Tawoche | 1963 E Face

A New Zealand expedition to Tawoche in 1963 via E Face, led by Edmund Hillary. Summit reached on 7th May 1963. 5 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 3048
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID TAWO63101
Peak ID TAWO
Year 1963
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 E Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality New Zealand
Leaders Edmund Hillary
Sponsor Himalayan Schoolhouse 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 USA
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1963-04-13
Summit Date 1963-05-07
Summit Time -
Summit Days 24
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 10
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6450m due to difficult corniced ridge
High Point (m) 6450
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 4
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 1
Summit Hired 0
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 Kangtega (KTEG-631-01)
Campsites BC(13/04,4875m),C1(15/04,5500m),C2(05/05,6100m),xxx(07/05,6450m)
Route Notes Letter of Mr Wilson - April 29, 19?? We think our route on Tawache is the easiest though no one here seems to know what route the French took with their skis. There's a small lake at about 17,000 ft, more or less directly above Pangboche sitting in between the South and East Ridges, i.e., underneath the South East Face, if I have my directions correct. We had a base camp there. From there an obvious and easy snow ramp leads up across to the right through a line of cliffs to a small snowfield on the South East Face. We had a camp at the top of the snowfield. It did get a rock through a tent one day, but this may have been a rock we kicked down from above - though I admit we didn't use the camp much after that just in case, this camp would have been at about 18,000 ft I think. From the top of this snowfield we went up a rock rib, fairly easy by today's standards though we had snow on it which made it trying. Where the rib faded a bit - perhaps 1000 ft above the snowfield - we traversed up left across what were then rather treacherous snowslopes (moderately deep snow soft crumbly snow) across a gully, then more directly up a snow rib to reach the crest of the South Ridge above its big rock steps. (We'd rosed up to the foot of the South Ridge earlier but decided these big rock steps were too big). We then followed the South Ridge up to smaller rock steps and a steepish but not difficult snow section, to the large snow plateau that sits under the summit between the East and West Ridges. We had a 2nd camp on the lower edge of this plateau. The plateau itself was not a plod, then we went up from the right hand corner of it (looking up - i.e., upper eastern edge) up steep snow and final small recliff to reach a shoulder on the upper east ridge. A 100 yards or so along this shoulder, still about 200-300 ft below and perhaps 300 yards away from the summit, we ran into double cornices on a very narrow snow ridge and decided the final bit was too dangerous for married men (at least Mike Gill and I did, Ang Temba agreed - Dave Dornan wanted to go on). My impression since that in post monsoon this section is less corniced and would be safer (we were premonsoon). From my experience on Thamserku post-monsoon the following year I'd think the rest of the route would certainly be no more difficult the we struck it (we had fairly persistent bad weather and bad snow and would probably be easier, snow firmer, rock clearer. I'm not sure I'd like to lead a commercial party up - but as long as the party is composed of climbers it might be Ok. Certainly Messner himself would have not difficulty on the route, save for the question mark about the final bit of ridge. We fixed ropes from the 1st camp to the 2nd and had a wire ladder on one of the rock steps on the South Ridge, so loads could be carried up easily and safely. This would certainly assist a commercial party but took a lot of time of course.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route True
Primary Member True
Primary Reference True
Primary ID KTEG63101
Checksum 2441695
Year 1963
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) e face

Members

5 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Edmund Percival Hillary M 1919 New Zealand Leader Auckland, New Zealand Alpinist Details Other expeditions
David B. Dornan M 1936 USA Climber Moose, Wyoming Graduate student (MA) in philosophy at University of Colorado Details Other expeditions
Michael Bedford Gill M 1937 New Zealand Climber Otago, New Zealand Physiologist, Otago University Details Other expeditions
James G. (Jim) Wilson M - New Zealand Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Ang Temba Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker Khumjung, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.