Pumori | 1981 E Face-NE Ridge

A USA expedition to Pumori in 1981 via E Face-NE Ridge, led by Ned Gillette. Summit reached on 6th January 1982. 5 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1772
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID PUMO81401
Peak ID PUMO
Year 1981
Season 4
Host Country 1
Route 1 E Face-NE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Ned Gillette
Sponsor Camel Expedition 1981-82
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 13th
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1981-12-12
Summit Date 1982-01-06
Summit Time 1410
Summit Days 25
Total Days 29
Termination Date 1982-01-10
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 7138
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 2
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 5
Summit Members 3
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(12/12,5300m),ABC(12/12,5800m),C1(16/12,6300m),C2(05/01,6650m),Smt(06/01)
Route Notes Bridwell - 15 Jan 1982 29 Dec - Gillette and Bridwell climb to base of rope 30 Dec - all 4 carry to ridge (ABC) 31 Dec - all 4 rest at ABC, fixed ropes above ABC 1 Jan - rest at ABC 2 Jan - all 4 arrived at C1 3 Jan - fixed rope and carried to C1 4 Jan - all 4 wait out storm at C1 (snow and wind) 5 Jan - 3 established C2 while Craig sick from altitude goes down to BC 6 Jan - 3 C2 -> summit -> C2 7 Jan - 3 to ABC 8 Jan - avalanche sweeps ABC at night - all at BC 9 Jan - all leave BC. All left BC 10 Jan at end of climb Summit 6 Jan by Bridwell, Gillette and Reynolds New route up East Face-NE Ridge section probably same as Swiss. Summit at 2:10 pm and stayed 5 minutes. Had left C2 9:30 am and were back in C2 at 3:00 pm (Bridwell's hands and feet freezing) and at 5:00 pm (Gillette and Reynolds). No accident or frostbite. No oxygen with expedition. Climb was consistently more difficult than SE Ridge although SE Ridge has couple mere difficult pitches. A head well on East Face was 80 degrees steepness. Bridwell led all the way except on 1st push. Gillette led 600 feet on low down to BC. 5th-6th night biggest avalanche seen whole time on mountain came down and swept ABC area - big serac came away. Gillette and other 2 now going to Makalu area; expect be in KTM early Feb. Gillette - 2 Dec 81 Going round Everest: in Nepal here permit to climb Pumori and trek permission in Makalu area. One month for Pumori. If don't succeed to get to top and thus to border, will go to Nup La (and might well not go to Nup La in any case). After climb, to Pheriche and pick cross country skis and thence one month sking to Makalu and upper Barun, then to Dharan and KTM and home. Gillette and Reynolds alone then to Tibet: about 10 April to Peking and from Lhasa to Rongbuk Glacier to border, then towards Gyachung, then to Kharta Kang. 70 days in Tibet as 70 days in Nepal. KTM 4 Dec for Pumori. Route not decided; want best route for winter season and think southwest probably is it. Fly to Lukla 4 Dec. 6 days to BC around Gorak Shep. No Sherpas above BC. Climb pretty much alpine-style although 1 lower camp probably for safety and even a supply cache at a 2nd camp at 21,000-22,000 feet. Do not expect to ski Pumori. Ned Gillete - Jan 12, 1982 Reached top of Pumori at 2 pm, Jan 6, 1982 on second attempt. Three of team to summit: Jim Bridwell, Jan Reynolds, Ned Gillette; ten minutes on top because of cold. Crystal clear weather - see maybe 100 miles into Tibet's brown mountains and hills. Everyone in good health. Seven days from ABC at 18,500 ft top. C1 at 21,000 ft in "the hole" (under big ice serac), camp 2 at 21,800 ft on East Ridge under summit triangle. Weather has been extraordinarily good during our entire month working on the mountain. Clear, cold weather. No major storms amazingly enough. very lucky. Perfect hard snow and ice for climbing. We have retreated to Namche Bazar to rest for three days. Will start up into the winter ice again on Jan 15. Plan on 3 days to foot of Mingbo La from here, then five hard days to Makalu base if encounter no storms. Impossible to ski since no snow on ground and glaciers are bullet-proof hard. Two our Sherpas (who all continue to be wonderful) will meet us at Makalu base camp by circling around to the south. They will bring our skis, and we hope to film the ski up the Barun Glacier to the border. Then five days out down the Arun river, then fly to KTM. Letter from Ned Gillette, Pumori base camp For Christmas we got the turkey main course without the plum pudding dessert. Reached our goal, the border on the east shoulder of Pumori at 22,000 ft on Dec 23. Team decision not to carry on to summit although easy terrain above as we all like life in general and our fingers and toes in particular. The summit wold have entailed arriving on top at dusk (short days now, long, cold nights), then a biv in the open without food, water, shelter. There is a rundown of our lightning strike on Pumori. We have understood all along that the weather deteriorates drastically post-Xmas. Since we arrived in Nepal late, our only chance lay in going for the climb as fast as possible. Plus, Buddhist Lamas consulted by our Sherpas said we had one week of good weather remaining for the climb. Climbing route we named "King James version" since it was chosen by Jim Bridwell. He also led all the difficult climbing, which was most of the route. Route started up broad ice and snow apron, then into steep ridge of rock styrofoam - like snow and ice steps and passages, a traverse onto long snow slope to ice cliff head wall which led to border ridge at 22,000 ft grand climbing, a wonderful experience. The summit was a long shot in time remaining. Spent 3 days getting started and making or way up to the beginning of the ridge at 19,500 ft retreating to advanced base camp at 18,500 ft at night. Then a rest day, then an exhaustingly long climb from base to the only campsite on the route at 21,000 ft plus. Arrived at dusk, hacked out a tent platform. some of our equipment had to be left lower, so all four us crammed into a single, tiny two person tent. No headlamps worked, so it was a dark, choatic night. It left us exhausted the next day, although we did manage to retrieve our gear, set up a second tent, pushed roue higher next day, retreated to tents. Then pushed to ridge and border next day, Dec 23rd. Incredible view into Tibet, brown, barren, desert-like, Rongbuk glacier sweeping away draining north side of Everest. Rapelled to base next day. Took very minimal food and stove fuel on climb so we could move fast. Our strategy was to risk all on the present good weather, only minus 20 degree at night. Exhilarating route in a fantastically dramatic location. Everyone did a great job on a new route in winter. Steve McKinney flying home soon. Expedition taking too much out of him for effective speed skiing. Everything going well. McKinney - 4 Jan 1982 Summit ridge = NE Ridge (route to ridge) BC 17,500 ft C1 18,700 ft C2 21,000 ft Problem was that thought could go from C2 to summit without making a C3; then found it was long, mostly horizontal walk. Then new member arrived and permit for only 4 members. McKinney satisfied with climb he'd already done so gave his place to new man. Others went up again on 28th; would put in a C3 and get to top about 1st Jan. McKinney left BC 29 Dec. Colanica arrived BC 27 Dec and is climbing now; may come out with Bridwell in a week or these 2 may do trip to Makalu area.
Accidents Craig altitude sickness
Achievement 1st Americans to scale this peak successfully and the 1st climbers of any nationality to conquer it in winter's -20 degrees fahrenheit temperature and 30 to 50 mph winds
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2448397
Year 1981
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) e face-ne ridge

