Lhotse | 1998 W Face Couloir

A Spain expedition to Lhotse in 1998 via W Face Couloir, led by Inaki Ochoa. Summit reached on 17th May 1998. 1 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2602
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID LHOT98101
Peak ID LHOT
Year 1998
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face Couloir
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Spain
Leaders Inaki Ochoa
Sponsor Independent climber on Lhotse
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 -
Basecamp Date 1998-03-30
Summit Date 1998-05-17
Summit Time -
Summit Days 48
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 7
Termination Notes Abandoned at 8485m due to frozen corneas
High Point (m) 8485
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 1
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
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 -
Campsites BC(30/03),C2(07/04,6500m),C3(23/04,7400m),xxx(17/05,8485m)
Route Notes C2 in Western Cwm C3 on West Face xxx at only 30m below summit. 24 April down to BC because of heavy snowfall. Wanted to do a 8000er in 24 hours BC to top, so when fit now, left BC on 30th April at 9:00 am and just kept going all day and all night with brief stops in C2 and C3. Left C3 11:00 pm 1 May and reached nearly 8000m at 3:00 pm at rock called the turtle and turned back because of wind slab avalanche danger. Again on 7th May left C3 at 10:00 pm and reached nearly same altitude but by slightly different line and at 2:30 am snowing hard and could see nothing, so down to Pheriche to rest. Then a week of high winds. 16 May 10:00 left BC and up from C2 at 7:00 pm and arrived C3 at 9:45 pm and up again 10:15 pm with big work making track again - very cold (-35 degrees C) and by 5:00 am realized corneas frozen and not seeing clearly (had occasionally removed goggles to see) and had only peripheral vision. 10:00 am could see was very near left hard peak (the higher one), probably 30m from summit and felt not safe now, things not under control, so started down, met Andre Georges but said nothing about blindness, hoping Georges would return from top very soon but didn't wait for Georges. "Kind of difficult" descent without vision. Reached C3 about 2:00 pm and from here Todd expedition members below C3 helped very much and Hoffman expedition's Praquak came up from C2 to bergschrund. In C2 Singaporeans looked after him. Fast climbing up and down is safest kind of climbing. This Lhotse climb was "good effort."
Accidents Ochoa slightly frostbitten toes and frozen corneas of his eyes
Achievement -
Agency Sea to Summit Trekking
Commercial Route -
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2453804
Year 1998
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w face couloir

Members

1 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Ignacio (Inaki) Ochoa de Olza Seguin M 1967 Spain Climber Pamplona, Navarra, Spain Alpine instructor & guide Details Other expeditions

References

1 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
LHOT98101 HIGH - - - 193:27 (Dec 1998) -