Hugo Ayaviri of Bolivia is fulfilling his ambitious goal, step by step. Climbing without oxygen or sherpa support, he summited Lhotse yesterday. He now hopes to climb Everest in the same style, without returning to Base Camp.
Ayaviri, a professional mountain guide in the Andes, stood on the summit of Lhotse at around 9:30 am yesterday. He then returned to Camp 4 for the night. Today, he is expected in Camp 2, from where he intends to go up again after a couple of days rest, the Alpymon blog reported.
Lhotse from Camp 2. Photo: 8K Expeditions
Ayaviri’s challenge involves not only the summit pushes, but also the long period he is spending at high altitude without supplementary oxygen. He is also carrying his own gear and supplies up and down the mountains.
Originally, he planned to go for Everest first but eventually decided to begin with Lhotse. It looks like a good idea: Everest is possibly too crowded for a no-O2 climber these last couple of days. According to his home team, Ayaviri had to climb with lots of snow on the upper sections of Lhotse, but there was no mention to crowds.
Lhotse is Ayaviri’s sixth 8,000’er. He did all the peaks in excellent style, occasionally even heading in front of the rope fixers, as he did on Broad Peak in 2021.
On K2, Ayaviri not only summited without supplementary O2: On the way down, he met Sajid Sadpara, alone on the mountain trying to move and bury the body of his father, Ali Sadpara. Ali had died months earlier, during an attempted winter climb. Ayaviri stopped to help the young Pakistani, gaining unanimous respect from the mountaineering community.
