808m mountain in the far west of Nepal, was accomplished in alpine style by one member alone from a Slovenian team that set out to scale simultaneously three western peaks, all by new routes in alpine style, and they succeeded in their ambitious objective on all three; in fact, on Bobaye the soloist made the first attempt via any route. This expedition of ten climbers led by Roman Robas established a central base camp for their climbs of the three mountains, two better-known peaks, Api and Nampa, which had been successfully climbed in earlier years, as well as the virgin Bobaye. The three stand near each other in a triangle with Bobaye south of Nampa and southeast of Api. No Sherpas, no fixed ropes, no fixed camps figured in these ascents, none of which took longer than four days from depots at the feet of their mountain faces to their respective summits. Bobaye was scaled by Tomaz Humar, who began his climb from a depot at 4300m on 1 November at 2:00 a.m. by crossing a glacier in deep snow on his hands and knees because of fear of hidden crevasses. Then he moved onto the west face and into a small diagonal couloir, where he had to hurry because its 80-degree slope was a chute for pieces of ice from a frozen waterfall. He traversed the face towards the northwest ridge; he wanted to bivouac on the ridge, but deep soft snow made his progress very slow, so at 3:00 p.m. he bivouacked on the face at 5500m in an ice cave under seracs. 24 Analysis of Climbing Activity Climbing Activity for the Kanjiroba-Far West Region (1970-2006) 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 Members Above BC Trend (Members Above BC) 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
The next day Humar resumed his ascent at 5:30 a.m., reached the northwest ridge and crossed over onto the mixed ice and rock of the northwest face, came to a rock band with thin ice cover at 6500m, then a col (saddle) between Bobaye’s middle and main summits and finally up the last 30-40 vertical meters or 150 linear meters on the north ridge from the col to the highest point at 1:00 p.m. Most of his ascent had been on terrain slanting at 60 to 90 degrees. At the summit he had clear weather although gusts of wind were blowing snow horizontally, and it was very cold. In his descent he took a different, more direct line via the west pillar and west face, avoiding the extremely difficult northwest face, and was back in his bivouac at 4:00 p.m. This was 27year-old Humar’s first solo climb. Nampa stands north of Bobaye. Here two other Slovenians, Matija Jost and Peter Meznar, pioneered a new route via the central couloir of its southwest face, and on 3 November they made the second ascent of the 6755m mountain on the fourth day of their assault. They began their climb from their 4200m depot at 10:00 p.m. on the 31st of October, and just above a large crevasse at 4500m they entered an ice couloir. They needed two hours to surmount the first 300 vertical meters of the 50-degree couloir, but they had to spend nine hours on the next very steep (85-degree) 400m section. At the top of the gully, at 5500m, they rested for four hours on the rocks of a ridge to the left of the top of the couloir, climbed for three hours on the ridge, then stopped again and now, at 6:00 p.m. on 1 November, made their first bivouac at 5600m and went to sleep. Next day they started late at 10:00 a.m., continued up the ridge and bivouacked at 6300m at 6:00 p.m. Finally on 3 November they gained the summit after coming close to the west ridge and joining the route by which a Japanese team in the spring of 1972 had made the mountain’s first ascent. They were at the top at 9:50 a.m., descended by the west ridge and briefly by the north face to 5800m, where they found a Japanese piton and rope, and on down to their final bivouac at 8:00 p.m. at 4800m on rock below a col on the west ridge. Three more members of the expedition set out on 1 November for an ascent of the highest of the Slovenians’ peaks, 7132m Api, which is west of Nampa, on a route that had been attempted by a British team in the autumn of 1992. (Led by Robert Brown, the five Britons had to abandon their climb because of heavy snowfall and lack of time after they had reached 6000m. The Slovenians found some of their pitons and rope.) The British called the feature they climbed the south face, but the Slovenians believe it is more accurately described as the southeast face, and they completed the British route. They were the fifth expedition to summit Api by any route. Dusan Debelak and Janko Meglic completed their ascent of Api on the fourth day of their push up the face. Tomaz Zerovnik started out with them, but became sick during the night at their third bivouac at 6050m and was unable to make the final day’s climb to the top. On their last day, 4 November, Debelak and Meglic began at 1:00 a.m., traversed beside a crevasse and moved up the snow face in very cold wind blowing the loose snow of frequent small avalanches at them, which made breathing difficult. Finally they came to rock covered by thin ice and then arrived at the western plateau and from there climbed the last 20 vertical meters (100 linear meters) to the top at 3:30 p.m. They descended the same route, moving fast in strong wind, and slept that night in the bivouac where Zerovnik had waited for them. They had crowned their expedition’s plans to summit three mountains with the third success. successfully scaled three peaks in the Api Himal: Api Main (6th ascent), Nampa (2nd ascent), and Bobaye (1st ascent solo by Tomaz Humar) (see inset box); and a 12-person Japanese expedition led by Tamotsu Ohnishi explored several peaks of the Nalakankar region in the far northwest corner of Nepal. Seasonal Activity The primary climbing seasons in the Nepal Himalaya are spring and autumn when the bulk of the expeditions come during the good weather months from March to May and September to November. Most commercial expeditions climb during these two periods. The winter season from December to February has only had occasional activity when Analysis of Climbing Activity 25
Page 3 and 4: The Himalaya by the Numbers A Stati
Page 5: Contents Introduction . . . . . . .
