Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Heavy Snow

Manaslu Base Camp 2013

All the peaks are seeing a bit of weather for a few days stalling progress. Heavy snow hit Manaslu, but that is normal. Also, snow on Cho Oyu stopped progress. The Nepal Weather service sent out an adivsory:

It’s a bit vague. I assume they don’t want to be pinned down so if they are right, they claim victory that they saved lives, if wrong, it was not specific so not their fault . In this post, I cover the new updates for the teams I am following. If  don’t mention someone whom I previously had, it means I don’t have any new information.

Everest – Snow!

The weather has hit Everest Base Camp creating some delays.

Madison Mountaineering Autumn Everest

Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering and his Mountain Hardwear team gave an update. Heavy weather has moved into the region:

We were planning to go up today and take a look at the impasse in the Khumbu Icefall just below the ‘football field’ area but it was pretty socked in this morning and some fresh snow.  So, we decided with the low visibility it would be better to wait until tomorrow or the next day when it clears up and we can go up there and scout around and hopefully find a route through the impasse that is holding everyone up right now.

Skiing down Everest

Polish climber Andrzej Bargiel posted a nice video using his drone:

Dhaulagiri -Rope to C2, Weather Delay

Seven Summits Treks, the 800 pound gorilla of guiding, are providing the logistics for Carlos Soria Fontán and many other climbers. Their Sherpas are fixing the route and posted this update:

The Sherpa team of SST have fixed the rope lines till C II (6400m) of Dhaulagiri, and almost all team half of team members reached to the basecamp last week. The team of Carlos soria approaching to reach the basecamp by helicopter flight from Pokhara and the team of Sergio Mingote via Marpha expecting to reach on 20th Sep 2019. This year 15 climbing Members joined the SST Dhaulagiri Expedition 2019. Weather seems to be challenging for more fews days, thus no progress from C II. Climbers planned to make summit push between late September to early October.

Manaslu- Snow, and Rain

Climbalaya posted a nice update … mostly on the weather:

Climbing activities at Mt. Manaslu have been affected as the whole of Nepal witnessed heavy rain fall . There was heavy rainfall and snow at Manaslu base camp since yesterday.  After successful rotations up to camp two our climbers and Sherpas are all safe and have retreated to base camp for rest and recuperation. Hoping for better weather in the coming days so that everyone can start climbing again.

Climbing The Seven Summits (CTSS) also acknowledged the conditions:

The team are safely back at Manaslu Base Camp after successfully spending a night at Camp One. They were due to tag Camp Two but made the wise decision to retreat back to Base Camp in order to wait out some weather that is passing through the Manaslu region and stay out of harm’s way. They will head back up the mountain as soon as conditions allow.

Tibet

Cho Oyu – Snow!

IMG posted they are stalled after heavy snow hit the area:

The Team is holding tight at Camp 1 on Cho Oyu to continue acclimatizing. Phunuru checked in to let us know that it was snowing at Camp 1 most of the day. The team will sleep another night at Camp 1 and evaluate conditions in the morning. They will most likely pack up and head back down to ABC for some well-deserved rest. The team is feeling great and the Sherpa are working hard. Our main objective is finding the right windows to move during the breaks in the weather. The Cho Oyu Team is on schedule and is staying patient!

Sad Death – Davo Karnicar

An off-mountain accident took the life of 56 year-old Slovenian ski mountaineer Davo Karnicar.  He succumbed to injuries sustained while cutting down a tree near his home.  He was well-known in the climbing and skiing community for his 1995 descent by ski on Annapurna then in 2000 when he became the first person to ski from the summit of Everest to Base Camp without takin off his skis. His other accomplishments included being the first person to ski all of the Seven Summits. He serves as the inspiration for Andrzej Bargiel who in December will attempt to ski Everest, summit to EBC, without taking off his skis and without oxygen. The no OS and in winter are the differences from Davo.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

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2 thoughts on “Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Heavy Snow

  1. Hey Alan,
    Thanks as usual for your great reporting. We just left KTM after 5 days at the airport waiting for a flight to Lukla for an EBC trek. No dice. Today would be day 8. Definitely a story developing there. Trekkers stacking up in Lukla with no supplies and no way out.

    Cheers,
    Colin

  2. Thanks for the update. So sorry to hear about Davo. I have heard of his accomplishments and I’m sure I’ve seen video of at least one of his groundbreaking ski from summit to base camp.

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