This morning, Kristin Harila, Tenjen Lama Sherpa, and the rest of the team summited Broad Peak. They have just K2 to go to finish all 14, but the Norwegian climber is running out of time if she wants to complete everything in three months. Even six months would be a record, however.
The Seven Summit Treks (7ST) team reportedly topped out at 4:30 am today. Besides Tenjen Sherpa and Harila, the group comprised Mingtemba Sherpa, Pasang Nurbu “Makpa” Sherpa, Nima Tashi Sherpa, client Gabriel Tarso of Brazil, and the young Nima Rinji Sherpa, engaged in his own age/speed 14×8,000’er record. Aged 17, Rinji Sherpa is blasting through the 14 peaks. Broad Peak was his seventh.
Optimizing resources
In a later post, 7ST also confirmed the summits of Uta Ibrahimi of Albania-Kosovo, Josette Valloton of Switzerland, Nuri Sherpa, and Mikel Sherpa. The Nepal-based company is sending teams to the summits that Harila’s group needs to climb, increasing their sherpa force.
The final sprint for K2
Harila’s next goal: K2. Photo: Summit Karakoram
Before heading for Pakistan (and with all the Nepalese and Tibetan 8,000’ers already under her belt), Harila set a new goal for her project: she would summit all 14 peaks in three months. She summited Shishapangma, the first peak of the challenge, on April 26, putting her three-month deadline just three days away, and she still needs to climb K2.
Summit waves on the Gasherbrums
Meanwhile, teams are summiting the Gasherbrums. There is a mix of guided, oxygen-supported groups, and independent climbers carrying their own loads and using no oxygen but using the fixed ropes and packed trails.
Interestingly, the tactic of combining peaks for multiple climbs is a growing trend among no-O2 climbers. Several climbers ascended Nanga Parbat and are now aiming for both Gasherbrums.
Sources report a large number of summits since Friday, and the final groups are setting off for Gasherbrum II today and Gasherbrum I tomorrow.
Baltoro Kangri in the distance, with the broken glacier in front. Photo: Moeses Fiamoncini
Brazilian Moeses Fiamoncini will have to decide whether to join the push. He is in Base Camp, trying to recover from an ugly crampon point wound in his knee. He injured himself in a crevasse fall between Camp 1 and Camp 2 on Gasherbrum I some days ago. Check out the video below.
Helicopters were not available, and after two days of waiting in his tent, Fiamoncini had to descend, helped by Mikel Sherpa.
“The wound is healing well, with no infection or further bleeding. I am being treated by a doctor from Slovakia, and I do a lot of walking around Base Camp, but I have not yet made up my mind [about continuing],” Fiamoncini told ExplorersWeb.
