Dhaulagiri I | 2018 NE Ridge
A Spain expedition to Dhaulagiri I in 2018 via NE Ridge, led by Catalina Quesada Castro. Summit reached on 19th May 2018. 15 members recorded.
Expedition Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| ID | 9796 |
| Imported | 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634 |
| Expedition ID | DHA118105 |
| Peak ID | DHA1 |
| Year | 2018 |
| Season | 1 |
| Host Country | 1 |
| Route 1 | NE Ridge |
| Route 2 | - |
| Route 3 | - |
| Route 4 | - |
| Nationality | Spain |
| Leaders | Catalina Quesada Castro |
| Sponsor | Prestige Adventure International Dhaulagiri Expedition 2018 |
| 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 | Canada, Chile, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Romania, USA |
| Approach | - |
| Basecamp Date | 2018-04-12 |
| Summit Date | 2018-05-19 |
| Summit Time | - |
| Summit Days | 37 |
| Total Days | 43 |
| Termination Date | 2018-05-25 |
| Termination Reason | 4 |
| Termination Notes | Abandoned at 7900m due to bad weather |
| High Point (m) | 7900 |
| Traverse | False |
| Ski | False |
| Paraglide | False |
| Camps | 3 |
| Fixed Rope (m) | 0 |
| Total Members | 15 |
| Summit Members | 0 |
| Member Deaths | 1 |
| 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(12/04,4600m),C1,C2,C3(17/05,7300m),xxx(19/05,7900m) |
| Route Notes | Prestige Adventure Dhaulagiri expedition was a combination of several independent teams (1-5 climbers each). Prestige provided transportation, base camp facilities and various levels of high altitude support (oxygen, high-altitude porters, tents, etc) as required and contracted for by each team. The individual accounts for each team are given below: Lina Quesada Castro (Spain) Francisco Piriz Mato (Spain) Appr: Marpha->Franch Pass->BC Camps: BC(25/04,4600m),C1(27/04,5600m),C2(28/04,6400m),C3(17/05,7300m), xxx(19/05,7900m) Left: 25/05/2018 Hired: 0 Term: Abandoned at 7900m due to bad conditions and weather Piriz and Quesada came down with Waldemar Kowaleski, who saw when Simone Laterra was blown away in his tent. On 01/05 they ascended again to C1 and wanted to continue, but the weather was too bad and they descended again. Piriz left BC on 13/05 and trekked back to Beni. He arrived in Kathmandu on 16/05. Quesada made another summit attempt on 19/05 and reached 7900m with Zarzuelo and the Koraean/Chinese team. Oxygen: not taken, not used Eva Zarzuelo (Spain) Juan Pablo Mohr (Chile) Jonatan Garcia (Spain) Nicolas Mena (Chile) Jean De Heeckeren (Chile) Appr: Darbang->Italian BC->BC Camps: BC(4600m),C1(5600m),C2(6400m),C3(17/05,7300m),xxx(19/05,7900m) Term: Abandoned at 7900m due to bad weather Jonatan Garcia and Juan Pablo Mohr reached 7650m on 18/05, turned around due to weather at 8:30 am, and returned to C3 at 10:30 am. Said ropes were well fixed up to that height, but not beyond. Zarzuela reached 7900m together with Quesada and Koreans/Chinese on 19/05. They turned back as it was too windy. De Heeckeren and Mena were support and did not go beyond C2. Oxygen – not taken, not used Nicholas Rice (USA) Ryan Kushner (USA) Christopher Manning (Canada) Appr: Beni->Darbang->Italian BC->BC Camps: BC(20/04,4600m),C1(23/04,5650m),C2(6500m),C3(17/05,7250m),xxx(19/05,7600m) Left: 22/05/2018 Hired: 0 Term: Abandoned at 7600m due to lack of fixed ropes and bad weather Ryan Kushner and Christopher Manning reached 7600m on 19/05. Both turned back at beginning of the traverse, since there were no more ropes further fixed and it was very windy. Accidents: Nicholas Rice fell into a crevasse on 24/04 below C2 on the way down to C1. He helped himself to get out of the trap, twisting his leg and fracturing a bone in the leg. From C1 had needed 4.5 hours to climb up to C2, but needed several hours to go down for same section. Kushner, Bonilla and Lopez helped him down on the day after from C1 to BC. He tried to keep climbing, but the pain was too much for him so he quit on 17/05 at 7100m below C3. Ryan Kushner, with Christopher Manning and Waldemar Kowalewski on 21/05 had accident: as a huge avalanche threatened to hit them at about 5000m on a kind of plateau, the 3 members ran away and Ryan fell in a crevassed aera nearby the beginning of the fixed rope section at the end of the plateau. His companions took him out of there, as Ryan had not fully disappeared in the crevasse (he managed to put a hand out