Lhotse | 2001 W Face

A USA expedition to Lhotse in 2001 via W Face, led by Gary Pfisterer. Summit reached on 21st May 2001. 11 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 3830
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID LHOT01101
Peak ID LHOT
Year 2001
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Gary Pfisterer
Sponsor International Lhotse Expedition
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 63rd
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Canada, Ecuador, UK
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2001-04-07
Summit Date 2001-05-21
Summit Time 1315
Summit Days 44
Total Days 49
Termination Date 2001-05-26
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8516
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 11
Summit Members 1
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent True
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(07/04,5300m),C1(12/04,6100m),C2(16/04,6400m),C3(02/05,7200m),C4(10/05,7850m),Smt(21/05)
Route Notes C1 at top of Icefall C2 at West Cwm C3 at Lhotse Face C4 at Lhotse Face. Um (Korean) left his tents at the C4's of this expedition and others used them and put up no tents of their own. Moores made summit bid as only one from this team: left C4 7:00 am in company of 2 Poles (Anna Czerwinska and Zaluski) and Anna's Sherpa. Moores on top 1:15 pm with Zaluski: fell at about 150m at about 8300m at bottom of couloir; Zaluski saw him fall (slipped because warm soft snow compacted on his crampon and they did not hold). When stopped falling, one crampon gone, sat there in shock and immobilized by lack of crampon. He had been told by Pfisterer to stay only one night at C4 and then descend but stopped on next day; pressed on despite no alternate experience. Moro and his teammate rescued him and Moro put him on his back (Moores weighted 50 kg) and brought him to C4. Moores was on oxygen when he fell; there is no information here about his health since he was evacuated to Bangkok; he was evacuated from BC 24 May. Members left expedition as follows: - Bagnulo left 8 May, had enough; - Erazo left 21 May with tooth problem; - Fulton left 5 May to join his girlfriend back home; - Morton left 6 May, was a bit old and slow and decided the West Face would be too much for him; - Reynolds left 12 May, was not comfortable on mountain; - Stevenson left 17 May, had enough after arrived at C2, no energy left. Pfisterer went way up to 7700m in order to collect Moores and bring him down after rescue by Moro. Sieger went to C4 but had to descend because of viral infection and Tonsing escorted him down from C3. Vallejo had intended to climb Lhotse after Everest and was on this permit, but after he summited Everest with Spanish team, whose Everest permit he was also on, he made no attempt to summit Lhotse. 11 June 01 - Peter Walls, leader of another Lhotse team: Pfisterer's team had no Sherpas, no oxygen, even no cook at C2 and large number of inexperienced members so when one member, Thomas Moore fell, other expeditions had to rescue and care for him.
Accidents Moores bad fall on 21 May; Sieger viral infection
Achievement -
Agency Everest Parivar
Commercial Route -
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2454727
Year 2001
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) w face

Members

11 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
John David Bagnulo M 1970 USA Climber Farmington, Maine Graduate student in nutrition & part-time instructor Details Other expeditions
Fabracio Erazo M 1968 Ecuador Climber Quito, Ecuador Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
James J. Fulton M 1962 USA Climber Aspen, Colorado Skiing guide Details Other expeditions
Thomas (Tom) Moores M 1982 UK Climber Bath, Somerset, England Student Details Other expeditions
Donald C. Morton M 1933 Canada Climber Victoria, British Columbia Retired astronomer Details Other expeditions
Gary Scott Pfisterer M 1952 USA Leader Monson, Massachusetts Expedition organizer Details Other expeditions
Jefferson Dove Reynolds M 1965 USA Climber Santa Fe, New Mexico Attorney Details Other expeditions
Jay Sieger M 1958 USA Climber Kenai, Alaska Technician Details Other expeditions
William Taylor (Bill) Stevenson M 1956 USA Climber Truckee, California Photographer Details Other expeditions
Anthony Eric (Tony) Tonsing M 1959 USA Climber Denver, Colorado Cival engineer Details Other expeditions
Edgar Ivan Vallejo Ricaurte M 1959 Ecuador Climber Quito, Ecuador University professor & alpine guide Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
LHOT01101 HIGH - - - 231:72 (Feb 2002) -
LHOT01101 AAJ Hawley, Elizabeth - - 76:414 (2002) -
LHOT01101 - - http://www.k2news.com/lhgp1.htm - - -
LHOT01101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200241400/Asia-Nepal-Khumbu-Himal-Lhotse-Rescue - - -