UKC

I kind of wonder how many permits would be required to do this??

"The ultimate feat, she believes, is a multi-day traverse she calls the Horseshoe. The climber would start by ascending the scalloped face of 25,790-foot Nuptse, then traverse a razor ridge on 27,940-foot Lhotse, climb 29,035-foot Everest via the Southeast Ridge, and descend the West Ridge. Hawley thinks it could be done sometime soon—or possibly "never."

Later, when I mention the Horseshoe concept to American climber Dave Hahn, who has summited Everest 12 times, he chuckles. "It's not calling out to me," he says. "It would be insanely difficult."

http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-ta-201104-climbing-records-elizab...

In reply to radson:

I reckon Urubko's new route on Lhotse last year was really wiring a descent for a Urubko/Moro link-up climb up Lhotse's normal route, drop off the summit down onto Urubko's route, across it to the South Col, up the normal route and down either the W ridge or N ridge into Tibet, as Moro has also already done.

In reply to radson: That's funny, I hadn't heard that before but when I was a kid I had a book about Everest and on the page showing the three peaks I drew that line as my 'plan'! My experience at the time might have just included the Fairfield Horseshoe.

In reply to TobyA:

Snap. It seemed the obvious way to conserve energy to me. I mean once you're up there, you might as well use the height-gain

In reply to radson: this was talked about in the 70s n 80s still a long way off too high too long i guess ( with no altitude experiance to comment from )

In reply to TobyA:
Me as well.

I liked horseshoes - Kentmere, Fairfield, so Everest seems the obvious next step.

And the great thing is, that's it's still there for the taking

Right, where's that copy of Trail that told you how to go from climbing Fairfield to climbing Everest....never too old...just need to get a bit fitter...a bit of excess weight didn't stop Brian Blessed !


P.S. Has anyone traversed Lhotse yet ?

In reply to radson:Thanks for the link about Elizabeth Hawley,I have heard her name crop up so many times in Himalayan literature but never knew who she was or where she came from,I always thought she was English.As for the traverse,it sounds like a job for the "Old Farts".

In reply to deepstar:

Yup. First off, we need someone to porter up some suitable advance-base-camp gear to the summit of Nuptse. I'm thinking an allotment shed with real ale, pipe tobacco, and proper ivory twelve-spot dommies. Oh, and maybe one of them calor-gas-cylinder heater thingies that builders always have in their nooks.

Who's up for the carry, then? (Not me, me knee's arthritic this week. Some young bugger can do it.)

In reply to radson:
Love the Messner story at the end of that article

In reply to radson: Which climbs does Liz Hawley "investigate" now? Is it only innovations /first ascents or only 8000m or others as well? Did you and Sandy have to be interviewed by her to get your names in her log? cheers, andrew

In reply to andrewm1000:

I am no expert on this but if you have a look at this link:
http://www.himalayandatabase.com/2010%20Season%20Lists/2010%20Spring%20A1.h...

You will see she provides a list of I think all Nepalese Expedition peaks. IF you search around, you can check out the summer lists. There are peaks there I have never heard of.

Personally, I have never met Hawley. I have just bumped into Billie, one of her associates. Our team expedition leader submitted our details to I think the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism (I am not sure on this one) and because we had so much photographic evidence, it was never 'disputed'.

In addition and I I find this a bit amusin, but we are now Cultural Ambassadors to Nepal ( I think for a year and complete with instructions on how to conduct ourselves), have our visa fees to enter Nepal waived (once again I think for a year) and received a medal.

In reply to radson: thanks. I did look for your name a few months ago and saw it there. So do we address you as Your Excellency Radson for the year?

In reply to andrewm1000:

I dont know about that but I like the fact that if someone pays the Nepalese government roughly $USD7,000 USD for a permit, there is a 1 in 3 chance of saving $USD50 if they decide to visit Nepal the following year