Nuptse | 2011 W Face

A USA expedition to Nuptse in 2011 via W Face, led by Fabrizio Zangrilli. Summit reached on 7th November 2011. 1 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 7377
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID NUPT11301
Peak ID NUPT
Year 2011
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Fabrizio Zangrilli
Sponsor American Nuptse
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 2011-10-31
Summit Date 2011-11-07
Summit Time -
Summit Days 7
Total Days 8
Termination Date 2011-11-08
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 5920m due to bad snow conditions (loose snow on hard ice)
High Point (m) 5920
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 1
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(31/10,5285m),Biv1(05/11,5210m),Biv2(06/11,5900m),xxx(07/11,5920m)
Route Notes BC at Gorak Shep's Himalayan Lodge. Before attempting his solo ascent of the seldom-climbed West Face of Nuptse, Zangrilli led two clients to the summits of trekking peaks, Kyazo Ri in the Gokyo valley (on 10 October) and Island Peak (on 15 October). Then Zangrilli went alone to Gorak Shep on 31 October. He made the Himalayan Lodge there his BC. The next day he climbed Kalapattar to have a good look at the West Face (or wall) of Nuptse, which he proposed to climb in alpine style. He took a lot of pictures of the face. He decided that the "key (to his route) was how to get to the bottom of the wall." But it turned out to be very easy to reach. On the 5th he left Gorak Shep and it took him only two hours to get there. He bivouacked there at 5210m. Since he planned to climb the mountain in four days, he had very little equipment with him: a sleeping bag, bivvy sack, on 5-mm rope, 12 pieces of hardware, a gas stove and two canisters of gas. At midnight of the 5th/6th he woke up and he started to climb the face at 1:30 am in full moonlight. Aheads were two large seracs. He scaled the serac and then at 5:00 am arrived at the first glacier, which ascended from 5300m to 5450m. It was broken by three very large crevasses, which he went around: he did not have enough equipment to descend into the crevasses and climb back up the opposite sides. Strong wind out of the northwest blew tiny icy crystals down on him from the West Ridge: he felt as though he was being snowed on. Now the crux of the route above 5450m was a rock buttress above a bergschrund. The buttress was easy to climb because wind-driven snow had compressed the snow into the cracks in the rock. It was as steep as 70 degrees, but it was smooth. At 5850m, he crossed over a snow ridge to the top of the second of two menacing hanging glaciers. Zangrilli made his second bivouac in a bergschrund at 5900m at 1:30 pm on the 6th. It had taken him three hours to get to the bergschrund up 35-40 degrees sugar snow. It was very cold in the bergschrund and he was not equipped for such a low temperature. He got up much earlier than planned at 4:00am, because he was so cold -- he had to move. He resumed climbing at 5:00 am. But above him was 50-65-degree hard blue ice covered by a lot of sugar snow. He now realized that "couldn't get anywhere" here. He managed to ascend 20 meters and then gave up. At 6:00 am on 7 November he started down, and at 3:00 pm, he was back at his BC at Gorak Shep. He wants to attempt the West Face next autumn ,but starting in early October rather than a month earlier.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Cho Oyu Trekking
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2459189
Year 2011
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w face

Members

1 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Fabrizio John Zangrilli M 1972 USA Leader Boulder, Colorado Alpine guide Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.