French team has launched summit-bid on Dhaulagiri SW Pillar.
With Nobukazu Kuriki’s retreat from 8150m on Everest yesterday, the focus shifts to Dhaulagiri where two climbers are on summit push. They’re hoping to reach the top by early next week.
Korean Lhotse South Face team has just reached Khumbu region and are acclimatizing now. Some well-known climbers are getting ready for challenging climbs on “lower” peaks. Ueli Steck intends to climb Nuptse South Face and is currently acclimatizing in Khumbu Valley. Austrian Nilgiri South team has been stuck in Kathmandu since couple of days due to ongoing fuel crises in Nepal.
Previously, Manaslu season concluded with 80+ summits and one causality. Annapurna South Face and Ski Makalu teams remain unsuccessful, though.
Summit Push on Dhaulagiri:-
French alpinists Patrick Wagnon and Yannick Graziani have launched their summit push on Dhaulagiri Southwest Pillar. After leaving from BC towards ABC (5100m) last night, they are expecting the Oct 11th or 12th to be summit day.
Having arrived at BC on September 20th, the French duo made two acclimatization and camp-setting rotations on the mountain. They reached 6200m on September 26th and 6800m on October 3rd. The team estimates that they will need three days to reach 7000m from BC and another day for summit and retreat to highest camp.
After a few unsuccessful attempts by French teams, Dhaulagiri SW Pillar route was first climbed by a Kazakh-Slovak team in 1988 (although, in 1980 Pierre Beghin and Bernard Muller managed to overcome the technical wall, but were sent down from 7300m by a strong wind). Yannick/Patrick’s ascent will probably be the first repetition of the route.
Lhotse South Face:-
Korean team arrived in Kathmandu on September 21st and were scheduled to leave for Lukla on 23rd. However, bad weather delayed their departure till 28th. Their plan was to acclimatize for 10 days while trekking to BC, before actual climb.
