Everest | 1988 S Pillar-SE Ridge

A S Korea expedition to Everest in 1988 via S Pillar-SE Ridge, led by Choi Chang-Min. Summit reached on 26th September 1988. 21 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 491
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID EVER88304
Peak ID EVER
Year 1988
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 S Pillar-SE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality S Korea
Leaders Choi Chang-Min
Sponsor Choi Chang-Min Autumn 1988 Everest Expedition
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 83rd,85th,88th
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1988-08-22
Summit Date 1988-09-26
Summit Time 1430
Summit Days 35
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8849
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 20
Summit Members 6
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 13
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 Climbed Lhotse (LHOT-883-01)
Campsites BC(22/08,5350m),C1(04/09,6050m),C2(07/09,6400m),C3(15/09,7250m),C4(24/09,8060m),Smt(26,29/09,02/10)
Route Notes BC at normal site C1 at top of Icefall C2 in Western Cwm C3 at start of S Pillar C4 on S Pillar. Joined normal route at 8300m; route very steep C2 to C4 especially C3 to C4 at 65 degrees. Made Icefall route with Americans and joined equipment so paid them nothing (as others did). Mrs Schmatz [body] not seen (much snow on mountain). Koreans on 26 Sept made track to Hillary Step and there French took over the lead. Summit reached in following order: Frenchman Pema Dorje 3 Frenchman and 1 Swiss Um 3 Sherpas with French Batard 1988 Korean Everest-Lhotse Expedition by San-Ak In KAF's Everest-Lhotse Expedition has been organized with the memory of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games for its main object. BC was firstly established by the advance party on Aug 9th. On the way to C2, they advanced through the Icefall in partnership with the American Expedition. Weather had been bad after C2 was built up on Sept 7th, so that from Sept 9th, all the members had recess at BC and C1. C3 of 1 box tent was arranged on snow face after cutting the 60-degree slope of surface, which was about 500m upward over the rock. It was South Ridge end. By Sept 18th, the ropes were fixed to the height of 7800m. Next day they established C4. Then a selection was made for the first attack. Climbing leader Mr. Seon-Woo Nam and member Chang-Seon Kim, Hong-Gil Uhm started BC on Sept 24th with Pema Dorji and 2 other Sherpas. From C2 to C4, they should cover 1660m of altitudinal differrence in a day. Leader Nam climbed down in bad condition, while the pair Kim and Uhm started for C4 with 2 Sherpas on Sept 26th. Ahead on 7 French members they proceeded their route to S Summit through deep snow. Arrived at S Summit at 12:15 pm. Alternating in the lead, the French and the Korean climbers went on. Finally at 2:30 pm, member Kim and Pema Dorje firstly stood on the summit. Member Uhm reached at once, even the other Sherpa went back around the South Summit. The second attempt was followed from BC on Sept. 27. Starting C4 at 3:40 am, Mr. Bong-Wan Jang (subleader), Byeong-Ho Jang and Seung-Kyon Jeong again conquered the summit at 8:50 am. It was Sept 29th. On the top, they recorded those wonderful panoramic views on a videotape with them, where they came across an American climber Alison. The third attempt was timely planned for the closing of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games - to win both Everest and Lhotse at the same time. Based on the expectation of the summit on Oct 2nd, the both parties departed from BC on Sept 30th. The Lhotse party (member Ho-Jin Jeong, Hyeong-Chil Lim, Kwae-Don Park and Hee-Dong Park) stayed at C4 on Oct 1 in two tents. One was already built and used by Czechoslovak climbers who previously conquered the summit on Sept 28th and the other was newly established by themselves. Mr. Seon-Woo Nam, the climbing leader, spent that night alone at Everest C4 with his great ambition to climb up solo. At 3:00 am in the next dawn, he started. Following the ropes fixed by the first party, he climbed the Hillary Step and overcame the Peak Cornice. Then he finally gained the summit. On the other hand, the Lhotse party started at 4:00 am on the same day. They passed over the unstable and steep couloir (500 meters long) without using the ropes for belaying. After more than 5 hours of climbing, they could just over come the last obstacle - the snow face of 30 meters long with 65-degree slope. The summit was all pointed. It was 9th achievement by Korean climbers above 8000 meters height.
Accidents 1 with gastric ulcer but kept climbing
Achievement 1st Korean ascent via Pillar
Agency Mountain Travel
Commercial Route False
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2449554
Year 1988
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) s pillar-se ridge

Members

21 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Byung-Ho Chang M 1961 S Korea Climber Daegu (Taegu), S Korea Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Jae-Beom Cheon M 1962 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Import-export company office worker Details Other expeditions
Dae-Haeng Cho M 1946 S Korea Exp Doctor Seoul, S Korea Physician Details Other expeditions
Chang-Min Choi M 1943 S Korea Leader Seoul, S Korea Director of Korean Alpine Federation Details Other expeditions
Ho-Jin Jung (Chung) M 1954 S Korea Climber Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, S Korea Alpine instructor Details Other expeditions
Seung-Kwon Chung M 1960 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Professional alpinist Details Other expeditions
Bong-Wan Jang M 1952 S Korea Deputy Leader Seoul, S Korea Owner, restaurant Details Other expeditions
Chang-Sun Kim M 1960 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Professional alpinist Details Other expeditions
Myung-Hwan Kim M 1964 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Unemployed, just graduated from university Details Other expeditions
Soon-Ho Kwon M 1958 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Office worker Details Other expeditions
Gui-Jae Lee M 1963 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Professional alpinist Details Other expeditions
Hyun-Yong Lee M 1957 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Unemployed, just graduated from university Details Other expeditions
Hyung-Chil Lim M 1957 S Korea Climber Gwangju (Kwangju), Jeollanam, S Korea Teacher Details Other expeditions
Sun-Woo Nam M 1955 S Korea Climbing Leader Seoul, S Korea Chief officer (Korean Alpine Federation) Details Other expeditions
Kwae-Don Park M 1962 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Student Details Other expeditions
Yeol-Heon Song M 1959 S Korea Climber Masan, Gyeongsangnam, S Korea Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Hong-Gil Um M 1960 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Yeong-Ho Shin M 1962 S Korea Climber Jeonju (Cheonju), Jeollabuk, S Korea Office worker in Army Details Other expeditions
Pema Dorje Sherpa M 1958 Nepal Sirdar Khumjung, Khumbu High-altitude porter Details Other expeditions
Eu-Hyun Lee M 1961 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Professional alpinist Details Other expeditions
Hee-Dong Park M 1963 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Student Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
EVER88304 AAJ Nam Seon-Woo - - 63:199-200 (1989) -
EVER88304 MM - - - 124:10 (Nov 1988) -
EVER88304 MM - - - 125:10 (Jan 1989) -
EVER88304 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198919904/Asia-Nepal-Everest-and-Lhotse - - -