Russians Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin summited Everest today, according to their home team. They presumably went without supplementary O2. Their project, known as Deathzone Freeride, involves climbing without oxygen or personal Sherpa support and skiing down from the summit. Details to come.
Several other climbers plan to summit Everest without oxygen this week.
Suhajda Szilard of Hungary, also climbing without Sherpa support and carrying his own tent and gear up and down the mountain, began his summit push yesterday. He is in Camp 2 today. He plans to move to Camp 3 on Monday and summit on Wednesday, May 24.
Suhajda Szilard. Photo: Suhajda Szilard/Facebook
Other No-O2 climbers
Asmita Dorchi of India, outfitted by Asian Trekking, and Grace Tseng of Taiwan, with EliteExped have Sherpa support, but their original plan was to go without oxygen.
Grace Tseng’s tracker today shows what it looks like a failed summit attempt from Camp 4.
Tseng’s tracker showed she set off from Camp 4 toward the summit last night. She eventually stopped around 8,225m, according to her tracker, and returned to Camp 4.
It is very unlikely that the Taiwanese woman is climbing without oxygen. She climbed from Base Camp to Camp 2 on May 16. Here she remained for two days, then moved to Camp 3 on May 18.
The following day (Friday), she went to Camp 4 and has not come down since then. That is a long time at extreme altitude without oxygen.
Asmita Dorjee was in Camp 3 on Sunday and plans to go to Camp 4 today, Asian Trekking told ExplorersWeb.
Asmita Dorjee some days ago in Camp 2 on Everest. Photo: Asmita Dorjee
Stefi Troguet from Andorra, who had to be airlifted to Kathmandu with symptoms of bronchitis, returned to Base Camp on Saturday. She hoped that she would be at least able to retrieve her things from Camp 2 and maybe try Lhotse. However, she was not recovered and could not progress without coughing convulsively. Her expedition is over.
We expect to hear some news soon from Kilian Jornet. As usual, Jornet will likely say little until he completes his mission. Some speculate that he will attempt the Everest-Lhotse traverse.
Harila at Camp 2
Kristin Harila’s tracker shows that she spent the night at Camp 2 on Everest. It is also Camp 2 for Lhotse climbs. Presumably, she will hurry up both peaks as soon as possible.
