Tutse | 2023 E Ridge

A Austria expedition to Tutse in 2023 via E Ridge, led by Benjamin Zoerer. Summit reached on 12th May 2023. 2 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 11170
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID TUTS23101
Peak ID TUTS
Year 2023
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 E Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Austria
Leaders Benjamin Zoerer
Sponsor Gipfelsturmer Expedition 2023
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 Jeep to Num, trekked to BC
Basecamp Date 2023-04-20
Summit Date 2023-05-12
Summit Time -
Summit Days 22
Total Days 30
Termination Date 2023-05-20
Termination Reason 7
Termination Notes Abandoned at 5494m due to Egger's persistent heavy cough
High Point (m) 5494
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 2
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 Summited Shershon Lo (6112m)
Campsites BC(20/04,4564m),xxx(12/05,5494m)
Route Notes BC 20/04 4564m (south to Shershon lake) HPt of TUTSE on 12 May at 5494m, start of the East Ridge both members. Climb of TUTSE abandoned on 12 May due to Egger’s persistant heavy cough. Summit (of Shershon Lho) on 16 May by Benjamin Zoerer Routes: E ridge of TUTSE; NW Face to W-SW Ridge of Shershon Lho (6112m). Oxygen: Not taken, not used Records: New route on the NW Face of Shershon Lho (6112m), and first known ascent of its NW Face. Accidents: Egon Egger had a very heavy cough during the expedition, couldn’t get rid off it. First acclimatized by trekking the Everest BC trail accompanied by the father of Egon Egger. Then the team went back to KTM for a while. There it took longer than expected to organize the second part of the expedition, in particular for obtaining permits. All-in-all, team eventually stayed in KTM for a week. Approach: Zoerer and Egger first expected to fly to Tumlingtar, but the weather was not good, so they spent one more day in Kathmandu. Instead of using a plane, on the day after (11 April) they made a 2-day jeep trip (5 people in a small jeep with all their gear) to reach Tumlingtar on the 12 April. On 13 April they went further to Num. From there they got some porters and after a week of trekking they reached BC on April 20, with Zoerer being sick a bit. Having its BC located near Shershon Lake, the team could have a direct view of its objective, the North Face of Tutse. Right part of the latter was serac-avalanching all time, days and nights. The left of the face, bisected by a subsidiary E Pillar within the face, was looking safer regarding objective risks, despite being exposed to potential snow spindrifts/avalanches coming from the final snowy slopes; that face was anyway to be found in very dry condition. The duet thus took time for assessing possible options in the face without eventually finding a satisfying solution. “Snow is the big problem on this mountain” says Zoerer. They would try for the East Ridge eventually, already attempted in 2003 by a Denmark expedition. Afterwards, Zoerer considers that for their first big expedition, the duet had focused a lot on its primarily objective, but has forgotten to anticipate on the various acclimatization possibilities lying on the peaks around. In addition, they would have to wait for 3 weeks at BC in bad weather. In particular the 1st and 2nd of May, a lot of snow would fall around, with 20-30 cms for the sole BC. For its first acclimatization trip, the duet aimed to go to the Sherpani Col. They went up to Makalu BC, discussing with trekkers also aiming for it, but conditions were just not appropriate: the snowfall of the beginning of May would prevent them trying so. So they just did reconnaissance around for future trips, simply enjoying nature. Back to their BC, they took two more rest days. For its second acclimatization trip, the duet first walked up northwards to a lake located at 5196m, southeast to the start of the South Ridge of Shershon Northwest/SHNW (6682m, route of first ascent by the way), nearby which they slept. Not far east from the lake, they found the fresh remnants of an expedition, afoot of the NW flank of both Shershons/Yaupas. On the 7th of May, they hiked up a further 300m to 400m until reaching the moraine at 5500m, sleeping there. On the 8th of May, they slept at 5795m (Finn Map, flat part of the ridge), with only Zoerer walking a hundred meters above their bivouac on the ridge. On the 9th of May, after a strong wind begun to hit them during the night, in early