Everest | 2009 SW Face (up); SE Ridge-S Col (down)

A S Korea expedition to Everest in 2009 via SW Face (up); SE Ridge-S Col (down), led by Park Young-Seok. Summit reached on 20th May 2009. 5 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 6424
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID EVER09158
Peak ID EVER
Year 2009
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Face (up); SE Ridge-S Col (down)
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality S Korea
Leaders Park Young-Seok
Sponsor 2009 Park's Everest Southwest Face Expedition
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 -
Basecamp Date 2009-03-29
Summit Date 2009-05-20
Summit Time 1500
Summit Days 52
Total Days 55
Termination Date 2009-05-23
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8849
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 5
Fixed Rope (m) 3500
Total Members 5
Summit Members 4
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 7
Summit Hired 0
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(29/03,5350m),C1(18/04,6050m),C2(18/04,6500m),C3(24/04,7350m),C4(28/04,7800m),C5(18/05,8350m),Smt(20/05)
Route Notes C1 at top of Icefall C2 in Western Cwm C3 on SW Face C4 on SW Face C5 just below W Ridge. Following his team's failure to summit Everest via the SW Face two years ago, Park was now back to try again, and this time was successful. The Koreans line of ascent on the face had never been successfully climbed to the top; it was new line to the left of that of the Soviet expedition of spring 1982, but Park's C5 site was the same as that of the 1982 team: the Koreans found Soviet oxygen bottles there. The Koreans began their climb on 18 April, when all five members moved up from BC. Jin, Kang, and Park established C1, while Lee, Shin, four Sherpas and a cook carried on up and established C2 in the Western Cwm. Lee and Shin went back to BC on the 19th. Kang and two Sherpas went up to C2 on the 19th, and on the 20th went up onto the SW Face making the route to 7000m before returning to C2 to spend the night. On the 21st two Sherpas carried gear to 7000m. On the 22nd and 23rd all members rested in C2. Then on the 24th Jin, Park and two Sherpas made the route to 7350m on the face, pitched C3 there and spent the night in the camp. On the 25th Jin and Park fixed rope to 7700m, then descended to C2. Kang and three Sherpas went to C3 and slept there. On the 26th everybody rested. But on the 27th of April, Kang and two Sherpas made the route to 7800m and pitched C4 there. On the same day, Lee and Shin moved up to C3; they went up to C4 on the 28th and slept there, while two Sherpas brought loads from C2 to C4 and stayed there also. On the 29th Shin and two Sherpas made the route to C5, then descended to C2. On the 30th everybody was down in BC to rest. Lee, who had a chest infection did not go up again, but on 6 May all the other members and four Sherpas returned to C2. They stayed there on the 7th because it was very windy. On 8 May, Shin and two Sherpas moved up to C4. On the next day Jim, Kang and Park joined them in C4 and Shin climbed towards C5, but strong wind forced all members and Sherpas to retreat to BC later that day. The wind plus snowfall kept the team pinned down in BC from the 10th to the 14th, but finally they began to move up once again on the 15th, when Kang, Shin and four Sherpas reoccupied C2. On the 16th Jin and Park went up to C2 while two Sherpas carried loads from C2 to C4. On the 17th Kang, Shin and one Sherpa went from C2 to C4, and Jin and Park climbed from C2 to C3. On the 18th Shin and one Sherpa established C5 and slept there; Kang stayed in C4; Jin and Park went up from C3 to C4 and stayed there. On the 19th Shin fixed 25m of rope up from C5 and returned to the camp. Jin, Kang and Park moved up from C4 to C5. All the Sherpas descended to C2. The four members, Jin, Kang, Park and Shin left C5 for the top at 0:30 hours on 20 May. They fixed 500m of rope to 8600m and all were on the summit together at 3:00 pm. They descended via the SE Ridge to the South Col, where they arrived at 7:55 pm and stayed in two C4 tents belonging to another Korean team led by Joo Jung-Soo. Park's group returned to their own C2 at 11:00 am on the 21st, and were back in BC the next day. The only health problem amongst the climbers was Lee's chest infection, which he developed at the end of April. He stayed in BC from 30 April to the end of the climb. All climbers who reached C4 used oxygen in the camp, above it, to and in C4. Summiters used it in C4 to the top and down to the South Col.
Accidents Lee's chest infection
Achievement -
Agency NE-KO Treks
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2461256
Year 2009
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) sw face (up); se ridge-s col (down)

Members

5 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Jae-Chang Jin M 1966 S Korea Deputy Leader Jeonju (Cheonju), Jeollabuk, S Korea Seafood restaurant owner Details Other expeditions
Ki-Seok Kang M 1978 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Staff of company importing outdoor equipment Details Other expeditions
Hyeong-Mo Lee M 1979 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Alpinist Details Other expeditions
Young-Seok Park M 1963 S Korea Leader Seoul, S Korea Outdoor equipment manufacturer's representative Details Other expeditions
Dong-Min Shin M 1974 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Office staff member of expedition organizing business Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
EVER09158 KAN - Everest - 1:2-4 (Sep 2009) -
EVER09158 AAJ Pae, Christine - - 84:315-317 (2010) -
EVER09158 CLIM - - - 66:61-64 (August 2010) -
EVER09158 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12201031502/Everest-8850m-Southwest-Face-Parks-Korean-Route - - -