Annapurna I | 1979 N Face (Dutch Rib)

A USA expedition to Annapurna I in 1979 via N Face (Dutch Rib), led by Robert A. (Bob) Wilson. Summit reached on 25th September 1979. 8 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2086
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID ANN179301
Peak ID ANN1
Year 1979
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 N Face (Dutch Rib)
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Robert A. (Bob) Wilson
Sponsor American Annapurna Expedition 1979
Success 1 False
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries UK
Approach Pokhara->Mristi Khola (BC)
Basecamp Date 1979-08-24
Summit Date 1979-09-25
Summit Time -
Summit Days 32
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 6
Termination Notes Abandoned at 7100m due to fatal accident and deep snow
High Point (m) 7100
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 5
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 8
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 3
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(24/08,4350m),C1(29/08,5000m),C2(03/09,5600m),C3(07/09,6150m),C4(18/09,6500m),C5(24/09,6800m),xxx(25/09,7100m)
Route Notes After accident individual decisions whether to go on climbing - as leader left it to each to make personal decision. Simonson and Cummings elected to continue. Went up 24th from C3 to C5 bypassing site C4 which unequipped and now considered dangerous. Arrived C5 5:00 pm and installed the camp. Same day other 3 went down from C3 and arrived BC. C3 now had no radio and little anyone there could do in support, most felt. Simonson: 25th set out in am but slowed by deep snow sometimes waist deep. Only 2 men breaking trail and without down clothes lost at C4 were cold. Covered feet night. Turned around at 1:00 pm at about 23,300 ft and returned to C3. Snow of storm had begun to consolidate but hadn't formed crust - storm from 17th afternoon to 21st. 22nd clear but avalanching all day and allowed consolidation. Later found a food can just above C2 and saw piece of down clothing a mile from C4. Wilson: Spent 1 hr probing and digging out C4 and found nothing. 5 ft of snow had accumulated on site and too unacceptably risky to go down into gully to search. Simonson: 6 men spent 4 nights at C4. 4 who left (Pat, Craig, Peter and Eric S) decided to go to C3 and rest lower in more comfortable C3. Wilson: makes more sense to eat lower-altitude food. Cummings: those who stayed C4 didn't want to bother descending - planned to come down next day if storm still on - C4 (Dutch Japanese and Anna Woman's C3) had safe history. Simonson: C4 may well hace been hit by blast and not avalanche debris - avalanche probably came from E Peak off to left. Wilson: "bad luck: 3 members in C4. Wrong place in right there for that avalanche - cause of failure - "any prudent mountaineer in same site would judge site of C4 to be a safe one". "No immediate plans to return to the mountain." The mountain that the members climbed was in many ways a difficult mountain from the one one had to deal with in sense of conditions on mountain, weather, problem and so on - different expeditions with different styles - ours was much lighter". Simonson: "we hit mountain with 3500 lbs of gear in comparison with the harder 12,000 lbs of equipment and food shipped from States - we had 3300 lbs - they used 34 porters - we used 85 - arrived at BC on same day - and we had camp 5 stocked 3 weeks earlier than they and we had done all this without any Sherpa support or any oxygen equipment. Our philosophy was, all members carrying all loads and moving ups very fast, spending minimum time at high altitude - feel confident that had we had one more week of good weather I think we'd have had some members on the summit." Leave Nepal tomorrow after 3 to US, Craig and to Darjeeling. "This mountain has objective danger on a larger scale than anything I have previously experienced" - avalanche all the time on Dutch Rib probably return, safe route - there probably is no really safe route on the mountain. Shailendra Raj Sharma, Ministry of Tourism - 3 Oct 79 Message from LO Abandoned 26 Sept because of bad weather and tragic death of 3 members. Cummings and Simonson reached 23,000 feet on 25 Sept. All in BC and well - returning to KTM. Shailendra Raj Sharma - 29 Sept 79 Message from leader dated 25 Sept 79 at BC: Expedition was enjoying excellent mountain conditions as evidenced