Teams on Annapurna have completed their second and final round of acclimatization, including a night at 6,420m Camp 3. For many of those on bottled oxygen, that should be enough to try a summit push next time. But that moment will have to wait, since a major storm is expected to hit for the rest of the week.
General retreat
Anticipating this, the climbers are retreating to various refuges with warmer temperatures and thicker air.
Charles Page of Canada and Stefi Troguet of Andorra have hiked to the small village of Tatopani. “We will trek back to Base Camp on April 9,” Page told ExplorerWeb today. “Many others flew by helicopter to Pokhara.”
Page said the upcoming storm will be a big one. “Not only clients, but most Sherpas have also retreated to lower altitudes to shelter from the storm.”
Also, the next push will be complex, as ropes reach only a short distance above Camp 3. As Page noted, the section between Camp 2 and Camp 3 is challenging. The state of the route and the ropes after the storm will also affect progress.
Climbers on mixed terrain on Annapurna. Photo: Valery Babanov
Details of the route to 7,000m
The numerous no-O2 climbers who spent a night in Camp 3 include Troguet, Page, Israfil Ashurli of Azerbaijan, Valery Babanov, Anton Pugovkin, and Vitaly Shipilov of Russia, Piotr Krzyzowski of Poland, Marie Saame of Estonia, and her climbing partner, Andreas from Denmark (no surname provided).
Pugovkin usually teams up with Vitaly Lazo, and they intend to descend 8,000’ers on skis. Last fall, they attempted Dhaulagiri. Vitaly Shipilov is a member of the Russian team that opened a new route on Manaslu’s Southwest Face, considered one of the best expeditions of 2025 by ExplorersWeb.
Climbers on icy terrain on Annapurna. Photo: Valery Babanov
Ashurli reported that the Elite Exped team, led by 2025 Everest North Face climber Yukta Sherpa, fixed ropes between Camp 2 and Camp 3. The climbers reached Camp 3 on April 3. Babanov, Pugovkin, Shipilov, Krzyzowski, and Anshurli continued up, hoping to reach Camp 4.
“Valery fixed 200 meters of rope…Anton and Vitaly caught up with us, and we took turns opening a path in the snow and began climbing, [but] visibility was deteriorating. Having reached approximately 6,700m with no landmarks, we decided to descend to C3.”
Climbers fix ropes on Annapurna. Photo: Israfil Ashurli
Ashurli said conditions on the route were good so far, and he noted a 10m vertical wall in the section between Camp 2 and Camp 3 that delayed climbers for 90 minutes.
Similar weather on Dhaulagiri
The Dhaulagiri season has also begun with a lot of snow.
“Almost every day, we have snowfall on every mountain, and the wind at 8,000m is mostly over 50 kph,” Imagine Nepal team leader Mingma G reported. “We are prepared for a summit push on Dhaulagiri, but we cannot move yet because of the high winds.” The ropes are set up to Camp 3.
Imagine Nepal also has a team on its way to Kangchenjunga. A group from Seven Summit Treks, including Sajid Sadpara of Pakistan, will soon start climbing on Makalu.
