{"id":35118,"date":"2019-09-26T10:47:12","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T16:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=35118"},"modified":"2019-09-26T10:47:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T16:47:12","slug":"autumn-2019-himalayan-season-manaslu-summit-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/26\/autumn-2019-himalayan-season-manaslu-summit-mass\/","title":{"rendered":"Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Manaslu Summit Mass!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manaslu has taken center stage with over 150 summits while climbers are on hold on Dhaulagiri waiting for good weather and Everest waiting for the serac to fall.\u00a0 China still not responding to Nim’s request to climb Shishapangma.<\/p>\n

Everest – Climbing on hold<\/h1>\n

Both the Madison Mountaineering<\/a> team and Andrzej Bargiel<\/a> team are still at base camp waiting and wondering if\/when the serac will fall onto the Icefall. Garrett posted a nice photo of everyone having dinner together tonight, Thursday, September 26, 2019:<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Project Possible: Going for #13, Manaslu, Friday<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Looking to summit all 14 of the 8000ers in seven months, Nirmal Purja<\/a>, is at C4 on Manaslu going for the summit Friday, September 27.<\/p>\n

I am currently at Camp 4, leading an exped for\u00a0<\/span>@elitehimalayan<\/a> <\/span>. We will be making our summit push early tomorrow morning. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He now has 12 in a mere 154 days: Annapurna (April 23), Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2, Broad Peak and Cho Oyu (Sept 23). He needs to complete Shish by November 23, to meet his goal of seven months.<\/p>\n

China has said all foreigners must be out of Tibet no later than October 1 fearing protests around anniversaries, holidays, remembrances, etc. thus leaving open the big question of whether they will give Nirmal Purja a climbing permit for Shishapangma. Additionally, China had said no climbing on Shishapangma a few months ago after a string of deaths and accidents on the lowest of the fourteen 8000ers. They felt the mountain had become too dangerous to climb.<\/p>\n

Chris Burke on Dhaulagiri posted this bit of trivia regarding Nirmal Purja:<\/p>\n

For those following Nirmal Purja, he may come to Dhaulagiri after climbing Manaslu (and before that Cho-Oyu). Dhaulagiri for a second time this year would make it 14 x 8,000m peaks for him in 2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dhaulagiri – Summit Push Delayed by Weather<\/h1>\n

Sergi Mingote<\/a> <\/span>is at base camp with Carlos Soria Font\u00e1n<\/a>,\u00a0 <\/span>Chris Jensen Burke<\/a> and Expedition Base.<\/a> They are ready for the summit push when weather allows.<\/p>\n

Sergi posted this nice photo of him with Carlos:<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/span><\/h1>\n

Chris gave a very good detailed update:<\/p>\n

DHAULAGIRI EXPEDITION UPDATE: the team returned to BC yesterday after an epic 3 night, 4-day rotation on the mountain. Dhaulagiri is testing us with heavy snowfalls, deep snow in which to break trail, winds less of a challenge so far (but some would be appreciated to move on this late monsoonal weather), and searing heat up to Camp 2 – to what feels like 40 degrees\u200b\u30104\u00a0\u00b0C\u3011 Celsius or more, followed by below freezing cold nights as soon as the sun goes down.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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One heavy snowfall more than a week ago stopped everyone in their tracks at BC and caused two teams to arrive at BC late (one by air and one by foot). One was so late that they are starting a rotation up the mountain today.<\/p>\n

Deep snow under foot is burning energy as it requires a lot of energy to break through. I had the \u2018opportunity\u2019 to break trail on two sections in the last few days (one up and one down) and it reminded me that Sherpa guides have this task 99% of the time.<\/p>\n

It has been lovely to catch up with Carlos Soria, Luis and Sito on the mountain, friends from prior mountaineering expeditions. Carlos\u2019 pace is unbelievably fast and when I reach 80 years old, I hope to at least go half his pace, should I be so lucky! Incredibly inspirational! Good luck to Carlos and team. I really hope for your sake we see a weather window soon and that Dhaulagiri can mark Carlos\u2019 13th x 8,000m peak.<\/p>\n

Just as Manaslu was late to be roped to the summit and for summit pushes to begin this season, at Dhaulagiri we hope to see an opportunity for a late summit push to begin in the next few days before any chance is gone for this season \u2013 once we do actually leave BC it will be a 3.5 day push up and 1-2 days down (whilst you could descend in one day we may hold at Camp 1 for the right conditions to pass through to BC via \u2018The Eiger\u2019 traverse). Teams \u2013 including us – are furiously scanning weather forecasts. What makes Dhaulagiri different is that you need to move from BC just at the right time in order to manage the risk of avalanches and, more so at the moment, the rock fall on \u2018the Eiger\u2019 traverse just out of BC. Normally on other big mountains, it is possible to move through some bad weather to get good weather at the summit. For Dhaulagiri, you need the right weather first up to actually climb up out of BC. As two climbers experienced today, dodging large deadly rocks on the traverse as they release explosively and zoom past you as you dive for cover is a very uncomfortable feeling indeed\u2026<\/p>\n

For those following Nirmal Purja, he may come to Dhaulagiri after climbing Manaslu (and before that Cho-Oyu). Dhaulagiri for a second time this year would make it 14 x 8,000m peaks for him in 2019.<\/p>\n

Around 90% of the climbers at the mountain are pre-acclimatised from other 8,000m mountains, acclimatizing in the nearby Khumbu and Rowaling regions, or from living and training at altitude. In comparison, as I\u2019m coming from sea level this time, I\u2019m a bit slower than I am normally but all is still coming together and I\u2019m acclimatizing quickly.<\/p>\n

Funnily, some Sherpas keep mistaking me for Jeannette McGill (South Africa) since we appear similar in their eyes and she has the blonde hair that I previously had when climbing. After some weeks, they are nearly figuring out who is who! Jeannette is climbing well and is one of the strongest South African female mountaineers climbing the big mountains at the moment. I believe she may be the only South African to have even attempted this mountain and hopefully, mountain gods permitting, she will be able to have touched the summit before going home.<\/p>\n

Lakpa and our Expedition Base team is well and strong. Brett Hammond from the UK, with whom I climbed Manaslu in 2013, is also here so we are all having a great time and preparing well for the next phase.<\/p>\n

One climber from another team commented to me early in this expedition that a big uncertainty in 8,000m peak climbing has been removed in 2019 with a \u2018seige\u2019 type approach to route setting on the 8,000m peaks in both Nepal and Pakistan \u2013 once the ropes are fixed (often the go\/no-go element) it is a case of waiting for other elements to fall into place. Dhaulagiri is proving the exception for 2019. The ropes are currently only set to \u2018lower\u2019 Camp 3 and we need to move more ropes up before route setting can occur higher up. There will need to be a good strategy in place for the ropes to be finalized for teams to push for the summit. Team co-operation will be critical.<\/p>\n

Numbers on climbing permits Dhaulagiri are around 30 foreign climbers, plus around the same number of Nepali Sherpas. Good luck to those still climbing, for a safe and successful final push.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t likely post again before we head off on the summit push, given the timing is unknown and we will be going down to the wire. We hope to settle the final plan with other teams by tomorrow or the next day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Manaslu – 41++ Summits in the Clouds<\/span><\/h1>\n

A ton of summits, over 100, taking the total to well over 150 thus far. Those teams with summits today on Manalsu include:<\/p>\n