There is no trace of Abofazl Gozali of Iran, missing on Makalu since Thursday. Fierce winds forced the Sherpa searchers to retreat yesterday from Camp 3. They could neither find Gozali nor retrieve the body of Phurma Ongel Sherpa, who fell to his death on the way down from the summit.
Expedition leader Sanu Sherpa is still taking part in the search. The other surviving Sherpa, Lakpa Rinji, is in the hospital with badly frostbitten fingers.
Four people reportedly reached the summit of Makalu on January 15 between 8:30 am and 10:30 am: expedition leader Sanu Sherpa, his younger brother, Phurba Ongel Sherpa, Lakpa Rinji Sherpa, and client Abofazl Gozali of Iran. The outfitter, Makalu Adventure, reported the summits but nothing else. The following day, Sanu Sherpa told local newspapers what had happened.
Abofazl Gozali, left, and Sanu Sherpa on Makalu some days ago. Photo: The Tourism Times/Makalu Adventure
Conflicting reports
“We reached the summit around 10:30 am. Everyone was ecstatic,” Sanu Sherpa told Everest Chronicle. “We began descending together. Phurba and Lakpa were a few meters ahead of us [and] I was with Gozali.”
According to Sanu, he eventually reached Lakpa Rinji at 7,500m. Lakpa was crying and said that Phurba Ongel had fallen. Previous reports stated that Phurba Ongel and Lakpa Rinji were behind Sanu and Gozali, after summiting one hour later. However, Lakpa Rinji himself corrected this from the hospital, in a conversation with Japanese climber Naoko Watanabe. Watanabe shared the story on her social media.
Sanu Sherpa said he told Gozali to remain in place while he and Lakpa Rinji searched for the fallen climber. “Gozali said he would descend slowly on his own [to Camp 3],” Everest Chronicle states.
The two Sherpas later located Phurba Ongel’s body at about 7,400m. He fell roughly 700m, according to Everest Chronicle. Sanu Sherpa insisted that the accident happened in a straightforward section:
“The terrain there is largely flat and considered one of the easiest sections, but it was impossible to recover him from our position,” Sanu told them.
File image of Makalu’s upper slopes in dry conditions. Photo: Stefi Troguet
As for Gozali, Sanu didn’t see him when they returned to the route and assumed he would be back in Camp 3.
“Upon reaching Camp 3, a Sherpa guide there reported that he had not seen Gozali,” The Tourism Times reported. “We then descended to Camp 2, but Gozali was not there either,” Sanu explained.
According to The Tourism Times, Sanu also checked with Base Camp staff whether Gozali had arrived there, but they confirmed he had not.
No trace
There has been no trace of him since then. Sanu says that after Camp 4, they last saw Gozali crossing a flat, easy section. They noted that “his communication devices are dysfunctional.” We don’t know if the climber had an InReach or any tracking or communication system.
Sanu Sherpa told The Tourism Times he was shocked to lose a client and a family member. “I had even asked Phurba to remain at Camp 4 to make hot water, but he insisted on summiting,” he said.
High winds
Sanu Sherpa returned to Base Camp on Friday. On Saturday, a different company, 8K Expeditions, deployed four volunteer Sherpa rescuers — Ashok Lama, Pasdawa Sherpa, Ang Chhiring Sherpa, and Pasang Tenji Sherpa — to Base Camp to retrieve the body of Phurba Ongel. Expedition outfitter Makalu Adventure noted that their own Sherpa staff at Base Camp would help.
The search party reached Camp 2 that day and progressed further up to Camp 3 on Sunday.
“However, they were driven back by high winds and plummeting temperatures near Camp 3,” Mohan Lamsal of Makalu Adventure reported. “Sadly, there was no sign of Abofazl…Two nights out now above 7,000m, I fear the worst.”
In fact, there is no realistic possibility of finding the climber alive after three days on Makalu in winter.
Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions confirmed to ExplorersWeb that the search team is currently back in Makalu Base Camp. They will try again when the weather improves.
Altipro Adventures, a new company formed by highly experienced Sherpas, has added another four members to the search team. According to the group’s tracker, they are currently at Advanced Base Camp at 5,685m.
Altipro team’s location today at Advanced Base Camp. Tracker by Altipro on Google Maps.
The survivor
There was no news about Lakpa Rinji until Japanese climber Naoko Watanabe, who knew him from previous expeditions, posted about him. She explained that Lakpa Rinji is in the hospital with eight frostbitten fingers. Watanabe shared pictures of Lakpa Rinji in his hospital bed, still wearing gloves and the warm fur hat he used on the mountain.
Lakpa was also bitter about some “false reports” shared by the outfitter, possibly saying that Phurba and he reached the summit one hour after Sanu Sherpa and Gozali. Lakpa Rinji insisted he was the first to reach the top.
Lakpa Rinji in the hospital. Photo: Naoko Watanabe/Instagram
Makalu Adventure reported summit news but no incidents on Thursday. At that moment, Watanabe said that Lakpa Rinji, with whom she was in contact during the expedition, broke trail to the summit “despite being (already?) frostbitten.”
Instagram story by Naoko Watanabe posted on Saturday.
Lakpa Rinji’s version
On an Instagram post, Watanabe says that according to Lakpa Rinji, he and Sanu first reached the summit of Makalu at 8:30 am. “Gozali was scared…he only reached the summit at 10:30, with Phurba Ongel,” she wrote.
“On descent, Phurba was talking with Lakpa Rinji, saying that he was feeling sleepy and intended to sleep as soon as he reached Camp 3. Lakpa Rinji told Phurba he should not fall asleep nor get too excited about summiting until they were all safe at Base Camp,” Watanabe’s post reported.
“While they were talking, Phurba suddenly disappeared. It all happened in two seconds,” Watanabe wrote. “At that point, there were fixed ropes, but they later found that no safety gear had been put in place,” she wrote.
Lakpa Rinji confirmed that the Iranian was told to stay put, but he insisted on continuing down on his own.
Instagram story by Naoko Watanabe
Naoko Watanabe has climbed most of her 14×8,000’ers guided by Sanu Sherpa.
Sketchy information
Communication during the expedition has been scarce, and some aspects of their progress were unclear.
The team reportedly reached Base Camp on January 6. Since then, the Sherpa team fixed ropes and pitched Advanced Base Camp/C1 (the name changes from expedition to expedition), Camp 2, and Camp 3.
On Monday, January 12, the team planned to return to Base Camp to rest before the final summit push. However, that night, they reported they were leaving Camp 3 for the summit immediately, because the weather was going to worsen in two days.
Abofazl Gozali of Iran some days ago at Makalu’s Base Camp. Photo: Abofazl Gozali/Instagram
As far as we know, there were no ropes (except those left by previous expeditions) and no Camp 4 pitched in advance. We also don’t know how much oxygen the Sherpas were able to take to Camp 3. Asked by ExplorersWeb, Makalu Adventure confirmed that everyone would be using supplementary oxygen, but they had done no rotations on the mountain that we know of. The summits were reported on January 15. Local media shared the news of what later unfolded.
