Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Early Progress
Teams are making excellent progress early in this autumn season across the Himalaya. Everest Prices to increase and more record breaking attempts are underway. A busy time on the world’s highest peaks! Everest First off, a small bit of news on permit prices on the Tibet side. It is being reported that the Tibet Mountaineering Association has recommended a $5,000 increase for the permit fee. source. It is currently $11,500. Nepal is at $11,000 but has proposed a minimum expedition costs of $35,000 per person, including the permit fee. Seems like both countries will use price to address some of the crowding problems. Madison Mountaineering Autumn Everest Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering continues to lead his team on the trek towards Everest Base Camp. They will be the only commercial team on Everest this autumn and will fix the route from base camp to the summit. They are above Pheriche. The Mystery Everest Run Mystery is revolving around Spanish ultra runner Kilian Jornet‘s Everest plans. I am told he plans to do a speed climb on Everest including perhaps a new route starting at Camp 2 but others are suggesting he wants to do the long sought after Everest-Lhotse link. This is what the late Ueli Steck was planning when he died from a fall on Nuptse in 2017 while acclimatizing for Everest/Lhotse. Adding to the mystery is that Jornet says he has permits for Lhotse and Everest. His cagey publicist, Laura Font Sentís of the Barcelona-based Lymbus agency, is quoted “Kilian will spend some time in the Himalayas with his family and he will take advantage to explore the terrain. If he does any relevant activity he will communicate after he has completed it.” Jornet plans to participate in the Annapurna 100 in Nepal, which starts on October 25. Skiing down Everest Polish climber Andrzej Bargiel who will attempt to ski from the summit of Everest without using supplemental oxygen, and without removing his skis at any point during the descent has arrived at Everest Base Camp and is using his drone to help the Icefall Doctors inspect the Western Cwm for Camps 1 and 2 as they prepare the route. Project Possible – On Manaslu Now Nirmal Purja is already at Manaslu base camp and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him be the first to summit this season. From there he is on to Cho Oyu. Still unclear which route he will take but he may just use the standard route on the Tibet side instead of the more risky Nepal side. Then there is still the big question of whether China will make an exception and issue his team a permit for Shishapangma. There are talks between the Chinese and Nepali governments underway. Reports say if he cannot get the Shis permit, he will climb Cho from the Nepal side. The reason for closing Shisha is due to the recent deaths and accidents causing officials to believe the mountain has become too dangerous to climb. Nirmal Purja has a total of 11 summits of 8000ers in 94 days: Annapurna (April 23), Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2 and Broad Peak (July 26). Lhotse – Acclimatizing The 11 member Polish team who will attempt Lhotse via the standard route are already on the trek through the Khumbu. They spent some time acclimatizing on Lobuche. Dhaulagiri – Acclimatizing in the Khumbu Carlos Soria Fontán and team who will be attempting Dhaulagiri for his 10th time are currently trekking in the Khumbu for acclimatization. Sergi Mingote is wrapping up his preparations before leaving home for his attempt on Dhaulagiri. He hopes to summit all fourteen of the 8000ers in 1,000 days without supplemental oxygen. The Catalan alpinist has already summited six so the clock started with Broad Peak on July 16, 2018. The remaining schedule includes: Annapurna and Kangchenjunga (spring 2020), Gasherbrum I (summer 2020), Shishapangma and Cho Oyu (autumn 2020) and finally Makalu and Everest (spring 2021). Manaslu- Rain and Snow There are over 400 people on Manaslu this autumn including 237 foreigners. 2019 seems to be a normal year for Manaslu with multiple reports of heavy afternoon rains. Mingma Sherpa gives a nice summary: We are now at Manaslu Base Camp. Yesterday went to camp1 and back. It has been raining continuously for more than 50 hours now. Sherpa Calendar shows Monsoon ends on 17th September so we can expect heavy snowfall in beginning of Autumn. We will try to finish our acclimatization by 20th September. Seven Summits Club has a large team on Manaslu this year. They have competed a rotation to Camp 1 at 5700 meters. Adventure Consultants is also on Manaslu this year. They are at Camp 1 today. Climbing The Seven Summits (CTSS) has a team lead by partner Tendi Sherpa and Kobler & Partner is on Manaslu. Some of the people on Manaslu this season include Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Noel Hanna and Lynne Hanna. Tibet Cho Oyu – Rope Fixing Progress IMG posted they are making excellent progress with their Sherpas making excellent progress on fixing the ropes to Camp 2. Shisha Pangma – No Permits? Still no word if China will be issuing any permits for Shish this autumn. Winter K2 Gets Another Big Name As I noted in the previous blog, Mingma Sherpa from Rowling, announced he will make an attempt this winter along with Icelandic John Snorri and the Chinese Gao Li. They will use supplemental oxygen. Now Denis Urubko has announced he will make a winter attempt on Broad Peak and then, hopefully, move over to K2. Urubko keeps the debate alive on the definition of winter. He rejects the December 22 to March 22 period but rather uses December 1 to the end of February. The first winter summit of Broad Peak was on March 5, 2013, by a strong Polish team thus Urubko feels he will achieve the first true winter ascent if he makes it this year before the end of February … of course this applies to K2 as well! Its being reported
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Manaslu Crowds!
