After Dhaulagiri, Mingma G is leading his second summit push of the season, this time on Kangchenjunga. Tonight, they set off toward the summit, with a number of international climbers in tow.
Mingma flew to Kangchenjunga Base Camp last week to meet his Imagine Nepal team. When he arrived, Imagine Nepal had just been the first group to reach Camp 3 (7,000m). Now, Mingma will manage the remaining rope-fixing work and take charge of the clients.
“Today we established Camp 4 and fixed 600m of rope above,” says Mingma G. “Tomorrow, we will fix a further 1,000m and touch the rocky section above the couloir. All teams will arrive at Camp 4 tomorrow.”
After the rope fixing, the Sherpas will return to Camp 4 for a brief rest, then set off that night to summit on April 27.
Mingma G last week at the Kathmandu airport. Photo: Imagine Nepal
It will be hard work. The final section of Kangchenjunga between Camp 4 and the summit is also the hardest.
Sirbaz Khan of Pakistan is also with the Imagine Nepal rope fixing team. He hopes that Kangchenjunga will become his 10th 8,000’er. Khan has gone up and down the mountain six times and helped fix ropes beyond Camp 3.
“He is well acclimatized and ready,” Khan’s PR manager Saad Munawar told ExplorersWeb from Base Camp. “There is a small weather window opening from April 26 to April 27, and Mingma G thinks it can be used for the summit push.”
Many teams on the mountain
“When I have my team on the mountain I really don’t care if there is any other team or not,” Mingma said recently. There are many teams on Kangchenjunga this season but it is not clear how many of them might be ready to follow the rope fixers to the summit.
Sherozhe Kashif returned to Base Camp after his second rotation yesterday. Since he is climbing with oxygen, he might be ready for a summit push after a couple of days of rest.
A frame from a video posted by Marco Confortola. Photo: Marco Confortola
Those climbing without O2 may miss this summit chance. Horia Colibasanu, Peter Hamor, and Marius Gane intended to head for Camp 3 over the weekend, but they surely won’t continue farther without time to rest and recover.
Italian Marco Confortola, also climbing without bottled gas, is just back from two nights at Camp 2. He estimates that he will need at least another rotation with a night in Camp 3. He also reported that the route between Camp 1 and Camp 2 has changed since he was last on the mountain. The glacier’s movement and some collapsed seracs have changed the route. You can check out his video here (in Italian).
