Gaurishankar | 2011 Pillar on S Face

A Germany expedition to Gaurishankar in 2011 via Pillar on S Face, led by David Goettler. Summit reached on 8th May 2011. 3 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 7102
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID GAUR11101
Peak ID GAUR
Year 2011
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 Pillar on S Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Germany
Leaders David Goettler
Sponsor German Gaurishankar Expedition
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 Simigaon->Khadka hamlet->Rolwaling Chhu->Tangmarnang steep gorge
Basecamp Date 2011-04-25
Summit Date 2011-05-08
Summit Time -
Summit Days 13
Total Days 16
Termination Date 2011-05-11
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 5100m due to impossible conditions on face
High Point (m) 5100
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 2
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 3
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 -
Campsites BC(25/04,3670m),C1(01/05,4600m),C2(06/05,5050m),xxx(08-09/05,5100m)
Route Notes BC on side of Tengmarnang steep gorge C1 at moraine (was snow covered) C1 at start of South Face High point at bottom of South Face. From 5 April onwards, the weather every day was nice for three hours, then it became cloudy and humid, and from noon for the rest of the day rain or snow fell. There was new wet snow on the South Face, some spindrift and some avalanching on the edge. The three members moved together throughout their climb. They located their C1 on 1 May at 4600m on the face below the start of the pillar they proposed to climb; in was in a moraine area now covered with snow. They fixed 60 meters of rope up from the camp on very steep wet rock. They spent two nights in this camp while they carried loads up to a higher site for C1 at 5050m; each day they had to break a new trail in the fresh snow. The new C1 was at the start of the South Face. They spent the nights of 6 and 7 May there, and from there they tried their climb of the face by two different lines. Glowacz on 7 May attempted to climb rock, but it was impossible on wet rock over which water was running over snow with no protection from any rock structure. The next day Goettler tried a line to the left of Glowacz's line, but it too proved to be impossible because of very loose snow over rocks. Each man climbed just one pitch and then gave up. They knew they they could never climb in these conditions from C1's 5060m up 1800 meters of face to a large snowfield. They decided on 9 May that their attempt to climb Gaurishankar was finished, and they descended to BC. Two days later they went up to 4200m to retrieve their gear which they had left there in a bag. Lindsay Griffin (email) - 12 Jan 2014 Poles made the first significant attempt on the South Face in 1983, coming in from the left to gain the steep, shallow couloir left of the Central Pillar. Wieslaw Grzybowski, Lech Kiedrowski, Andrzej Mirga and Tadeusz Preyzner reached ca 6000m before making a difficult retreat in heavy snowfall. In 1985 the same line was attempted by Tsuyoshi Ohizumi and Kensaku Sakai. Three years previously the latter had made a notable first ascent of 7163m Hachindar Chhish in the Karakoram. The Japanese pair climbed in three days to 6100m when Sakai fell and hit his head. They bivouacked and descended the next day, but at 5900m Sakai fell again, this time to the bottom of the face. Ohizumi was unable to locate his body and the face was left alone until 2011 when Stefan Glowacz, David Goettler and Klaus Fengler arrived to attempt the Central Pillar. The weather was so bad they were only able to climb a rope-length above the base before giving up.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Thamserku Trekking
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2458016
Year 2011
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) pillar on s face

Members

3 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Klaus Fengler M 1963 Germany Climber Allensbach, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany Photographer Details Other expeditions
Stefan Glowacz M 1965 Germany Climber Berg, Bavaria, Germany Alpinist Details Other expeditions
David Johannes Goettler M 1978 Germany Leader Munich, Bavaria, Germany Alpine guide Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
GAUR11101 AAJ Hawley, Elizabeth - - 86:314-315 (2012) -
GAUR11101 - - http://outerlocal.com/climbing/the-south-face-of-gauri-shankar-outpost - - -
GAUR11101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12201231402/Gaurishankar-7135m-Southwest-Face-Attempt - - -