Baruntse Expedition (7,129m) - Autumn 2013

Our Baruntse Climbing Services

In the Base Camp:Snowy Horizon Treks & Expedition provides very professional, helpful and friendly service from Kathmandu to the ABC and during the climb. Our objective is to provide a high quality, helpful, safe, friendly, stress free and comprehensive service to maximize summit opportunity. We offer wide range of service from Base Camp logistics to fully guided climbs with individual climbing Sherpas helping their clients to achieve a summit.
High elevation climbing requires not only a set of climbing skills and the fitness level but also the ability to cope with high elevation conditions affecting one ability to function to the extend possible at sea level, where most of climbers are living.
Our philosophy is to support climbers with the skill and high altitude genetic adaptation ability of a Climbing Sherpa, who was born and grew up at high elevation as did his predecessors.
Baruntse as all other 7000m peaks require set-up of 2-3 high camps, where the gear, food and fuel has to be carried in. No matter how physically strong and fit one is at the sea level, at high level your physical efficiency drops considerably and the team of Climbing Sherpas pooled from all clients will set-up the route and allow you to summit.
Having personal Climbing Sherpa eliminates arbitrage of the ‘Leader’ to decide who will get limited climbing support on the summit day. In the emergency situation the classic expedition Leader has responsibility for a number of people including themselves with impaired physical abilities due to high altitude, while Climbing Sherpa has only responsibility for his own client and with high physical abilities at high elevation due to natural genetic predisposition and all in cooperation of other expedition Climbing Sherpas. Our Climbing Sherpas are highly trained and experienced climbers doing high elevation climbs in Nepal and Tibet season after season.
We believe that our philosophy of an expedition with the Basecamp Leader-Coordinator and the team of Climbing Sherpas assigned to individual climbers is by far the most efficient and safest way to achieve high elevation summit.
In the Base camp our cooks and helpers will prepare and serve three delicious freshly cooked and plentiful meals a day and will ensure that hot and cold drinks are available 24hrs a day. In the Base Camp we provide spacious expedition quality personal tents for all our clients both with full board and base-camp service. In the base camp we also provide dining tent, kitchen tent, toilet facilities and portable shower facilities and tent accommodation for our staff.
In the Base Camp we provide access to communication including satellite telephone and internet access, solar panels to charge your batteries and UHF/VHF hand held radios on the mountain to maintain communications between ABC and high camps.
Our Leader and camp manager as well as climbing Sherpas have an extensive experience of multiple climbs above 7000m, so whether you use our full board service or Base camp services you can expect good advise and support. Hey also know personally most of other Climbing Sherpas and network together vin the Base camp regardless of the operator they work for.

Full Board:For full board clients, who would be less experienced climbers or single climbers requiring a climbing buddy, we provide personal tent and food at high camps with the climbing Sherpa, who will prepare appropriate meals. We provide a personal climbing Sherpa guide to help the clients to reach the summit. Personal climbing Sherpa will set up high camps including food provisions and fuel and will guide and assist the client on the summit day and if required will set-up fixed rope to ensure the safety. We provide the climbing Sherpa with appropriate radio communication to Base Camp from the climbing route. Our Climbing Sherpas will network, cooperate and work with other clients Climbing Sherpas on the route to ensure safety of his client as well al overall expedition team.
After arriving to the Base camp (5300m) we will take a day or so of acclimatizing rest and preparations including snow practice so that we all develop common understanding and refresh our basic climbing and rescue techniques and develop our climbing protocol. Our climb protocol will follow a standard high elevation principles of acclimatization and building higher camps progressively.
The standard route begins at the Base Camp (5300m) located on the Hunku glacier at the foot of the mountain on a small lake, which will be our water source. The water must be either filtered or purified by iodine tablets or boiling.
We will first climb to Camp 1 located at 6100m along the Hunku glacier to the 150m long steep gully leading to West Col. We will set-up fixed rope bee line to the Col, climb to Camp 1 and return to Base camp for overnight rest. As a next step we climb up to camp 1, set it up and stay there overnight. We will explore route to camp 2 and return to the base Camp for another rest day.
We move from the Base Camp directly to camp 2 (6400m), setup the camp and stay there overnight. There will be an opportunity for summit attempt for members who feel strong.We return to Base camp for couple of rest days to rest and recover followed by another summit attempt.Our program allows 9 days for the climbing period to account for weather and individual physical condition and strength. It give us plenty of opportunities to carry supplies to camp 1 and 2 and few opportunities of summit push.

Approaches to ABC

Via Mera La Pass and the Hongu Valley
We will follow a standard approach to from Lukla to Mera peak via Zatrwala Pass and picturesque Hinku valley, where we undergo acclimatization at Tangnag and Khare. From Mera La pass we will have an option to climb easy Mera Peak via Mera glacier as a acclimatization and warmup to Baruntse.
From Mera la Pass we down climb to Hunku glacier valley and follow it to baruntse Base camp at the base of Baruntse below the West Col with one overnight camp at Seto Pokhari.

Climbing Routes

Normal Route - Southeast Ridge
The Southeast Ridge of Baruntse Baruntse is a straightforward climb, mainly on snow but at high altitudes and crossing some steep sections of ice at 50°, with a prominent ice cliff at about 7,000m. We will setup fixed line there.
The ridge geometry and position makes it prone to accumulation of cornices. Despite the cornices appearing very stable, we safeguard the steeper sections by fixed lines in places where we have to traverse between the camps. The avalanche risk on the lower slopes of the mountain appears to be low. The most successful ascents are made in the spring when good snow conditions prevail. This is also objectively the safest time on the mountain. We establish the Base Camp at 5300m (17,400ft) in a broad open valley next to a beautiful lake on the lateral moraine of the Hunku glacier near the base of the mountain.
Camp 1 (6100m): To reach camp 1 (6100m) located on the West Col on the edge of Upper Barun glacier we traverse Hunku glacier to a steep gully leading directly to West Col. The 150m steep 50deg climb to the West Col from the glacier will be fixed with ropes to provide a bee line to camp 1 for safe carrying of the loads required for the climb.
Camp 2 (6400m): Camp 2 (6400m) is located on the edge of the Upper Barun glacier at the start of Southeast Ridge. From camp 1at West Col we begin a long glacier ascent on low angled glacial slope; we may to use a fixed rope to protect against open or hidden crevasses.
Summit Day: From camp 2 we climb-up is a short steep 75 degree ice wall to a small col at 6500m. Next section to 6700m is 45deg snow shoulder after which we reach a sharp summit ridge of Baruntse, which we follow to the wide summit cone leading to mtru summit at 7129m.The view from the summit is just incredible, truly stunning views of Lhotse, Mount Everest, Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, and the Khumbu Himal.