The Himalaya climbing activity is picking up with climbers trekking to Everest Base Camp and others already there on Manaslu. The Nepal Ministry of Tourism posted these stats for the autumn 2019 season and as expected when factoring in Sherpa support, there are well over 400 people on Manaslu the season: Of note, the permit fees for climbing in autumn are significantly lower than in spring: Everest Madison Mountaineering Autumn Everest Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering gave an update from a quiet Khumbu: It’s surprisingly quiet here in the Khumbu. We have the lodge all to ourselves and we didn’t see many people on the trail today because it’s not quite the trekking season which starts up in October. We are feeling great and looking forward to a great day trekking up to Namche tomorrow. Running up and Skiing down Everest No updates for Spanish ultra runner Kilian Jornet as he plans to do a speed climb on Everest including perhaps a new route starting at Camp 2. He is reported to use Gorak Shep as his base camp and will lead a team of two other climbers on Lhotse before his Everest attempt. And the four person Polish team including Andrzej Bargiel will attempt to ski from the summit of Everest without using supplemental oxygen, and without removing his skis at any point during the descent has arrived at Gorak Shep. The other members include Polish climbers Grzegorz Bargiel and Jakub Poburka. Project Possible – Rare Cho Oyu Route? Likewise, no big updates from Nirmal Purja who is hoping to get his last three 8000ers and complete summiting all 14 of the 8000ers in seven months. It’s reported Nirmal Purja and his strong Sherpa team will nab Manaslu then try Cho Oyu from the rarely attempted Nepal side before leaving on Shishapangma in Tibet. Nirmal Purja has a total of 11 summits of 8000ers in 94 days: Annapurna (April 23), Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2 and Broad Peak (July 26). All 8000’ers Without O2 in 1,000 Days As long as we are mentioning ambitious projects, Sergi Mingote to Climb All 8000’ers Without O2 in 1,000 Days starting with Dhaulagiri this month according to Angela Benavides at Explorer’s Web. Lhotse An 11 member Polish team will attempt Lhotse via the standard route through the Khumbu Icefall this autumn. They are already on the trek through the Khumbu. According to RussianClimb the team includes: Marcin Kaczkan – head Rafal Fronia – deputy. head of Mariusz Grudzien – doctor Oswald Rodrigo Pereira – press secretary Vadim Jablonski Bartosz Earth Mariusz Lange Peter Krzyżowski Mariusz Hatala Maciej Kimel Peter Hercog Mariusz Hatay Peter Kryzhovsky Dhaulagiri – Carlos is back at age 80! Carlos Soria Fontán and team who will be attempting Dhaulagiri for his 10th time are currently trekking in the Khumbu for acclimatization. They gave this update: After 6 days without the monsoon has given us even the slightest opportunity to see the mountains, today the sky has been opened momentarily and has discovered the ama dablam, almost 7000 m altitude. To celebrate the occasion, a flirty yak has decided to pose for me… moments after the fog has covered everything and we haven’t been able to see anything else. Tomorrow we will be at the foot of Everest, maybe give us another moment like today… Manaslu- C3 Established As I mentioned, there are over 400 people on Manaslu this autumn including 237 foreigners. Arnold Coster and team are trekking in while others take helicopters to Samagoan and acclimatize there for several days. When I did this climb in 2013, the trek was spectacular with huge waterfalls and thick foliage everywhere. Then, there were few teahouses so it felt very remote. It appears that Camp 3 has been established by the usual huge Seven Summits Treks team. They are reported to have 65 clients with 100 Sherpas in support. The Team of Sherpas from Seven Summit Treks, under the mangement of EOA (Expedition Operator Association) have already fixed the rope lines till camp III (6800m) as per the information from the basecamp. “Ngima Dorchi Shepa, Namja Bhote, Kaji Sherpa, Rinjee Sherpa and Tenji Chumbi Sherpa 5 Sherpas via NE Ridge (N-FACE) fixed the rope till 6800m yesterday” Some of the people on Manaslu this season include Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Noel Hanna and Lynne Hanna. Chris Keller climbing with Climbalaya treks & expeditions noted the rain at base camp. This is quite the norm for Manaslu where it can turn from heavy rain to deep snow over night. Update from Basecamp: Weather in BC is still very wet and rainy, but today we finally could move up a little bit and enjoy moving our bones !!! Puja will be in two days and then we are off to Camp1 First Ascent? Not an 8000ers but a team of seven from Colorado is attempting the never summited, Gangapurna West at 7140m in the Annapurna Sanctuary. In 2014, a South Korean team got within 100 meters of the summit but turned back when a teammate needed to descend. The Colorado team will attempt a modified route that mirrors a 2016 attempt from the south via the SSE spur. It’s very remote, as it heads up the east fork of the Annapurna Glacier towards Annapurna III. They will not have any guides or Sherpa support past Basecamp. Asian Trekking is providing logistics and support at Basecamp. This is more than a climb for Jason Kolaczkowski who was recently diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He is raising money for cancer research on his Facebook page. He told me recently: I don’t think our likelihood of success is above 50%. But I have a dream that I want to at least attempt while I still can. If I don’t succeed in summiting, I can succeed in being true to my values, sense of team, and sense of purpose. Another first in the works is by a small international team primarily from Italy. The team consists of Marco Camandona (ITA), Francois Cazzanelli (ITA), Emrik Favre (ITA), Francesco Ratti (ITA) and
