Most climbers on Annapurna reached Camp 3 today, after many tough hours across the most complex sections of the route.
Tomorrow morning, they will move to Camp 4, the highest on Annapurna. There, they will rest before the final summit push begins that evening, Nivesh Karki of Pioneer Adventure told ExplorersWeb.
Seven Summit Treks, in charge of the rope fixing, have fixed up to 6,700m. Likely, the rope fixers will open the route during the summit push, and clients will follow right behind.
The rope-fixing team comprises Ngima Tashi Sherpa, Mingtemba Sherpa, and Pasang Nurbu. In addition to clients, the large SST team also includes expedition leader and company owner Chhang Dawa Sherpa, and his nephew Nima Rinjee.
At 18, Rinjee is trying to become the youngest 14×8,000m summiter. Annapurna will be his 11th summit. Dawa and Rinjee are climbing with Chhiring Bhote, Lhakpa Temba, and cameraman Manish Maharjan.
According to their reports on Instagram, a Madison Mountaineering team is following slightly behind. They set off for Camp 1 yesterday and should have moved to Camp 2 today.
Long day
Friday will be a long day. After breaking trail a long way across the summit area to the highest point, climbers will face a long descent. The key for them is to go down below the point where they need supplementary O2. Most importantly, they will also try to leave behind the avalanche-prone, difficult sections between Camp 3 and Camp 2. Ideally, they will spend the night back at Camp 2. Then, they’ll proceed back to Base Camp on Saturday.
There is a certain amount of pressure to summit during this window. Forecasts report bad weather with heavy snow from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday. In addition, some of the climbers and supporting sherpas now on Annapurna intend to move to Dhaulagiri next.
Multimodel forecast for Annapurna summit, by Mountainforecast.com