of the crevasse his companions could take). Badia Bonilla (Mexico) Mauricio Lopez (Mexico) Camps: BC(24/04,4740m),C1(25/04,5900m),C2(26/04,6400m),xxx(17/05,6400m) Left: 22/05/18 Term: Abandoned at 6400m due to bad weather? Alex Gavan (Romania) Simone La Terra (Italy) Pawel Michalski (Poland) Appr: Beni->Darbang->Italian BC->BC Camps: BC(12/04,4600m),C1(20/04,5700m),C2(26/04,6500m),C3(28/04,6976m),xxx Left: 02/05/2018 Hired: 0 Term: Abandoned at 7600m due to lack of fixed ropes and bad weather Gavan and Michalski decided not to join La Terra on his second rotation due to the high avalanche danger. La Terra started on his own and died on 29/04 as his tent was taken away by the wind (see Alex Gavan's account below). On 29/04 at 3:20 am Gavan and Michalski left BC for C1 and reached C1 at 9:20 am. At around 10 am Lina Quesada, Javier Piriz and Waldemar Kowalewski came down from C2 and told them that Simone La Terra had probably died. He was blown away in his tent. Gavan and Michalski got on their satellite phone to organise the helicopter for a search. The helicopter was sent to Dhaulagiri at about noon, but could only reach Italian BC due to bad weather. The helicopter stayed at Italian BC overnight (pilot and Mingma from SST). Gavan and Michalski stayed at C1 for the night and on 30/04 the helicopter picked up Gavan to search for La Terra's body. They found it at around 9 am, dropped them at BC and picked up Michalski from C1. La Terra's body was flown straight to Kathmandu on 30/04 and Michalski and Gavan stayed at BC. On 02/05 they got a helicopter ride to return to Kathmandu. Gavan and Michalski reached C1 as their highest point. Deaths: La Terra died as his tent was blown away Oxygen: not taken, not used SIMONE LA TERRA ON DHAULAGIRI. SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATION. BOOTS ON THE GROUND REPORT. by Alex Gavan, co-initiator and rescuer, together with Pawel Michalski 01.05.2017 – Dhaulagiri Base Camp, 4600m When good people die words are lacking because them of being unnecessary in the first place. When a good man and friend dies, the burden of writing the report about his passing away borders denial. This text is for bringing light to Simone’s last moments, family report (who read this before it went public), serving for insurance purposes and as well as a „boots on the ground” report regarding what happened and how things unfolded during the rescue mission. 28 April 2018: At 11 am, Simone La Terra (It) and Valdi Kovalewski (Pl) are climbing on the North-East Ridge of Dhaulagiri. Their aim is to further their acclimatisation process for an upcoming oxygenless attempt of the summit. At 6976m, Simone decides he would rather stop and pitch his tent there while Valdi feels he needs to spend the night at a higher altitude in order for him to be able to safely tackle the summit. At around 1 pm Simone radioes us into the base camp. He speaks with Pawel and I witness the conversation. He is inside his tent, tired and coughing. It took him around two hours to pitch it. The place is steep and narrow and he is attached with his harness on the fixed rope outside. He says his feet are quite half dangling into the void and this attracts him our scolding, replying him back that this is not Yosemite or some other big wall place. Later on, at the agreed 5 pm radio time, Simone fails to make contact with us. Pawel says he has a bad hunch but we don’t give it much thought, not having contact in the mountains can be due to many reasons, not necesarily bad ones. 29 April: After much thought and analysing the weather forecast, at 3:30 am, Pawel and myself start our climb into the night to Camp 1. Our plan is to further establish Camp 2 at 6400m on April 30th. If in good condition and weather permitting we also want to climb up the North-East Ridge on May 1 and also spend an acclimatisation night above 7000m, thus putting us in the position of attempting the summit without supplemental oxygen, as in all our previous expeditions. It took us the pretty short time of six hours to get to the 5700m camp. At 10 am, a Spanish climber comes down from Camp 2 and I am hearing her through the fabric of my tent: „Pawel, I think Simone died”. My stomach contracts, my heart sinks and I am listening to the conversation. Minutes later, Valdi arrives down as well and he reveals the facts. The previous day he continued