Kangtega | 2021

A France expedition to Kangtega in 2021, led by Stephane Benoist. 8 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 10710
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID KTEG21301
Peak ID KTEG
Year 2021
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 -
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality France
Leaders Stephane Benoist
Sponsor GEAN (Groupe Excellence d'Alpinisme National) Kangtega Expedition 2021
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
Basecamp Date 2021-10-08
Summit Date -
Summit Time -
Summit Days 0
Total Days 33
Termination Date 2021-11-10
Termination Reason 12
Termination Notes Took permit to climb other nearby peaks
High Point (m) 0
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 8
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 Cholatse (CHOL-213-01), summited Nare Ri Shar (6005m), attempted Omoga Ri Chang (OMRC-213-01)
Campsites -
Route Notes Plan to break up into 2 to 3 teams aiming for various goals: "Mingbo Eiger" North Face, Peak 6430m N Face (N summit of Kangtega), Cholatse North Face. GEAN (Groupe Excellence d'Alpinisme National) of French Alpine Club, leader Stephane Benoist. BC on 08/10 at 3985m (Pangboche). Acclimatization Climbs: 11/10: First known ascent of Nare Ri Shar (name's ref by Jan Kielkowski, 6005m, not an opened peak) by its NE Ridge (christened “Sugar ridge” (700m, D), by Stephane Benoist, Pauline Champon, Pierrick Fine and Pierrick Giffard. 12/10: ABC at 4900m (afoot Nare Ri Shar); 13/10: C1 at 5300m, walking day. 14/10: first climbing day. Both Pierrick's broke the trail. The crux was located at 5980m (M4+). Summit reached at circa noon. Could have been down the mountain on same day (“daily route”), but for perfecting its acclimatization, the team choose to bivouack at 5900m instead, just below the summit's rocky tower. After an early dinner, they were laying down at 4:30 pm in their sleeping bags. Felt a bit the altitude, little slower, but fine (no need of medicines). 15/10: back to ABC at 4900m. 16/10: back to Pangboche's BC. Meanwhile, the rest of the team with Thomas Arfi, Louis Pachoud, Gabriel Miloche and Anouk Felix-Faure climbed the normal route (SW Ridge) of Cholatse. 13/10: first climbing day. From 4000m, intended to make first bivouac on the glacier afoot of the col. Since they couldn't find a suitable place there (not being exposed to objective risks), the team climbed up instead directly to the col. Made a bivouac at 5600m, which happened difficult for acclimatization. 14/10: had a "small day" further up on the ridge until a 5800m bivouac. 15/10: made the round trip to the top, summiting between 1 and 2 pm. At first had been concerned by the weather, since last days' clouds were arriving at about noon. However on that day, they got clear sky conditions on the top. 16/10: from the 5800m bivouac down to Thare village (4350m). 17/10: back to BC. Primary Climbs: 21/10: Anouk, Pauline, both Pierrick's and Stephane went for a new line up the North and NE Faces of Cholatse. The new established line mostly climbs new ground: it first starts left to the French route, then traverses in the NE Face before traversing back to the N Face, where it joins the very exits of American/Steck routes (upper left side of the N Face). Most of the route sections would happen to be generally 20° steeper than anticipated from the ground. Bivouac places would happen to be rather complicated to build, necessitating 2:30 of daily earth-moving work. 21/10: quartet with porters went to Dzongla (4800m), while Stephane was staying with the Omoga Ri Chang team. 22/10: Stephane joined the quartet at Dzongla. 23/10: the group went to Cho La Pass with the lodge keeper. 24/10: the group made a deposit afoot of the route. Following the previous day's snowfall, the starting ramp now looked like the obvious option to start with. Ice veneers on the left side of the face looked also well-shaped. 25/10: first climbing day. First climbed unroped the obvious right-to-left snowy – with little mixed ground – ramp (45° to 55°). At 5100m, team faced the first difficulties, with a rightwards traversing pitch in delicate mixed ground. Then they took left until the bivouac, meeting a ground harder than expected – involving several pitches with some delicate mixed ground sections (yet less sustained than the first aforementioned pitch). Bivouac 1 established at circa 5380m (altitude given by the altimeter's swatch – precision at roughly 50m). The weather forecast had announced some bad weather for this day followed by good weather for the next days, thus the team choose to start precisely on this day in order to optimize the good weather window. Eventually this afternoon saw a few clouds, sleet and snowflakes, but nothing really bad. 26/10: first joined the NE Face by traversing up a long ramp of hard snow in 3 pitches. Then the team broke the