Piotr Krzyzowski of Poland will head to 8,485m Makalu in April, aiming to climb without supplemental oxygen or Sherpa support, according to wspinanie.
Krzyzowski has already climbed seven 8,000m peaks in this style, using only fixed ropes. Last year, he summited Lhotse and Everest in 47 hours and 22 minutes, in a single push without descending below Camp 4.
As we reported earlier, unsupported climbing is supposedly not allowed on Everest this year, but Makalu is not included in this restriction.
Piotr Krzyzowski. Photo: Adrian Dmoch/wspinanie.pl
Annapurna I
As Sherpa rope-fixers prepare Annapurna I’s normal route, 83-year-old Kazuyoshi Kondo from Japan is on his way to Nepal. Kondo will climb Annapurna in the company of three Sherpas. (His fellow octogenarian, Carlos Soria, 86, still hopes to return to Manaslu in the autumn if he can raise the funds.)
Kondo has participated in 15 Himalayan expeditions over the last 30+ years. He summited Cho Oyu (autumn 1992 with O2), Dhaulagiri I (autumn 1995 without O2), Everest (spring 1998 with O2), Manaslu (spring 2009 with O2), Lhotse (spring 2011 with O2), and Ama Dablam (autumn 2019 without O2). He attempted Annapurna I in 2023, according to The Himalayan Database.
Sophie Lavaud, right, and partner Sangay Sherpa. Photo: Sophie Lavaud
The other Annapurnas
Sophie Lavaud of Switzerland, who has already completed the 14×8,000m series, has a new project. She wants to climb “the other Annapurnas,” as Maurice Herzog might put it. She will start with 7,525m Annapurna IV as part of a trilogy of three peaks in the Annapurna massif.
Lavaud wants to honor the 75th anniversary of the first ascent of Annapurna I.
