After the summits yesterday, the descent on Annapurna has been eventful. Alarm bells rang yesterday, when Base Camp lost contact with Italian climber Gianpaolo Corona, shortly after he reached the summit.
Corona, who climbed without O2 and had no Sherpa support, was last seen by other climbers at about 7,600m. Seven Summit Treks’ Base Camp manager called for a rescue helicopter, which set off toward the mountain this morning.
Alive and descending
Fortunately, the pilots spotted the Italian climber at 7,400m, slightly below Camp 4. They were able to establish radio contact with him.
“I am well and don’t need any support for now,” he told the rescuers, according to The Himalayan Times. The rescue operation was called off and Corona is descending.
Additions to the summit list
Corona’s summit was not included on the first summit list published by Seven Summit Treks. However, in a recent update, they added him in and tagged his ascent as no-O2. A total of three climbers in the Seven Summit Treks team climbed without bottled gas: Hans Wenzel of Austria, Tim Bogdanov of Russia, and Corona.
Grace Tseng, climbing with Dolma Outdoor, also claims a no-O2 ascent. Her two Sherpa guides were using O2.
Other last-minute additions to the summit list were Allie Pepper of Australia and Dawa Tenzing Sherpa, members of the 8K Expeditions team.
An Indian team climbing with Peak Promotion also summited: Bharath Thammineni, Palkesh Kalma, Baljeet Kaur, Skalzang Rigzin, Kami Sherpa, and Urgen Sherpa.
Some back in BC
Some climbers, such as Adriana Brownlee, made it back to Camp 2 yesterday and has now reached Base Camp. Corona might take another day in order to traverse the most exposed sections between Camp 3 and Camp 2 early tomorrow morning.
