Everest | 2001 N Col-NE Ridge

A Australia expedition to Everest in 2001 via N Col-NE Ridge, led by Duncan Chessell. Summit reached on 23rd May 2001. 3 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 3801
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID EVER01126
Peak ID EVER
Year 2001
Season 1
Host Country 2
Route 1 N Col-NE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Australia
Leaders Duncan Chessell
Sponsor South Australian Everest Expedition
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 398
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2001-04-12
Summit Date 2001-05-23
Summit Time 0900
Summit Days 41
Total Days 45
Termination Date 2001-05-27
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8849
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 2
Summit Members 1
Member Deaths 1
Total Hired 1
Summit Hired 1
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep True
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(12/04),ABC(16/04,6400m),C1(28/04,7000m),C2(21/05,7900m),C3(22/05,8250m),Smt(23/05)
Route Notes C1 at North Col C2 on North Ridge C3 on North Face. 23 May just before 1:00 Chessell, Auricht and Tshering Palden Bhote left C3 for top. Auricht to top of 3rd Step (8700m) going slowly, Chessell had gone ahead and Auricht told Tshering to catch up with Chessell. (Chessell on top 9:00 am NST, stopped an hour and just waving Nepalese flags furiously - very happy). Chessell waited 15 minutes for Tshering to come down and two on down to top of Third Step, waiting half-hour or one hour and 3 descended together to very 200m from close to C3. Chessell and Tshering down to camp to brew hot liquid. Auricht tired but otherwise fine. Auricht walked into camp. Mark feeling quite well but tired, whereas Chessell very tired: Auricht went to C2 while Chessell and Tshering stayed the night in C3. Auricht did not show up at C2 of this team, where should have arrived 7:30 pm, but wandered into Australia army tent at C2 at 1:00 am of 24th disoriented. Army put him on high oxygen flow, briefly secured to review, put him in sleeping bag and gave drinks. In the morning Auricht emerged from tent, collapsed and died (stroke). Brice's Sherpas to move his body to side of mountain and down to East Rongbuk Glacier. Chessell and Tshering to ABC 24th. Left ABC 26th and BC 27th. Initially reported that Auricht summited, but later determined that he probably did not summit. The following is the report from the expedition's website www.neveimages.com.au/Everest/finalreport.html Duncan Chessell & Scott Ferris = Advanced Base Camp Early in the morning of the 23rd of May Duncan, Mark and Tshering Sherpa left their high camp at 8300m bound for the summit on an excellent weather day. Duncan left first at 12:40 am followed by Mark and Tshering at 1 am, the start staggered due the tight quarters in the tent in which to boil water and get dressed. Mark was not feeling 100% which is not ususual due to the extreme altitude, although he slept reasonably well. Duncan and Tshering did not sleep much at all but both hit good form and were looking forward to the summit. On every other day Mark and Duncan had climbed at the same speed, so Duncan figured that stopping for half an hour would certainly allow Mark to catch up. After stopping twice for half an hour it became apparent Mark was not firing on all cylinders on this day and after meeting with another climber Kleron McKenzie, who had passed Mark, Duncan decided to just go for it. Reaching the summit about 9 am Duncan found a melee of about 25 climbers on the summit, many from the Nepal side. It was so crowded that it was almost impossible to get a good photograph. One man was measuring the thickness of ice on the summit with a metal stake, another calling home on his Iridium phone (I thought they were switched off at the moment). In total 45 people summited (from both sides) on that day. Duncan spent an hour on the summit waiting for Mark and Tshering to arrive but after this amount of time he was running out of oxygen for this section of the climb and had to leave. On the way he met Tshering rushing up with the video camera but no sponsorship flags which were all sitting in Mark's pack some 150m below. We had been very careful to make good plans about oxygen supplies. Each climber had 3 bottles, which would last for 6 to 6.5 hours at 2 L/min. The trick was therefore to make sure you got back within 18 hours and on the way up leave your partial to full bottles stashed so you didn't have to carry them all the whole way. This had been carefully worked out and the plan worked well. By the time Duncan had descended to Mark, it was apparent that Mark had neither the energy, nor the oxygen required to summit. So, very sensibly, Mark turned around and the three climbers descended to their high camp together. Mark was noticeably slower but was always within sight. Descent was slow and in fact it took just as long to descend as it had to ascend due to the large numbers of