Chhopa Bamare | 2018 SE Face-SW Ridge

A USA expedition to Chhopa Bamare in 2018 via SE Face-SW Ridge, led by John Kelley. Summit reached on 28th February 2019. 2 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 10029
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID CBAM18401
Peak ID CBAM
Year 2018
Season 4
Host Country 1
Route 1 SE Face-SW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders John Kelley
Sponsor Chhopa Bamare Expedition Winter 2018-19
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 1st
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries France
Approach Bus to Lamabagar, trekked north to Lumnang
Basecamp Date 2019-02-15
Summit Date 2019-02-28
Summit Time 1700
Summit Days 13
Total Days 15
Termination Date 2019-03-02
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6109
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 2
Summit Members 2
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(15/02,4000m),ABC(21/02,4900m),Biv1(23/02,5200m),Biv2(24/02),Biv3(25-27/02,5900m),Smt(28/02)
Route Notes BC 15/02 4000m approx below the base of South Sace. ABC 21/02 4900m approx Smt 28/02 by Kelley and Billet at 5 pm. Kelley and Billet left high camp (ABC) at 2:30 am on 22 Feb. They bived at 5200m approx on 23 Feb. Another biv at 5600m approx on 24 Feb. They spent night in their tent at around 5900m on 25, 26 and 27 Feb due to bad weather. They left for summit around 2 pm and got to the top at 5 pm on 28 Feb. They stayed on the summit for about 15 minutes (it was very cold and windy), then descended to 5900m camp where they reached around 8 pm. They spent the night there. Next day, 1 March they went down to their high camp where they arrived around midnight. The following day, 2 March descended to BC. There was not any sign of the BC, everything was swept away by an avalanche while they were climbing. They climbed in alpine-style using ropes most of the line but no fixed ropes. Route grade was 4, most of the route - ice mixed climb. Summit day weather was windy. Most of the climbing days were cloudy, windy and deep snow. It is the third attempt of Kelley on Chhopa Bamare. He was on the mountain in 2017 Dec, high point east summit 5900m approx on 24 Dec. Difficult route too hard for him to climb alone. In 2018 March, high point at 4600m on 14 March - heavy snow; left 18 March. FB report by Ben Gustave about the First Ascent of Chhopa Bamare Chhopa Bamare (6109m) - First Ascent - winter expedition : 09/02/19-03/03/19 The unusual snow conditions of this year completely changed the expedition. It’s been said that this was the snowiest winter in 25 years. From Katmandu, it took us 7 days to reach base camp instead of 3. The bus got stuck on the way to the last village Lamabagar, 2 of our 3 porters let us down as soon as they saw a few cm of snow on the trail, we then had to move back and forward to carry all the food and gear for a 30 days to expedition. From BC we only took the minimum of gear to high camp, but it still took us 3 more days. We started the climb on the 22nd of February at 2 am. The weather forecast was good with a few days of clear weather without snowfall, we would soon find out that it was completely wrong. Starting by climbing the spur following some snow gully and a bit of mixed climbing before a glacier traverse, we reached the bottom of the south face at 6:30 am. We climbed till 17:30 when the snowfall was too intense to continue. There was no place to bivy and small avalanches started to slide down the face. We cut a very small ledge (the biggest we could but just enough to stand on it), attached ourselves to an anchor and put the tent as a bivy bag over our head. Very long and exhausting night standing up in the cold with spindrift rolling over our head. Quite exhausted the next morning, we only did a few pitches before the snow began to fall again and we bivied once again on the face, but on a larger ledge this time. The 3rd day led us to the top of south face and could finally see the summit of Choppa Bamare. We went down the ridge and put the tent around 100-150m below the summit thinking that we could make an attempt the following day. Then weather turned bad with heavy and strong winds we stayed stuck on the ridge for 3 nights at 6000m unable to leave the tent. The last morning, almost out of gaz and food, we were reading to go down but The sun started to shine so we rushed up to the summit. We reached it after a few hours of climbing on the 28th of February (last day of Himalayan winter). The following day was a long day of rappelling down the south face and the spur to reach our high camp. We had to dig a 1.5m of snow to find the back pack that we left behind with some gaz and food. On our way down to base camp we noticed that the entire valley had been washed off by avalanches. There was no trace of our base camp, we lost everything that was there (tent, climbing gear, sleeping bags, pads, etc...). If we would have been there we would probably be under a few meter of snow at this moment. The next day we ran down to the closest village of yakers. They welcomed us like only Nepali can do and fed us with huge plates of dal baht. The route is named "Seto Hi’um" which means white snow in nepali as a reminder of these incredible snowfall. We graded it TD (1150m, VI, M4, WI4). It’s a really good climb with a lot of pitches of WI3 / 3+ and a few harder ones. There is still lot of amazing lines that could be open on this south face as long as the conditions are in. A big thanks to John, my climbing partner, for who it was the 3rd attempt on the mountain for giving me the opportunity to join him and realize the dream of many climbers: a first ascent in the Himalayas. We never met before and this month of expedition went really smoothly especially with the harsh conditions we had. Thanks to Devendra as well, the only porter that stayed we with us up to base camp and helped us so much for everything.
Accidents Billet got frostbite on both toes. The right toe blistered and burst out taking off the nail. He said it will be fine. He was first admitted to Swacon International and moved to Norvic International Hospital on 7 March.
Achievement -
Agency Magical Nepal
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route True
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2464386
Year 2018
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) se face-sw ridge

Members

2 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
John Patrick Kelley M 1977 USA Leader Juneau, Alaska Explosives blaster (for roads) Details Other expeditions
Benjamin Jean Paul Billet M 1985 France Climber Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France Commercial engineer Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
CBAM18401 - - http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web19c/newswire-fa-chhopa-bamare?fbclid=IwAR2BQoI08gv7QHIwK4HnX3iCoENWaCKuL6eWVFUV0V-E1cxBPvh9uP1dJFE - - -
CBAM18401 AAJ Billet, Benjamin Chhopa Bamare, First Ascent by Southeast Face and South Ridge - 94:318-319 (2020) -
CBAM18401 - Billet, Benjamin http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201215301 - - -
CBAM18401 AJ - - - 124:216 (2020) -