Makalu is the final destination of the season for the chain-summiters, including Kristin Harila, Adriana Brownlee, Purnima Shrestha, Jill Wheatley, Shehroze Kashif, and Shirbaz Khan.
May has been extraordinarily sunny, but now climbers will face rough weather, especially on May 26, says Lakpa Sherpa. So the planned summit day, at last for the 8K Expeditions team, is May 27.
Multi-8,000m climbers aim for Makalu
Kristin Harila managed to fly to Makalu Base Camp today, 8K’s Lakpa Sherpa told ExplorersWeb. Openly aiming to beat Nirmal Purja’s speed record on the 14×8000’ers, she is doing really well. Harila has already summited five peaks since April 28, beginning with Annapurna.
In the process, she has repeated Everest and Lhotse, which she initially climbed last year. This time, Harila took just 9h 10min between summits, then made it all the way back to Base Camp.
Previously, her only Himalayan experience was Putha Hiunchuli (Dhaulagiri VII) in 2019. Her Instagram bio describes her as a skier and runner. As on her previous pushes, Harila will climb with more than one Sherpa guide. On Makalu, it will be Halung Dorchi Sherpa, Dawa Wonju Sherpa, and Pasdawa Sherpa.
Purnima Shrestha of Nepal has summited Kangchenjunga and Lhotse this season and will climb on the same team as Harila. A success on Makalu would complete all seven of Nepal’s 8,000’ers for her. This does not count Cho Oyu, whose normal route is on the Tibetan side.
Purnima Shresthat on the summit of Lhotse. Photo: Purnima Shrestha
Harila, Khan, Brownlee, Kashif, Shrestha, Wheatley
Adriana Brownlee and Gelje Sherpa are on Makalu, climbing with Seven Summit Treks. Previously, they summited Annapurna, Kangchenjunga, and Lhotse. Gelje Sherpa reported tough conditions on Lhotse, with wind and low temperatures.
Adrianna Brownlee on Lhotse. Photo: Gelje Sherpa
Shehroze Kashif of Pakistan, climbing with Namja Sherpa, first made waves when he summited Broad Peak at only 17 in 2019. It earned him his nickname, Broad Boy. Kashif did Everest, K2, and Manaslu last year. Racing to complete the 14 8,000’ers, the young Pakistani has done Kangchenjunga and Lhotse so far this season.
Sirbaz Khan moved from BC to Camp 2 on Makalu yesterday and intended to reach C3 today. Since he is helping fix the routes with Mingma G’s Imagine Nepal team, it is likely that Mingma G and the other rope fixers are also there.
Both Jill Wheatley and Khan have already summited Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga this spring. Mingma G also led a team to Everest, which he climbed without supplementary O2. Two of his Sherpas also approached Kami Rita’s record 26 Everest summits. Pasang Dawa did his 25th Everest summit and Gnima Nuru his 24th.
We have not had further news about Carla Perez, who is trying to climb Makalu without O2. The last report put her heading up with partners Topo Mena and Pemba Gjelje. Their plan was to attempt the summit yesterday or today.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Lamy of France has summited Makalu, according to Altitude News. He went with a Pioneer Adventure team, led by Mingma Dorchi and Sanu Sherpa. The outfitter has published no summiters’ list yet. According to Lamy’s tracker, he is already back in BC.
The season’s last Everest climbers
8K Expeditions reports that two clients and seven Sherpas summited Everest this morning. They are currently on the way down. Both 8K and Pioneer have declared a 100% success rate on Everest this season.
James McMannus tried to launch a no-O2 attempt but has given up because of a poor weather forecast. The only confirmed team left on the mountain is Elite Exped’s. They are currently in Camp 2 and heading to Camp 3 tomorrow. On Instagram, Nirmal Purja reports that they plan to summit Everest on May 27 and Lhotse on May 28.
