Today is the busiest in the three-day Annapurna summit wave. Unfortunately, a climber has just been reported missing after falling into a crevasse below Camp 3, on the most technical section of the route.
Anurag Maloo of India was coming down from Camp 3 when the accident occurred, his outfitter, Seven Summit Treks, told The Himalayan Times. The 34-year-old climber had abandoned his summit attempt at Camp 4 and was retreating back to Base Camp. An aerial search is underway.
About 20 climbers (half of them supporting Sherpas) have summited Annapurna today since 6:30 am. Nearly all climbed with supplementary oxygen, so they may be able to go back down most of the route on the same day. However, they may also rest in a higher camp, then continue across the most exposed sections early tomorrow morning, when the snow is more stable.
There is no news yet about how Maloo’s accident happened. At the moment of posting this story, Shehroze Kashif’s tracker locates him at 6,788m. That is usually the altitude of Camp 3, but this year, the Sherpas have set a “lower” Camp 4 at that altitude and will remain there overnight.
Two climbers progress in deep snow on Annapurna. Photo: Jonathan Lamy/Facebook
Jonathan Lamy of France, who summited yesterday and also stopped for the night in Camp 4 (even lower than Kashif, at 6,700m), has checked in today and he was still in C4. Lamy posted the following in French: “It’s very cold here in Camp 4, everything’s frozen; I need to go down. I am mentally tired but otherwise okay. ChongBi [his Sherpa] is a hero.”
Bartek Ziemski and Oswald Rodrigo Pereira summited Annapurna today without supplementary O2 or personal porters. According to the Polish Mountaineering Association, they were resting back in Camp 4. Ziemski intended to ski down from the summit but there are no details on whether he attempted this. Pereira posted two days ago that they had some unexpected issues. Today, the team simply announced that they had succeeded in summiting, despite little acclimatization.
Bartek Ziemski skis on Annapurna some days ago. Photo: Oswald Rodrigo Pereira
