Baruntse | 1988 SE Ridge

A Australia expedition to Baruntse in 1988 via SE Ridge, led by John Finnigan. Summit reached on 10th May 1988. 12 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 72
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID BARU88101
Peak ID BARU
Year 1988
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 SE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Australia
Leaders John Finnigan
Sponsor Australian Baruntse Expedition 1988
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 New Zealand, UK, USA
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1988-04-20
Summit Date 1988-05-10
Summit Time -
Summit Days 20
Total Days 27
Termination Date 1988-05-17
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 7070m due to bad snow conditions
High Point (m) 7070
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 10
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 4
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical True
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits 1 minor peak
Campsites BC(20/04,5200m),ABC(22/04,5500),C2(28/04,6250m),C3(01/05,6300m),C4(08/05,6830m),xxx(10-13/05,7070m)
Route Notes BC at Hunku Drangka at river fork near "D" of Drangka ABC/C1 at west side of lake south of Hunku Glacier "K" C2 above headwall above West Col C3 at flat area north of West Col C4 at start of summit ridge High point on SE Ridge. Porters turned back and only 18 left to cross Mera La which meant triple carries to BC. Took one week out of climbing time and perhaps could have fixed summit ridge if had had this extra week's time. Made BC much lower than had wanted; only permanent fixed rope was 600 ft on head wall to West Col. 10th May 4 members made first summit attempt and reached 23,200 ft and were stopped by wall with soft steep snow. Would start up and slide back tried for long time trying to cross this 100 ft of snow in several ways; back to C4. 11th Hodge and Hooy to C1 and Finnigan on the 12th and Steffen on 13th. Lane, Baldwin, Ongchu Lama and Bir Bahadur Tamang on 13th made second summit attempt and got to place with same problem and same results. 2 Nepalis to C1 same time while 2 Aussies down next day after abandoning idea of going for secondary snow peak. 3rd attempt by Hodge and Hooy: got to C2 14th and stayed there 3 nights, defeated by drifting deep snow; went to C3 but back same day.
Accidents Finnigan exhaustion at end (collapsed trying to descend to BC)
Achievement 1st Australian attempt
Agency Kunga
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2452520
Year 1988
Summit Success False
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) se ridge

Members

12 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
John Stanley Armstrong M 1934 UK Climber Hackett, Canberra, ACT, Australia Computer sustems analyst Details Other expeditions
Kenneth George Herbert Baldwin M 1954 Australia Climber Canberra, ACT, Australia Physicist Details Other expeditions
Tom Barcham M 1928 New Zealand Climber Canberra, ACT, Australia Park administrator Details Other expeditions
Charles Edward Barton M 1943 UK Climber Canberra, ACT, Australia Geophysicist Details Other expeditions
Kenneth Bell M 1952 Australia Climber Goulburn, NSW, Australia Sheep grazer Details Other expeditions
John Joseph Finnigan M 1946 Australia Leader Giralang, ACT, Australia Research scientist Details Other expeditions
Peter Hodge M 1955 USA Climber Northboro, Massachusetts Marketing staff (Digital Equipment Corp) Details Other expeditions
Theodorus Simon Leonard (Theo) Hooy M 1954 Australia Climber Canberra, ACT, Australia National park planner Details Other expeditions
Peter Lane M 1958 Australia Exp Doctor Coff's Harbour, NSW, Australia Physician Details Other expeditions
Will Steffen M 1947 Australia Climber Evatt, Canberra, ACT, Australia Science editor Details Other expeditions
Ongchu Lama M - Nepal H-A Worker Phaplu, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Bir Bahadur Tamang M - Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions

References

5 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
BARU88101 AAJ Hawley, Elizabeth - - 63:194 (1989) -
BARU88101 HJ Steffen, Will The 1988 Australian Baruntse Expedition - 46:144-148 (1988-1989) -
BARU88101 NZAJ Baldwin, Kenneth G. H. Not in the Brochure - 42:47-48 (1989) -
BARU88101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198919401/Asia-Nepal-Baruntse-Attempt - - -
BARU88101 - - https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/46/22/expeditions-and-notes-46/ - - -