Kangchenjunga is living up to its reputation as one of the toughest 8,000’ers. It has made the summit push a nightmare for Imagine Nepal’s rope-fixing team.
“The climbers had to turn around between 8,400-8,500m,” Saad Munawar told ExplorersWeb from Base Camp. “Last night, there was a big snowfall and I think that caused a lot of problems because they kept losing their way.”
The descent is apparently troublesome. Sirbaz Khan of Pakistan is safely back in Camp 4, but when he contacted BC, some members of the Sherpa team were still struggling down from the upper sections.
Photo: Wikipedia
While snow makes the confusing upper sections of Kangchenjunga, the easternmost of the 8,000’ers, even harder than normal, conditions on Makalu and Annapurna remain two thumbs up. The Sherpa team by Seven Summit Treks may try to reach the summit of Makalu in the next few hours. A large number of Sherpas are fixing the ropes at Camp 4, and those with 7ST may be preparing to go for it, according to Adrian Ballinger.
Ballinger’s own Alpenglow Sherpa team is helping fix the ropes but they will not continue above Camp 4 for the moment.
Karl Egloff (in tent) and Nico Miranda. Photo: Karl Egloff
Two strong Ecuadorians
Among Alpenglow’s foreign climbers, Karl Egloff and Nico Miranda accompanied the Sherpas to Camp 4 yesterday, then sped back down to Base Camp. Without O2 and with little acclimatization, the two Ecuadorians are putting in a remarkable performance.
On Annapurna, both the Sherpas and the clients in 8K Expeditions are ready to leave Camp 4 for the summit. They too hope to make it tomorrow. Adriana Brownlee, with Seven Summit Treks, said that she would leave for the summit at 8 pm local time, so she should be on her way by now. She rested for a few hours in her Camp 4 tent at 7,000m.
Some of the 8K Expedition team on Annapurna. Photo: Lakpa Sherpa