people bottle-necking the abseils on the route down. Arriving back at high camp (8300m) at 5 pm with about 1 hour oxygen spare, everything seemed safe and done, Duncan and Tshering were already in the tent brewing up when Mark arrived. Whilst Mark was sad at not having reached the summit, he was glad to have given it a shot. It was disappointing because in his normal good state of health he would have climbed it for sure. Duncan and Tshering were both very dehydrated due to problems with their water bottles (each only able to drink 1 of the 3 L they were carrying due to freezing). So they decided to stay up high while Mark thought it would be better to head down to the next camp, at the 7900m, where Pemba Nuru Sherpa was waiting with hot drinks, spare oxygen and a radio should be needed. It is best to get to lower altitudes as soon as possible. It was about 1 and 1/2 hours down the fixed ropes to the next camp and Mark had 2 to 3 hours of oxygen left in his bottle (left over from the climb from 7900m to 8300m and sleeping). So Mark set off at about 6 pm. It gets dark at about 7:15 pm so he should make it in the light or, if he went slowly, well within the time his oxygen ran out. We think that at some stage Mark sat down for a rest and fell asleep. This would have left him with no oxygen. He did not call on the radio for the emergency Sherpa (Pemba Nuru) to come to his assistance, but instead continued down, missed our tent, but stumbled upon an Australian Army Expedition tent. The time was now 1 am, 7 hours after leaving high camp and 4.5 hours without oxygen. The people from the Army put him up for the night, with a sleeping bag, and hot drinks. They reported he was initially disorientated but in their opinion did not have any high altitude illness, he was however very tired. In the morning at approximately 7:30 am, as they were preparing to leave, Mark got up from the tent, seemingly Ok, but almost instantly collapsed dead. The army team tried all they could but reviving him was a battle they could not win. Duncan and Tshering slept very deeply at 8300m, being very, very tired from their summit. They awoke at 4 am and headed down the ropes to the 7900m camp, having received news from Pemba Nuru Sherpa (camped at 7900m) that Mark had not arrived and had not called on the radio. So arriving at 7900m camp and not finding Mark on the way, or any broken ropes, it was all a bit of a mystery. Duncan began calling some of the other teams on the mountain to see if he could locate Mark. After some time the call came through from the Australian Army Expedition that Mark was in fact with them, but dead. The likely cause of death is cerebral embolism brought on by high altitude (thick blood) and exhaustion and dehydration. The speed of death and lack of prior symstoms suggests this as probable cause of death but we cannot be sure. Duncan, Tshering and Pemba then returned to ABC (6400m) on the 24th, all very tired and upset about Mark's death. The success of the expedition was overshadowed by Mark's death and there were no celebrations. Packing up ABC in readiness for yaks has taken on a much more sombre mood than other expeditions. It will be another week before the truck arrives in KTM and the gear is unloaded, sorted, cleaned, dried. Email from Duncan Chessell - Dec 20, 2001 Mark was going very slowly and never caught up to me on the ascent on that day to the summit. He told Tshering at the top of the first step that Tshering should go on ahead quickly and that he (Mark) was going to descend back to camp. Mark did not descend he kept going up. Tshering and I met Mark at the Top of the third step when we (Tshering and Duncan) were descending. We then all descended together to C3 (8300m) Mark continued down toward C2 (7900m) alone. I think you know the rest. Don't think he had frostbite. I think he was only waiting at the top of the third step for 10-20 minutes when we came down. I remember asking him if he had been waiting for long and he said not long, 20 minutes or less, but who knows if this is correct if he was suffering altitude sickness or something. He was travelling very slowly all day and even though Tshering left the 20 minutes after Mark he caught him within 5 minutes on the ascent in the morning.
Accidents Auricht died of stroke
Achievement -
Agency Arun Treks
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2458104
Year 2001
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) n col-ne ridge

Members

3 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Mark Auricht M 1963 Australia Climber Adelaide, SA, Australia Management consultant Details Other expeditions
Duncan Charles Chessell M 1970 Australia Leader Canberra, ACT, Australia Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Tshering Palden/Pande Bhote M 1978 Nepal H-A Worker Hungung, Hatiya-1, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions

References

1 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
EVER01126 HIGH - - - 231:76 (Feb 2002) -