by fact that small 8 members team had partially stocked C5 at 22,600 feet on the glacier above the Dutch Rib by Sept 17. On evening of that date with potentially only one more camp to be established before summit bids would be possible, the group was struck a major 5-day storm that brought large accumalations of snow, stopping all progress. On the first full day of storm conditions Sept 18, 7 members were confined to tents at C4 at 21,300 feet located at the top of the Dutch Rib, a knife-edge ridge just below the upper glacier plateau. This camp had been used with apparent safety by several previous expeditions. At 9:30 am on Sept 19, 4 of 7 members at C4 descended in severe conditions to C3 20,200 feet to wait out the remainder of the storm. This camp had been specially prepared and stocked for this purpose. Despite strong urging from the others, 3 members elected to remain in C4 for another day to see if the weather might clear so as not to lose the altitude gained to that point. At approx. 10:30 am, the wind blast from a very large avalanche was felt at the very protected C3 just as the 4 members from C4 reached C3, resulting in damage to tents, etc. When the scheduled noon radio contact with C4 was attempted with no results, concern for the safety of the remaining 3 occupants of C4 mounted. The storm worsened, making it physically impossible to ascend to C4 to assess its conditions. 4 days passed with no radio contact, on Sept 23 the storm abated and with reduced avalanche danger, following same snow consolidation, members ascended at the first possible opportunity to C4. They found the entire camp to have been swept away without trace by avalanche. It is speculated this was the same large avalanche felt so strongly in C3. The camp site was probed and dug out for any trace of C4, but nothing was found. No trace of the 3 occupants was located. The members of the expedition who perished are: 1) Maynard Cohick 2) Gil Harder 3) Eric Roberts The expedition continues in the honor and memory of our friends who have lost their lives on Annapurna. C5 officially established at 22,600 ft on 24 Sept on upper North Annapurna Glacier by Peter Cummings and Eric Simonson who expected to try for summit within 2 days [of 25 Sept]. From LO: All members were in BC except Cummings and Simonson who were in C5 - those in BC returned to C4. Shailendra Raj Sharma - 28 Sept 79 Maynard Cohick, Gil Harder and Eric Roberts dead. C4 established 18 Sept (no altitude). 19 Sept avalanche swept away these 3 men apparently at C4. Wilson - 4 Aug 79 Leave KTM 10 Aug except man for LO. 100 porters from Pokhara - 12 days to BC in usual site. At least 6 weeks to climb since, no HA Sherpas - possibly 2 months, which is maximum for which supplied. Wilson - 3 Aug 79 Route on North - wanted go east to "middle peak" (between Annapurna East and main summit) but Tourism says its not on list - thence East Ridge to summit - may try change Ministry's view - will use Dutch route lower down. No oxygen at all, not even medical oxygen. No Sherpas above BC.
Accidents 3 members killed by avalanche
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2449091
Year 1979
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) n face (dutch rib)

Members

8 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Maynard Cohick M 1938 USA Climber Republic, Missouri Attorney Details Other expeditions
Peter Cummings M 1944 USA Exp Doctor Visalia, California Cardiologist Details Other expeditions
Gilbert V. (Gil) Harder M 1945 USA Deputy Leader Abilene, Texas US Air Force pilot (Captain) Details Other expeditions
Patrick (Pat) O'Donnell M 1938 USA Climber Dillon, Colorado Ski resort executive Details Other expeditions
Craig H. Reininger M 1953 USA Climber Bellevue, Washington Part-time mountaineering guide, part-time home builder Details Other expeditions
Eric Roberts M 1945 UK Climber Ruthin, Clywd, Wales Photographer Details Other expeditions
Eric Robb Simonson M 1955 USA Climber Bellevue, Washington Geologist with Seattle consulting firm & alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Robert Allen Wilson M 1940 USA Leader Gresham, Oregon Physics teacher in junior college Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
ANN179301 AAJ Simonson, Eric Annapurna Battleground - 53:454-456 (1980) -
ANN179301 MM - - - 70:14 (Nov 1979) -
ANN179301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198045400/Annapurna-Battleground - - -