In the latest riff on an old tune, Carlos Soria has aborted his attempt on Dhaulagiri at Camp 3 because of strong winds and deep snow. This marks the 10th time that Dhaulagiri has turned back the 80-year-old climber. He is trying to become the oldest person to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000m peaks.
Dhaulagiri would have been Soria’s 13th. Of the 14th, Shishapangma, he has already reached the Central summit (8,008m), not the highest point at 8,027m. To properly complete all 14, he’d need to re-climb Shishapangma. But from a personal point of view, having accomplished something on Shishipangma might suffice, if he is ever able to nail Dhaulagiri.
Soria and his team are on their way down to Base Camp. Csaba Varga and all the other climbers have also stopped short.
“The high winds were unrelenting for more than a month,” wrote Expedition Base, a local outfitter. “Today they even picked up: High winds combined with deep snow, buried ropes and snow flurries is nail-biting stuff.”
Reaching the summit of Dhaulagiri means passing under avalanche-prone sections and negotiating technical passages, as shown in the video below, shot last week by Bulgarian Atanas Skatov:
