Hornbein Couloir

Points of interest on the north face of Mount Everest, Hornbein Couloir in Dark blue

The Hornbein Couloir is a notable narrow and steep couloir high to the west on the north face of Mount Everest in Tibet, that extends from about 8,000 to 8,500 m (26,200 to 27,900 ft) elevation, 350 metres (1,150 feet) below the summit.

For the first 400 m (1,300 ft) vertical, the couloir inclines at about 47°, and the last 100 m (330 ft) is narrower and steeper with about a 60° average incline. To the east on the north face with less angle is the much larger Norton Couloir.

Origin of the name

The couloir was named after a member of the 1963 U.S.A. Everest Expedition, Thomas Hornbein, who was on the first ascent.

First Ascent

22 May 1963: Tom Hornbein and his partner, Willi Unsoeld, were with the 1963 U.S.A. expedition who were attempting to reach the Everest summit from the Nepalese southern side by two routes. The majority of expedition members used the same route climbed ten years earlier by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. This entailed negotiating the Western Cwm and the flank of Lhotse to the South Col, then up the southeast ridge to the peak.

Hornbein and Unsoeld, however, took a more challenging, different and unknown route up the west ridge from Camp 2 in the Western Cwm, traversing over the north face to ascend the steep and narrow couloir. After summiting, they descended the southeast ridge, bivouacking high up.

Subsequent Successful Ascents

Since the initial ascent, there have only been another nine summiters with five expeditions through the Hornbein Couloir, the last one in 1991.

10 May 1980: Japanese Tsuneoh Shigehiro and Takashi Ozaki made the first full ascent of the north face up the Japanese and Hornbein Couloirs from the Rongbuk Glacier in Tibet.

20 May 1986: Canadians Sharon Wood and Dwayne Congdon climbed a new west shoulder route from the Rongbuk Glacier and continued to the summit via the Hornbein Couloir. She became the first North American woman to summit Everest.

30 August 1986: Swiss Erhard Loretan and Jean Troillet, unprecedented and unrepeated, climbed the north face in a single alpine style push without oxygen, ropes, or tents in 37 hours, and glissaded down in under 5 hours. They climbed mostly at night and carried no backpacks above 8000 m, a style that became known as "night naked". The only ascent outside of the month of May.

24 May 1989: Pole Andrzej Marciniak climbed the west ridge and the Hornbein Couloir.

20 May 1991: Swede Lars Cronlund climbed the Japanese & Hornbein Couloirs

First Ever Snowboard Descent

In 2001, young French snowboarder Marco Siffredi from Chamonix succeeded in the First Everest Snowboard Descent by using the Norton Couloir.

Then in 2002 he attempted a new descent via the Hornbein Couloir. Unfortunately, he disappeared in this attempt and his body has never been found.

Marco Siffredi's 2002 attempt

Early in August 2002, Marco Siffredi departed for Nepal, intending to make the first snowboard descent of Everest along the Hornbein passage. It was late in the season for summitting Everest, but Marco hoped that the passage would have more snow. On August 10, he left Kathmandu with three sherpa (Phurba, Pa Nuru and Da Tenzing), reaching base camp (BC) in Tibet on August 14. On September 7, the group reached the advanced field at 8,300 m. On Sept. 8, 2002, after a grueling 12-hour push, Siffredi and the sherpas reached the summit at 2:10 PM. According to Phurba Tashi, however, Siffredi showed little enthusiasm for the accomplishment, commenting that he was "Tired, tired...too much climbing..."

After weather conditions began to change, the Sherpas urged Marco Siffredi not to go. Siffredi ignored their warnings and after only an hour's rest, began making his way towards the Hornbein just after 3 pm. His sherpa companions lost sight of him periodically. At the North Col, about 1,300 meters below Camp Three, both Sherpas reported seeing the distant image of a man stand up, then slide silently down the mountain. As they reached the point of the sighting, Siffredi's snowboard tracks were not to be seen. His body has not been found.

Ueli Steck

Ueli Steck died on 30 April 2017 on a peak West of Everest, nearby Nuptse, after falling during an acclimatizing climb for an attempt on the Hornbein route on the West Ridge of Everest without supplemental oxygen.

References

• Thomas Hornbein: Everest - The West Ridge. The Mountaineers Books, 1998, ISBN 0898866162, 9780898866162

See also

• EverestHistory.com