Members

5 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
James D. (Jim) Bridwell M 1944 USA Climbing Leader Olympic Valley, California Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Edward (Ned) Gillette M 1945 USA Leader Stowe, Vermont Photojournalist Details Other expeditions
Steven M. (Steve) McKinney M 1953 USA Climber Olympic Valley, California Professional skier Details Other expeditions
Jan Reynolds F 1956 USA Climber Stowe, Vermont Photographer & writer Details Other expeditions
Craig Calonica M 1953 USA Climber Tahoe City, California Ski racer and carpenter Details Other expeditions

References

8 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
PUMO81401 AAJ Bridwell, James - - 56:219 (1982) -
PUMO81401 AAJ Gillette, Ned Once Around Everest - 57:1-7 (1983) -
PUMO81401 - Gillette, Ned & Reynolds, Jan Everest Grand Circle Mountaineers, Seattle - G120
PUMO81401 MM - - - 85:11 (May 1982) -
PUMO81401 AAJ Sajovic, Peter - - 60:312-313 (1986) -
PUMO81401 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198631202/Everest-Grand-Circle-A-Climbing-and-Skiing-Adventure-through-Nepal-and-Tibet - - -
PUMO81401 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198300100/Once-Around-Everest - - -
PUMO81401 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198221901/Asia-Nepal-Pumori-Winter-Ascent-1982 - - -