morning they went back down in 3 hours to BC, where they had a few rest days. Summit attempt on Tutse: as some good weather period was expected (during which most of the summit assaults would be led on the big peaks in fact), their weather guide advised them to start for Tutse. The problem so far had been Egger’s health: already at BC, he was coughing bad all time, with lots of fluids, spitting sometimes. At a stage, he went back down to Yangla (knowing Makalu BC valley is a rather remote area, with a 4000m+ col to pass in order to go down), spending 3 or 4 days there. Once he had recovered a bit, he went back to BC. But after that, during the acclimatization trip to Shershon NW, he couldn’t follow above the upper bivouac. Despite his bad shape, Egger anyway said “lets’ try”! On the 12th May, the duet started for Tutse’s East Ridge at 2 am. During the approach, which mainly consists in walking gentle snow slopes, snow conditions were very bad, with Zoerer having to break trail maximum up to the knees in very inconsistent snow. As they were reaching the foot of the East Ridge the slope increased a bit to 40° slopes, being very prone to avalanche. They reached the footstep of the ridge at 7:25 am, at 5494m. Above them, the ridge looked less snowy (blown by the wind), with just a windslab at the start of the ridge. Crux for the day would be the circa 200m rock band standing above them. On the day after they would need to negotiate the upper sharp and corniced ridge. But Egger being still in a bad shape the team had no chance for an attempt, so they turned back down to BC. For Egger the expedition was over. One more week was left before the porters would arrive and weather was still good. After resting 2 days, Zoerer made an ascent on Shershon Lho in a 24-hour round trip from BC. Solo ascent of Shershon Lho : On 15th May, Zoerer slept at the 5196m lake. On 16th May, Zoerer climbed Yaupa Lho solo by a new line on the NW Face. For the gear, he had taken standard light equipment for a light bag with a 60m/6mm dynemma rope (just for abseiling), no pitons, 2 ice screws and a few carabiners. Crux would size about 10-15m in bad ice (WI 3,4), topped by a short overhanging section in se avoidable thanks to some lateral help. Rest of the difficulties were sustained 50-70° slopes. All-in-all a 1000m high gain from the tent, for an intrinsically proper 500m sustained line in the range of Alps grade D. The line exited on the WSW Ridge (1954 line), the latter by which Zoerer reached the top. Shershon Lho is 6112m (Finn Map), Zoerer could read 6110m on his watch. He stayed a few minutes on top, making pictures, contacting Egger by walkie-talkie. Zoerer then went back down to his tent via the 1954 line. The latter would need no abseils at all, just a few buttresses to downclimb/scramble (up to grade UIAA 3). Zoerer had started at 2:30 am from his camp, summited at 7:23 am and was back to his camp 2 hours later, all-in-all a 9-hour round trip from his tent. It had been a good choice to start early since clouds were very thick already when he was back to the tent at 9:30 am; previously, half the ridge on descent, he had already remarked that clouds were getting in. On the same day he was back to BC at noon. “The cherry atop of the cake” says Zoerer. During their remaining days at BC, in good weather they just made some washing, drying everything. Then on the 20 May they left BC, “still very good friends”. Zoerer will be back to try to attempt again the E Ridge line of Tutse, knowing exactly where they have to go. He warns also that direct access to Saldim West from southwest is tricky, with a 400m crumby walls to be conturned from southeast.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Sherpa Adventure Travel
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2464530
Year 2023
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) e ridge

Members

2 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Benjamin Zoerer M 2001 Austria Leader Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria Aspirant alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Egon Egger M 1995 Austria Climber Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria Physiotherapist Details Other expeditions

References

2 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
TUTS23101 AAJ Zoerer, Benjamin & Popier, Rodolphe Shershon Lho, Northwest Face - 98:322-323 (2024) -
TUTS23101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201216870 - - -