Everest | 1993 SW Face (to 8450m)

A S Korea expedition to Everest in 1993 via SW Face (to 8450m), led by Lee Jong-Ryang. Summit reached on 16th May 1993. 8 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1504
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID EVER93104
Peak ID EVER
Year 1993
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Face (to 8450m)
Route 2 S Col-SE Ridge
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality S Korea
Leaders Lee Jong-Ryang
Sponsor 4326 (Korean year) Sagarmatha SW Face Expedition
Success 1 False
Success 2 True
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 171
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1993-03-20
Summit Date 1993-05-16
Summit Time 1340
Summit Days 57
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8849
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 5
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 7
Summit Members 3
Member Deaths 2
Total Hired 14
Summit Hired 1
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent True
O2 Sleep True
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(20/03,5300m),C1(29/03,6100m),C2(03/04,6500m),C3(10/04,6950m),C4(15/04,7650m),C5(19/04,8300m),xxx(19/04,8450m); C3(14/05),C4(15/05,7900m),Smt(16/05)
Route Notes C1 at top of Icefall C2 in Western Cwm C3 on SW Face C4 on SW Face (Bonington route) C5 on SW Face. 19th April made route to C5 site, fixed rope to 8300m site and 100m higher, but weather no good (wind, snow), so down to C4 at 8 pm. Again on 20th to C2. Next 10-15 days snow falling and stayed in BC waiting for good weather but after so many days made one more try on face. 30 April 2 men went up face to check conditions on route and 4th May C4 reoccupied; 5th May to C5 and pitched tent but rope under ice and snow and in same places broken when pulled out; reached C5 late afternoon 7 pm and decided route not possible because of bad snow conditions on rock band; 6 May down to C2. Asked for permit to change to S Col route and all down to BC. Then helped bring down Pasang Lhamu's body. For S Col climb from BC to C2 13th May, 14th May 2 to C3; 15th May An and Park C2 to C4 with Pasang Kazi, 2 Kims and C2 cook, Ang Kami to C4 16th May. Cook stayed C4 while 3 members and Pasang Kazi in 1:20 am left C4 (Park no oxygen, others used oxygen) and reached summit 1:40 pm, last party to reach top; down to C4, An and Kim Tae-Kon oxygen finished and both in very bad condition - very cloudy. Park at C4 7 pm; An next behind him. An turned right and went to S Pillar route C4 by mistake (S Pillar team had already left mountain). 17th May An came on walkie-talkie at 1 to 9 am but not 10:00 am. Think he fell on very steep blue ice below C4 in Pillar and rope was under ice; Nawang Norbu saw his body at 6450m, just above Pillar C2. 3 Sherpas went up and brought body down. Nam went up face to get his camera at C4 on face. He went alone up face on 16 May from C2. He went on above C4 and reached 7800m and then fell (seen falling by Tashi Tenzing); blood trail to very deep crevasse just above C2 into which body fell. Think he wanted to take pictures. He was not good technical climber he should not have gone on face and was told by Park not to. Park Young-Seok - 23 Aug 97 Park and Pasang Kazi used oxygen in face attempt; sleeping in C4 night of 3 May, climbing to C5 and sleeping there 4 May, climbing to high point 8450m and sleeping in C5 again on 5 May. Then abandoned face route. 6 May without oxygen down to C2 and to BC on 7 May and stayed in BC to 13 May. Park next went for summit via S Col. Used no oxygen 13 May in ascent to C2, 15 May to C4, 16 May to summit and returned to C4; but Park couldn't get up in morning of 17 May. Was very tired, very weak from having summited on 16th and then having worked hard to get teammate An down Hillary Step. So in this emergency on 17th May, teammates searched S Col for oxygen since their expedition had none left. Found small amounts of oxygen in a couple of bottles descended by others and gave him oxygen from these bottles for total 5-10 minutes. This enabled him to get up and with help from Kazi to descend to C2 on 17th. Reached BC 18th having used no oxygen again.
Accidents Kim Tae-Kon slight frostbite
Achievement -
Agency Himalaya Expeditions
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2451297
Year 1993
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) sw face (to 8450m)

Members

8 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Jin-Seob An M 1968 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Physical education student Details Other expeditions
Hyung-Woo Kim M 1968 S Korea Climber Jeju (Cheju), S Korea Commerce student Details Other expeditions
Jin-Sung Kim M 1964 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Fish salesman Details Other expeditions
Tae-Kon Kim M 1969 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Electrical engineering student Details Other expeditions
Jong-Ryang Lee M 1955 S Korea Leader Jeju (Cheju), S Korea Chemical engineer Details Other expeditions
Won-Woo Nam M 1965 S Korea Climber Seoul, S Korea Farmer Details Other expeditions
Young-Seok Park M 1963 S Korea Climbing Leader Seoul, S Korea Alpine & trekking leader Details Other expeditions
Kaji (Pasang Kaji, Pasang Kami) Sherpa M 1963 Nepal H-A Worker Loding Tamakhani, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
EVER93104 AAJ Hawley, Elizabeth - - 68:207-211 (1994) -
EVER93104 HIGH - - - 130:7 (Sep 1993) -
EVER93104 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199420700/Asia-Nepal-Everest-in-the-Pre-Monsoon-Season - - -