Mingma G and his team led a large group of climbers to the top of Dhaulagiri today, according to Imagine Nepal’s Dawa Sherpa.
Summiters included some familiar names, such as Jill Wheatley, the visually impaired Canadian climber who reached the true summit of Manaslu last fall. IFMGA guide Vinayak Maya of Nepal and veteran American climber Chris Warner also topped out.
Imagine Nepal’s very strong Sherpa team included Mingma G’s companion on the first Winter K2 summit last year, Kilu (Kili) Pemba.
Imagine Nepal’s team heads for the summit of Dhaulagiri yesterday. Photo shared by Dawa Sherpa
Dawa Sherpa has submitted a preliminary list of summiters:
Sykaris – maybe on the next rotation
Antonios Sykaris of Greece is also on the mountain, climbing independently with Dawa Sherpa. He and Dawa are setting their own camps along the way. Sykaris recently reported that they established Camp 2 on Thursday. Here, they met Mingma G and his team on their summit push.
Mingma G offered to let Sykaris join them, but Sykaris declined. He felt that he needed more acclimatization and didn’t have all his summit gear with him.
“Although I have disagreed with Mingma G in the past, I admire this tough man immensely,” said Sykaris. “I consider him the best climber in Nepal…[and he’s] only 36 years old.” The disagreement, which Sykaris doesn’t explain, occurred during a failed 2019 Makalu attempt.
Antonios Sykaris (right) with Imagine Nepal’s leader Mingma G. Photo: Antonios Sykaris
