"THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA"

We found ourselves again in the Gokyo Resort lodge resting, and enjoying the Sun while making plans...
We still have got a few days to go and as we have a cook and a camp available the first idea that comes up into our minds is the english route on Mount Cholatse.
We organise all the team so that we would reach the base camp after 2 days. But in our minds the fun and the joy of discovering new walls and opening new routs is to big to let it go and without saying a word we both dream the "triplet"!

On the way up to Gokyo we slept in Machermo village where it is impossible to miss the NOrth face of Kajo Ri.
Last year i had long admired this wall and dreamt of climbing it.
While sitting in the Sun the mind goes flying and as Nik says the word "Machermo" i immeditely answer "Yes, let's go"! That's what i like climbing with him, everything comes natural in the mountains....at the base as on the route.

We are ready to attack the wall tomorrow, the porters will help us out till the base and than we'll start the climb.
I shall say that we had two go before making it to the top.
The first attempt was ment to be from the easiest way, through a waterfall that climbs under the huge serac and reaches the upper slope.
The plan is to start in the afternoon when the Sun turns behind the ridge and the way goes in the shade. So we did. The porters left us at the base around mid day. It was really funny looking at Saila who, after a small rock fall asked scared "can i go????".
We start the climb and the luck really doesn't seem to be with us. I reach the belay and Nik follows both with heavy backpacks with the stuff for three days. As he gets 20 m from me i hear him screaming not repeatable words...he had broken an ice axe!!!! damn!!!!
As i look at mine i had the handle broken as well!
The only smart thing to do is to go back. We load all the equipment on our back and slowly make our way down to the lodge.
Porters and guide laugh at us as we were expected three days later and we went back the same afternoon.
We are quite discouraged...i have ben in the Khumbu for three months, Nik for 20 days and already climbed 2 new routes. We have little energies left and not much time to go.
We stil have the camp set at the base of Cholatse, but also 2 broken axes...what to do????
An option would be to send super Khanchha to Namche and buy 2 axes but than who knows what he will bring back?!?!?!?!!
We don't want to give up, the wall is there, just 2h from us and we need to find a solution!
Making it short....some Duchtape and metal wire will fix both axes and after 2 days rest we are back at the base.
This time the logistic will change radically:
we set a small base camp at the base and we attack the rocky wall on the right of the serac so that we are much safer, but the rout will turn out much harder as well....
The goal is to start early in the morning (the rock is east facing) and reach the hanging glacier for the afternoon where we would set a intermediate camp.
The rocky section is very hard, especially with tent, sleeping bag and gear for 3 days. But we manage to climb a huge dihedral that leads to the upper mixes section.
Every 50 m we seem to see a nice ledge where to place our small tent, but every time it turns to be a crapy stone slope quite unconfortable. In the end we found a crevasse between rock and ice fairly sheltered that seems to be the best solution for the night....but without the tent!!!!

The next day we don't trust to leave with the dark as the glacier is very open. We enjoy the first Sun of the day while traversing this labyrinth leading to the upper section. As we are tired from the day before we decide to follow the most logical and quick line as posible not looking for extra difficulties which wouls make us slow and more tired.
The gully starts with an easy pitch that ends against an overhang. It is beautiful, elegant. I work my way over it and continue up on a wide gully reminding me of the Ginat route on the Droites.
After that nogthy section the gully becomes more gentle with short steep steps.
We continue logically along the couloir till a step ledge towards the right leading to the NW ridge.
It seems easy but it hides a difficult aid climbing step that engages me for more than one hours.
But after that rocky section we are quickly on the ridge that leads to the top in about 120m.
As we don't have much gear left for the descent and the Sun is setting we decide that the route will end there and we'll start the rappels.
We look forward to our "original" bivy and some food.
The morning after we complete the descent and we are back at the lodge for breakfast.

We most likely made the first ascent of the E and N face of the Kajo Ri. The internet research and the owner of the lodge confirmed that there have been many attempts but no previews success on this wall.