trail in deep snow, succesively passing 3 sort of snow mushrooms. When arriving in front of the third one, took a left-to-right ramp, facing a new delicate pitch. Bivouac 2 established at 5730m. 27/10: on this day, could enjoy the morning sun with the rather eastern orientation of the face. Straight above the bivouac was standing a high attractive steep ice section: first hesitated to try for it, but following the wise advices of its coach, the team avoided it by the left trough some ice section (in very solid ice). Next had a very beautiful ice veneer pitch to the right, well protectable on the rock lying to the left. Next was an other ice veneer pitch to the left. From there went simul-climing into a hard snow section, some sections for which they needed to break the trail. Next had 2 other ice veneer pitches. Bivouac 3 at 5980m (likely figured too low on the topo). 28/10: started first with a long pitch of horizontal traverse, at first easy, then ending by a slightly delicate descending section (spur made of steep slabs covered with snow). Then made a pitch upwards in the axis of the couloir. Then went up left towards the right bank of the couloir. Next was a 15m descending traverse to bypass some rocks from below. From there, they were back again in the main couloir axis, now going straight upwards. They were worried at first regarding the conditions of this couloir, but luckily it was in hard snow, with ice to be found 15cms behind it for putting protections. They could haul their bags to better enjoy the climbing (maximum steepness estimated at about 80-85°). Bivouac 4 established at 6200m for both Pierrick's at 6200m. Three others stayed 50m below (as high as a long pitch) in a poorly confortable place; following a difficult terracing, they could obtain the space for one person lying horizontally, so that the other two had to sleep half in the tent and assured. 29/10: exited on the summit ridge in 2 steep pitches then 1 pitch of deep snow. Considering the steep mushrooms of the summit ridge, the team choose to avoid the latter via the S Face, digging a tunnel to traverse from the N to S Face. Then they traversed the S Face in rather warm temperatures across fine 45° snow slopes, sometimes breaking the trail; this in order to join the very end of the SW Ridge, a little less than 50m below the top. The latter was reached at sunset in magnificent lights. The evening before, Pauline had wondered if they were not enjoying their last sunset on Everest, but this luckily didn't happen! Bivouac 5 was established 50m below the top, on some plateform (no terracing on this evening!) close to the SW Ridge lying on the latter's south side to stay sheltered from the west wind. 30/10: started at about 8:30 am from the bivouac. In a 11 to 12-hour effort, went down via the SW Ridge until Thare, the latter reached nighttime at circa 19 hours. “Brothers in arms” (1600m/ED/VI/M5+/WI5) is dedicated to the memory of the 3 GEAN members who lost their lives on Omoga Ri Chang NW Face: Thomas Arfi, Gabriel Miloche and Louis Pachoud. 22/10: Unclimbed Omoga Ri Chang (in JK, 6070m; not an opened peak, but permit had been taken for nearby Kangtega). NW Face to NW Ridge. "Mingbo Eiger" is the name of NE Face, which looks like Eiger's N Face in the Alps; it's been christened by the Brits who first remarked the face (ref Victor Saunders, Paul Ramsden?). Thomas Arfi, Gabriel Miloche and Louis Pachoud intended to climb the NW-orientated broad couloir located on the left side of the W Face, then to follow the NW Ridge to the top (previous solo attempt of Andy Parkin? in ?). From there the duet had planned to down-climb the SW Ridge to the col (with Kang Tari, 6071m), then down-climb the steep NW couloir below it. Known details about the attempt: 23/10: the trio reached the lower ABC (4600m). 24/10: the trio walked further up till the bottom of the face, sleeping at the higher ABC (circa 4900-5000m) located nearby the start of the route (right bank of the main couloir). 25/10: the trio took the whole day observing the face and its snow conditions from the higher ABC. 26/10: first climbing day. Started at 2 am, climbing all day. At 17:11, they sent a SMS via their satellite phone to the other team climbing on Cholatse: "All right, long day, bivouac at 5650m, great gully. Now it's time for the ridge. Kiss". This was to be their last communication. Rescue details: 30/10: Without any news of the trio since the 27th, an alert was launched by the trio following the climbers (weather forecast Nicolas Feraud, plus French climbers Damien Tomasi, Benjamin Guigonnet) to start a flying rescue operation, under the FFCAM aegis. 