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I'm
now in Cho Oyu ABC waiting for a suitable break in
the weather and then MB Tamang and I will go for
it alpine style over 4 days from ABC. Good bet we
will shoot for a summit day on the 18th May.
Cheers,
David Lim
ASCENT 8000
Singapore Disabled Ascents of Shishapangma and Cho
Oyu 2002
Below
is the story of Dave's Shisha attempt...
DISABLED
MOUNTAINEER RETURNS FROM ABORTIVE SUMMIT BID:
Singapore's Dave Lim returned safely to Advance
Base Camp at Shishapangma, Tibet without the 8012m
summit. The 6-day summit bid was organized after a
spate of extremely unseasonable bad weather and
aimed at reaching the top of Tibet's highest peak
on May 6th. The long summit push was preceded by
very heavy load carries by Lim and M.B Tamang, his
climbing partner. Three successively higher camps
were placed, the last at 7350m before the summit
bid began at 330am May 6th. Weather forecasts had
put wind conditions to be moderate. However, after
about 200-300 meters of upward progress, sustained
stretches of hard ice made further progress too
dangerous. While the sections themselves would
already been exposed and tricky for an able-bodied
alpinist, Lim's disabled right leg made progress
extremely strenuous. With only a shorter length of
rope to protect each other over small, steep
sections, it would have been too risky and
time-consuming to belay each other in turn over
the long section of wind-polished ice. Lim turned
back at around 7600meters.
At
the same time the only other summit team, a
European team, turned back after one of their
members sustained a 200-metre fall higher up.
Heavy, localized snowing put at end to the day's
summit attempts. No one summitted that day. According
to Lim, these are the first known summit attempts
of the season. Lim made an arduous descent back to
Intermediate Camp, ending a 15 hour day.
With
not much time left, Lim will be leaving advance
base camp on May 9th to make his way to Cho Oyu,
the second of the two 8000-m peaks on his
schedule. He intends to reach Advance Base Camp in
under a week and complete the climb in rapid,
lightweight style after acclimatizing on
Shishapangma.
Commenting
on the summit week: "For some time my
conversations with God have not been happy ones.
For most of the climbing days, we had been beset
by awful and unpleasant weather. We never got a
break. None of my prayers for a respite seem to be
answered. But most recently, I had two replies. In
one, he gave me strength in my legs. In the other,
on summit day, he gave me wisdom to make the right
decision. it wasn't an easy one, but it was the
correct one. Climbing 8000m peaks is, after all,
not about summiting, it's about making the right
call. You're really on the edge of things if
you're tired beyond belief an still have some ways
to go to your objective."
On
the next two days", " Eating fried eggs,
resting my aching muscles, packing and mentally
psyching up myself for the next climb. I can't
recall any Asian mountaineer, able-bodied or not,
attempting three peaks in a single expedition*.
It's going to be tough. This isn't exactly
the kind of adventure where you have relays of
porters carrying all your stuff nor is it the kind
where you can get airlifts of underwear, food and
gear to you. And after the climb, you still have
to get your butt off the mountain. No plane
can get you off that hill."
*
Lim summitted Mera peak ( 6476m ) on April 2nd
Other
Shishapangma 2002
Expeditions and News
 Dispatches
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