Everest | 2017 S Col-SE Ridge

A S Africa expedition to Everest in 2017 via S Col-SE Ridge, led by Ryan Sean Davy. Summit reached on 3rd May 2017. 1 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 9498
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID EVER17154
Peak ID EVER
Year 2017
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 S Col-SE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality S Africa
Leaders Ryan Sean Davy
Sponsor Davy Illegal Everest Expedition 2017
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 -
Approach Lukla->Namche->Pangboche->Everest BC
Basecamp Date 2017-04-17
Summit Date 2017-05-03
Summit Time -
Summit Days 16
Total Days 17
Termination Date 2017-05-04
Termination Reason 14
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6100m due to being discovered
High Point (m) 6100
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 1
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 1
Summit Members 0
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 Summited Lobuche on 2 April
Campsites BC(17/04,4700m),C1(03/05,6100m),xxx
Route Notes BC 17/04 4700m (Pumori) C1 5700m (Pumori) HPt 25/04 6800m (SE Face of Pumori) HPt 03/05 6100m C1 on Everest at 10:30 am. Davy arrived in Kathmandu on 17 March. Spent two days in Kathmandu to buy some equipment. Bussed to Jiri. Trekked from Jiri to Namche. He carried his own rucksack, which weighed 42kg all the way to Surke. The bag broke and then he realized that he needed a porter. They trekked to Lobuche BC together. On 29 March, they arrived there and he climbed to C1 30 March in the morning. Wanted to do it in the dark not to be seen. He summited Lobuche on 2 Aril. After Lobuche, he spent a few weeks walking up and down Kalapattar and Pumori C1 to acclimatize. Every seven days, he would run back to Namche to get some provisions. It took him a day from Pumori BC to Namche, spend a night in Namche and then go back. He did this about 4 times. On 2 May, he left Pumori BC at about 7 pm, to Gorak Shep and Everest BC at about 8:30 pm and returned to Pumori BC. It was a very dark night. The reason he did that was to break trail as it had been snowing. On 3 May, he left his tent at Pumori BC at 3 am and reached EBC at 4:14 am. There were about 3 or 4 flashlights in the Khumbu Icefall. As he was climbing illegally, he waited for the next person to enter the Icefall to follow as he wanted to appear as part of a team. It was about 4:30 am. When he reached C1 at 10:30 am he realized that all the tents had expedition names on them and that his tent would stick out. He decided to descend and come up with a good idea of how to get a name on his tent. He left C1 at 1:30 pm. It took him 3 hours to descend. The weather turned bad and it started graupeling (snowing with soft pellets). As he saw the SPPC tent in the Icefall he stayed in the Icefall a bit to make sure that he was not discovered. At about 5:30 pm he walked through BC and he sensed that there was going to be an issue as he was wearing his 8000m-boots and he knew that it would be obvious if he walked out of base camp wearing these boots. He got out of BC and four men whistled to attract his attention. He waved and as soon as he was around a rock he made for a little cave. He sat in the cave for about 10 minutes and as he peered around the corner to check out where they were, they came around the corner and discovered him. One of them was Phurba Tashi and another Gyanendra Shresthat (from the Ministry of Tourism). They told him to get out of the cave and show them his passport, which he miraculously had with him. They asked him whether he had a permit and he admitted he did not. They went to the Satori Camp and they gave him tea and biscuits and discussed the situation. Davy admitted everything, including Lobuche and Pumori. They told him to leave BC immediately and kept his passport. He went back to his tent and he was very down as he had the feeling that he had failed his mission. During the night, he realized that he did not have any details of the people who took his passport so he returned to BC. He met Russell Brice, who told him to look for the liaison officer. Davy found Gyanendra, who had arrested him. There were two Sherpas in the tent and one Sherpa was very aggressive toward him and was physical abusive. He slapped him in the face and took pictures of him. The Sherpa then threw him toward Gyanendra. The Sherpa demanded to have a pic of Davy and him and the passport. Gyanendra told Davy to get out as soon as possible and leave BC. "I felt like a murderer when the Sherpa attacked me. I thought he was going to throw stones at me." He then left very quickly as he was scared to be hurt physically or arrested. He went back to Pumori C1 and BC to pack up his gear and leave. His load was about 32kg. He