High Up on the Lhotse Face

At 9:00 p.m. on May 27, Kris Erickson radioed down to base camp to get the final weather report for the next morning, not planning to radio again until departing at 1 a.m. Everything looked good. In a few hours, he and his climbing partner, Jamie Laidlaw, would leave for the summit. Excitement in the tent was high. They were so close to realizing one of their greatest dreams. But as Jamie lay in his sleeping bag over the course of the next hour and a half, he began to develop a low gurgle in his breathing accompanied by violent coughing fits and dry heaving, distinct symptoms of high-altitude pulmonary edema.

Of the world’s 14 8,000-meter mountains, Lhotse is without question one of the finest for ski mountaineering. Few mountains in the world have a pitch ideal forskiing that is nearly 2,000 meters long. At 8,516 meters (28,102 feet), Lhotse is the world’s fourth-highest mountain, and its enormous face is considered to be the steepest of its size. Only a small and elite group of skiers have made turns down the spectacular Lhotse face, but no one has ever been able to link all its features in one continuous ski descent from the summit.

This past May, The North Face® athletes Kris Erickson and Jamie Laidlaw traveled to Nepal to
attempt the first-ever ski descent from the summit of Lhotse. Neither Erickson nor Laidlaw is a stranger to high-altitude ski mountaineering. Erickson was the first American male to ski off the summit of an 8,000-meter peak when he skied Cho Oyu in 2002, and he has been a member of four other ski expeditions to 8,000-meter peaks. Laidlaw made an attempt to ski Lhotse in 2007 but was turned back only a few hundred meters from the summit due to a malfunction with his oxygen tank.

Big-mountain ski mountaineering leaves absolutely no room for error. Fewer than 100 people in the world have skied above 8,000 meters and for good reason. Climbing an 8,000-meter mountain is more than difficult. Climbing an 8,000-meter mountain and skiing back down is infinitely more complicated. Climbing and skiing in a complex, high-altitude environment in thin air and treacherous conditions requires both comprehensive mountaineering experience and rock-solid skiing skills.

The Lhotse ski expedition began in the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu. After a few days of gathering supplies and getting organized, the team made the nine-day trek to base camp. Once on the mountain, they moved quickly, establishing camps all the way to Camp 3 at 7,000 meters. Feeling strong, they continued up to 7,400 meters in the hopes of making some practice turns. While still more than 1,000 meters below the summit, the opportunity to ski from this elevation provided great training for the summit push and an epic descent of two-thirds of the Lhotse face. The conditions were mixed, however. Each turn was either a painstaking jump-turn on breakable crust high on the face or was a smooth carve on melting snow closer to the bergschrund.

The following weeks were spent moving up and down the mountain, acclimatizing, establishing camps and getting equipment into place. Back at base camp, well rested and with a favorable weather window, the team was finally ready to make a summit push. After all those months of preparation, climbing and carrying loads, Kris and Jamie were about to be put to the test. Unfortunately, the morning after The North Face®  team arrived at Camp 2 on its final effort, a Spanish team of climbers got into serious trouble higher on the mountain. The Spanish team members had reached the summit of Lhotse the day before but were now in dire straits with one member left for dead and others frostbitten and struggling for their lives. Damian Benegas, a fellow The North Face® athlete, led an initial rescue after he had reached the summit of Mount Everest the day before.

The following weeks were spent moving up and down the mountain, acclimatizing, establishing camps and getting equipment into place. Back at base camp, well rested and with a favorable weather window, the team was finally ready to make a summit push. After all those months of preparation, climbing and carrying loads, Kris and Jamie were about to be put to the test. Unfortunately, the morning after The North Face®  team arrived at Camp 2 on its final effort, a Spanish team of climbers got into serious trouble higher on the mountain. The Spanish team members had reached the summit of Lhotse the day before but were now in dire straits with one member left for dead and others frostbitten and struggling for their lives. Damian Benegas, a fellow The North Face® athlete, led an initial rescue after he had reached the summit of Mount Everest the day before.

Both Kris and Jamie made two separate trips up to 6,900 meters from Camp 2 in order to help facilitate the rescue. Despite their efforts during the rescue the night before, the now exhausted team members loaded their equipment for their final push up the mountain. Their packs were unusually heavy because they had to carry their skis in addition to all of the equipment needed for another several nights on the mountain. Luckily, the cloud cover provided cooler temperatures than normal for the grueling climb to Camp 3. As the skies cleared around Pumo Ri and Cho Oyo in the distance, the team—perched at 7,000 meters—was treated to a spectacular sunset.

The following morning led into one of the longest days of Jamie’s life. The pair packed up Camp 3 early in the morning and started the climb towards Camp 4 at 7,700 meters. During the ascent, Jamie’s pace began to slow, but he was in good spirits and offered no clues to the development that would change the direction of
the expedition.

Reaching Camp 4 by 5 p.m., the team had plenty of time to brew tea and rest before pushing off for the summit at 1 a.m. However, the efforts of the rescue had taken a greater toll on Jamie then anyone had realized. During the night, his condition rapidly deteriorated into full-blown high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), a serious, life-threatening accumulation of fluid in the lungs. Beyond medications and oxygen, which can help stabilize the condition, descending is the only cure for HAPE. It quickly became apparent that Jaimie needed to go down immediately.

It was an extremely daunting task, but Kris and Jamie both knew time was of the essence. They had to descend while Jamie still had the strength to do so under his own power. With the entire mountain listening to their radio transmissions, Kris assisted Jamie through the night safely back to Camp 2 and then on to base camp the next day, where he was able to have comprehensive medical treatment through the Himalayan Rescue Association.

The decision to descend was easy, but it wasn’t without emotion. It had taken a tremendous amount of time, effort and luck to get so close to the summit only to have to turn back. But no summit or ski descent is more important than the bond a team has while climbing a large mountain. Partnerships enrich the mountain experience and enable a team to achieve things that wouldn’t be attainable alone. These friendships provide the mortar to a foundation that often lasts a lifetime. Ultimately Kris and Jamie were able to make unforgettable turns on one of the greatest big-mountain faces in the world and, most important, make it down safely so they can return another day.