Autumn 2014 | Koreans Heading Towards C4 on Lhotse South Face Altitude Altitude

Korean Lhotse climbers are back on the mountain with the aim to establish the final camp at around 8200m, before summit push. Communication from the team has been intermittent, but it appears that the mountaineers left for C4 on October 29th.

Korean route (black) on Lhotse South Face.

Veteran adventurer Hong Sung Taek and five less-experienced climbers have been climbing (and fighting for survival on) Lhotse South Face since last two months. After persistent bad weather and severe snowstorms during September and October, now harsh cold await the climbers as they resume the ascent. “It’s certainly colder than before, but not enough to cause a problem in climbing. We will try our best to not make any weather related excuses,” says the expedition leader.

Frequent avalanches have been running down the South wall because of excessive snowfall in Khumbu region, this autumn. Last week, the team posted a video of avalanches, they encountered since their arrival. It’s reported that snowfall is still persistent. But every cloud has a silver lining. Additional snow and colder temperatures have reduced the rockfall danger, considerably.

The Korean team reached Lhotse South Face BC during first week of September, amidst heavy monsoon snowfall. C1 was set up at 5800m without much difficulty. However, the establishment of next two camps, C2 at 6800m and C3 at 7500m, involved multiple challenges and consumed more than a month. Cyclone Hudhud’s offshoots further delayed the plans of reaching C4. The team consists of Hong Sung aek (47), Kim Tae Gon (42), Choi Jin Chul (42), Yim Jun Ho (36), Choi Hyung Woo (26) and Jeon Jae Min (25).