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Rare Everest Attempts
Climbers are on their way to Kathmandu for a rare Everest autumn attempt that includes some famous personalities. Plus there will be potentially record setting action on Dhaulagiri. There could be some interesting storylines this season. Mountain Hardwear Revival with Madison Mountaineering I spoke today with Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering. He was on a layover in Paris on his way to Nepal. They hope to arrive in Lukla in a few days to begin the trek to Everest Base Camp. Garrett has a team of four climbing Everest this season including the CEO of Mountain Hardwear, Joe Vernachio. Joe joined MH a couple of years ago with the remit to turn the company back into a trusted brand for serious outdoor enthusiasts. They will be testing a new series of high-altitude gear on Everest this year and hopefully it will be generally available soon. I for one own a lot of MH gear, especially their sleeping bags and my beloved South Col pack. I’m pulling for Joe and team to bring back the innovative and quality line from clothes to kit that we all sought a decade ago. Also, on the Madison team is the co-founder of OpenGov, a cloud-based American software company, Zac Bookman, plus American Kristin Bennett and Brit Tim Emmett. Garett said they will attempt a simple acclimatization program this year with only one rotation to tag 7,000 meters on the Lhotse Face. He hopes to summit as early as late September but is willing to wait into mid October for the right conditions. He feels confident about their plans given his own extensive experience on Everest but is curious what the snow conditions will be above Camp 3. Garett has hired two of the famous Icefall Doctors to set the route through the Icefall and above. He has two additional Sherpas in support. He said they were already half-way through the Icefall at this point. Running up Everest On Garett’s Everest permit is Spanish ultra runner Kilian Jornet. But he his looking at his own program, to do a speed climb on Everest. He has mentioned that he may look at a new route starting at Camp 2 but it all depends on the snow conditions. He will use Gorak Shep as his base camp. Skiing Down Everest Seven Summits Treks will also be on Everest supporting a four person Polish team including Andrzej Bargiel what will attempt to ski from the summit of Everest without using supplemental oxygen, and without removing his skis at any point during the descent. If he is successful, this will the first for both of these goals. Of course he caught the world’s attention with his K2 ski descent last year. He has an interesting interview at this link. The other members include Polish climbers Grzegorz Bargiel and Jakub Poburka. Will Autumn Become Popular? Of course, much of Everest’s rich history was started in the autumn season. The Swiss made the first national attempt on Everest using the SE Ridge route in 1952. They arrived at EBC on July 10, 1952 and ended the expedition on November 27, 1952 reaching 8100 meters, a bit short of the summit. The first successful autumn summit was on October 26, 1973 by a Japanese expediton lead by Michio Yuasa. They had a huge team of 50 people but only two members summited: Yasuo Kato and Hisashi Ishiguro. In subsequent years, mostly national teams from Korea, Spain, Japan and a few international teams made autumn attempts. American Wally Berg led several commercial efforts including in 1992, 2003 and 2006. Similar, Austrian Kurt Diemberger led several trips: 1978, 1980, and 1981. With all the crowds on Everest this past spring and the new rules scenario that Nepal put out last month seemingly more and more unlikely to be implemented or enforced, autumn may develop into the best alternative for those wanting to climb from the Nepal side but without the crowds. [table id=6 /] Project Possible – Rare Cho Oyu Route? Looking to summit all 14 of the 8000ers in seven months, Nirmal Purja, Mingma David Sherpa and Halung Dorchi (Sanu Sherpa) are in Nepal reportedly to try Cho Oyu from the rarely attempted Nepal side. This route is extremely steep with a lot of objective danger compared to the normal route from the Tibet side. After this he will probably get Nepal’s Manaslu leaving on Shishapangma in Tibet. However there are persistent rumors that China will not issue any permits this autumn for Shish and limit the climbing on Cho as well. Nirmal Purja has a total of 11 summits of 8000ers in 94 days: Annapurna (April 23), Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2 and Broad Peak (July 26). It appears he has funding now to complete the project, politics aside. Lhotse An 11 member Polish team will attempt Lhotse via the standard route through the Khumbu Icefall this autumn. They are already on the trek through the Khumbu. Dhaulagiri – Carlos is back at age 80! Carlos Soria Fontán is back on Dhaulagiri for his 10th time. At age 80 he is attempting complete all of the 8000ers and only has Dhaulagiri and Shishapangma left. He is the only person to have summited ten of the 8000ers after turning 60 and the oldest person to have summited K2 (65 years old), Broad Peak (68), Makalu (69), Gasherbrum I (70), Manaslu (71 years old), Kanchenjunga (75 years old) and Annapurna (77 years old). Manaslu This has become extremely popular in recent years due to being in Nepal and not dealing with Chinese politics. Also, Seven Summits Treks has heavily marketed the climb as easy and cheap. Similar for other low-end operators like Summit Climb. While it does have a good safety record, Manaslu can be deadly with avalanches killing people who camped in the wrong spot. Arnold Coster has a 16 person team on Manaslu and is already on the trek in. I expect well over 400 on Manaslu this autumn. We can
