Sergi Mingote is safely down in Camp 3 after an exhausting day on Dhaulagiri. The deep snow and lack of fixed ropes and trail forced the climbers to expend their last grain of stamina and all their ingenuity to reach the top.
As much as possible, they avoided traversing in such unstable snow conditions. Instead, they climbed directly toward the summit. When they reached the base of several couloirs, they knew that only one led to the summit, but weren’t sure which. Not even the Sherpas present were certain.
They ask their Base Camp crew for directions but received no positive answer. In a nod to how recent technology has changed climbing, Mingote texted his RaceTracker team and asked them to input the route ahead. ExplorersWeb spoke with the RaceTracker manager for details:
“We marked the summit waypoint, which is based on records from previous expeditions, such as Alberto Zerain’s. At that point, they were about 400 meters below the summit. Later, the Sherpa team reported to Base Camp a huge overhanging cornice in their way. I don’t know how they managed to overcome such an obstacle, but it took them a lot of time. But the point they reached was without a doubt Dhaulagiri’s main summit.”
Mingote’s RaceTracker, including his position at Camp 3 (7,250m) and the point where he reported difficulties finding the right couloir and used his RaceTracker to guide him to the summit. Photo: RaceTracker
Descending, Mingote reached Camp 3 at approximately 7pm local time, after a 21-hour marathon. He had barely energy left to drink some soup, call his family and collapse into the sleeping bag. He didn’t comment on other climbers or their whereabouts.
However, further names have been shared on social media throughout the day. In addition to Mingote’s seventh no-O2 8,000’er in 444 days and Atanas Skatov’s fourth this year, Sanu Sherpa, climbing with SST, became the 43rd person and third Nepali to complete the 14×8,000’ers quest. Lakpa Temba Sherpa and Phurtenzi Sherpa also summited.
Sanu Sherpa, a new member of the prestigious 14×8000’ers summiters club. Photo: Seven Summit Treks
The summiters plan to proceed back to Base Camp tomorrow. You can follow Mingote’s progress on his Race Tracker.
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