Lhotse | 2003 W Face

A Japan expedition to Lhotse in 2003 via W Face, led by Ken Noguchi. Summit reached on 16th May 2003. 7 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 4333
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID LHOT03101
Peak ID LHOT
Year 2003
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Japan
Leaders Ken Noguchi
Sponsor Noguchi Asia South Col Cleaning Expedition 2003
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 S Korea
Approach Standard
Basecamp Date 2003-04-08
Summit Date 2003-05-16
Summit Time -
Summit Days 38
Total Days 42
Termination Date 2003-05-20
Termination Reason 14
Termination Notes Members only went to 7300m for garbage collecting
High Point (m) 7300
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 7
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 13
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical True
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(08/04,5300m),C1(12/04,5800m),C2(15/04,6400m),C3(16/05,7300m),xxx(16/05,7300m)
Route Notes The expedition's objective was to collect garbage along the route up to South Col. The expedition had collected garbage about 2.4 tons. Hiraga, Noguchi and Taniguchi went up to C3. Some (4 Sherpas) went up to South Col. Last Sherpa group were on South Col on May 9. Lee had to leave BC on May 9 and left country probably on May 21; Yoshimura left BC on May 6, left Nepal on 10th; Takahata left BC on May 13th. All three left BC due to personal reasons. There were 2 more Sherpas with this expedition, Pemba Dorje and Dawa Chhiri. Since they planned to summit Everest for Pemba Dorje's speed climb they were officially included on the permit for Everest held by Belgians Robert Hugh and Rudy Van Snick. Sherpas: Nima Wangchu Sherpa, (33), Khumjung-3, Solukhumbu Dawa Tashi Sherpa, (31), Gaurishankar-1, Charikot, Dolakha Thukten Sherpa, (42), Namche-7, Solukhumbu Pasang Namgel Sherpa, (30), Khumjung-1, Solukhumbu Nima Gyalzen, (24), Yaphu-9, Sankhuwasabha, Koshi Tshering Phinjo, (29), Khumjung-1, Solukhumbu Tshering Thundu, (2031/6/18), Khumjung-2, Solukhumbu Ngawang Karsang, (35), Khumjung-2, Solukhumbu Kami Dandi, (32), Chaurikharka-8, Lukla, Solukhumbu Sonam Tashi, (30), Khumjung-2, Solukhumbu Mingma Nuru Pasang Tendi, (20), Yaphu-9, Koshi Pemba Dorje, 29/4/77, Beding, Everest X1, Lhotse X1 Dawa Chhiri, 8/11/2034 (25 yrs), Phurte, Makalu X1 Spring 2003 Everest climb by Pemba Dorje Sherpa Pemba Dorje and his climbing Sherpa, Dawa Chhiri/Da Chhiri Sherpa, were actually amongst the large number of Sherpas employed by the leader of the Japanese clean-up expedition, Ken Noguchi, who had a permit for Lhotse. However, since Pemba Dorje wanted to set a new speed record for climbing Everest, his trekking company included these two Sherpas on the permit for Everest belonging to a two-man Belgium team, led by Robert Huygh, purely to authorized them to summit Everest. But they slept in Noguchi tents, ate Noguchi food, were paid by Naguchi; Pemba and he brought down 15 empty oxygen bottles from the South Col, as part of Noguchi's clean-up efforts. (The trekking agency, Asian Trekking, gave Pemba Dorje an allowance and some oxygen bottles, according to Bikal Adhikari of their staff). A page of details of Pemba's Everest climb as written by or for him for a press conference are attached with this memo. Pemba Dorje said on 25 June 2003 to E. Hawley that he went up and down the Everest-Lhotse route five or six times as "practice" for his speed-climb. He said that in his speed ascent, he had no one with him from base camp to C4. He left C4 at 11:30 pm on 22 May and was on the summit at 5:45 am on the 23rd, 12 hours and 45 minutes after having left base camp. He was joined there by Dawa Chhiri 25 minutes later. Dawa Chhiri head carried oxygen bottles for Pemba Dorje and himself to C4 and had arrived there on 21 May, the day before Pemba Dorje got there for his speed record. They set out for the summit together on the night of the 22nd, but Dawa Chhiri was unable to keep up with Pemba Dorje's fast pace and dropped behind at the South Summit. Pemba Dorje stayed on the summit 1 hour and 45 minutes. He was waiting for Dawa Chhiri to join him to take his picture there and for climbers from any other expedition to arrive and stand next to him in the picture. (It shows him with Patrick Berhault, member of Jean Michel Asselin's French team from the