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Coverage Begins – Updated
With the Himalayan spring and summer season completed, the autumn season is about to begin with more climbs in the Nepal, Tibet, perhaps Pakistan and around the world. For a change Everest and Lhotse will see a lot of activity this autumn but there are rumors that China may make it difficult to climb in Tibet this autumn. This post is an introduction on what to expect and follow. 2019 Thus Far Thus far, the 2019 climbing season has been a mixed bag of summits, records and deaths. The Everest season was well chronicled but perhaps the larger story were all the deaths on the other 8000-meter peaks in April and May. And there were more deaths earlier in the year primarily in Pakistan. All of this reveals a changing storyline for climbing on the world’s highest peaks. Commercializing 8000ers Once the domain of the proven, skilled and experienced climbers, now due to low cost guide companies entering the market, the world’s highest (and many time most dangerous) peaks are available to anyone with money. No experience required. The expeditions are staffed with experienced Sherpas who tell prospective clients that they can learn all they need during the climb. Oh and if you get in trouble, by and large you are on your own because as one high profile Nepali guide told me in May, “It’s not our job to turn back clients.” This is a key philosophical difference between the newest Nepali and long-time foreign guides. This chart tells the tale thus far in 2019 of where people are dying, their agency and suspected cause of death. [table id=1 /] Experienced Deaths But deaths have occurred all over the mountains this year, including some by extremely talented climbers. 2019 started off with the deaths of Tom Ballard Daniel Nardi in February on the 8,000-meter peak Nanga Pabart. Then in April, elite climbers, American Jess Roskelley and Austrians David Lama and Hansjörg Auer were killed in an avalanche on Canada’s Howse Peak attempting a very difficult new route. In April and May we saw 10 deaths on the 8000ers, Annapurna, Lhotse Makalu, and Kanchenjunga then another 11 just on Everest. Quick on the heels of these deaths came an avalanche on the24,390-foot/7,434-meter Nanda Devi East in Northern India that took the lives of eight climbers lead by veteran British mountaineer Martin Moran and included four Britons, two Americans, an Australian and an Indian. Seven of the bodies were recovered. Next was in Pakistan on Melvin Jones Peak at 5,800-meter/19028-foot, seven climbers with an Italian team were hit by an avalanche killing at least one Pakistani. Finally in this string of tragedy, the Alpine Club of Pakistan reported that two Chinese climbers, Li Haoxin Chen and Ka Kit Ng, went missing on a technical 6,400m peak in the Liligo Glacier/Trango Towers area. And there have been multiple rescues, three by none other than Denis Urubko who also successfully competed a new route on Gasherbrum II – solo. K2 – Summits and Zero Deaths The summer K2 season came along with a record 125++ permits and the usual commercial suspects hosting huge teams, some with questionable experience. The season started bad, got uglier and many teams left due to avalanche danger and the Sherpas failing to get the fixed ropes to the summit in time. Enter Nirmal Purja and his small team of Sherpas. They are trying to summit all 14 of the 8000ers in 7 months. Fresh off summiting Nanga Parbat and the Gasherbrum I and II with days of each other, they were not to be denied on K2 saying they were prepared to wait out the weather and make multiple attempts. They broke with their style and used supplemental oxygen and opened the route in spite of previous failed efforts. Multiple teams followed in their path thanks to improved weather and some strong winds that cleared the avalanche prone terrain. A few professional guides felt that while Nirmal Purja helped, they would have summited with or without his team’s help. In any event, 31 summited K2 this summer, about average these days. And there were ZERO deaths on any of the 8000ers this summer!! Autumn 2019 Outlook Project Possible As I mentioned, looking to summit all 14 of the 8000ers in seven months, Nirmal Purja, Mingma David Sherpa and Halung Dorchi (Sanu Sherpa) went on to summit Broad Peak two days after K2 taking Nim’s total to 11 in a mere 94 days!: Annapurna (April 23), Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2 and Broad Peak (July 26). Next for Nirmal Purja are Manaslu, Cho Oyu and Sishapangma – all of which are considered very achievable although reaching the true summit of Shish is a serious and very dangerous climb. I assume he will climb these three by November 23, most likely in late September/early October to meet his goal of seven months. Everest Polish climber Andrzej Bargiel will attempt to ski from the summit of Everest without using supplemental oxygen, a first if he is successful. Of course he caught the world’s attention with his K2 ski descent last year. He has an interesting interview at this link. Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering will lead a rare autumn expedition to Everest. The last time Everest was summited in autumn was in 2010. Wally Berg used to guide in the autumn regularly but stopped over a decade ago. Now Madison is experimenting to see if there is demand for a second trip each year, and if the weather and conditions will allow for safe summits. The largest issue of course is with winter approaching each day is colder and shorter, the opposite of spring where the monsoonal moisture flows usually stops the season along with warming temperatures creating even more dangers in the Khumbu Icefall. Of course, much of Everest’s rich history was started in the autumn season. The Swiss made the first national attempt on Everest using the SE Ridge route
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Successful End to K2 Season
The K2 season started out doubtful, got worse but ended on a happy note … for those who stayed. Thanks to an unusual spate of good weather, it appears that over 30 people made the summit, including at least seven not using supplemental oxygen. While impressive total summits, this is about a 30% summit rate given at least 100 climbers had K2 permits for the summer of 2019. Historically, 30 summits is becoming about average for K2. It appears there were no deaths on K2 this season. Route Opens on July 24 Of course, Nirmal Purja‘s set the tone by summiting with his Sherpa team, including two from Seven Summits Treks on July 24, 2019. The team included Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, Lakpa Temba Sherpa, Nirmal Purja, Chhangba Sherpa and Gesman Tamang. They stayed true when others turned back after triggering avalanches above the Bottleneck. These events caused most teams to abandoned their effort leaving only a few independents, Nirmal Purja and Seven Summits Treks on the mountain in late July. With high visibility, Alpenglow owner Adrian Ballinger plus Ecuador female climber Carla Perez summited after following Nirmal Purja and team as they broke trail and fixed the route. They didn’t use supplemental O’s and climbed with Ecuadorian Topo Mena and Sherpas Pemba Gelje Sherpa and Namgye Sherpa in support. On the 24th, Iranian Hossein Bahmanyar also summited making the total at least 11 on July 24. Carla Perez posted her gratitude: A dream come true!!!! Very grateful with life for this beautiful gift of reaching the top of the K2 8611m., Considered as the savage mountain, the second highest mountain in the world without using supplemental oxygen. Thanks @adrianballinger for being an excellent partner in good and bad times, for the eternal enthusiasm you have and the energy you spread. Thanks to Topo, Pemba and Palden for each step with me, for your love and care. A summit like these is the result of many years of dedication, effort, preparation but above all to have the best team walking next to me This dream was made possible thanks to the support of @eddiebauer , this pioneering company in creating down clothes and celebrating its 100 years of existence decided to support me to achieve this dream. Now we celebrate together Fast Followers on July 25 The following day, 19 climbers taking advantage of the boot path and fixed lines to the summit clients and support from Seven Summits Treks summited. Dawa Sherpa posted this update: Mr.Stafan lvanov Stafanov – Bulgaria
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Successful Summits!
Against many unfavorable conditions, Nirmal Purja‘s Project Possible team plus two Sherpas from Seven Summits treks successfully summited K2 at local time 7:50 am Wednesday, July 24, 2019. Also Adrian Ballinger and Carla Perez summited a few hours later at 11:45 am not using supplemental oxygen. Both climbers have now summited both Everest and K2 with no supplemental O’s. There were a few additional people to summit including one from Iran. Sorry no names available yet. Dawa Sherpa posted this update: A huge congratulations the Fixing team for their successful ascent of Mt. K2 (8611m). The team of Seven Summit Treks and “Project Possible – 14/7″. Lakpa Dendi Sherpa (PP) Lakpa Temba Sherpa (SST) Nirmal Purja (PP) Chhangba Sherpa (SST) Gesman Tamang (PP) No Os Adrian Ballinger reports to me We did it! Nirmal Purja team and our team made summit. Me and Carla no O’s. Also a very strong Iranian named Hussein summits today no O’s. I’m back in c4. His team consisted of: Adrian Ballinger, Ecuadorians Carla Perez, Topo Mena and Sherpas Pemba Gelje Sherpa and Namgye Sherpa Project Possible Probably the biggest storyline for this year, and in many years, is Nirmal Purja‘s effort to summit all 14 of the 8000-meter peaks in 7 months breaking the record of 7 years. With K2, he and his team of four Sherpas have summited 10: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II and K2. Now he is on to Broad Peak before leaving Pakistan for the final climbs in Tibet and Nepal on Manaslu, Cho Oyu and Sishapangma – all of which are considered very achievable although reaching the true summit of Shish is a serious and very dangerous climb. His team consisted of: Nirmal Purja‘s and four Sherpas: Lakpadendi Sherpa, Gesman Tamang, Changba Sherpa and Lakpa Temba Sherpa More Summits Planned for July 25 Dawa Sherpa posted that 19 additional SST claimers will go for the summit on Thursday May 25::
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Summit Push Underway Update 2
I’ll use this page to track the current 2019 summit push on K2. Latest Headlines 05:30 July 24 K2 Time Update 2 Dawa Sherpa posted that the SST rope fixer are 200 meter below K2’s summit meaning they are past the avalanche prone area/ Update 1 Dawa Sherpa told me that their Sherpa team reached C4 2:30pm on Tuesday, July 23, 2019. They hope to reach to summit Wednesday morning safely and return base camp. This suggest the SST Sherpas are working with Nirmal Purja as expected. Update 0 Adrian Ballinger reports to me that it is only his team and Nirmal Purja‘s at camp 4. They intend to leave for the summit push at 10 pm local time and they should summit between 10 and noon on July 24th. It should take around 20 hours round trip. Ballinger said: Arrived at c4 in amazing wx. Just Nirmal Purja team and our team here. Climbed in long sleeve t and liner gloves and no down suit to 7800 today, pretty special. Possible good news… big wind event yesterday looks Like it may have stripped dangerous slope. Let’s see tonight…but I now see a whole lot more ice and rock The teams consist of; Adrian Ballinger, Ecuadorians Carla Perez, Topo Mena and Sherpas Pemba Gelje Sherpa and Namgye Sherpa Nirmal Purja‘s and four Sherpas: Lakpadendi Sherpa, Gesman