Annapurna III | 2021 SE Ridge

A Ukraine expedition to Annapurna III in 2021 via SE Ridge, led by Viacheslav Polezhaiko. Summit reached on 6th November 2021. 3 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 10677
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID ANN321301
Peak ID ANN3
Year 2021
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Ukraine
Leaders Viacheslav Polezhaiko
Sponsor Ukrainian Annapurna III Expedition 2021
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach By heli from Ktmdu
Basecamp Date 2021-09-23
Summit Date 2021-11-06
Summit Time 1040
Summit Days 44
Total Days 47
Termination Date 2021-11-09
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 7555
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 13
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 3
Summit Members 3
Member Deaths 0
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(23/09,4600m),C1(23/10,5600m),C2(25/10,5800m),C3(26/10,5600m),C4(27/10,6000m),C5(28/10,6150m),C6(29/10,6250m),C7(30/10,6400m),C8(31/10,6500m),C9(01/11,6600m),C10(02/11,6800m),C11(03/11,6900m),C12(04/11,7000m),C13(05/11,7400m),Smt(06/11)
Route Notes Team arrived in Kathmandu around 19 Sept. On 23 Sept they helicoptered to BC since the trekking route to BC was impossible due to rockwalls that were in the path. BC 23/09 4600m where glacier and meadow meet by a stream. C1 23/10 5600m on the ridge. C2 25/10 5800m on the ridge. C3 26/10 6000m on a plateau. C4 27/10 6100m on the rocky ridge on the technical part. C5 28/10 6150m C6 29/10 6250m underneath the chimney (the team’s highest point in 2019). C7 30/10 6400m on a small ledge on the right side of the ridge. C8 31/10 6500m on a snowy tooth (the point where David Lama’s and Nick Bullock’s team turned back). C9 01/11 6600m on the ridge. C10 02/11 6800m on the ridge underneath snow mushroom. C11 03/11 6900m on the ridge on a piece of ice and snow hammock. C12 04/11 7000m just on the top of the ridge. C13 05/11 7400m on a very windy slope. Smt 06/11 by Balabanov, Fomin, Polezhaiko at 10:40am. At BC they had a big tent where they cooked, slept and ate. NO SUPPORT STAFF! For their high camps they had a two-man tent that weighed about 1.2 kg. They spent one month at BC and first acclimatised on the ridge between Annapurna III and Annapurna IV where they reached about 5800m. Second acclimatisation rotation on the slopes of Annapurna IV where they reached about 7100m. They spent two nights at this altitude. After their two rotations, the team spent 11 days at BC as bad weather had hit the region in mid-October. Their BC tent collapsed three times under the heavy snow. On 21 Oct the weather improved, and they waited for another two days for the snow to consolidate before they started their climb which was done in true Alpine style! On 23 Oct they headed out of BC at midnight. They climbed all the night until 5 pm. The lower part of the route was mixed rock/ice without vertical sections – about 50 to 60 degrees. They gained the ridge and climbed to the right of David Lama’s line. It was very warm and the waterfall Lama’s team climbed during their attempt was no longer frozen. They stayed two nights at 5600m and continued on the ridge through a rocky section, which was a lot more difficult than in 2019 as it was very dry. They spent half a day to get through the rocky section and gain about 150m in altitude. The snow on the rocky section was very unstable. Climbing was mainly done during the night as the sun was too strong and would have made climbing more difficult. On 26 Oct, they left C2 during the night and continued up the ridge until they reached a small plateau, where they set up C3. This was the only place on the climb where the team was actually able to take off their harnesses and relax a bit. Higher up, this was no longer possible. On 27 Oct, they left C3 in the morning and climbed on the rocky ridge gaining a more technical part. They climbed below the ridgeline which made progress very slow. Every afternoon they had precipitation dumping about 18 to 20cm of snow every day. On 29 Oct, Fomin spent half day climbing the chimney while the others rested at C6. The chimney is about one pitch but extremely difficult. Bad rock, bad protection and very sharp rock. Fomin returned to C6 where the team spent another night. On 30 Oct, the entire team climbed the chimney and gained better ground which was rock and ice. On 31 Oct they camped on a snowy tooth from where they had to descend a vertical snow face. They understood why nobody continued from here as it seemed as if the route did not continue. They put Polezhaiko on a top rope (without putting any protection such as anchors in) and he descended for about 10m. Even though it looked impossible he managed to cut steps and the others followed. After the descent they had to climb across some unprotected snow and brittle rock on the ridge. Above C10, the route was more mixed again. Polezhaiko climbed a few pitches on mixed terrain and they spent the night underneath a big snow mushroom on the ridge. They continued on the ridge and set up the worst camp of the climb. On that day (4 Nov) they aimed to reach the top of the ridge, however, there was a big snow storm dumping about 30cm of snow. Strong winds. They