31/10: In the morning, a survey heli-flight of Kailash Adventure crew (pilot Claudio Mittner) could fly to the place. The team could first spot the higher ABC tent; then see at the bottom of the NW couloir 1 bag and an ice axe lying on the surface of a vast avalanche debris; then the pilot went up the face, noticing an interruption of the climbing footprints at some stage, then above it the 5650m bivouac place; further up, the team spotted the trio's footprints going up to 5900m as a high point, then back down (the team had obviously passed the steepest section of the ridge already). At 5900m, the team had triggered an avalanche (snow slab, cornice...) on the NE Face, choosing to go back down by the same way. FFCAM statement detailed that the helicopter had: "spotted the tracks of the ascent, as well as the debris of a vast avalanche which had swept the face". It also mentioned that: "it spotted the [higher ABC] tent and landed nearby it. Finding no one, it took off again to watch the face and follow the ascent's tracks. The latter stop on the summit ridge at an avalanche' break circa 40cm thick. Here the footprints go back down until a bivouac place where the 3 alpinists likely slept. The footprints go further downwards for about a 100m. Then it stops at a gully from which an avalanche apparently triggered. The pilot went back down at the bottom of the face to discover an avalanche cone with two bags, one mattress and ice axes”. 01/11: A Nepali rescue team involving Sonam Sherpa, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Vinayak J Malla, Ang Dawa Sherpa, Tshering Sherpa and Pemba Gyalzen Sherpa was helicoptered to try to find some potential survivors on the footstep of the face, but they found nothing except empty the aforementioned tents, bags and ice axes. The 5 remaining members of the GEAN expedition were helicoptered to the higher ABC, below the face, for a moment of silence. Then Stephane Benoist and Pierrick Giffard did a survey flight over the peak (with the same swiss pilot Claudio Mittner). It allowed to follow the footprints of the trio up to 5900m on the NW Ridge. At this place they saw the clear mark of the avalanche, as well as the footprints that the trio had left when turning back down. Circa 50m below the 5650m bivouac, they found a yellow snow stack, confirming that the trio had begun its descent. 30m below the same snow stack, at circa 5570m, they lost any signs of the trio, noticing that the snow here had disappeared for an ice slope instead – obviously the place from which the trio had fell to its death. The exact cause of the trio's fatal fall remains unclear: proper fall; snow slide coming from above; snow slab triggered at the 5570m place? The remnants of the upper and lower ABC were evacuated on this day. 02/11: the team stayed in Pangboche, packing his gear. 03/11: team flew from Pangboche to Kathmandu by helicopter. 05/11: a French rescue team comprising experts of PGHM and former GEAN coach Christophe Moulin flew from Geneva to Nepal. 07/11: the Nepali rescue team located the 3 bodies in the remnants of the avalanche, afoot of the face at circa 4900m under 1m of snow upstream and 0.5m downstream. On this afternoon, French Guy le Neve and Christophe Moulin reached the area. 08/11: the 3 bodies were taken out from the avalanche on this day. The French rescue team begun to analyze the gear remnants and tie-in to understand the circumstances of the accident, an effort which would continue on the next day. 10/11: the French rescue team made a reconstitution of the accident in its lodge at Namche. 11/11: the French rescue team left Nepal.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Pralhad Chapagain (Freelancer at Expes.com)
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 5081
Year 2021
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) -

Members

8 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Stephane Francois Christian Benoist M 1971 France Leader Castagniers, Alpes-Maritimes, France Alpine guide, GEAN coach Details Other expeditions
Thomas Georges Arfi M 1987 France Climber - Alpine guide, GEAN coach Details Other expeditions
Pauline Champon F 1990 France Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Anouk Felix-Faure F 1996 France Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Pierrick Paul Fine M 1994 France Climber - Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Pierrick Jacques Florain Giffard M 1994 France Climber - Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Gabriel Paul Jean Miloche M 1994 France Climber Haute Savoie, France Engineer Details Other expeditions
Louis Hugo Pachoud M 1994 France Climber Savoie, France Alpine guide Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
KTEG21301 - - https://explorersweb.com/the-french-team-wraps-up-in-the-khumbu-two-new-routes-three-lost-friends/ - - -
KTEG21301 - - https://www.archyworldys.com/in-nepal-the-iserois-at-the-top/ - - -
KTEG21301 AAJ Griffin, Lindsay Cholatse, Brothers in Arms; Nare Ri Shar; Omoga Ri Chang - 97:339 (2023) -
KTEG21301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201216489 - - -