Tamang, Changba Sherpa and Lakpa Temba Sherpa No update from the large Seven Summits Treks aka SST team. They had said they had close to 30 people also aiming for the summit on the 24th per their posts but with them not at Camp 4 they may have slipped a day. Nirmal Purja had asked for everyone to stay behind for safety reasons. UPDATE: Dawa Sherpa of SST now says their rope team is at C4. Other climbers hoping to still summit include Spanish climber Lina Quesada of Spain and Hungarian climbers Szilárd Suhajda and Dávid Klein. Big Picture Last week the SST Sherpa tried to fix the rope but triggered avalanches. Another effort was made by Imagine Nepal’s Minga Sherpa’s team but also turned back. It was though that 2019 might end with no summits similar to two of the last four years but Super Gurkha/Sherpa Nirmal Purja was nabbing his 8th and 9th summits of his Project Possible on GI/II was not able to contribute to the initial effort. Now that he is on K2, he feels confident yet still apprehensive that the route can be opened. With Ballinger’s report of high winds clearing some snow, the odds are more in their favor. Ballinger and Perez will follow Nirmal Purja as they are climbing without supplemental oxygen. Look for Nirmal Purja and his team to summit early Wednesday July 24th. There are no GPS trackers available to the public that I know of that we could follow. Background K2 2019 has come down to risk management vs ambition. The commercial teams with paying clients felt the fragile snow conditions were just too unstable to risk sending their Sherpas, HAPs, guides and clients to the summit. After all, most long time (mostly western) guides feel their job is to get their clients back home safely and not put them under unnecessary risks. I say, “mostly western” based on the number of deaths we saw this spring, 21, on Everest and other 8000ers with the majority, 15, coming for Nepali based operators who as one prominent guide told me “It’s not our job to turn a client around.” At the other end of this spectrum are the well qualified independents who answer only to themselves, teammates and families. They have a broader risk profile and will push the envelope when others turn back. We are seeing this play out in 2019. Ambition, and in some case ego, are driving decision making that some may feel is unwise. Time will tell if they push too hard and pay the ultimate price or show their metal and find a way to the summit and return home safely. Of note, there were three climber triggered avalanches between July 16 and 17 with several injuries including a Sherpa with a broken arm. So the conditions are far from ideal, even for the Super Climbers. One Last Push Project Possible Probably the biggest storyline for this year, and in many years, is Nirmal Purja‘s effort to summit all 14 of the 8000-meter peaks in 7 months breaking the record of 7 years. This far he and his team of four Sherpas have summited 9: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II. Now he is on K2 hoping to achieve what others could not – open a route to the summit in a year of deadly snow conditions. Assuming he gets K2, he still need to summit Broad Peak before leaving Pakistan for the final climbs in Tibet and Nepal. Even if he stopped now, his achievements has been amazing and shows what is possible by a gifted few. Mixed Messages After posting the SST team was ending their effort because “K2 was not ready in 2019”, they seem to have been drawn into Nirmal Purja’ effort and Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks, whose Sherpas were fixing the rope from C4 to the summit but stopped due to deep snow, made this announcement. It appears most of their clients are joining in the push contrary to what they said only 18 hours prior to this post saying it was too dangerous: Tonight we Seven Summit Treks collaborating with Elite Himalayan Adventures will move from Base Camp for another summit push of K2, Nirmal Purja and his team and SST fixing team scheduled summit date is 24th July and the team of Seven Summit Treks Members and Sherpas scheduled summit plan on 25th July. •Fixing Team summit plan 24/07/2019
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – One Last Effort to Summit K2
One by one the major commercial expeditions stating that the conditions on K2 were too dangerous announced the end of their 2019 expeditions. Meanwhile, a few ambitious independent teams have banded together, as expected, to give it one final push as this summer season winds down. Adrian Ballinger tells me “7 of us left on Cesen. About 30 on Abruzzi (Seven Summits Treks and Nirmal Purja and 2 Hungarians). All Seven Summits clients set up for 25th.” So, as Yogi Berra said “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Big Picture K2 2019 has come down to risk management vs ambition. The commercial teams with paying clients felt the fragile snow conditions were just too unstable to risk sending their Sherpas, HAPs, guides and clients to the summit. After all, most long time (mostly western) guides feel their job is to get their clients back home safely and not put them under unnecessary risks. I say, “mostly western” based on the number of deaths we saw this spring, 21, on Everest and other 8000ers with the majority, 15, coming for Nepali based operators who as one prominent guide told me “It’s not our job to turn a client around.” At the other end of this spectrum are the well qualified independents who answer only to themselves, teammates and families. They have a broader risk profile and will push the envelope when others turn back. We are seeing this play out in 2019. Ambition, and in some case ego, are driving decision making that some may feel is unwise. Time will tell if they push too hard and pay the ultimate price or show their metal and find a way to the summit and return home safely. Of note, there