What a great adventure!!!!!!


la linea della salita


Nik sul secondo tiro del diedro


Nik sul terzo tiro del diedro iniziale


Enrico sul traverso del terzo tiro


Nik sul traverso esposto del terzo tiro


usciti dal diedro cerchiamo un posto per la tenda


bivacco comodo tra roccia e ghiaccio...


il mattino presto cercando la via migliore sul ghiacciaio


sul pendio iniziale della parte superiore


Nik sul primo tiro della goulotte


Enrico all'inizio del tiro di M6+


Nik mi raggiunge in sosta dopo il tiro di M6+


sembra di essere sulla Ginat alle Droites...


seguendo il logico couloir incassato


ambiente severo nella parte alta della via


alla fine della rampa...sorpresa!


un bel tiretto di artif conduce alla neve finale


in discesa all'imbrunire


contenti alla base della parete


la relazione della via!



grazie agli sponsors!!!!!!

ACCESS: easily from Lukla airport to Machermo village. Than up the moraine till the base.

M'HAN DATO 5 AL MODULO DI MISTO...

With this last climb we have completed a nice trilogy in the Khumbu: three first ascents in three
weeks on two summits and one face never climber before!



After having climbed Ramri Keti we went back to NAmche to have some rest at lower altitude before heading towards the main goal of our expditon: to climb a new route on a 7000m pak next to Cho Oyu.
as soon as we reached Gokyo, the group split in 2: Francesco headed over the Cho LA pass and back to Kathmandu.
Nik and I remained in the village to prepare the bags for the porters.
Unfortunately, problems with our local guide and one porter refusing to reach the base camp obliged us to change our programs. The attempt to the big beast is postpond to next year...

As either Nik and I are climbing for passion and not to enter any guinness, we had a quick look around and immediately found good alternatves for the remaining 3 weeks.
"Ramri Keti" moved our interest towards technical routs more than big mountains.
In Khumbu poeople seem to be captured by numbers and not by the beauty of the mountains. Collections and records do not belong to mountanieering....

Said that, on a previews attempt last year to a new route on the side of Dawa Peak, i had to rethreat cause to a lungs illness. therefore we had a starting point for our next adventure.
We set a base camp at the base of the wall, just below Renjo Pass, so that we could have an early start, and so we did.
With Stefano della Gasperina i had climbed the first 6 pitches, and i could remember well how loose the rock was, but at the same time how elegant the pitches were.
Nik starts the climb in the absolute darkness, as the mood just dropped behind the ridge.
I follow him and after that i take the lead. i can remember every step, but on the second pitch i have a "nice surprise" finding very little ice, making the progression delicate.
After four pitches of mixed climb and a snow slope we reach the bottom of the actual ice gully. the evening before, looking through the binocular nik comment had been:- " it doesn't seem that steep, may be only one difficult pitch".
We soon found out the opposite, may be one easy pitch through a serie of pillars and overhangs!!! It takes much longer than expcted, also due to difficult protections and the loss of an ice axe when part of a pillar broke down at my first hit.
We reach the col between two huge roks as the Sun is setting.
We build all the belays under the Moon light for the descent absailing the route. The last rappel barely reaches the glacier. We are soon back at our small tent joying for the ascent!!!

HERE IS SOME PICTURES OF THE ROUTE...



la Punta Khanchha...


nik sul terzo tiro


Enrico esce dal terzo tiro


ci avviciniamo alla parte centrale incassata


Enrico sul settimo tiro


Nik mi raggiunge nella grotta alla base della prima candela


Nik impegnato sulla prima difficile candela


Enrico si avvicina alla seconda candela...che si rompera' al primo colpo...


Nik sulla parte mediana della goulotte


NIk in uscita dall'ultima candela con una sola picozza...


ultimo terreno misto prima dell'uscita in cresta


la prima candela all'imbrunire durante la discesa


la relazione della via


We have named the peak 5850m on which the routs lies "Peak Khancha" on the name of our super human porter Khanchha without whom we wouldn't be able to succeed in all our climbs!!!

ACCESS: in the Khumbu valley from Lukla airport to Gokyo.
On the flat before the Renjo Pass one can set base camp. The wall is 30 min. from the start of the glacier.

New Route!!!!! "RAMRI KETI"

here is a short update of the past few weeks here in the Kumbu.

Nicolas and Francesco joined me for a further adventure in the area and as they arrived we found some "work" to do!

Going up the renjo pass we noticed a nice gully on an unclimbed face: the Hama Yomjuma Peak 5970m.

