Mountaineer Elmo Francis who became the first Sri Lankan to reach the summit of Lobuchi East which stands at 6,200 meters returned to the Island. Expo Freight (EFL), a subsidiary of Expolanka Holdings PLC was the strategic partner for Elmo’s expedition. Elmo, the first Sri Lankan to reach the summit Mera Peak in the Himalayas in 2006 set out this time to reach 7,500 meters on the South side of Mount Everest as a prelude to conquering Mt Everest summit in 2015.
However, due to the unfortunate event where 16 people perished while attempting to climb Mt Everest, Elmo had to cancel his scheduled climb to the South side of Mt Everest. Undaunted, he decided to attempt a climb to Advanced Base Camp of Mt Pumori which stands at 7,138 meters. Avalanche risk thwarted this plan as well but Elmo’s team then proceeded to climb Jangbu peak, a slightly technical peak on the Khumbu glacier to acclimatize in preparation to climb the Khumbu Ice Fall in Lobuchi East. Following acclimatizing at Everest Base camp for 10 days Elmo and the team tackled the Khumbu Ice Fall below the west ridge of Mt Everest without a Sherpa to guide them. Elmo then decided to reach Lobuchi East which stands at 6,200 meters.
By this time, all other teams attempting to climb Mt Everest had already cleared camps. However, as Elmo possessed a permit to climb Lhotse at 8,501 meters, the fourth highest mountain in the world, his team received permission to stay on longer for acclimatization. On May 9th, 2014, Elmo reached camp 01 of Lobuchi and by 4am on the same day, he and the team began their climb to reach the Lobuchi East summit. By 08.42am, Elmo stood on top of Mt Lobuchi East, holding his head high as the first Sri Lankan to complete that climb.
Elmo is in charge of training at Amana Bank and he conveyed his gratitude to Amana Bank for coming on board as the event partner in the Everest expedition.
- See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/biz-news/item/29509-mountaineer-elmo-ends-expedition.html#sthash.0OZ2B95I.dpuf
