Lhotse | 2013 W Face

A Italy expedition to Lhotse in 2013 via W Face, led by Edmond Joyeusaz. Summit reached on 1st October 2013. 2 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 8306
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID LHOT13301
Peak ID LHOT
Year 2013
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Italy
Leaders Edmond Joyeusaz
Sponsor Lhotse Ski Challenge 2013
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->Gokyo->Chola Pass->Everest BC
Basecamp Date 2013-09-14
Summit Date 2013-10-01
Summit Time -
Summit Days 17
Total Days 29
Termination Date 2013-10-13
Termination Reason 4
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6100m due to snow and weather conditions, lack of equipment and Sherpa support
High Point (m) 6100
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 1
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 2
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 4
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 True
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(14/09,5300m),C1(30/09,6100m),xxx(01/10,6100m)
Route Notes The light team of Edmond Joyeusaz and Federico Colli intended to climb the Lhotse normal route in alpine style and descend it by skiing. Their autumn attempt can be summarized as follows: On the 17th September, the pair went with 2 Sherpas (Pasang and Dorje Sherpa) up to 5820m through a not completely equipped icefall, meeting 3 times 15m walls of ice. Both Sheras (according to them experienced with 8 and 13 ascents of Everest) had apparently never climbed properly on ice with technical ice axes and crampons, so that the Italians had to belay them carefully. The team couldn't reach C1 that day. Immediately after this attempt, both Sherpas left BC, considering the ascent to be too dangerous (the Italians consider both of these Sherpas not skilled enough technically; moreover they were amused to see them deciding what to do at the beginning of the expedition whilst wearing very elegant jackets and most of time playing with their iPhones). On the 20th September, Emdond and Federico went alone to C1, still in alpine style through the icefall, slept there and went back to the BC the day after. On the 24th September, 2 new Sherpas came, sent by Amici Treks. Then the Italians had a meeting with the Koreans, the latter explaining to them that it would take them at least 2 weeks to equip the icefall with their 4 Sherpas. It would cost 1500 Euros to the Italians to use their fixed ropes. Just after this meeting, during the night both newly arrived Sherpas left BC, the Italians being a new time on their own. (Even if these Sherpas never went above BC, just for one day and left on their own, Amici Treks asked the Italians to pay them.) After a few days, 2 new Sherpas of Amici Treks were coming again. The whole team reached C1 on the 30th September, thanks to the freshly new equipped route operated by the Koreans. They slept there, then the day after Federico and Edmond went only 100m further in deep snow (above the hips) with no possibility to continue. The same day the team was back to the BC. On the 9th October, considering the mountain conditions (Koreans couldn't apparently go further than C1 during the same period) and the time remaining both for the ski permit and visa, the Italians decided to stop the expedition. The day after, Federico went up again to C1 with the two Sherpas, Federico skiing all the way down to the BC in minor snow conditions (his descent happened in the center of the icefall, just near the ascent route) and waiting for them to take pictures. Most of the time the team had to work hard between BC and C1 to bring their supplies of equipment for the higher camps. This because every day, there was snowfall during the afternoon and night, every day bringing new fresh 30 to 40 cms layers of snow. Only during the changing of moon phase were 4 days of clear weather, but with strong north winds, even blowing of some tents of the BC. The glacier itself was moving a lot, as they could discover with one crevasse growing from 50cms to 6m within a weeks. (These Sherpas were paid directly by the Italians and they paid for their insurance directly to the agency whilst in Kathmandu). At first, the Italians considered that the agency didn't take their expedition seriously. Thus the agency didn't even take the ski descent permit (this one was eventually taken for 2120 Euros, for only 10 days period going from 9th October to the 19th October. They believe that the Nepalis thought that the Italians would be afraid of the mountan and would quickly abandon their project. After that, there as an article written by Reinhold Messner on 23rd September in the Gazetta dello Sport, critizing some evolutions of the Sherpas' behaviour within commercial expeditions. The Italians had the unfortunate idea to show it to the liaison officer and their cook as way to ask them to motivate the Sherpas, but on the contrary this created an anger against them, moreover after Moro's last spring story. Thus the liaison officer accused then not to have taken their ski descent permit, which was true due to the omission of Amici Treks. And a short time after, an article was published in the Himalayan Times (8th October), showing a picture (taken from the blog) of the Italians posing with their skis under the icefall, officially telling that they were out of law for a ski descent on Lhotse. Sherpas (by order of appearance during expedition): Pasang Sherpa Dorje Sherpa Palden Namgye Sherpa, 20/9/72 (4/6/2029), Phortse, Khumbu Namgya Sherpa, Phortse? Oxygen: taken for emergency/medical use only, not used.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Amici Trek
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2459345
Year 2013
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w face

Members

2 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Federico Franco Guiliano Colli M 1979 Italy Climber Pre-Saint Didier, Aosta, Italy Ski instructor Details Other expeditions
Edmond Joyeusaz M 1958 Italy Leader Courmayeur, Aosta, Italy Alpine guide & ski instructor Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.