Here is the topo:

CLIMBERS:

Enrico Bonino (Mountain Guide)

Nicolas Meli: (Mountain Guide)

Francesco Cantu’: Doctor

DATE: 19-22/11/2009

GRADING: 5+/m7/5A

LENGTH: 1100M

SUMMIT: Hama Yomjuma 5970m

AREA: KHUMBU

APPROACH: From Lukla airport up towards the Renjo Pass to the village of Lungden (4 days) 4200m. From the village is possible to see the upper part of the face. The approach is straight forward above the lodges (3h).

DESCRIPTION: from the base of the rocky place there are three couloirs going up, choose the middle one. 5 pitches from 5a to M6 will lead to an S snow couloir that end at the snow field (bivy place very confortable).

150m of snow slope and than a mixed steep section of 80 m climb will lead to the second 100m snow field.

The upper gully is now evident. 12 pitches from 4/R to M7 will lead to a massive rock barrier. This is the end of the line. From here is possible to abseil down.

The last rappel down is out of the climbing line protected from rock and snow fall.

here follow some pictures of the route while waiting for a more detailed update.


Enrico on the firsth pitch


Enrico on the 3rd pitch


Enrico leading the 3rd pitch of the dry section


Francesco on the 4th pitch of the dry section


Nick on the first dry section


Confortable second bivy...




Francesco working his way on the 2nd pitch of the upper section


Enrico leading on the 5+ gully


Enrico on the M7

4-11-2009 Dingboche

Here we are Anne and I in Dingboche.
We climbed 2 days ago the Nireka peak, a stunning mountain 6169m high hiding behind the Cho la Col.
After our acclimatization tour around Renjo Pass and Gokyo, we met our local team in Tagnag.
With the cook and few porters we left mid mornind heading to base camp. They walked up the hill amazingly fast and found us a great sunny place where to set the camp.
From the village of Tagnag you mainly follow the path towards the common Cho la Pass till the slope starts going down. At that time a side valley opens and heads north east towards the Cho la Col.
Itchia and the rest of the crew managed to cook the best spaghetti with cheese sauce and the best pizza margherita of the Khumbu! what a luxury!

the day after with Pengba and few others we headed towards the glacier and as i am an ice climbing freak we had a nice morning ice climbing on the glacier head wall! it was for Anne the first time ice climbing on steep ice...and i think she is becoming and ice climbing freak as well eh eh !
Pengba also climbed showing all his natural phisical power!

than, we continued up the glacier towards the col and set a High camp at 5550m, just at the base of the ridge.

the night has been very cold, -16 outside and not much less in the tent!
We started around 4:30 in the morning, although either Anne and myself were not feeling great.
But what can you do....the magic power of the mountains gave us the strenght to make it to the top. The way is steep and spectacular ice climbing through crevasses and over small seracs!
Once to te top the view was fantastic over the all Khumbu and not only...the Everest showing for what it is: a big piramide of loose rock, and not very pretty compared to all the pretty mountains around it!

As we made our way down all the crew came toward us with hot lemon welcoming us at their best! this people are amazing, very hearthful!
thanks you all, you've made the difference in our trip!

now Anne and i are heading back to Kathmandu and for her the holiday is almost over...

as far as myself concerns, few friends are coming over to spend 40 days climbing technical routes together! looking forward to it!

keep you updated!

20-10-2009

Back in Kathmandu!

for Marc and I adventure is over...

after having climbed the Lobuche peak we made our way to Ama Dablam base camp and spent few days trying to climb the regular route of this beautyful mountain.

i aticipate the enmd of the story...we had no luck!

As we arrived at base camp the 10th afternoon, we found few tents set in the corner, and i thought there were already too many!!!!

as we set up our "mobile home" MArc and i started to go around and make friends with other expedition teams...but apparentely they were almost all on the mountain busy with fixing ropes on the ridge...at least that is what we had been told.

ON the field we met a group of the British Army who climbed Lobouhe peak the day before us, very nice people!

So, here is the situation: an indian and an Austrian team between camp 1 and 2 (news were quite odd and different from moment to moment?!?!?!) busy fixing lines, a group of spanish who went up the same day and the Brits and us just arriving at the camp.

i must say, except for the indians, we had great cooperation and friendship from all the present groups.

But for some reason it took the indians a massive ammount of time to fix lines from camp 1 to 2, something like 3 days when old but decent fixed ropes were already in place and i took me 1h 20 minutes to free climb the same distance...

anyways, as MArc and i climbed to C1 we met the spanish group (very nice and fun guys....OLA amigos, Que Tal?)