to climb till reaching the lower Camp 3, at 7200m. A desolate place, not much used anymore. The wind and spindrift are speeding up, so intense that he is not able to proper pitch his tent. He anchors himself from the harness to the mountain using one ice screw as well as many snow stakes for the tent. After half an hour the wind breaks the tent and he realises he needs to descend. At 4 pm something he reaches to Simone’s to find shelter. Valdi is on belay on the fix rope, Simone is inside, they held small conversation about how to proceed. Few minutes are passing, Simone is working inside the tent to make place for Valdi, while Valdi is decongesting the snow from the tent’s entrance. A sudden powerful gust of wind is blowing the tent’s fabric, transforming it into as a ship’s sail. It takes a fraction of a second for the tent to be blown over the edge, Simone inside, „no, no…no!”, his last words while disappearing into the void from Valdi’s sight. Not even time for Valdi to grab the tent and hold the fall. Shocked, he assesses the situation for a few minutes. He thinks to abseil on Simone’s line of fall. The wind and the spindrift and the exposure deemed the situation much too dangerous to do it. He needed now to descend to Camp 2. The snow buried fixed ropes and the impossible snowstorm made this a six hour ordeal, instead of the usual one hour and a half descent. He informed the four Spanish climbers he encountered into Camp 2 about the accident and two of them confirmed him they passed the information about the accident to their base camp. The night passed and now we encountered Valdi in Camp 1. Visibly shaken, he recalled us the story. Now, realistically, the chances of being alive in such a situation are very marginal but in the same time there are really some miraculous cases of survival in the history of Himalayan climbing. We could not take the death of Simone as a given. We must do everything in our power till we’ll rescue him or find evidence of his passing. And now time was critical, since the weather pattern for the last three weeks was fog and snow after 12 pm, invariably. It took us around 15 minutes from finding about Simone’s accident to calling for a helicopter mission. Unlike anytime, I left my satellite phone in the base camp. Pawel called our expedition organizer and asked him to provide us with a certain phone number. I used my longtime contacts in Nepal and we got the heli into the air, leaving from Kathmandu, within another 15 minutes. A total of 30 minutes from finding about the accident. My friends, the brothers Dawa and Mingma Sherpa, owners of Seven Summit Treks and of air transport company immediately came to help. And Mingma was flying personally towards us. In the meantime we called Paola, Simone’s wife, informed her about the accident and asked her to coordinate from Italy with the insurance company as well as also keeping the contact with the heli guys. Bad weather closed in and the helicopter had to overnight in Italian Base Camp. A long, sleepless and tense night for Pawel and myself in Camp 1, waiting, waiting. Keeping also regular satellite contact with Mingma, Dawa and Paola. 30 April: The plan is that at 6 o’clock the next morning, the heli is to pick me up (in the meantime I also prepared a long-line rescue system) from Camp 1 and to begin the search from Simone’s last known GPS point (given to us by Paola) and from there to follow the fall line till we’ll hopefully find him. When the hour came, for the first time in the last weeks the weather was not clear in the morning, the first damn morning with poor visibility and certainly no flying conditions. We kept the connection with Mingma and when the visibility got a bit better we heard the roar of the heli. I anxiously climbed up above Camp 1, to the designated place where the heli was supposed to hover above the snow and pick me up. But the heli changed direction and went directly for the face and started patrolling the huge slopes. I tried not to get too concerned and thought maybe it was some last-minute thing that I was not aware of; everything happens so fast in the maddness of these situations. After some minutes, we saw the heli in the distance, multiple circling and then insistently hovering over a certain spot. We saw two tiny black spots (I later found to be Mike Sherpa and Mingma Sherpa, another Mingma