Lhotse | 1997 W Face

A Japan expedition to Lhotse in 1997 via W Face, led by Kazuyoshi Kondo. Summit reached on 21st October 1997. 10 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2443
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID LHOT97304
Peak ID LHOT
Year 1997
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Japan
Leaders Kazuyoshi Kondo
Sponsor Japan Snow Leopard Lhotse Expedition 1997
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 44th
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1997-09-17
Summit Date 1997-10-21
Summit Time 1550
Summit Days 34
Total Days 38
Termination Date 1997-10-25
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8516
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 10
Summit Members 2
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 5
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep True
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits Lobuche East for acclimatization
Campsites BC(17/09,5350m),C1(20/09,5900m),C2(27/09,6400m),C3(03/10,7200m),C4(13/10,7700m),Smt(21/10)
Route Notes C1 at near top of Icefall (all others here also) C2 in West Cwm C3 on West Face C4 at below rock band. 1st attack group tried for top on 14th Oct and reached just above 8000m, then windy and cloudy so down to C2. 15th next attack group did not go above C4 because of wind. 3rd attack group of 4 members and 2 Sherpas reached C4 on 19th. 20th fairly bad weather and 2 Sherpas down to C2 while 4 Japanese stayed another night in C4. 20th night slight avalanching with light snowfall. 21st morning better weather: Nagata went down C2 because not strong. Nagaoka and Sakamoto oxygen while Kondo fearing frostbite retreated from 7900m to C2. Nagaoka and Sakamoto went to summit taking very long time reaching top at 3:50 pm and leaving it 4:00 pm. Nagaoka failed to find C3 in dark and lost headlamps so down to C2 at there and Sakamoto saw C3 but since Nagaoko did not stop there and Sakamoto also to C2 about same time. Weather on 21st little windy and slight snowfall and cloudy. C4 had been removed by Sherpas on 21st.
Accidents Nagata bad frostbite: Nagaoka and Sakamoto frostbite but may be no loss
Achievement -
Agency Cosmo Treks
Commercial Route -
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2453595
Year 1997
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) w face

Members

10 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Hisashi Hashimoto M 1952 Japan Climber Morioka, Iwate, Japan Physical therapist Details Other expeditions
Kazuyoshi Kondo M 1941 Japan Leader Tokyo, Japan Alpine instructor Details Other expeditions
Hidetoshi Kurahashi M 1960 Japan Climber Tokyo, Japan Car salesman Details Other expeditions
Iwao Kuwabara M 1935 Japan Climber Hakuba, Nagano, Japan Lodge owner Details Other expeditions
Takaharu Matsumoto M 1960 Japan Climber Osaka, Japan Mechanical designer Details Other expeditions
Kenichi Nagaoka M 1954 Japan Climber Takasaki, Gunma, Japan Food seller Details Other expeditions
Koichi Nagata M 1957 Japan Climber Tokyo, Japan Quit work to go on this expedition (as govt official) Details Other expeditions
Shoji Sakamoto M 1959 Japan Climber Tokyo, Japan Computer programmer Details Other expeditions
Masaru Sato M 1953 Japan Climber Toyosaka, Niigata, Japan Law office clerk Details Other expeditions
Kazunori Sueyoshi M 1953 Japan Climber Katsuura, Chiba, Japan Railroad worker Details Other expeditions

References

1 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
LHOT97304 HIGH - - - 188:21 (Jul 1998) -