The next morning MArc will rest and i go up to camp 2 to bring some rope somebody forgot that day at the lower camp. At C2 i meet super Robert, an Austrian Mountain Guide who tells me: "hello Enrico, nice to meet you, we have a problem here!"

my answer, since the subsequent problems the indians and them had the previews days, has been of course: "another one???"

" oh yes, the indians want to go back, and i am alone with my clients, and i cannot fixe lines to the top alone."

well, what could i do other than helping my new friend opening the route towards the top!!!!

although i was not prepared that day to go up any further they gave me 2 axes and a rope and we left towards camp 3!
the weather was hot, very hot, and the late Monson had dropped quite bit of snow on the upper part of the mountain.

we fixed about ten pitches but than the heat was turning to be to dangerous, anbd rock fall and ice fall started to....fall!

so aroud 13:00 we went back.

My idea was to sleep there and wait for MArc the next day to come up. But after a good soup kindly prepared by one of the Austrians i decided to go back to C1, keep company to MArc and check that everything was alright! and well i did!
Here something must be said: the day before, before leaving base camp i made a nice ple of material the climbng sherpa was supposed to bring to camp 1, including 200m of static rope.

As he arrived 2 days too late at base camp, he could not know what was needed and what not, so i prepared everything for him...but as we arrtived at C1 i discovered he decided we wouldn't ned the rope so he left it down.

Of course my reaction hasn't been an happy one and i sent him back to look for it...

the day after, very early in the morning i set off C1 with 2 austrians to reach Robert at C2 so we could start soon to fix lines to the top.

We reached quite quickly the point where we stopped the day before but it took us very long to fix the folowing 3 pitches.

It was hot, the snow deep, it tok me 1h30min to climb 40 meters of 60 degrees snow slope to reach the ridge.

as i got there i moved forward another 2 pitches than decided to go back: for Robert and his friends was the last chance to make it to the top as they finished their days; as far as MArc and I are concerned i decided it was too dangerous to keep going with those conditions...as at home i would have turned around so i did on Ama Dablam!

i think no team has been up yet as the temperature kept rising in the following days, but i wish best luck and safe climbs to our British friends who are still on the mountain waiting for better chance to go up: "go fo it Guy, but keep them safe!"

so now we are back in KAthmandu, eat like pigs and rest like logs...

tomorrow Anne is arriving and we'll spend 2 days all together before MArc goes back home and will leave the adventure to us....off to Nireka peak.

update will follow...

9-10-2009

here we are back again in toutch with human life in Dingboche village..
actually it is a wierd day...till this morning we all thought to have mistaken the airplain and got dropped off at the base of Ben Nevis...YES we got rain 11 days out of 12.....

But we have been tough and two days ago we decided to hike up to high camp of Lobuche peak under the rain hoping for some miracle..

we had one...i has snowed 40 cm of fresh snow during the night!!!!

Marc and I almost hugging each other in our small bivy tent were trying to keep warm. Night has been long..MArc didn't sleep much cause to headhake and at the wake up call at 3:30 am we were not very sure we would start the climb.

Burt as soon as we put our nose outside the tent and we saw the clear sky we immediately drunk our warm tea and left for the summit!

We were a team of three: MArc, Pengba (who wanted to make some experience on the mountains and this day it was his first summit) and myself.

The mountain was packed of snow, i had to fix lines over the steep ridge and seracs for my two friends. We had decent view all through the climb. We got to the summit at 10 am and it was a joy for all of us, because each of us that day had a first time:

For MArc was the first time at 6000m, for Pengba his first summit and for myself the first 6000m peak with clients with a certain comittment due to conditions.

We are now back in Dingboche under a beautyful sunshine and we leave tomorrow for Ama Dablam base camp.

next update from Namche Bazar...

30/09/2009

here we are in Namche...
yesterday we made a small change to the usual itinerary walking little further than Phakding, and stopping in Monjo, where the Sagarmatha National Park begins.
so that today we have a nice and easy day to Namche.
The route is not very crowded as trekking season is just at its start after the monson season. In fact, last night, towards the end of the afternoon, black cloud came in and a heavy shower made the terrain soaked.

