Nuptse | 1981 W Ridge

A UK expedition to Nuptse in 1981 via W Ridge, led by Malcolm Duff. Summit reached on 10th October 1981. 4 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1777
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID NUPT81302
Peak ID NUPT
Year 1981
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality UK
Leaders Malcolm Duff
Sponsor Scottish Nuptse Expedition
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 1981-09-26
Summit Date 1981-10-10
Summit Time -
Summit Days 14
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 4
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6700m due to high wind and storm
High Point (m) 6700
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 4
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(26/09,5090m),xxx(10/10,6700m)
Route Notes Duff - 21 Oct 81 Arrived BC (16,700 feet) 26 Sept. Then 4 days of storm. Nisbet got sick [altitude] on about 1 Oct and down to Pheriche and back to BC only. 1 Oct went to have a look for 4 days, picked our line of climb and started up. Adrian dropped out when looked too hard for him. 5 Oct remaining 2 started serious climb and went up ridge in very hard technical climb. 10 Oct got to point at 22,000 feet just above where Canadian's buttress joins ridge. Looked another 7 days to reach summit but not enough fuel. 17 day's round trip. Could have gone done and gotten more "but kind of climb you want to do once," besides starting to get windy. Descended on 11 Oct in one day to BC (thought would have taken several days). No accident or frostbite. West Ridge impossible to fix ropes on it in sections: knife-edge snow. Want to book Nuptse for spring 1983 by same route. Definitely need 4 climbers. Climbing figuring 15 days round trip, so party of 6. BC about at Gorak Shep. Try alpine-style. Food and gas dump on plateau at bout 22,000 feet below steep section to summit. 18-20 days KTM to BC. Acclaim and recon period of 4-5 days. 4-5 days to make dump; down to BC for 4-5 days rest. Want to climb to unclimbed West Summit to Main Summit and down Scott route into Cwm. Very long and somewhat speculative route and this delay not helping things. Delay waiting for 2 others members to arrive in Nepal. No Sherpas above BC. No oxygen at all. Duff - 10 Aug 81 Leave KTM tomorrow. Route on West Ridge leads first to NW Summit, which Japanese climbed and thence to West Summit and (25,790 feet) and Main summit and down into Cwm.
Accidents One had altitude sickness
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2448174
Year 1981
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w ridge

Members

4 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Adrian Clifford M 1955 UK Exp Doctor W Germany Physician Details Other expeditions
Malcolm (Mal) Duff M 1953 UK Leader Edinburgh, Scotland Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Andrew Donald (Andy) Nisbet M 1953 UK Climber Aberdeen, Scotland Research biologist Details Other expeditions
Brian Sprunt M 1958 UK Climber Aberdeen, Scotland Student of mathematics, Aberdeen University Details Other expeditions

References

2 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
NUPT81302 AAJ Cheney, Michael J. & Hawley, Elizabeth - - 56:219 (1982) -
NUPT81302 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198221902/Asia-Nepal-Nuptse-Attempt - - -