from the heli owner), barely visible, jumping from the heli and recovering what appeared to be a long, „massive thing”. Then the heli speedingly went to the direction of the base camp. For some moments I thought they found Simone and that was it. I couldn’t estabish satellite contact with Mingma to confirm. Minutes later we again saw the heli returning, this time searching on the obviously wrong part of the mountain and then I really started to get anxious and stressed by the fact we will uselessly use the scarce fuel in a wrong way. I finally re-establish contact with Mingma and asked him to recall the heli, refuel and follow by the book the initial agreed plan. I finally got the heli hovering but cynically I could not open the door to jump in. Due to the super dry air of the altitude and the rotation of the blades, the metal was charged with electricity. It took me what felt like a tremendous amount of time to get myself in. I directed Captain Nishal towards the spot on the ridge where Simone was last recorded, clouds closing in at that altitude of almost 7000m (a height that was challanging the capabilities of the machine). We flew so close to the wall I was nervously repeating him to take care. From up there we started to slowly descend in circles on the suposed fall line. At around 6000m in a crevassed area we saw some small red object, then, further, something that appeared to be part of Simone’ suit. Nishal hovered me above, I reluctantly jumped out, he backed off and I could dig out what was indeed proved out to be his suit, but nothing to be found of Simone. We resumed the search and Nishal asked me to check one specific black spot barely visible from he snow. It was under an immense serac, in its releasing zone, ladden with debris. Approaching and focusing on it we realised it was Simone. I open the door and took some documentary photos for the family. I could make out his boots and part of his torso. We agreed to return to base camp to refuel, regroup and decide on our further line of action. Down there I called Paola to advise. The place of Simone’s location was among the most dangerous I have been from the rescuer’s point of view. And still, now it could be no further rescue, maximum a body recovery. She asked that I give her an hour to further speak with the parents. I replied that she only had five minutes for this. In the meantime together with Mingma and Nishal we evaluated the risks for Nishal, myself and the helicopter. The weather was closing in. Not waiting for Paola’s reply we returned to the place. It was Simone after all. With Nishal and myself came along Mingma Sherpa, the same one that was in the first morning flight. We brought along a shovel and an ice axe and decided against using the rope he was proposing to take down with us because of the risk of it meddling with the heli’s blades. Nishal was not comfortable with the long-line idea either and preferred we pulled the body into the heli together with one of us, then return afterwards for the second. Not enough safety margin for all of us to get in at the same time. To operate at that altitude the heli was also completely emptied of everything but the pilot’s chair. After a little guessing we again reached the place. We jumped off the heli and Nishal backed off in order to allow us to dig out my friend. Doing this, I rediscovered praying. The serac above was so unstable and threatening that I was saying to myself, „please God, not now”. Also, the turbulence produced by the heli was adding to the risk of some chunk of ice collapsing over the blades and making everything finish within seconds. It took us an enormous ammount of energy to get Simone out of the ice and snow imprisoning him. Moments of such a high emotional charge and such a sight and intimate experience and actions on the spot that I could not dare try put or express in writing. We called in the heli. Nishal was hovering on the sleep slope, one meter and something above the ground. The blades of the heli were surrounding us in spindrift. Mingma and myself tried multiple times to get Simone into the heli. It was a hellish effort and it was in vain. We simply did not have the power to do it. With moments passing, the situation was becoming desperate. The risk of the serac releasing because of heli turbulence getting bigger and becoming unacceptable. This was a dead