Today we had the first sight to the mountains: Kusumkhangaru and mount Everest. Apparentely last summer didn't snow very much as the walls are yes covered of a white layer but of fresh snow, and one can see the black rock underneath!

Pengba, our nepali guide, is at the beginning of his experience as leader and will join us for the Lobuche climb, so that he can improve his mountaineering skills. He speaks excellent italian and is very kind. We agreed with him that we have no fixed day stops. We'll be flexible depending on how we feel. As Marc wants to visit Gokyo, we'll take the path going by Machermo village which doesn't rise much in altitude but is a long way.

Domi is our only porter, he says he is 17 years old but looks more like he is 13...
He does a great job and he is definitely stronger than us.

They both will accompain us to Ama Dablam base camp, than another team will take over the lead.

next update....not sure!

28/09/2009 Kathmandu...

we arrived last night after a long trip from Italy...as we had to wait 8 hours in Abu Dabi we had a quick look around the city and trust me....you definitely don't want to live in a place like that! A city where the main shape you see is tall cubes with windows selling cloaths and cars, where the temperature is constantly around 40 C, and the view doesn't go further than 50 meters!
Therefore, we headed back to the airport quite quickly...at least there was air conditioning!

We arrived in Kathmandu in the evening and Chhongba was there, ready as usual to serve us in all our needs, although we didn't want more than a shower and a good sleep.

Today Marc and I woke up with unusual smells and sounds...oh it's true...we are in Kathmandu :-) we hadn't had the time to realize that yet, but it was a good feeling.
After breakfast the bargening immediately begun as we headed for the monkey temple by taxi.
It is a stunning huge Stupa (temple) on the top of a hill where you can have a great view of the entire Kathmandu Valley while monkeys jump all over around you!

We are feeling like kids in a playground full of toys. Kathmandu is very welcoming and people nice. We are concentrated on our objective, Ama Dablam. We went over the program with Chhongba and we managed to find 2 spare days to plan some rest during the trek, which is always good.
At the same time we are already speaking of new projects together... the team is working well as you can see. We are ready for it.

Tomorrow the scary flight to luka is expecting us to be at 5:30 am at the airport and than the real adventure begins!

netx update from Namche Bazar.

ciao

Ama Dablam project...

from today in english...

when last year i was wondering around the Khumbu, most of the days i was admiring the beautyful shape of Ama Dablam dreaming of climbing the peak...

this year, unexpectedly i am heading for that summit with a client...this is what is wanderful about my job: sharing with people great adventures.

Departure will take place september 26, the team is composed by Marc Delmas and myself. We recently did some rewarding climbs together in the Alps, and we are happy to commit for this new adventure.

The Monviso Treks agency based in Kathmandu will organise the local logistic leading us to Base Camp. Pasang and Chhongba, the owners, work in the huts of Gran Paradiso National Park during summer time and organize treks in Nepal the rest of the year.

Until October 23 we will be hiking around the Everest region, acclimatizing on the Lobuche Peak (6114m) and than attacking the big mountain. We'll keep it under sight during all the approach, studying the route and prepearing ourselves for it.

Around the 12th october we should be reaching the top.....we'll keep you informed....check for updates!!!!

Viaggi

Con l'inizio dell'estate e quindi della stagione lavorativa il tempo per dedicarmi alle salite in montagna scarseggia, non parliamo poi di quello per dedicarmi all'aggiornamento del sito :-)

Nonostante ciò ho percorso qualche via di soddisfazione con i clienti e scoperto posti nuovi, ma soprattutto mi sono dedicato alla preparazione di una spedizione che avrà luogo tra novembre e dicembre in Nepal. Per maggiori dettagli consultate il sito http://chackung2009.blogspot.com

Inoltre, a chi fosse interesato, ricordo che dal 20 ottobre all'11 novembre organizzo un trekking in Nepal nella regione del Khumbu con possibilità di salire il Lobuche Peak 6013m. Iscrizioni imminenti. Per il programma dettagliato vedere http://nepalkumbu.blogspot.com

Al prezzo indicato bisgna aggiungere il costo del volo internazionale.

Per ulteriori informazioni contattatemi via mail.

Venerdi 7 agosto parto per l'India con 5 clienti francesi alla volta del Ladakh....ci rivedremo il 28 agosto.

Buone Vacanze a tutti!!!