It’s finally confirmed, Shisha Pangma is open for foreign expeditions this fall. Yet climbers must respect the rules set by the China-Tibet Mountaineering Association for the Tibetan 8,000’ers: no solo climbers and supplementary oxygen is mandatory from 7,000m.
“They are the mandatory rules,” outfitter Climbalaya explained. Climbalaya has a small group of clients from China and India heading to the mountain. Their group also includes Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, the Nepali woman aiming to complete her 14×8,000’ers project.
We expect several other climbers with the same goal to announce their plans soon, as members of teams launched by Seven Summit Treks and Imagine Nepal.
Are no-O2 projects impossible?
Mario Vielmo will be among them. Vielmo is a professional mountain guide from Italy who has devoted over a decade to climbing the 14×8,000’ers without O2. He only has Shisha Pangma to go.
The regulations established by the CTMA will probably spoil his plans.
“I honestly don’t know what I will do about the use of O2,” he told us before departing for Nepal. “I will double-check the requirements and, if there is no option, I will stick to them and will have to use supplementary O2.”
In that context, it is surprising that Nirml Purja announced that he intends to climb the mountain without bottled gas.
When asked for comment, Purja’s team told us that: “Nims has all the required permissions from the relevant authorities for this exped.”
Purja is back in the spotlight
After some months of keeping a low profile, Purja returns to his “open-secret project” of summiting the 14×8,000’ers without supplementary O2.
“This mountain has been the site of so much joy and sorrow in my life,” Purja said when announcing his plans.
Indeed, Purja finished his record Project Possible on Shisha Pangma in 2019. At the time it was closed to foreigners, but he obtained a special permit from the Chinese authorities.
Last year, as the mountain opened again, Purja led an expedition that ended in disaster. His American client Anna Gutu died in an avalanche, together with her sherpa guide. Gutu was in a frantic race against Gina Rzucidlo (a client in another team launched by Seven Summit Treks) to become the first American woman to summit the 14×8,000’ers. Less than an hour after Gutu and Mingmar Sherpa died, a second avalanche killed Rzucidlo and her guide Tenjen Lama.
At the time, Purja was lower on the mountain, climbing without supplementary O2.
