Lhotse | 2009 W Face

A Kazakhstan expedition to Lhotse in 2009 via W Face, led by Baglan Zhunus, Maxut Zhumayev. Summit reached on 15th May 2009. 13 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 6468
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID LHOT09107
Peak ID LHOT
Year 2009
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Kazakhstan
Leaders Baglan Zhunus, Maxut Zhumayev
Sponsor Kazakhstan Lhotse-Everest Traverse Expedition
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 129
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Kyrgyz Republic, Russia
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2009-04-12
Summit Date 2009-05-15
Summit Time 1630
Summit Days 33
Total Days 47
Termination Date 2009-05-29
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8516
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 600
Total Members 13
Summit Members 1
Member Deaths 1
Total Hired 2
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
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 Attempted Everest (EVER-091-10)
Campsites BC(12/04),C1(15/04,6100m),C2(16/04,6500m),C3A(23/04,7200m),C3B(24/04,7400m),C4(14/05,7800m),Everest xxx(18/05,7700m),Lhotse Smt(15/05)
Route Notes C4 at bottom of "the Turtle." Two members, Lavrov and Zhunus, intended to climb Everest via the normal South Col-SE Ridge route, but they did not get above C3. They reached C3 on 30 April and slept there, then descended to C2 on 1 May and BC on the 2nd. Lavrov abandoned the idea of scaling Everest and made the summit of Lhotse his goal. Zhunus tried again to get to the Col on 18 May but turned back at the Yellow Band (about 7700m) on Lhotse's West Face, and left the expedition. Ten members set out in a serious attempt to get to the summit of Lhotse on 11 May: they were all of the expedition's members except Ilyinski, who was base camp manager and did no climbing in May, and Zhunus, who also had a stomach problem. The ten climbers went to C2 on the 11th, to C3 on the 13th, and on the 14to 7800m, where they established their C4 for Lhotse at the bottom of the rock formation known as the Turtle. Now the team divided into two groups. On 15 May the first group left C4 for the top at 3:00 am, when the temperature was minus 45 degree Celsius: they were Pivtsov, Samoilov, Shutov, Sofrygin and Zhumayev. As they moved up from C4 until about 4:30 am, they fixed 400m of rope below the couloir. Then they proceeded into the couloir without fixed ropes. Sofrygin was the only one to reach the summit. He was on the top at 4:30 pm, after having made the mistake of turning right at the top of the couloir, realizing his error, going back to the top of the couloir, then going left and finally getting to the summit. The others in the party traversed to the left at 8400m and reached 8500m at 5:00 to 5:45 pm. It was too late for them to attempt the summit. All returned to C4; Sofrygin arrived there at 8:00 pm. They were in C2 on the 16th and BC on the 17th. On their return to BC, Sofrygin found that he had pulmonary edema and Shutov had a knee problem. Rudakov also had developed pulmonary edema in his summit bid. The three left BC on 24 May. At 6:00 am on the 15th, the second group left C4: they were Grekov, Gutnik, Lavrov, Rudakov and Sharipova. They fixed 200m of rope inside the couloir, but abandoned their summit bid at 8100m. They were too cold and very tired, and the 200m of rope they had left was not enough to reach the top of the couloir. They returned to C4, went down to C2 on the 16th and BC on the 17th. Another push for Lhotse's summit, to be followed by the traverse down its North Ridge to the South Col and up Everest's SE Ridge, was launched from BC on 23 May. Grekov, Gutnik, Pivtsov, Samoilov, Sharipova and Zhumayev got to C2 that day; Grekov, Gutnik and Sharipova stopped here to wait for the others while Samoilov, Pivtsov and Zhumayev went on up to C3 on the 24th. On 25 May, Pivtsov and Zhumayev arrived at C4 at 4:00 pm and stopped there because snow was falling. Samoilov reached 200m below C4 and then turned back, but Pivtsov and Zhumayev didn't know this, and at 5:00 pm. Zhumayev went 20m down to look for Samoilov, didn't see him, rejoined Pivtsov in C4, and they both went down to C3. As they descended, Pivtsov and Zhumayev were twice hit by two avalanches which carried them 50m down the face each time, but they were not injured. Samoilov was not in C3. They stayed in the camp, unable to search for Samoilov because of fresh snowfall and strong wind. But on the 27th they could move again, and they got to C1 that day. On the same day, Samoilov's body was found at the bergschrund at 6800m at the bottom of Lhotse's West Face. (They secured it there; later it was taken to C2 and rocks were piled on top of it; they hoped to remove it in the fall and send it home to Almaty.) On the 28th, it took Pivtsov and Zhumayev, plus Grekov, Gutnik and Sharipova, all day to get to BC, a trip that normally takes only a couple of hours at most. All the ladders and fixed ropes in the Icefall were gone. They started from C1 at 5:00 am and arrived in BC 14 hours later. The team abandoned the climb because of Samoilov's fatal accident. Members who dropped out of climb: Skopin reached C3 on 30 April, had a stomach problem, retreated to BC on 3 May and remained there. Zhunus also went to C3 on 30 April, went down to BC the next day with a stomach problem, left BC to rest at Deboche village on the 5th or 6th, returned to BC on 10th or 12th, tried again to climb Everest and reached the Yellow Band on Lhotse's West Face (about 7700m) on the 18th. His stomach problem recurred and he descended to C2 on the same day and left BC and the expedition on the 21st.
Accidents Sofrygin & Rudakov pulmonary edema; Shutov knee problem; Zhunus stomach problem
Achievement -
Agency Asian Trekking
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2457696
Year 2009
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w face

Members

13 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Dmitri Grekov M 1964 Russia Climber Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Sportsman Details Other expeditions
Nikolai Gutnik M 1975 Kyrgyz Republic Climber Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Geologist Details Other expeditions
Ervand Tikhonovich Ilyinski M 1940 Kazakhstan BC Manager Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Coach Details Other expeditions
Vassily T. Pivtsov M 1975 Kazakhstan Climber Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Sportsman in army sports club Details Other expeditions
Alexander Rudakov M 1975 Kazakhstan Climber Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Sportsman Details Other expeditions
Sergei Samoilov M 1958 Kazakhstan Climber Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Rescue expert & sportsman Details Other expeditions
Svetlana Sharipova F 1971 Kazakhstan Climber Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Sportswoman in army sports club Details Other expeditions
Evgeny Shutov M 1980 Kazakhstan Climber Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Rescue expert Details Other expeditions
Artyom Skopin M 1976 Kazakhstan Climber Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Army private Details Other expeditions
Alexander Sofrygin M 1984 Kazakhstan Climber Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Sportsman in army sports club Details Other expeditions
Baglan Zhunus M 1965 Kazakhstan Leader Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan President of Alpine Federation of Kazakhstan Details Other expeditions
Maxut S. Zhumayev M 1977 Kazakhstan Climbing Leader Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Sportsman; member of Army sports club Details Other expeditions
Sergei V. Lavrov M 1965 Kazakhstan Climber Almaty (Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan Sports shop manager Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.