South Col, who arrived at 6:30 am, the time given by both Pemba Dorje and Asselin separately. Berhault wrote his name in Pemba Dorje's notes.) Pemba Dorje put pictures of King Gyanendra and Queen Komal on the summit. Pemba Dorje started using artificial oxygen when he left C4 for the summit. He used it on his climb to the top, took off his mast for the 1 hour, 45 minutes he was on the summit, resumed using it in his descent from the top till he reached C2. Dawa Chhiri used it sleeping at C4, climbing to the summit and down to C2, where he stopped to sleep the night of the 23rd (he did not use it sleeping there). Pemba Dorje and Dawa Chhiri left the summit together at 7:00 am on the 23rd. Pemba Dorje descended all the way to base camp that day. He arrived at base camp at 2:00 pm, having been delayed by having twisted his ankle while coming down through the Icefall at only 200m above camp. His boot had gotten stuck in a ladder; he sat down, massaged his ankle and radioed on his walkie-talkie for help from base camp. Six or seven Sherpas answered his appeal for help (one was Pasang Kitar from Miura's team, one was Pasang Tenzi from the Jagged Globe US, UK, etc. team, another was Tashi with the Nepalese army); after 40 minutes he resumed his descent to base camp. He had planned to accomplish his entire climb in exactly 20 hours, but he had stopped for two hours at C4 in his descent to pack up some of Noguchi's gear, had rested at C2 for 20 minutes and again at C1 for ten minutes, and spent an extra 40 minutes in the Icefall. He calculates it had actually taken him total of 20 hours, 55 minutes to do the entire round-trip from base camp to summit to base camp. He said his new ambition now is to make an historic double traverse of Everest in 2004, climbing up via the southeast ridge to the summit, down via the North Face-North Col route to ABC, back up again via the same route to the summit and down the SE Ridge-South Col route to base camp. But he has no sponsor yet for this project. Press Conference in KTM, 2059/12/15 from Pemba Dorje Sherpa - 25 June 2003 1. We left for Everest Base camp on 2059/12/16 2. We reached in BC on 5 April 2003. 3. On 12 April 2003 Mr. Pemba Dorje and Dawa Chhiri went to C1 and C2 and returned to the base camp at the same day. 4. After 5 days Pemba along with 15 Sherpas went to the Camp 1 and C2. And all Sherpa spent for nights in C2 and after that descended to the base camp and took rest for 7 days. Again we went to C1 along with 12 kg of load and returned to the base camp on that day. 5. On 22 April 2003, Pemba along with three Sherpa went from the C2 to the rope 1900m to the camp 4, then returned to the basecamp on 24 April 2003, and then I (Pemba) took a rest until May 22 in the base camp. About Personal summit Speed climb: 1. Started from the BC in May 22, 2003 at 5:00 pm. 2. He reached in the Camp I at 6:00 pm. 3. Then camp 2 6:45 pm and rested 29 minutes rest. 4. At camp 3 at 9:10 pm. C4 at 11:10 pm and rest there for 20 minutes - from C4 he took 6:15. hours to reach on the top. Note: Mr. Pemba Dorji met Dawa Chhiri (his climbing Sherpa) at 11:00 pm at South col. After I met Mr Dawa Chhiri, I used the oxygen from South Col.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Asian Trekking
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2455454
Year 2003
Summit Success False
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) w face

Members

7 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Jun Hiraga M 1978 Japan Climber Kitakoma, Yamanashi, Japan Photographer Details Other expeditions
Sang-Bae Lee M 1958 S Korea Climber Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam, S Korea Installs wiring in buildings Details Other expeditions
Ken Noguchi M 1973 Japan Leader Tokyo, Japan Student & instructor of outdoor activities Details Other expeditions
Masayuki Takahata M 1974 Japan Deputy Leader Yokohama, Japan River rafting guide Details Other expeditions
Hideki Tazuke M 1975 Japan Climber Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan House broker Details Other expeditions
Sadusumi Yoshimura M 1974 Japan Climber Tokyo, Japan Computer programmer Details Other expeditions
Kei Taniguchi F 1972 Japan Climber Tokyo, Japan Outdoor activities instructor Details Other expeditions

References

1 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
LHOT03101 HIGH - - - 256:71 (Mar 2004) -