did not manage to reach the top of the ridge and had to find a place for their bivvy which proved very difficult There were no ledges whatsoever on the ridge. They had a snow hammock which they used to build a makeshift ledge. They found a small piece of ice with a bit of snow on top of it. They put their snow hammock on top of it. The slope was about 50 degrees steep, and they ended up sitting up all night. On 4 Nov they climbed to the top of the ridge on vertical ice (cascades). It was a very long day and they set up their camp once they gained the ridge at 2 am on 5 Nov. They intended to push for the summit on 5 Nov but as the team was exhausted they decided not to push for the summit on that day. They reached 7400m at 5 pm. The winds were very strong and they realised it was too late, too cold and too windy. So, they set up another bivvy on a snowy slope that was not wind protected. They found a rock which gave them some shelter. On 6 Nov, they left their high camp at 7 am (they could not start earlier as it was too cold and too windy). Even though it was only another 150m in altitude the distance was very long. They reached the summit at 10:40 am. Desecnt: Initially they wanted to descend their ascent route. They had about 30 pitons with them for the descent. But when they were on the summit they realised that descending the same route would take at least 4 days. At first they wanted to descend towards the North (Manang side). They had looked at it before the climb and thought it was easy as there were slopes they could walk down. However, the main problem was getting to the slopes. They would have had to traverse about 3.5 km to get to the gentle slopes. They had headwind and even though it was a good plan it was too dangerous in the wind. When they approached the summit, they realised that going to Manang was not possible due to the wind. They ended up descending the western slopes towards Annapurna South BC. On 6 Nov, they walked down on snow and ice to 6800m where they set up a camp. They arrived at 5 pm. The camp was just on the top of the steeper section. On 7 Nov, they started to downclimb and later abseil down the steep ice sections on abalakovs. They set up a camp on an ice pillow at about 6400m. On 8 Nov, they continued to abseil, but suddenly reached a huge ice overhang of about 100m. They had to abseil around this ice block and continue to abseil and downclimb on ice and rock sections until 2 am on 9 Nov. The last abseil was a vertical ice section of 55m, which was lucky as they had a 60m rope – it was just long enough for them to get down. After the last abseil the ended up in a glacial icefall on the bottom of the slope. They realised that they were unable to find the route through the icefall in the dark. They walked away from the face for about 200m and found a large serac that was protecting them a bit. They set up a camp at 5400m and slept for about 3 hours until sunrise. They finished their last gas and their last food, so they knew they had to reach the bottom the following day. On 9 Nov, they crossed the icefall early in the morning (first sunrays) to get away from the danger. They descended the valley on the glacier and realised that it was still a long way to civilization. At about 5200m, they rang SST to order a helicopter, but told them they would want to reach about 4800m as the helicopter would be cheaper when it lands lower down. However, when they had reached 5000m, the helicopter came to pick them up which was arranged by SST. The helicopter took them to Pokhara and Polezhaiko went to their BC to collect the gear. They helicoptered back to Kathmandu the same day. Accidents: Light frostbite on fingers by Polezhaiko, Balabanov; numb fingers Fomin. Each member lost between 12 and 16 kg during the trip.
Accidents Light frostbite on fingers by Polezhaiko, Balabanov; numb fingers Fomin
Achievement -
Agency Seven Summit Treks
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2464606
Year 2021
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) se ridge

Members

3 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Viacheslav Polezhaiko M 1984 Ukraine Leader Cherkassy, Ukraine Head of mountaineering federation Details Other expeditions
Nikita (Mykyta) Balabanov M 1989 Ukraine Climber Kiev, Ukraine Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Mikhail Fomin M 1981 Ukraine Climber Kiev, Ukraine Information techologist Details Other expeditions

References

8 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
ANN321301 - - http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web21f/newswire-first-ascent-southeast-ridge-annapurna-iii - - -
ANN321301 - - https://explorersweb.com/annapurna-iii-interview-with-mikhail-fomin-its-about-patience/ - - -
ANN321301 - - https://www.climbing.com/news/interview-first-ascent-annapurna-iii-southeast-ridge/ - - -
ANN321301 - - https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/annapurna-iii-first-ascent-himalaya-history/ - - -
ANN321301 ALP Fomin, Mikhail Patience - 78:40-53 (2022) -
ANN321301 HCN - Annapurna III, Interview with Mikhail Fomin - 44:2-10 (2022) -
ANN321301 AAJ Fomin, Mikhail Patience - 96:12-23 (2022) -
ANN321301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201216089 - - -