An attempt on Lobuje East, 1991

I was a member of an October 1991 expedition that attempted to climb Lobuje East, a 6,119 metre peak in the Khumbu region of Nepal, not far from Mt Everest. After travelling by bus from Kathmandu to Jiri, we started trekking and nineteen days later set up base camp at the foot of Lobuje East. Our attempt to climb the mountain can be described as “gloriously unsuccessful.” On the one hand, the highest point we reached was roughly 300 vertical metres below the summit, but – on the positive side of the ledger – a group that had initially met in Kathmandu as nine total strangers soon became firm friends and, what is more, we still are. Viewed in that light, the expedition was an undoubted success.