Waldemar Kowalewski is safely down after summiting Ama Dablam on Monday in gale-force winds.
“I was on the summit, solo, cold, hit by a terrible wind of 120kph,” Kowalewski told ExplorersWeb from Base Camp. “I have never been in such a storm, but I had to decide whether to retreat from Camp 2 or go for the summit because I had run out of food and gas after remaining longer than expected in Camp 2.”
Kwalewski reached the summit by himself very late, at 3:30 pm Nepal time. “It was so windy that I couldn’t leave Camp 2 until 5:30 am,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Alex Txikon has been staying in Camp 1 while other members of his commercial group — outfitted by Seven Summit Treks — shuttle between Base Camp and Camps 2 or 3.
It is hard to tell exactly who is moving where on the mountain, because Txikon’s press team told us that they only focus on him. Txikon, they say, is still acclimatizing for winter Annapurna. He will begin after the solstice.
Txikon’s group includes a strong Sherpa team and foreign climbers such as Kowalewski, Mattia Conte of Italy, and Sarah Abdovaiss of Iran.
Seven duffels
A small yak caravan has dropped Jost Kobusch’s seven duffels of gear and supplies at Everest Base Camp, which he will need for his upcoming solo work on Everest’s West Ridge. On this, his third winter on the mountain, Kobusch hopes to reach 7,500m — enough to break the previous altitude record for the West Ridge route in winter and to have a good look at the Hornbein Couloir.
Yaks arrive in an empty Everest Base Camp with Jost Kobusch’s luggage. Photo: Jost Kobusch
“I believe perfection is not achieved when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away,” he said about his minimalist gear, paraphrasing a famous quote from the French writer Antoine de St-Exupery.
Kobusch has been acclimatizing in Langtang and the Khumbu.
