Ombigaichen | 1960 NW Ridge

A New Zealand expedition to Ombigaichen in 1960 via NW Ridge, led by Edmund Hillary. Summit reached on 18th November 1960. 5 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 3023
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID OMBG60301
Peak ID OMBG
Year 1960
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 NW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality New Zealand
Leaders Edmund Hillary
Sponsor Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 1st,2nd
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries UK
Approach -
Basecamp Date -
Summit Date 1960-11-18
Summit Time -
Summit Days 0
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6340
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 3
Summit Members 2
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 2
Summit Hired 2
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 False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits Climbed Island Peak (IMJA-603-01), recon Lhotse Shar (LSHR-603-01) and Shartse (SHAR-603-01); climbed Ama Dablam (AMAD-611-01), attempted Makalu (MAKA-611-01)
Campsites BC(5800m),Smt(18,22/11)
Route Notes E-mail from Jim Milledge - Dec 21, 2003 Dear Richard I am pleased to hear that you are working on Liz Hawley's mountaineering archive for the AAC. Re Puma Dablam. You are quite right I made the first ascent with Sherpa Ang Tsering Panch, the last name a nick-name from some previous expedition meaning Ang Tsering the fifth, of course; I don't know why. You are right we climbed it on Nov 18th 1960. Pat Barcham (from New Zealand, now dead) and Gumi Dorgi made the second ascent a few days later. I have been through my diary to try and fix the date. I see he was with me and Ed Hillary on Nov 20th going gown to Changmitang (a village just N of Tangboche where we rented a house). My entry for Nov 21st says nearly all expedition members present (at Changmitang) and we had a group photo. I assume Pat was there. He may have left later that day for the Silver Hut. On the 22nd I note that "a number of men had had tummy trouble and George (Lowe) was back with it. He (George) had started out with Pat to climb Puma Dablam." Presumably George had turned back with his tummy trouble. I presume I got this news over the radio. That seems to fix the date of Pat and Gumi's climb as Nov 22nd although that seems a very fast ascent, we usually took two days from Changmitang to the Silver Hut. Perhaps he returned to Mingbo on the 20th and to the SH on the 21st. I gave the name Puma Dablam (daughter Dablam) and it appears as such in Ed's book (High in the Thin Cold Air), on Barry Bishop's map in the Nat. Geographic article (Oct 1963) and in a articles in the AJ and NZAJ. On Bradford Washburn's map it is un-named and I wrote to him suggesting my name and he replied very positively saying that in the second edition he would adopted it but I don't think there has been a second edition. I wonder where the name Ombigaichen comes from? I see it is now on a number of new maps and, of course, on the list of trekking peaks. A pity, I think Puma Dablam was a good name for it. I am not clear what you want in the next three questions. It was not a Puma Dablam expedition. Ang Tsering and I just made a day trip from the Silver Hut and climbed it taking I think about 4 hours to get up and about 3 hours down. This was the third attempt, the other two failed due to running out of time (there were no Sherpas on the two failed attempts). This "Silver Hut" expedition was not quite the usual single peak expedition. The full title was, "Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition 1960-61" It started post monsoon 1960 and ended pre-monsoon 1961, 9 months long. In the first phase most of the party went yeti hunting in the Rolwaling Valley. I and three others with Sherpas went to Solu Khumbu and set up various camps including the Silver Hut site at 5800m on the Mingbo Glacier below Puma Dablam. We had a tented base camp at Mingbo(4500m) and a transit "Green Hut" at 5180m. Also the house at Changmitang (4200m?). We spent the Winter at Mingbo or (mostly) in the Silver Hut doing physiology on ourselves. In the Spring we went over to make an attempt on Makalu. Home village of the two Sherpas? I think Gumi Dorgi came form Kumjung or Khundi. Ang Tsering Panch did not come from either of those villages. I do not remember his village but I think he was from Solu district.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member True
Primary Reference True
Primary ID MAKA61101
Checksum 2440567
Year 1960
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) nw ridge

Members

5 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Edmund Percival Hillary M 1919 New Zealand Leader Auckland, New Zealand Apiarist & alpinist Details Other expeditions
James Sibree (Jim) Milledge M 1930 UK Climber England Physician (physiologist) Details Other expeditions
H. P. (Pat) Barcham M 1934 New Zealand Climber Dunedin, New Zealand Electrical engineer Details Other expeditions
Ang Tshering (Panch) Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Gumi Dorje Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker Khumjung, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.