Page 8 and 9: the first north-south traverses. Th
Page 10 and 11: in the charts, 2 or 3-period moving
Page 12 and 13: 400 300 200 100 0 2000 1800 1600 14
Page 14 and 15: 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 6
Page 16 and 17: government starting in 1997 opened
Page 18 and 19: 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100
Page 20 and 21: them. In fact during the late 1980s
Page 22 and 23: During the 1960s and early 1970s, e
Page 24 and 25: 250 200 150 100 50 0 250 200 150 10
Page 28 and 29: a few brave and hardy souls are wil
Page 30 and 31: 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100
Page 32 and 33: Charts C-7a-c show the seasonal pat
Page 34 and 35: 1000 800 600 400 200 100 80 60 40 2
Page 36 and 37: closeness of the Himalaya. Many Jap
Page 38 and 39: For all peaks, the average team mem
Page 40 and 41: Periodically, massive storms fueled
Page 42 and 43: 40 Analysis of Climbing Activity
Page 44 and 45: three most popular peaks, Ama Dabla
Page 46 and 47: 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 11.7 ANN1 (121/
Page 48 and 49: 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 7.7 11.7 T
Page 50 and 51: 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 40 35 30 25
Page 52 and 53: The results indicate that the sprin
Page 54 and 55: 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 30 25 20 15
Page 56 and 57: 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 70 60 50 40
Page 58 and 59: 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 80 70 60 5
Page 60 and 61: 100 60 50 40 30 20 10 90 80 70 60 5
Page 62 and 63: Ascents by Citizenship Table A-24 s
Page 64 and 65: Ascents by Gender Table and Chart A
Page 66 and 67: 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Chart A-27: Asc
Page 68 and 69: had a hard time making her own plat
Page 70 and 71: 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5
Page 72 and 73: 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100
Page 74 and 75: 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 80 70 60 50 40
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70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 60 50 40 30
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Peak ID Peak Name Height Region 76
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Members have higher percentage of a
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considerable effort through deep sn
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3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 2.5
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3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 0 The
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Deadliest Peaks for Members The nex
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when five Austrians and their Sherp
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 4.5 4.0 3.5
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days in 1975 (the first verified as
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Whether significant or not, the dea
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and higher spring death rates on Ma
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of an autumn 1992 Makalu II expedit
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a climb. For hired, falls were the
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Summit and the Hillary Step (9 of 2
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summer season as very few climbers
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2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 106 Death A
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100 20 18 16 14 12 10 90 80 70 60 5
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Deaths by Falling While avalanching
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 16 14 12 10
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Time of Day All Peaks 6000ers All F
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Deaths by Physiological Causes Phys
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Deaths by Age Groups Table and Char
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Deaths by Expedition Years Chart D-
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All Peaks Everest Citizenship Above
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2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 10.0 9.0 8.
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Table and Chart D-42 below show mem
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Table and Chart D-44 below show mem
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Everest, Spring 1996 A total of eig
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On the evening of 6th it started to
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camp at 7500m but there was nothing
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Peak ID Peak Name 136 Appendix A Al
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146 Appendix A
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In Chart D-4, the sample sizes are
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90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 32.2 2
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45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 11.9 4.
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6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1.16 0.43 0.13 BARU (
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16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2.42 1.80 700
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30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1.29 0.09 0.41 1
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8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 3.04 0.0 LSHR (0/
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5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0
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