were three climber triggered avalanches between July 16 and 17 with several injuries including a Sherpa with a broken arm. So the conditions are far from ideal, even for the Super Climbers. One Last Push Project Possible Probably the biggest storyline for this year, and in many years, is Nirmal Purja‘s effort to summit all 14 of the 8000-meter peaks in 7 months breaking the record of 7 years. This far he and his team of four Sherpas have summited 9: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II. Now he is on K2 hoping to achieve what others could not – open a route to the summit in a year of deadly snow conditions. Assuming he gets K2, he still need to summit Broad Peak before leaving Pakistan for the final climbs in Tibet and Nepal. Even if he stopped now, his achievements has been amazing and shows what is possible by a gifted few. Mixed Messages After posting the SST team was ending their effort because “K2 was not ready in 2019”, they seem to have been drawn into Nirmal Purja’ effort and Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks, whose Sherpas were fixing the rope from C4 to the summit but stopped due to deep snow, made this announcement. It appears most of their clients are joining in the push contrary to what they said only 18 hours prior to this post saying it was too dangerous: Tonight we Seven Summit Treks collaborating with Elite Himalayan Adventures will move from Base Camp for another summit push of K2, Nirmal Purja Dai and his team and SST fixing team scheduled summit date is 24th July and the team of Seven Summit Treks Members and Sherpas scheduled summit plan on 25th July. •Fixing Team summit plan 24/07/2019
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – Avi on K2 Stalls Ropes, No Injuries. More Broad Peak Summits
A small avalanche on K2 has delayed the rope fixing team by a couple of day but no injuries were reported. he Broad Peak summit list from Kobler was released. Look for K2 summits to slip to Friday though the weekend f the weather holds. Big Picture A small avalanche occurred near the Bottleneck that will delay progress a day or so. The major downside is that it might bunch too many teams together on their oust after working so hard to spread everyone out. This from Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summits Treks whose Sherpas are fixing the ripe from C4 to the summit Bit change on schedule, the team of Seven Summit Treks is now planning to make summit push on 18th July 2019, as all climbing members who were with Seven Summit Treks are at C4 today. Today small avalanche hit the Bottle Neck and our 5 Sherpas who were leading on fixing ropes were swept almost 50m down, minor injured but all are safe now at Camp 4. Tomorrow again the fixing team will progress toward summit and all climbing members will follow to the summit on 18th July. The teams on their summit push now include: Česen Furtenbach Adventures Madison Mountaineering Mingma Sherpa’s Imagine Nepal Adrian Ballinger, Carla Perez and Ecuadoran Topo Mena are on their last acclimatization rotation but will take the Česen until it meters with the Abruzzi. Abruzzi: Seven Summit Treks Fredrik Sträng David Roeske Mike Horn Adventure Peaks Nirmal Purja and team are on GI &II Broad Peak – Summits I got a nice update from Billi Bierling with the Kobler & Partner team on their BP summit: Here is the list of the people who summited Broad Peak with Kobler & Partner on 14 July 2019. We all summited between 9.30am and 12noon. Kobler & Partner team had 100% success with this. The weather was perfect. There was hardly any wind and the route was pretty busy that night – not sure how many people summited that day but there was a long line of head torches. Our team headed out from C3 (6,950m) at 7pm on 13 July and most of us took 24 hours to return back to C3. It was a great success and even though Broad Peak is more a LOOOONG PEAK and i have never had such a long summit day it was a great achievement for all of us. I know that many people say that the 12th highest peak in the world is one of the easier ones, but I would dispute that. The distances, especially on summit day (almost 1,100m) are huge. Thanks for publishing the names: Billi Bierling (German/Swiss) (no supplemental oxygen) Lydia Bradey (NZ) Dean Staples (NZ) Andreas Neuschmid (Austrian) (supplemental oxygen) Stefan Sieveking (German) Jürgen Diez (German) (no supplemental oxygen) Ket Hazledine (NZ) Dominika Dillier Degelo Switzerland) Christoph Miesch (Switzerland) (only emergency oxygen on descent) Dani Arnold (Switzerland) (no supplemental oxygen) Carolin Hess (German) (no supplemental oxygen) Maksim Cherkasov (Russia) (no supplemental oxygen) Mauricio Fernandez Serna (Mexico) Norbert Ludwig (Germany) Lukas Marganski (Poland) Jonas Salzmann (Switzerland) (no supplemental oxygen) Euan Wilson (NZ) no supplemental oxygen Lale Sherpa Karma Sherpa (no supplemental oxygen) plus five Pakistani high altitude porters GI &II – More Planned Matthew Randall & Matt Gorbett are on their summit push hoping to ski down – No updates, meanwhile other have sumitted during this time I believe.. Denis Urubko and Pipi Cardell are on a new route on GII. The most recent update fro today. The “hunting” has officially begun. Marco and Ali, two polish mountaineers, sergi mingote with his porter, Denis during acclimation for his goal, have recently reached C2 (6.400 M) of Gasherbrum 2. The Picture of the photo refers to the c2 and was taken in the previous rotation. Tomorrow they focus on c3 and in the evening they will start their attempt to Update: The “hunt” has officially begun. Marco and Ali, two Polish mountaineers, Sergi Mingote with his porter, Denis in the acclimatization phase for his goal, have recently reached C2 (6,400 m) of Gasherbrum 2. Tomorrow they will point to C3 and in the evening they will start their summit attempt. Also, Marco Confortola with Ali Durani have competed two rotations and are back at base camp. And according to a July 9 post by Alex Gavin, he and Don Bowie are on the move GII but not ready to summit as there are not using Os: Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 2019 Summer Season Coverage – More Broad Peak Summits, K2 Climbers enroute to Summit
