Winter climbers have reached Base Camp on 8,163m Manaslu and 8,485m Makalu. Meanwhile, the Annapurna team has gone back to Kathmandu and is considering canceling the expedition entirely.
Everest solo climber Jost Kobusch remains in Lobuche with unclear plans.
Manaslu climbers in BC
Simone Moro of Italy, Nima Rinji Sherpa of Nepal, and Oswald Pereira of Poland have left Samagaon village for Base Camp at the foot of Manaslu today.
“We officially begin our winter attempt on the mountain,” Moro reported. “It will be a chess game with the wind and elements.”
Manaslu today. Photo: Simone Moro
The team intends to climb the mountain on a single, alpine-style push without supplementary oxygen as soon as conditions allow. Moro has participated in an unprecedented number of winter 8,000m expeditions and did the first winter ascents of four of them: Shisha Pangma in 2005, Makalu in 2009, Gasherbrum II in 2011, and Nanga Parbat in 2016.
Pereira, who will film the ascent, made two winter attempts on K2 and another on Manaslu. Nima Rinji is a young, promising Nepalese climber. Last year, at age 18, he became the youngest to complete the 14 8,000’ers.
The climbers expect to wait in Base Camp for days since forecasts show jet stream winds hitting the upper sections of the mountain at speeds over 130kph.
Multimodel forecast for Manaslu at the summit, by Meteroexploration.com
Makalu: even windier
If Manaslu is that windy, it is easy to guess how the situation will be on Makalu, which is 300m higher and known for its high winds. Weather charts suggest gusts of 150 kph next week.
Despite this, Abolfazl Gozali of Iran and Sanu Sherpa, Phurba Onggel Sherpa, and Pastemba Sherpa of Nepal have trekked for six days up the frigid Barun Valley to Makalu Base Camp. They are basing themselves in the “lower” camp at 4,800m. Yesterday, they went up to the “higher” camp at 5,700m for a day trip. (This is usually Base Camp for summer expeditions.) Currently, they’re back at 4,800m, the Iranian’s sponsor announced.
Doubts about Annapurna
Spirits dropped for the Annapurna team after leader Alex Txikon of Spain confirmed he was going home. Txikon had to undergo emergency appendix surgery two weeks ago and is hardly in a condition to attempt a winter 8,000’er.
The initial hope was that the rest of the team could continue. They included a strong group of sherpa climbers from Seven Summit Treks, Sajid Sadpara of Pakistan, Mattia Conte of Italy, and Sarah Advobais of Iran.
However, Sadpara told ExplorersWeb today that the entire team has returned to Kathmandu and may abort the expedition.
“The expedition leader has left, and the forecasts predict high winds until January 19-20,” he said. “In the next few days, we will decide whether to return to Base Camp or call the expedition off.”
Just a few days ago, the group basked in extraordinarily mild temperatures in Base Camp. That’s gone now. Full-on winter has arrived.
