Nepal’s Department of Tourism has released its first list of climbing permits this season. It is still too early to gauge much about the number of climbers on the biggest peaks, but this preliminary list reveals at least one interesting expedition to a 6,000’er.
Published yesterday, March 25, the list reflects the permits granted until last Friday. However, as spring 8,000m climbers flock to Nepal daily, the next update will reveal much more about how busy individual peaks will be.
Clues about exploratory expeditions
Nepal’s Department of Tourism publishes a new list every week at this time of year. The lists show the number of climbers heading to the country’s 8,000’ers and also shed light on smaller, often quieter teams targeting lesser-known peaks. Usually, there are one or two tantalizing permits for unclimbed or rarely visited peaks on exploratory expeditions.
The present list reveals four expeditions to Nepal’s 6,000’ers:
List of climbing permits issued until March 21 by Nepal’s Department of Tourism.
One is the attempt on 6,186m Khayang, an officially unclimbed peak in the Manaslu region. Three local climbers, Prakash Gurung, Yukta Gurung, and Sandesh Sherpa, are currently attempting it. For the Nepalese trio, the peak serves as a personal project before they start guiding on the 8,000’ers.
Pokhar Khang, also on the list, is a 6,372m peak that can be climbed on skis. A team of four, two men and two women, will attempt it.
Thorong Peak (6,144m) is a trekking peak by Thorong La, the highest point of the hyper-popular Annapurna Circuit. It is a goal for trekkers and for some Annapurna climbers who use it for acclimatization.
Mysterious Sharphu IV
The most intriguing entry lists a permit for a single climber to 6,433m Sharphu IV, located northwest of Kangchenjunga, on the border with Tibet. The first enigma is which peak the permit really refers to. There are actually six Sharphu peaks, located on the north side of Kangbachen, a neighbor of Kangchenjunga. (Kangbachen, by the way, is a potential goal for Nives Meroi, Romano Benet, and Peter Hamor next month.)
The Himalayan Database shows confusing reports about the altitudes and names of the various Sharphu peaks. The first climbers — mainly Japanese teams during the 1960s — named some peaks but were at times unclear about the specific mountain they were climbing. The Himalayan Database mentions an expedition to Sharphu IV, also named Nupchu. The group originally thought they were climbing the much higher Ohmi Kangri.
First ascent of the Eastern point
More recently, in 2022, elite alpinists Stefano Ragazzo and Silvia Loreggian of Italy made a first ascent of the Eastern point of Sharphu IV, which Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism called Sato Peak. The two climbers turned back before the main summit because of bad conditions.
“We named the new route Kalypso (600m, UIAA V M4), after a nymph in Homer’s The Odyssey, which we read at base camp,” Ragazzo wrote in the American Alpine Journal at the time.
The route opened by Ragazzo and Loreggian to Sharphu IV’s Eastern point in 2022. Photo: Stefano Ragazzo/AAJ
We will have to wait for details about the peak and the identity of the solo climber. Stefano Ragazzo himself rope-soloed Eternal Flame on the Trango Towers last year. This year, however, he and Michael Hutchins will climb Rimo III, a remote peak in the eastern Karakoram, supported by a Cutting Edge grant.
Annapurna for early birds
There are no Everest permits listed yet. Annapurna has 43 foreigners who have already obtained a permit. The first summits on Annapurna will likely come this week.
