Snowboard Everest Autumn 2003

Stephen Koch and Jimmy Chin will attempt to snowboard Everest this Autumn. They plan to climb Everest via the Hornbein route and then descend via the Hornbein. They will travel from Kathmandu to Lhasa then to Everest base camp on the North (Chinese).  Eric Henderson is the base camp manager.

Dispatch: On August 6, Eric, Jimmy and I climbed Changzheng, 6977 meters, with Jimmy and I getting to the top, or at least as near to the top as we were comfortable. A massive cornice, no ropes or harnesses, meant we remained just a few meters below the beast. Jimmy, like a man possessed, pushed hard late in the day, punching steps the last couple hundred meters while fatigue relegated me to drafting. It is invaluable to have a strong partner to take over when necessary.

The weather moved in and out on us during most of the day. We moved slowly, but steadily up through the snow and mist, trading leads when necessary. Occasionally, the clouds would lift and we would get a glimpse of the glacier far below and the endless peaks stretching to the horizon. We gained our new altitude record for the trip, but were certainly feeling the effects of the thin air.

Eric, Jimmy and I skied and snowboarded from just below the summit on variable but generally good snow for over 2,000 feet. We had to avoid the heavily corniced ridge on our right, which wasn't easy with the poor visibility for most of the descent. Linking turns at 22,500ft was a bit of a workout, but I think we were all psyched about how we felt, and it was a pleasure to carve big turns in good snow.

The bottom of the run was sketch with a few black holes (crevasses) in the glacier that we narrowly avoided. At the end of the snow we were all pretty wasted and still had to hike the 1,000 meters to ABC.

Watching the sunset on the neighboring 6,000 and 7,000 meter peaks, we were realizing just how BIG Everest is &s he was in full alpen glow as the lower peaks had faded away. On the final part of the descent to ABC we took our own routes, looking for scree to run down to both speed our descent and reduce the pounding on the knees. We knew Lakpa and Kami would have drinks and dinner ready. Two liters of water per person over the day, we got a little dehydrated. We were all worked, but still arrived in camp as the last light of day slipped away in the western sky.

Lakpas mouth watering pizza was on the menu that evening. Liquid was what our bodies craved and we barely put a dent in the pie. After dinner, we put our tired bodies to bed after a very gratifying day in the hills.

Stephen Early Up Going 

Stephen carving turns on Chang Zheng's north ridge.

Dispatches

Pictures copyright Stephen Koch' Autumn Everest 2003 expedition

  Altitude pre-
   acclimatization

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Black Diamond

   Botas

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   CaVa Climbing Shoes
   Clearance

   Clif Bar

   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Garmin

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps
   Helmets

   HighGear
   Ice Axes

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Lowepro

   Motorola

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Outdoor Designs

   Pelican

   PowerBar

   Princeton Tec

   Prescription Glacier

   Glasses

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Trekking Poles
   Ushba
   and more here