We have more summits on Broad Peak and the Gasherbrum as the excellent weather continues. Many of the K2 teams have left Base Camp hoping to summit starting mid week. Big Picture The summit for K2 should begin early Wednesday, July 17, 2019, on both routes, the Česen and Abruzzi. Ropes are set to the respective Camp 4 on both routes I expect to see 50 to 75 summits on Wednesday, then 30-50 on Thursday and 10-20 on Friday. After a break, the following week should see another 20-30 summits bringing the season total on K2 to over 100 – a record. I’ll provide a complete update later this week. K2 Česen: Summit Bid Underway Furtenbach Adventures confirmed they are now on their summit push “Summit push on K2 is on. Weather is still good with low winds. Looking for a potential summit in the next days.” Madison Mountaineering updated their K2 summit plans: Today is July 13th, and we had a nice rest day in base camp. All of our Sherpas have come down off the mountain from carrying loads and fixing ropes to Camp 4 on the Shoulder of the Cesen route. And our plan is to review our oxygen systems tomorrow and start packing up for our summit attempt. Our plan is to leave on the 16th of July to head up to Camp 2 on the Cesen route in hopes for a potential summit attempt on the 19th of July. Everybody’s doing great here, we’ve got nice weather in base camp, and we look forward to another great day tomorrow. Mingma Sherpa’s team is also on: Today our Sherpa team is in camp3 and tomorrow morning they will go to camp4 with rope for fixing summit to support team from Abruzzi and also transfer our load to camp4. Half of members are in camp2 now and will climb to camp3 tomorrow and remaining members will climb up to camp2 tomorrow from base camp. All is well and weather is pretty good. Adrian Ballinger, Carla Perez and Ecuadoran Topo Mena just spent 6 days up high on the Česen and are headed back up on Saturday, July 13. They are preparing their bodies for a no O’s summit attempt later in July, probably the week of July 21. AB posted yesterday: Two days of rest? Plenty!!! Time to head back up the hill in this incredible high pressure system still sitting over the Karakorum. While many will be attempting the summit this week, we need another acclimatization rotation. Planning 5 days up high, including a night at 25500ft/7800m. It’s gonna hurt, just like it’s meant to! K2 Abruzzi: Summit Bid Underway The team of Seven Summit Treks posted their plan to push for the summit of K2 on 17th July. Got an update from Fredrik Sträng that he is on his summit bid as expected with the other climbers: It’s time for K2 summit push. Early tomorrow I’m heading up to C-2 then hopefully no later than Friday I will have internet again and you’ll know how it was 🙂 Weather is exceptionally good (my friend Max said: the weather is worryingly good!) so now health is really the only true opponent as I’ve lost a lot of weight and strength due to a hellish viral infection. He was climbing with David Roeske but no update if he is with Fredrik on this push. Mike Horn is also joining this window: And finally the time we have been waiting for has arrived! Tomorrow we plan on starting our summit push. We have a clear weather window over the next couple of days, which should give us enough time to make it to the summit and back in good conditions. The ascent will take us about 2-3 days. We will stop in the camps that we have set up along the way to rest and recharge. Honestly, it looks like all the teams at base camp will join this effort including Adventure Peaks. The major teams left would include Nirmal Purja who is on GI ⅈ He posted: Since, I have summited NangaParbat, it’s been non stop from travelling via road and also trekking both days and night skipping camps in order to hit the timeline. We came through hundreds of problems from vehicle getting struck with mechanical problems, road blocks,and our donkeys were never been able to catch up or cover the ground at the same speed ( generally 5 hrs behind each day ). After experiencing this for 2 days, I came up with a plan that we would carry our full climbing kit by ourselves in order to cover the ground and make the time line. Everyone whom we have met across the journey were shocked when they found out we skipped 3 camps at this altitude carrying heavy gears. Finally, when we reached Concordia, we found 3 porters to help us and it was like thank god as we couldn’t feel our feet any more at this point. . Solving all these problem, I have now finally arrive at the G1 & G2 base camp last night with my climbing partners @mingma_david_sherpa & @geljen_sherpa_ . Tonight we will head up for the summit push and I’m looking to complete G1, G2 and K2 within a week. “Insallah “ After summiting Nanga Parbat he had accomplished seven of his goal of all 14 8000ers within 7 months. He summited Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, and Lhotse in April and May. Hopefully this good weather will last into next week allowing them to run over and nab K2. I wouldn’t be surprised to Ballinger and Nirmal Purja team up on K2. I’m unclear when he expects to get Broad Peak. Broad Peak – Summits Lydia Bradey reported that Billi Bierling,Dean Staples with the Kobler & Partner team and many others over 15, all summited BP. It’s unclear how many didn’t use supplemental oxygen but all were hoping to. Karakorum Expeditions reported that Benjamin Chan, 19 years old and the youngest climber from Hong Kong, along with KE’s youngest guide Ahmed Baig 20