The Sherpa team on winter Makalu has called off its operation to retrieve the remains of Abofazl Gozali of Iran and Phurba Ongel Sherpa of Nepal, after severe bad weather again pushed them back.
Sanu Sherpa and four other Sherpas from 8K Expeditions went up to Camp 2 yesterday and Camp 4 today. However, they were unable to proceed further to the area where Phurba Ongel is believed to have fallen and Gozali disappeared, The Tourism Times reported.
Route topo by Saulius Damulevicius of Lithuania.
This was the second attempt to retrieve the body of Phurba Onger Sherpa, who fell to his death on January 15 while descending from the summit. Abofazl Gozali of Iran went missing around the same time and place. When the searchers returned to Base Camp today, they said they had found no trace of either of them.
Weather forecasts show the wind didn’t drop as expected, and the temperature at the summit altitude was around -30ºC. These extremely high winds are expected to continue for the next few days. This makes any attempt to reach the upper sections of the mountain extremely dangerous.
In the end, they will leave the bodies on the mountain until at least the spring.
Multimodel forecast for the next few days on Makalu at summit altitude. Chart bt Mountainforecast.com
Bitter summit day
Phurba Ongel fell at some point below the French Couloir as he descended together with Lakpa Rinji. Sanu Sherpa, the expedition leader and Ongel’s elder brother, walked slightly behind, guiding Gozali. Sanu ran to find the whereabouts of his brother and asked Gozali to remain in place until he returned, but the Iranian reportedly insisted on continuing by himself to Camp 3. That was the last time he was seen.
Abofazl Gozali, left, and Sanu Sherpa on Makalu some days ago. Photo: The Tourism Times/Makalu Adventure
The area where he went missing is not technically difficult, but it is not completely flat, and there are some crevasses. In the past, several climbers have lost their way on this wide plateau in whiteouts while looking for Camp 3.
There is no chance of finding Gozali alive in winter on Makalu, without oxygen supplies or shelter. The search team found no trace of him at Camp 3, where he was headed.
Second team to try again
A team of Nepalese guides, organized by the new outfitter AltiPro Adventures, is still trying to climb Makalu, despite the weather. They posted an Instagram story yesterday from Camp 2, where they had spent a cold, windy night. This was probably on Tuesday.
According to their tracker, carried by Dawa Lama, the climbers reached 7,500m Makalu La yesterday. Today, they retreated to Advanced Base Camp at around 6,000m.
Mingma Dorchi Sherpa told ExplorersWeb by text from Base Camp: “It’s very high winds here. We will wait for another weather window.”
Tracker of the AltiPro team on winter Makalu today, showing their progress to the Makalu La yesterday, and their position at 6,000m today. Photo: InReach
A spokesman for 8K Expeditions noted earlier this week that the AltiPro team was not participating in the search for Gozali and Phurba Ongel. However, Dawa Lama and Mingma Dorchi of AltiPro told a different story.
“The weather was very bad, which is why we couldn’t locate the missing Sherpa,” Dawa Lama said. “Hopefully, in the next weather window, we will be able to carry out the [recovery].”
Added Mingma Dorchi: “Yes, I did participate in the search and rescue. I stayed overnight in the camp area with three other Sherpas specifically to search for Phurba’s body. I have just returned from Camp 4 today.”
Communication with the mountain is difficult, but if the second team launches a summit push when the weather improves, no doubt they will at least try to spot the bodies of Phurba Ongel and Gozali on their way.
