As expected, the fixing of the route on Everest has opened the gates to international clients. Among them, Pakistani climbers have played a main role.
Noticeably, the first foreign climber to summit Everest this year is a woman: Naila Kiani of Pakistan. She topped out with Pasang Temba Sherpa at 8:02 am on May 14. Naila Kiani has now climbed K2, Gasherbrum I and II, and Annapurna.
Other members of Imagine Nepal’s team then followed: Jessica Rae Wedel of the U.S. with Ang Mingma Sherpa, Peter Prize with Pasang Dawa Sherpa, Lianhui Cui of China with Thundu Sherpa, and remarkably, a second Pakistani woman: Nadia Azad.
Sajid Sadpara of Pakistan has achieved the first no-O2 ascent of the season. The young Sadpara climbed with the EliteExped team but progressed independently, with neither bottled oxygen nor Sherpa support. The young Sadpara is currently heading down.
Meanwhile, large numbers of climbers are gathering in Camp 2 at 6,400m, and distributing along the upper camps. This video from Mexican Andres Perez shows some jams at the Khumbu Icefall in recent days:
