As we reported yesterday, Jost Kobusch is back on Everest, despite less-than-ideal weather.
Now Kobusch confirms that the jet stream is receding but has not yet left Everest’s upper sections. His current plan, he reiterates, is not to reach the summit — “practically nonexistent” as an option. Rather, he wants to climb “higher than last time, to see more and gain experience”. His original goal this year was to reach the base of the Hornbein Couloir at 8,000m.
Kobusch approaches the Khumbu Icefall yesterday. Photo: @terragraphy
In 2020, Kobusch reached 7,300m. Before setting off yesterday, he was cautious about his options. “If the risk is too high, there’s no shame in descending,” he admitted.
However, his tracker shows that he is going up at a good pace. He is now well past the Lho La and is mounting Everest’s huge West Ridge. Today at around 4 pm local time, the German climber apparently stopped for the night at 6,328m, barely 100m below his high point for this year. He reached that on January 6.
This season, Kobusch has not set a proper Base Camp on the Khumbu Glacier. Instead, he has pitched a single tent at the beginning of the icefall leading to the Lho La. He identifies this as Camp 1. A second tent sits at 6,000m on top of the col, close to the face of the mountain. On his previous attempt in 2020, Camp 1 was on the col and Camp 2 (the grey tent symbol on the upper part of the map) was at 6,800m.
Kobusch will retrieve all his equipment from the mountain on the way down. This will be his last foray up Everest this year.
