{"id":46974,"date":"2025-01-19T08:44:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T15:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=46974"},"modified":"2025-01-19T08:44:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T15:44:53","slug":"2024-25-winter-himalaya-climbs-update-3-about-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/19\/2024-25-winter-himalaya-climbs-update-3-about-over\/","title":{"rendered":"2024\/25 Winter Himalaya Climbs Update 3: About Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three of the four 8000ers\u2014Everest, Manaslu and Annapurna\u2014are over, showing the difficulty of climbing these high peaks in winter. Only one met its goal. Two climbers on Makalu remain, but winds are stalling their progress.<\/p>\r\n

Makalu Stalled Winds, but still there<\/h2>\r\n

A tiny team of two climbers, Abolfazl Gozali,62, of Iran and Sanu Sherpa,49, of Nepal, are on Makalu this winter. As reported by ExWeb, Gozali has no winter experience outside of Iran. He does have Manaslu and Lhoste via the regular routes in spring. Sanu has summited all 14 8000ers twice. High winds are currently slowing the attack. His team posted on IG<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n

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Yesterday Mohan received a Satphone message from Sanu Sherpa with news that the team had reached 7,400m, the site of Camp 3, but the wind was too strong to set the camp. Having stashed tents, food and fuel they retreated to Camp 1. The team will now descend to Base Camp<\/strong> to conserve energy and wait for the wind to moderate.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Txikon and <\/strong>separate <\/strong>Italian and Sherpa Team <\/strong>Over on Annapurna<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

Mattia Conte of Italy and five Sherpas from Seven Summit Treks abandoned their effort on Anna. Italian journalist Alessandro Filippini posted today on FB:<\/a><\/p>\r\n

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On Annapurna yesterday was a very long and definitely “eventful” day for Mattia Conte and the very talented Sherpa from Seven Summit Treks who with him were climbing from field 2 (5400 m) to field 3. Today all back to Kathmandu by helicopter.<\/strong><\/div>\r\n
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With the weather forecasts drowning the hopes of the summit, the Italian with Chhepal Sherpa, Lakpa Sherpa, Pursang Sherpa, Tashi Sherpa and Gelu Sherpa had agreed to reach Camp 3, already equipped by the Sherpas on December 31st, before deciding whether to close the expedition permanently.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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However, when the team arrived in the gutter under field 3, they had to arrange to replace with new fixed ropes those already installed and that had been torn by avalanches in the past few days.<\/div>\r\n
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At that point there was a first, violent avalanche. Immediately after the 6 climbers took to the upper plateau, about 200 meters from field 3, where they were hit by a new and even stronger and insistent avalanche, from which fortunately, being well insured, they all got out, albeit with some physical damage (Pursang is now in the hospital for back injuries, Conte reported a subluxation in his left shoulder while Chhepal in a fall interrupted by his teammates reported a cut to his face).<\/div>\r\n
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As soon as possible, the six started the long and not easy descent (in the gutter they were again without fixed ropes, ripped from the avalanche, and they did not have any new ones to put in), ended, thanks to the great professionalism of the Sherpa, with the arrival at the base camp 14 hours after the departure from c2.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
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Alex Txikon<\/a> wanted a winter climb in Annapurna but developed appendicitis and was evacuated<\/strong> to Kathmandu for surgery. The plans of the two climbers with him, young Pakistani climber Sajid Ali Sadpara and Italian Mattia Conte and Pole Waldemar Kowalewski, stayed for a bit but also abandoned the effort. Sajid posted on Instagram<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n

We had completed rotations, and our incredible Sherpa brothers had fixed ropes high on the mountain. But climbing isn\u2019t just about summits\u2014it\u2019s about the safety and camaraderie of your team. The mountain will always be there to climb. Now back in Kathmandu<\/strong>, I am reflecting on this expedition with immense gratitude\u2014for Mother Nature\u2019s kindness, the lessons the Himalayas imparted, and the privilege of sharing this journey with an amazing team.<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Jost Kobush tags 7537m on West Ridge. Climb Over<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

German Alpinist Jost Kobusch accomplished<\/strong> his objective of a winter, solo, no-O’s climb to reach over 7500 meters on Everest’s West Ridge. He made it in six days after arriving at base camp. An earthquake in Tibet forty miles north of Everest shook Jost in his tent as he returned to Camp 1 after tagging 7537, so he decided it was enough for 2025 and headed down.<\/p>\r\n

Jost tells me directly that he’s very happy with the results. Reaching that altitude in that amount of time and style shows me that I’m on the right path. Even though this expedition was quite short and uneventful, it taught me some major lessons. However, there are many things I can’t bring home and implement into training and strategy. I can ultimately build on that, and maybe this project will become more realistic.”<\/p>\r\n

You can see his climb on the excellent tracking map at 3D Reality Maps,<\/a> which uses\u00a0Zoleo<\/a>, and on his social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and his\u00a0website.<\/a> I did two interviews with Jost at:<\/p>\r\n