trekked back to Jiri, which took him 8 days from Pumori BC. He arrived in Kathmandu on 15 May. He went straight to the Department of Tourism on Brikuthi Mandap. He met with the director of the tourism board and he got lectured and they informed him that he was going to be detained. They then called the Chief Police Lady and he was transported to the Nepal Police, where he was held custody for seven days. He went to court for the bail application and was released on bail for 1000 NPR. The decision will be made within two days. The fine is very likely to be around US$24,000U, he can either pay or go to prison. Davy does not have the money so he will go to prison. Maximum sentence 4 years, minimum 2 years. Davy says: I am accountable for my actions and I don't expect anyone feeling sorry for me. I did not hurt anyone and I am with piece of the idea that I did not do any harm to anyone. I come from a poor family and my dad, who used to be a building contractor, has no money. I trained really hard to be strong. I trained with a hypoxic mask. He was convinced that he would not have needed any help up there. I was going to go to Camp 1, spend 2 days there, then Camp 2, leave my tent there, etc. Ed Viesturs books were great for my preparation. I would like to go back, but I will probably be banned for five years. Next time I come, I will pay for it! I pleaded with the authorities to do community service, but they would not let me. The reason for me going up there was to help people. I once got very low in my life and I wanted to help people up there. I put all my savings into two feature films and they did not do as well as I thought they would. So I felt like a failure and that is why I wanted to help up there. I used to be a fireman and a rescuer and I thought that if were able to help one single person that would be my summit…much more important than the summit. AFP, 26 May 2017 Kathmandu (AFP) - Nepal said Friday a South African who tried to climb Mount Everest without a permit can go home without paying a $22,000 fine, but banned him from mountaineering there for 10 years. Ryan Sean Davy, 43, was found hiding in a cave near Everest base camp nearly two weeks ago after being spotted on the world's highest mountain without a $11,000 climbing permit. The South African, who has no prior mountaineering experience, said he could not afford the hefty permit fee but wanted to scale Everest and document his experience in a book and film. "The tourism department has excused me and given me permission to go home," Davy told AFP on Friday. The head of the tourism department confirmed that Davy had been let off the heavy fine and just given a 10-year ban on climbing mountains in Nepal. "We have imposed a 10 year ban on him against mountaineering in Nepal. No fine has been imposed," said Dinesh Bhattarai, head of the tourism department. The department had previously said they were looking at converting the fine to a jail sentence of up to four years if the South African could not pay. "I've not yet quite processed it but, yeah, I'm ecstatic. I thought they would give me at least two months to a year (in jail). So this is a big surprise. I better leave before they change their mind," Davy said, adding that he was made to hand over the memory cards from his camera. When caught two weeks ago, the South African told officials he had climbed as far as Camp One -- at 6000 metres (nearly 20,000 feet) -- crossing the treacherous Khumbu icefall, despite not having all the proper equipment. His passport was confiscated by government officials, who ordered he return to Kathmandu to collect it and pay a fine -- a journey he made by foot because he could not afford a plane ticket. During questioning in Kathmandu he was arrested under Nepal's strict public order laws for swearing at officials and spent a week in detention. He was released on a $10 bail on Monday but had to report to the tourism department every day. Johannesburg-born but US-based, Davy moved to Aspen in Colorado six months ago to prepare for his Everest bid, living out of a van as he was short on cash. He taught himself to climb by reading mountaineering books and watching YouTube videos. Davy told AFP that his Everest mission is not yet over and he intended to try to summit from the Tibet side -- this time with a permit. "I'm going to start raising money for a permit on the Tibet side and finish my climb," he said.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency None
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2459939
Year 2017
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) s col-se ridge

Members

1 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Ryan Sean Davy M 1973 S Africa Leader Burbank, California Film-maker Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.