Two mountaineers will climb without supplementary oxygen or personal sherpa support in the Himalaya this season. Marcin Miotk of Poland is heading for Makalu, while Hugo Ayaviri of Bolivia will attempt the Everest-Lhotse double-header.
Although these climbers will go via the normal routes, with fixed ropes to the summit, doing an 8,000m peak without a guide or bottled oxygen remains a difficult challenge for anyone. As we pointed out earlier this week, no-O2 climbs have become increasingly rare.
Marcin Miotk. Photo: Klub Wysokogorski Warszawa
Makalu
The former president of Polish mountaineering club Wysokogorski Warszawa, Marcin Miotk is currently the only Pole to summit Everest without bottled oxygen. In 2005, he did Everest from the north. During his summit push, he was alone and became the last person to summit Everest that season.
Miotk also climbed Cho Oyu and Shisha Pangma Central without supplementary oxygen. He has received the Snow Leopard award.
On Makalu, Miotk will climb in his usual style — without oxygen or a guide. Another Polish climber, Waldemar Kowalewski, will join him.
Currently, 13 Poles have climbed Makalu, 8 of them without bottled oxygen.
Everest-Lhotse
Hugo Ayaviri of Bolivia wants to be the first person in his country to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen. Like Miotk, he will climb without a personal sherpa guide.
Ayaviri will then immediately try Lhotse without descending to Base Camp. He will use the normal route in both cases.
Only three Bolivians have summited Everest, all with supplementary oxygen. The last of them did so 13 years ago. No Bolivian has ever summited Lhotse in any way.
Ayaviri has already climbed K2, Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, and Gasherbrum II without bottled oxygen. He also helped Sajid Sadpara of Pakistan remove the body of his father, Ali Sadpara, from the Death Zone of K2 to a lower place that became Ali’s final resting spot.
Hugo Ayaviri. Photo: Onefootball
