Three Russians prepare a fourth attempt on Everest's West Ridge, a route completed only twice

Three Russians are persisting on one of Everest’s least repeated lines. Andrei Vasiliev, Vitaly Shipilov and Sergey Kondrashkin are preparing a fourth attempt on the West Ridge, without supplemental oxygen.

They’re in Kathmandu for now, recovering from a viral infection and waiting for Cyclone Arnab to weaken. They plan to return to their Lobuche base this weekend.

How they got here

They hold a Nepal-side permit, which requires a route other than the standard South Side one. They’ve done three rotations:

• Bypassing the Khumbu Icefall via the Nuptse Shoulder failed in heavy snow.
• Crossing the Icefall was too hard in deep snow and on unstable snow bridges.
• They then chose the Lho La, continuing over the West Shoulder to the ridge.

On their latest foray they reached 6,400 m, after about twelve 60 m pitches of moderate rock, snow and ice. They found old ropes and anchors from earlier expeditions. Vasiliev describes two rock steps of about 100 m ahead, possibly with snow bypasses.

A route with history

This line has been completed only twice:

• 1979: a Yugoslav team led by Tone Skarja, descending by the Hornbein Couloir.
• 1984: a Bulgarian team. Hristo Prodanov summited alone and died on the descent.

Three other teams reached the top by traversing to the North Face and using the Hornbein Couloir.

The border dilemma

ExplorersWeb considers the Hornbein objectively better for summit and survival odds than the upper West Ridge. The problem: it enters Chinese territory, and the permit only covers Nepal. It’s unclear whether a brief crossing would be acceptable, and Vasiliev hasn’t said what they’ll choose.

“First we need to complete one more rotation,” is all he’ll say.

Meanwhile, another team has already celebrated in the same range: the Spanish first ascent of Jugal II.