Despite closure of Tibetan mountains, number of post monsoon expeditions to Nepal is significantly low. It’s estimated that only 30%-50% teams are heading to the earthquake-hit country.
Despite closure of Tibetan mountains, number of post monsoon expeditions to Nepal is significantly low. It’s estimated that only 30%-50% teams are heading to the earthquake-hit country. Majority of the teams are heading towards Manaslu; whereas there will be solitary teams on Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Dhaulagiri and Annapurna.
“I usually interview between 60 and 70 expeditions at this time of year, however, so far I have only found 30 expeditions,” says Billi Bierling, the German climber and Miss Elizabeth Hawley’s assistant in Kathmandu.
According to Nepali Department of Tourism, around 230 climbers (in 36 expeditions to 8000ers and smaller peaks) have applied for climbing permits so far. Apparently few teams will be added to this list in coming days. However, the numbers are nowhere near fall 2014, when 1069 climbers (183 teams) headed to Nepal.
“I think for the first time ever we don’t have an expedition. We had to cancel our two expeditions in Tibet because the Chinese did not give any climbing permits for this autumn.” Dawa Steven Sherpa of Asian Trekking told Stefan Nestler in a recent interview.
Koreans Are Back on Lhotse South Face:-
The challenging wall has repelled him twice (in fall 2013 and fall 2014), but the Korean climber Sung Taek Hong is set for a third attempt on Lhotse South face. The veteran explorer will be joined by a team of young climbers.
Yannick Graziani on Dhaulagiri:-
It’s reported that the French alpinist will be on Dhaulagiri SW Pillar in October. Yannick Graziani climbed GI with three fellow climbers, this summer.
Steady Progress on Makalu and Manaslu:-
Things are progressing smoothly on Manaslu and Makalu. While the rope-fixing is shared between multiple commercial expeditions on former, Alpenglow team has to do it themselves on Makalu. The team is sleeping in C2 (at around 6800m) tonight.
Sherpa from Himex, Altitude Junkies and Seven Summits have completed rope-fixing to C2 on Manaslu as well. The climbers will sleep a night in C2 before a spell of bad weather arrives.
Trekking to Everest and Annapurna BC:-
French team is expected to reach Pokhara after an acclimatization trip to Mustang. They will be heading to Annapurna South Face BC now. The team is scheduled to arrive at BC on 15th.
Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki reached Everest Southside BC on September 7th. Meanwhile, Icefall doctors continue work on fixing the route through Khumbu ice fall.