end. I had to fast think of something else. I got myself out from under the heli and signal to Nishal to back off. He did it and it was again only the three of us: Mingma, Simone and myself. Mingma’s harness was at my eye level. I took from it a piece of cordelette and a locking carbiner, tied it to Simone’s harness and make the sign to Nishal to re-approach. Tied Simone to the heli’s landing gear and off they went. Again, the silence. Only Mingma and myself left now. Reality struck and Mingma almost begged me (of which I was thankful) to get the hell out of there and try to find a safer place to wait for the helicopter. We start descending a bit diagonally, trying to be out of sight of the serac releasing firing line. But not quite. While I took my breath and confirming to Pawel over radio about the development, Mingma also found Simone’s tent together with a piece of rope used for route fixing. Finally, Nishal arrived to pick us up and after another hair-raising hovering above we, exhausted, got into the heli. After a steep and short descent we all landed into the base camp. Staring now dumbly to the computer screen in our base camp tent. Towering above me, 3.6km on the vertical, the mighty summit of Dhaulagiri. Simone knew what he was doing and loved the mountains dearly. They give him energy. They gave him a framework in his search for meaning. They filled him with Life. As always, Mountain is Mountain and its sovereignity is Absolute. PS: Strangely enough, by the time Pawel and myself sounded the alarm, nobody in the base camp acted in any way, even though the information was known from the night of April 28th. Looking retrospectively, nothing would have been changed in the faith of Simone. Just the search and rescue operation would have been possible one day earlier, on April 29th, and my faith in humanity would have gone even stronger. |
| Accidents | - |
| Achievement | - |
| Agency | Prestige Adventure |
| Commercial Route | False |
| Standard Route | True |
| Primary Route | False |
| Primary Member | False |
| Primary Reference | False |
| Primary ID | - |
| Checksum | 2460681 |
| Year | 2018 |
| Summit Success | False |
| O2 Summary | None |
| Route (lowercase) | ne ridge |
Members
15 recorded members.
| Name | Sex | Year of Birth | Citizenship | Status | Residence | Occupation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalina (Lina) Quesada Castro | F | 1969 | Spain | Leader | Seville, Spain | Administrative in the Seville Council | Details Other expeditions |
| Badia Briseida Bonilla Luna | F | 1966 | Mexico | Climber | Mexico City, Mexico | Nutritionist | Details Other expeditions |
| Jean Louis De Heeckeren | M | 1987 | Chile | Climber | Santiagio, Chile | Photographer | Details Other expeditions |
| Jonatan Garcia Villa | M | 1985 | Spain | Climber | Baracaldo, Vizcaya, Spain | Car inspector | Details Other expeditions |
| Alexandru Costin (Alex) Gavan | M | 1982 | Romania | Climber | Bucharest, Romania | Photographer | Details Other expeditions |
| Ryan Edward Kushner | M | 1982 | USA | Climber | Denver, Colorado | - | Details Other expeditions |
| Simone La Terra | M | 1981 | Italy | Climber | Castiglione, Grosseto, Italy | University teacher | Details Other expeditions |
| Mauricio Ernesto Lopez Ahumada | M | 1957 | Mexico | Climber | Mexico City, Mexico | Alpine guide & businessman | Details Other expeditions |
| Christopher James Manning | M | 1985 | Canada | Climber | Edmonton, Alberta | CEO of Castle Rock Research India & mountain EMT responder | Details Other expeditions |
| Nicolas Mena Reyes | M | 1987 | Chile | Exp Doctor | Santiago, Chile | Physician | Details Other expeditions |
| Pawel Bartosz Michalski | M | 1973 | Poland | Climber | Lodz, Poland | Teacher, Logistics and Project Management at UNI | Details Other expeditions |
| Juan Pablo Mohr Prieto | M | 1987 | Chile | Climber | Santiago, Chile | Architect | Details Other expeditions |
| Francisco Javier Piriz Mato | M | 1980 | Spain | Climber | Salamanca, Spain | Works in IT | Details Other expeditions |
| Nicholas Alexander (Nick) Rice | M | 1985 | USA | Climber | Hermosa Beach, California | Alpinist & photographer | Details Other expeditions |
| Eva Maria Zarzuelo Larisgoitia | F | 1971 | Spain | Climber | Benasque, Huesca, Spain | Receptionist | Details Other expeditions |
References
8 recorded references.