Lachama Chuli | 2022 SW Ridge

A UK expedition to Lachama Chuli in 2022 via SW Ridge, led by Bruce Normand. Summit reached on 16th October 2022. 19 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 10967
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID LCHA22301
Peak ID LCHA
Year 2022
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality UK
Leaders Bruce Normand
Sponsor AACZ Changla Himal Expedition 2022
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 Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland, USA
Approach To Simikot by air->4 days trekking to BC
Basecamp Date 2022-10-03
Summit Date 2022-10-16
Summit Time -
Summit Days 13
Total Days 20
Termination Date 2022-10-23
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Did not atempt due to deep snow conditions
High Point (m) 5000
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 19
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 Climbed two unnamed peaks (6122m and 6076m), first ascents
Campsites BC(03/10,4400m),xxx(5000m)
Route Notes AACZ = Alpine Club of Zurich (Akademischer Alpenclub Zürich (it's their 125th Anniversary expedition) 13 members on climbing team, plus 6 on trekking team. Approach: Flight to Simikot, 4 days trekking to BC. Other peaks: P5500m for acclimatization on 03/10. Group had a permit for Lachama Chuli (LCHA), but it soon became clear that an attempt could not be undertaken because of excessive snow on the mountain. Initial plan was to climb SW Ridge of Lachama Chuli and to do the first ascent from the Nepal side. They turned their attention to two smaller peaks nearby instead, possibly never climbed before. P6122 north of Lachama Chuli on the Nepal-Tibet border, and P6076, southwest of Lachama Chuli. They set up a shared base camp for both peaks at 4400m before the Lachama Glacier on 02/10. On 03-04/10 they explored the area around and some members scaled a 5500m high view point in the vicinity of base camp. On 05/10 there was a storm. P6122 (30°11'20.56"N 82° 9'45.39"E) Climbing route: South Face of East Ridge, last 500m on East Ridge. C1 12/10 5200m at lake above Lachama Glacier C2 14/10 5600m above icefall on SE side of P6122 Smt 16/10 by 10 members (Simutis, Crepaz, Jud, Alegria, Brunner, Frank, Steinmeier, Walo, Hermann, Revaz) 10 members climbed P6122 north of Lachama Chuli. Started from C2 at 5:30 am on 16/10. On the summit at 11 am. Good weather. Some members back to C2 and some down to C1 at around 5:30 pm. A few 30m abseils necessary on descent. Normand helped breaking trail to C1 and then turned back because he suffered from fever (COVID). Skawran took a fall near C2 and abandoned climb after. P6076 (30° 7'21.78"N 82° 8'56.99"E) Climbing route: South Ridge Four members climbed the South Ridge of P6076. Approach along Lachama Khola, group had to break trail for 2 days to get to Advanced Base Camp. “ABC” at 5000m on glacier moraine on south side of peak. One high camp at 5400m. ABC 14/10 5000m HC 16/10 5400m Smt 19/10 by 4 members (Popov, Trellu, Heikkila, Bonnet). Started from high camp at 6 am. On the summit at 3:30 pm on 19/10. Back to high camp at 10 pm. Next day down to BC. Good weather until 2 pm, afterwards it got cloudy. Good views towards the south, but cloudy to the north. Normand and Marti reached HP at 5500m (Marti was the expedition doctor). Brown reached HP at 5300m. Laeubli and Skawran reached HP at C2 of P6122 at 5600m. For a detailed day-to-day expedition account including photos see: https://aacz.ethz.ch/about-us/anniversary-expedition-125-years-aacz/expedition-update-tracker/ Team met two Polish climbers trying Lachama North. They didn’t get higher than 5200m due to bad conditions according to Normand. Team left BC on 23/10.
Accidents A few COVID cases in the group.
Achievement -
Agency Mountain Sun Valley
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2462926
Year 2022
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) sw ridge

Members

19 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Bruce George Alexander Normand M 1966 UK Leader Villigen, Aargau, Switzerland Physics researcher Details Other expeditions
Manuel Bonnet M 1975 France Climber Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland Accountant Details Other expeditions
Steven Andrew Brown M 1970 USA Climber Zurich, Switzerland Professor Details Other expeditions
Maximilian Thomas Brunner M 1991 Germany Climber Zurich, Switzerland PhD researcher Details Other expeditions
Daniel Crepaz M 1997 Italy Climber Zurich, Switzerland Biologist Details Other expeditions
Javier Fernandez De Alegria Echezarraga M 1992 Spain Climber Zurich, Switzerland Salesman for E-vehicles Details Other expeditions
Andreas Frank M 1967 Austria Trekker Zurich, Switzerland Elictrical engineer Details Other expeditions
Ulla Heikkila F 1976 Switzerland Trekker Zurich, Switzerland Data scientist Details Other expeditions
Felix Hermann M 1995 Germany Trekker Zurich, Switzerland Physicist Details Other expeditions
Hansueli Jud M 1992 Switzerland Climber Davos, Graubunden, Switzerland Physicist Details Other expeditions
Christian Laeubli M 1992 Switzerland Climber Greifensee, Zurich, Switzerland Insurance consultant Details Other expeditions
Sarah Marti F 1973 Switzerland Climber Zurich, Switzerland Physician Details Other expeditions
Vencislav Borislavov Popov M 1990 Bulgaria Climber Zurich, Switzerland Post-doc researcher Details Other expeditions
Yannick Revaz M 1997 Switzerland Trekker Zurich, Switzerland Masters researcher Details Other expeditions
Gediminas Simutis M 1988 Lithuania Climber Windisch, Aargau, Switzerland Research physicist Details Other expeditions
Alexander Albert Skawran M 1990 Germany Climber Sargans, St. Gallen, Switzerland Physicist Details Other expeditions
Charlotte Steinmeier F 1960 Germany Trekker Zurich, Switzerland Retired Details Other expeditions
Yoann Gwen Emmanuel Trellu M 1991 France Climber Zurich, Switzerland Consultant Details Other expeditions
Yannick Walo M 1991 Switzerland Trekker Zurich, Switzerland Masters researcher Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
LCHA22301 - - https://aacz.ethz.ch/alpinism-3/changla-himal-expedition-oct-2022/ - - -
LCHA22301 - - https://aacz.ethz.ch/about-us/anniversary-expedition-125-years-aacz/expedition-update-tracker/ - - -
LCHA22301 AAJ Normand, Bruce Peak 6122m and Peak 6076m, First Ascents - 97:322-324 (2023) -
LCHA22301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201216474 - - -