Climbing Everest South Face (Nepal): Icefall traverse

In the spring of 2021, Expeditions Unlimited is organising an ascent of Mount Everest (8,848 m) via the South Face, on the Nepal side. After a magnificent acclimatisation trek over the high passes, the five members of the expedition, guided by expedition leader Bernard Muller and accompanied by some of the most brilliant Sherpas in the Khumbu region, reached Everest Base Camp. In the weeks that followed, François Trouillet, one of the participants, gave us a poignant first-hand account of the main stages of the expedition. In this post, François recounts his emotional discovery of the icefall on the Khumbu glacier between the base camp and camp 1: the famous Icefall.

See all our climbs above 8000 meters.

View of the Khumbu glacier from Kala Patthar © François Trouillet

We enter the Icefall through a small back door

I had seen the Icefall in photos, then from a distance, then up close, by day, by night, under the sun, the moon, in the snow... It appears immense, impressive, impassable, reminding us that it lives on through its cracks, avalanches and continuous landslides. Our expedition's puja is built opposite, as if to protect us from it. When, for the first time, we headed towards it, at night as if to hide, I was filled with emotion. 

We ‘entered’ it through a small back door, leaving the earthly world behind to enter a world of ice. After a thirty-minute walk, we passed under a prayer flag and put on our crampons. 

Crossing a crevasse at sunrise © François Trouillet

Walls, ladders, Jumar climbs, abseiling

Here and there, a stick with a small piece of red rag marks the way through this three-dimensional labyrinth! Then a vertical wall rises up in front of us. In the light of our headlamps, the blue ice glistens and the wall seems immense. The Ice Doctors have done their job and a fixed rope falls from above. 
So we grab our Jumar handle and start to pull ourselves up. We're a bit ‘cold’ and the technique is a bit hesitant. After a great deal of effort, we reached the top, short of breath. And we discovered a lunar landscape. We walk in silence, our lanyard attached to the fixed rope to keep us safe. Wall after wall came into view, with their share of effort. 

Then the sky gradually lit up, the sun was about to rise. We don't know how long we've been walking, but the sunlight makes us realise just how vast the landscape is. All we can see is ice, huge crevasses as far as the eye can see. Walls, ladders, abseiling, ascents with climbing handles. Bending down to pass our lanyard from one fixed rope to another... Watching where to put your feet, breathing. 

Hot drinks break for the expedition © François Trouillet

Crossing dangerous areas

It's a bit crowded and the technical sections create a bit of a traffic jam. So many opportunities to get back on track. We started at 5,300 metres and camp 1 is at 6,000 metres. A quick glance at the clock tells us how far we've come. We reassure each other: ‘What's your altitude? Wow, is that all? 

Six hours of walking already. From time to time, Nigma, our guide, asks us to speed up and starts praying. We are now crossing a dangerous zone. We're not really aware of it, but you have to be able to read the ice. The day before we left, an ice tower collapsed on some Sherpas. It was very traumatic for the team. 

Then we came to a flat spot; we thought, we hoped, for the camp. There are some people sitting there and we ask them ‘Is camp 1 far away?’, and the answer is a resounding ‘About 2 hours’. But we've already been walking for seven hours! Are we hopeless or what? We're beginning to doubt our abilities. 

Arriving at camp 1 © François Trouillet

Nearly 10 hours to cross the Icefall 

Well, here we are again. And after new crevasses, new walls, new ladders, we discover the majestic Mount Lhotse and, in the distance, a line of yellow tents! Camp 1... At last!  There's still a long way to go, but the view is invigorating!  That's it: we've been walking for nine and a half hours and here we are. Drained and rinsed, we hurried into our tents, only to emerge the next day. Slept well? Eaten well? No, I replayed the film of our first crossing of the Icefall, which will remain engraved in my memory forever.

Trace of live tracking in the Icefall (general view and detailed view) © Expeditions Unlimited

Join the next Everest climb via the Nepalese South Face or the North Tibet side.