“This time won’t make mistake. Should reach summit.”
That’s Mingma G texting ExplorersWeb. The Nepali leader was upset after his Imagine Nepal team’s first attempt to summit Kangchenjunga failed. They had made a huge effort, leading the way and fixing 90% of the ropes on the mountain.
“I felt very sad for my team,” Mingma admitted, after retreating from Kangchenjunga in difficult conditions on April 27-28. “We had a very hard time opening the route to the summit. At a certain point [above 8,300m] in the middle of the night, we mistook some old ropes and followed them — up what proved to be a wrong direction.
“When I found out and corrected course, we were already out of time. I didn’t want my team to take too many risks, so we aborted.”
Massive push this weekend
After resting in Kathmandu, his team returned to Base Camp yesterday. Mingma G himself flew there today. He will join his crew at Camp 2. “We’re planning the summit day for May 7,” he said.
Purnima Shrestha of Nepal on what she considers her “hardest mountain so far”. Photo: Purnima Shrestha
Others on the mountain are considering the same summit dates, so expect a busy weekend. A number of climbers will be going without supplementary O2.
Purnima Shrestha of Nepal, climbing with Seven Summit treks, left for Camp 2 on Monday. Wilco van Roijen checked in from Camp 3 yesterday after what he called a hard day. Marco Confortola was also in C3 and said that he would proceed to Camp 4 today. The Italian also mentioned tough going and bitter cold.
They may rest for one day in Camp 4 or they may not. Depending on their choice, the large 7ST group might summit on Friday or (most probably) Saturday.
Although we don’t know their current whereabouts, Peter Hamor, Horia Colibasanu, and Marius Gane spent two nights at Camp 3 last week, so they are also primed for a summit push.
