Kangchenjunga | 2012 SW Face

A Italy expedition to Kangchenjunga in 2012 via SW Face, led by Nives Meroi. Summit reached on 17th May 2012. 7 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 7578
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID KANG12104
Peak ID KANG
Year 2012
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Italy
Leaders Nives Meroi
Sponsor Kangchenjunga 2012
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 95th
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Romania, Slovakia, Spain
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2012-04-19
Summit Date 2012-05-17
Summit Time 1420
Summit Days 28
Total Days 32
Termination Date 2012-05-21
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8586
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 1100
Total Members 7
Summit Members 1
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(19/04,5400m),C2A(24/04,6200m),C2B(25/04,6590m),C3(08/05,7100m),C5(16/05,7600m),Smt(17/05)
Route Notes BC at normal site C2 low at lower C2 C2 high at permanent C2. On 19 April, the team arrived at BC, which they pitched at 5400m at the normal site for climbing the SW Face. On the 22nd, all went up to 6200m to survey the route ahead and to judge how much rope they would need to fix. They returned to BC the same day. In their descent, the two Spaniards, Egocheaga and Ramos, started a snow slide and were carried about 50 meters down with it. Both received rope burns from arresting their fall: Ramos got only slight burns, but Egocheaga was seriously burned and had to be helped down to BC. On the next day, the 23rd, he and Ramos flew by helicopter to Kathmandu, where Egocheaga was hospitalized for a few days before they went home. One of the Romanian members, Valean, had never been on an expedition before. He was too slow and lagged behind the others, all of whom were highly experienced. He managed to get to C2 but no higher and left the team on 15 May. Thus there were just four high-altitude climbers, Benet, Hamor, Colibasanu and Meroi, to go very high and to try for the summit. On 24 April, the four moved up from BC to their low C2 at 6200m just above a plateau and before the route began to get steep. The next day they moved their low C2 up to 6590m (this became C2's permanent site) and then returned to BC. On 30 April they started up from BC and occupied high C2. The following day, they climbed to 7000m and slept there. They had to work hard to carry everything they needed without the help of Sherpas and to fix rope along the route over six barriers, one of which was overhanging. On 2 May, after fixing rope to 7000m they returned to BC for a rest. The four members on 7 May again moved up from BC to C2 at 6590m and one the 8th established C3 at 7100m. On the 9th, the weather was bad with snowfall, wind and fog. They stayed one more night in C3, but the snow kept falling and on the 10th the descended to BC. Finally up once more from BC to C2 on 14 May and to C3 on the 15th. On the 16th, they made C4 at 7600m at the high end of the Great Shelf. The weather on 17 May was perfectly clear with no fog, and from C4 the four climbers searched for a good route to the top. Hamor liked the looks of a couloir and decided to try that line. He made the correct choice and found himself on the summit at 2:20 pm. He returned to C4 at 6:15 pm. The other three, Benet, Colibasanu and Meroi, were not so lucky or so wise. At 10:30 am, when they were at 8450m, they realized that they were heading for the wrong summit, the middle summit instead of Hamor's main summit. They were now tired, and it was too late to change course and go for the highest summit; they returned to C4. Furthermore, they were too discouraged to try later for the main summit; they had no motivation to make another attempt to find it. The weather forecast was for clouds and strong wind. The three decided that day that their climb was over. Ten days later in Kathmandu, when telling about their mistake, Meroi couldn't stop laughing, and her laughter infected everyone else, other members and an interviewer. It was all a big joke. No one suggested that none of the four had done adequate homework about the final route.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Cho Oyu Trekking
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2458617
Year 2012
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) sw face

Members

7 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Horia Dan Colibasanu M 1977 Romania Climber Timisoara, Romania Dentist Details Other expeditions
Romano Benet M 1962 Italy Climber Tarvisio, Udine, Italy Shop manager Details Other expeditions
Jorge Egocheaga Rodriguez M 1968 Spain Deputy Leader Oviedo, Asturias, Spain Physician & alpinist Details Other expeditions
Peter Hamor M 1964 Slovakia Climber Poprad, Slovakia Alpine instructor Details Other expeditions
Nives Meroi F 1961 Italy Leader Tarvisio, Udine, Italy Shopkeeper Details Other expeditions
Martin Ramos Garcia M 1966 Spain Climber Zamora City, Zamora, Spain Firefighter Details Other expeditions
Adrian Radu Valean M 1974 Romania Climber Sibiu, Romania Engineer Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.