At this moment, eight Sherpas from Imagine Nepal are preparing to set off into the night from Camp 3 toward the summit of Annapurna. Expedition leader Mingma G says he has never seen the mountain in such bad condition.
“I have always regarded this mountain as the most beautiful 8,000m climb and also the hardest,” admits 38-year-old Mingma G. However, the poor state of the route this year, with sheer ice and lots of open crevasses from Camp 2 upward, forced his team to retreat twice when they ran out of rope. “This [is] my last expedition to Annapurna,” he writes.
A climber heads toward Annapurna’s Camp 2 to acclimatize. Photo: Makalu Adventure
Imagine Nepal is not alone on the mountain. A large number of climbers from several teams are following closely behind.
Tense push
Mingma remains concerned.
“This mountain is just too risky in between Camp 2 and Camp 3,” he says. “I hope our team and all climbers on Annapurna have good weather on April 5 to the summit and back.”
The mountain has already had one accident when Vadim Druelle of France fell some 40m into a crevasse. He was rescued, injured and frostbitten, by Mingmar Dhondup and Pasang Nurbu Sherpa, guides with 14 Peaks Expedition. Like other climbers, Druelle was acclimatizing before the summit push. Eduard Kubatov of Kyrgyzstan was with him the day before the accident and noted that the area was unsafe, but says Druelle chose to remain. Kubatov shared a video of Druelle’s evacuation by helicopter:
Monday summit plan
Yesterday, a large number of climbers left Base Camp and started toward the summit. All seem to be aiming for Monday as summit day.
Puja ceremony before starting the summit push on Annapurna. Photo: Mindaugas Satkauskas
Seven Summit Treks has the largest group. They plan to advance one camp a day, starting today.
Mindaugas Satkauskas, a member of the 14 Peaks Expedition team, should be in Camp 2 now, he said before leaving. He plans to sleep in Camp 3 tomorrow and set off on the final summit push on Sunday at 5 pm local time.
Makalu Adventure reports that their team will start the summit push on April 6.
The Pioneer Adventure team, led by Mingma Dorchi Sherpa, is also on the go and likewise estimates April 6-8 as their summit days.
Gian Luca Cavalli of Italy and Cesar Rosales of Peru also left Base Camp yesterday. Contrary to their original plans, which included opening a variation up the Northwest Spur, they have noted that they will climb the normal route.
Cavalli and Rosales about to leave Base Camp yesterday. Photo: Limit Project x Annapurna
