The number of commercial clients who will attempt Everest without supplemental oxygen continues to grow. The latest is Yousef Alshatti of Kuwait. He was one of the Kuwaitis on Nirmal Purja’s team who in 2019 summited Ama Dablam, then unfurled a gigantic flag that covered a significant part of the mountain. Nepal disapproved of the controversial gimmick.
The infamous flag on the summit of Ama Dablam, now in a museum in Pohkara. Photo: The Himalayan Times
Alshatti, 39, takes part regularly in Spartan Races, a kind of obstacle course, according to Federico Bernardi of Montagnamagica.com.
Yousef Alshatti in a Spartan Race. Photo: Yousef Alshatti
Patience on Manaslu and Annapurna
The Manaslu team has decided to wait for safer conditions before venturing beyond Camp 1. Kristin Harila retreated to Base Camp with the rest of the team. They will likely remain there for several more days, since more bad weather is in the forecast.
“We will wait here until we see a sunny window,” Gelje Sherpa wrote.
Fresh snow at Annapurna’s Camp 1. Photo: Naoki Ishikawa/Instagram
The team will not be alone on the mountain much longer. A Canadian team from Quebec, led by Dominic Asselin, is already in Samagaon while the porters set up Base Camp. Members include Frederic Desmarais, Edgar Leonardo, and William McCarvill.
There’s little news from Annapurna, but the climbing teams are rotating between Base Camp and Camp 2. Beyond this, there’s deep snow and no reports that the route is fixed yet.
Meanwhile, Base Camp is getting busier, all waiting for a summit window. Conditions remain precarious. Several climbers witnessed a major avalanche that fell between Camp 2 and Camp 3, the most exposed area.
“Our team was at Camp 1, and we were planning on moving toward Camp 2 when we heard a deafening roar from the mountain,” Shehroze Kashif wrote.
Powder dusted the camp but no harm came to the tents or climbers. See the video below, shot by Noel Hannah.
Mingma Tenzi of EliteExped noted that conditions on Annapurna are particularly tough this year, with more crevasses than ever.
“To navigate these treacherous crevasses, we had to fix ladders in some sections of the route,” he wrote.
Mingma Tenzi of EliteExped has climbed 30 8,000’ers. Photo: Instagram
Other peaks
Climbers heading to Kangchenjunga this spring include Domi Trastoy and Gonzalo Fernandez Garcia of Andorra. Trastoy has already climbed Everest, Cho Oyu, Manaslu, and Lhotse.
Mexican couple Badia Bonilla and Mauricio Lopez will go for Dhaulagiri.
Badia Bonilla of Mexico during a previous attempt on Dhaulagiri. Photo: Facebook
