Autumn Himalayan Climbing – Everest and More
Despite a harsh year in the high mountains—with 20 dead or presumed dead during Nepal’s autumn season and 10 killed on Broad Peak in Pakistan in July—the 2026 autumn Himalayan climbing season continues. A small four-person Russian team is currently climbing on Everest, scouting a potential new route for a larger attempt next spring. A dispute over rope fixing, followed by worsening snow and wind conditions, ends efforts on Nepal’s final active 8,000er of the autumn season.
Autumn Everest
Team leader Andrei Vasiliev, along with Sergey Kondrashkin, Vitaly Shipilov, and Natalya Belyankina, is already ascending Everest. They reported heavy snow that hindered their first acclimatization climb near 5,650 meters (18,536 feet). The group opened a new route on Manaslu’s Southwest Face in 2025 and previously made two serious attempts on Cho Oyu’s south side.
They are moving lightweight, without supplemental oxygen or Sherpa support, and are using Lobuche as their base camp instead of camping in tents on the traditional Nepal side. Obviously, they will sleep in tents as they begin gaining altitude during their climb.
They are not expected to summit and were quoted on the Russian website, mountain.ru, “… this team has a specific goal: to evaluate the equipment and the proposed route before a larger-scale attempt next spring.”
While their route choice is uncertain. They did not buy the $7,500 autumn permit for Everest’s normal South Col route; an autumn permit for a nonstandard route costs $5,000. Reportedly, they’re considering the same, or a variation of the route Jost Kobusch has scouted several times—the West Ridge via the Lho La Pass.
Kobusch is planning his fourth winter climb in December. If conditions permit, he may try for the summit this year. His previous climbs were positioned as “scouting, or training.” Kobusch has treated the project as a multi-year progression, using each expedition to learn more about the route while gradually pushing higher.
Dhaulagiri Conflict Ends Autumn Season
Yep all over.. Politics.. such a disaster. Of course SST is blaming Av risk but there was minimal. I was the highest reaching western climber getting to 7,100m and then we flew the drone up to 7,700 and it. looked good to climb.
Basically SST or 14 peaks (same same) their Ukrainian VVIP clinets wanted to go down. All the line fixing teams were also assigned to the vvip clients who had 8-10 sherpas. so once the clients quit so did the fixing team.
Unfortunately the mountain conditions were perfect a summit attempt especially on Dhaulagiri which is known for bad weather.
But Chhang Dawa Sherpa, Director of Seven Summits Treks, posted a statement on IG supporting the decision to end the expedition, saying SST’s priority is its clients and saftey. The statement continued, At the same time, other climbers are free to make their own decisions. He said his lead guides, Lakpa Sherpa (aka Makalu Lakpa) and Mingtemba Sherpa, felt that the upper mountain was too dangerous and called for ending the expedition
Dawa goes on in his statement to say, “We have come a long way from the time when climbers simply ordered guides [Sherpas] up or down the mountain. We all remember the cost of that approach. Today we listen carefully to the people who are actually on the front line.”
To me, this illustrates why independent climbers who depend on a commercial rope-fixing team need clarity beforehand about who controls the fixing effort, under what circumstances it can be stopped, and what happens if the sponsoring clients withdraw.
More Himlung Details
More details were posted in the Everest Chronicle that reveal a complicated situation. Fifteen workers were killed and one remains missing and presumed dead.
“The expedition’s clients had not yet reached base camp. Kitchen staff and other mountain workers had arrived ahead of them to prepare the camp for their scheduled arrival on October 1.
But the weather turned against them.
Snow had been falling heavily since September 24. The workers considered descending to a lower village, but the route was buried under snow.
They decided to stay another night.
They kept watch and repeatedly cleared snow from their tents to prevent them from collapsing under its weight.
Then, during the night of September 27, snow swept down from above the camp.
“It did not come down as a big avalanche,” recalled Chheden Lama Bhote, a seven-time Everest summiteer who survived the disaster.
The workers heard a rumbling sound but did not immediately realise that an avalanche had buried the kitchen and dining tents where their colleagues were sleeping.
Bhote and 10 other workers survived because their tents had been pitched farther from the main base camp.
The kitchen and dining tents had been moved to an area where a newly installed water tap was available. Previously, workers had to walk for hours to collect water.
“This year, the local authority set up a piped water supply at the base camp,” Bhote said in an interview with Everest Chronicle.
The change brought convenience. It also placed the kitchen and dining area in the path of the falling snow.”
There are a few teams considering retruing to Manaslu as we enter mid-October
Other Nepal Climbs
Nepal issued 938 permits across 36 peaks this autumn 2026 season, with Manaslu dominating with 500 foreign permits. Himlung Himal was second at 94, closely followed by Ama Dablam at 82, Dhaulagiri at 36 then the smaller, less popular peaks like Annapurna IV (19), Barun Tse (19), Putha Hiunchuli (20), Saribung (19), Danga (16), and Mukot Himal (13).
It’s unknown how many climbers are still on these peaks other than Ama Dablam, which is a very popular Autumn climb.
Trekking Season Underway
Nepal is in peak trekking season, and flooding combined with heavy snowfall continues to create a challenging environment.
There is a reported high volume on the Annapurna Circuit, while a new flood along the Budhi Gandaki has damaged trails and bridges in the Manaslu region, stranding trekkers and prompting helicopter evacuations.
The Tourism Times reported that Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) said:
“Most major trekking routes across Nepal have reopened for the autumn season following heavy rain and snowfall in late September, although road closures and damaged bridges continue to disrupt access to some destinations.”
Read the full report here.
Memories are Everything
Alan
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A surge of debilitating fatigue overtook me. My shoulders drooped. I stared at my yellow boots, crushed by disappointment. I had trained hard for K2 and tried to anticipate every scenario, but now I was failing, and there was nothing I could do.
Closing my eyes, I was powerless, hopeless, and ready to surrender to the mountain. Everything I wanted—the summit, a safe return, my vow to my mother—was slipping away.
My ice axe dangled from my harness as my grip was weak.
Staring at the small yellowish spot illuminated by my headlamp on the snow, it was over, and, oddly, I didn’t care.
It was 12:30 a.m. on July 27, 2014—my fifty-eighth birthday.
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