All the winter 8,000m teams have chosen the Khumbu Valley to acclimatize. Several will use Ama Dablam as their practice peak, despite its mounting danger. Waldemar Kowaleski and his group will head for the summit tomorrow.
Oswald Pereira of Poland will join Simone Moro and Nima Rinji Sherpa for their alpine-style attempt on Manaslu. The team will leave for Nepal soon.
Khumbu practice
Alex Txikon, Sajid Sadpara, and their Spanish group reached Base Camp on Ama Dablam yesterday. Seven Summit Treks has a semi-permanent camp here at 4,700m throughout the fall and early winter.
Recently, Txikon’s group trekked to Everest Base Camp for acclimatization. The Spaniards need time to prep for the altitude, but Waldemar Kowaleski, his Polish partners, two Russians, and Mattia Conte of Italy have been there since November 30.
The Khumbu is the ideal place to acclimatize, thanks to its comfortable infrastructure, high average altitude, and its climbing options on 6,000’ers of different degrees of difficulty. Then teams can move efficiently to their chosen peaks as soon as calendar winter starts on December 21. They will be acclimatized but rested from their time in one of the Khumbu’s many lodges. This will shorten their exposure to the severe cold of January and February.
Seven Summit Treks keeps a Base Camp and maintains the route on Ama Dablam throughout the early winter. Photo: Alex Txikon
Simone Moro has confirmed that his Manaslu team will also spend time in the Khumbu, trekking and climbing 6,812m Ama Dablam before flying to Manaslu.
Jost Kobusch of Germany opted to climb Mera Peak (6,476m), also in that region. For that climb earlier this week, he partnered with ultrarunner Kirra Balmanno. They are currently hustling across three high cols: Mera Pass at 5,400m, Amphu Labsta Pass (5,800m), and Kangma Pass (5,500m).
Kobusch will then move alone to Everest to tackle the West Ridge.
Jost Kobusch leads Kirra Balmanno on Mera Peak earlier this week. Photo: Jost Kobusch
Serac alert on Ama Dablam
Kowalewski told ExplorersWeb that his plan is to go Camp 1 tomorrow, Camp 2 on Saturday, and after some rest, to leave for the top at midnight, thus summiting on Sunday. The Polish climber already climbed Ama Dablam on November 11 but said this will be his last time on the mountain for a while. It’s become way too hazardous.
“The crevasse between Camp 3 and the summit is dangerous to cross and getting deeper and deeper,” he said. “[This] will eventually lead to the rupture of the serac above. When it falls, it will kill all the climbers [who happen to be] on the 95-minute section between the camp and the crevasse.”
Negotiating the dangerous section above Camp 3. Photo: Waldemar Kowalewski
“The serac may break off in the next minute or three years from now,” he added. “But it will break as it did eight years ago when it swept all the tents and climbers from Camp 3.”
The incident Kowalewski is referring to actually happened 18 years ago, in 2006. Four consecutive avalanches came down from above the Dablam Glacier in the early morning and struck Camp 3. It killed six climbers and obliterated the camp. You can read an eyewitness report here.
Kowaleski warned that climbers have to risk 95 minutes up and 25 minutes down in a “real death zone.” He promises that after this time, he will only return after the serac has fallen.
Kowaleski is leading Bartlomiej Leonowicz, Lukasz Awizem, and Andrzej Kolodziejczyk. It is unclear whether Conte, the Russian climbers or anyone else might join as well.
Pereira joins winter Manaslu
Oswald Rodrigo Pereira of Poland says he will join Simone Moro and Nima Rinji Sherpa on their alpine-style attempt on winter Manaslu. Pereira has a formidable task ahead of him. In addition to climbing an 8,000m peak in winter alpine style, with no camps or fixed ropes, he will have to carry film gear and somehow coax the cameras and drones to work in the extreme cold.
He told ExplorersWeb:
The footage will depend mainly on how our climbing goes. I want to use especially the acclimatization process for filming. Once on Manaslu, it will depend a lot on the conditions…When I started my 8,000m journey, the film Cold by Cory Richards was my point of reference. It showed me that you don’t need a lot of material but strong characters and [footage] in extreme conditions to tell a good story.
Pereira noted that his trips with 8,000m skier Bartek Ziemski taught him how to combine climbing and filming.
“I think this time it will be quite similar but adding cold,” he said.
Pereira and Ziemski climbed together on Annapurna and Dhaulagiri in 2023 and Kangchenjunga in the spring of 2024. On all three occasions, Ziemski skied from the summit while Pereira followed on foot.
In addition to high altitude climbing an filming, Oswald Rodrigo Pereira is an avid long-distance runner. Photo: Oswald Pereira/Facebook
Oswald Pereira has broad experience on winter 8,000’ers. His Himalayan climbing career began in 2018 with the National Polish K2 winter expedition.
“I learned how to film in winter, thanks to Dariusz Zaluski, from whom I learned a lot,” he said.
Pereira also attempted winter K2 in 2021 and Manaslu with Alex Txikon in the following winter.
