Autumn 2014 | Arrivals at BCs and Acclimatization Continue

Climbers on Manaslu are getting ready for first summit push by next week. Cho Oyu and Shishapangma teams have reached C1. Makalu and Dhaulagiri climbers are still trekking towards BCs, whereas Koreans have kicked off the climb on Lhotse.

Lhotse

After remaining stuck at BC for several days, it appears that the Koreans had the first opportunity to go up the mountain, last week. They worked on the route to C1, before returning to Base Camp. The team is attempting an ascent of Lhotse via challenging South Face.

Korean Climbers heading to C1

Towards Makalu and Dhaulagiri BCs

Apparently, there will be one team each on Makalu and Dhaulagiri, this season. The Slovakian Dhaulagiri climbers left Kathmandu on September 12th and are scheduled to reach the BC on 18th.

British Tri-Service Makalu team has also left for the mountain. The trek to the Base Camp started on September 14th, when they left Num. The team was expected to reach Tashi Gaon, today.

Shishapangma

A couple of months ago, we heard that Ueli Steck along with his wife was in Peru, working out for an attempt on Shishapangma. In an interesting incident, the climber aka Swiss Machine’s entry to Huascaran National Park was denied when he forgot his Alpine Club membership card at hotel in Huaraz. He had to send someone back to hotel to get his card.

Ueli Steck stunned the mountaineering world with a historic climb on Annapurna’s South Face, last autumn. The updates from the climber were few and far between throughout that expedition. However, we may be hearing more about him this year as he joins several other climbers at Shishapangma ABC.

“I am back in Tibet. We (are) having a great time. The plan is to climb Shishapangma together with my wife Nicole,” is the message from Ueli Steck, who has already climbed the mountain in a record time of 10.5hrs in Spring 2011.

Majority of other climbers have also reached Shishapangma ABC, now. The Italian-German Double 8 team (Andrea Zambaldi, Benedikt Böhm and Sebastian Haag) reached ABC on 12th. Spaniard Carlos Soria arrived on 14th. Danish climber Bo Belvedere Christensen arrived in Kathmandu on September 9th and was expecting to leave for BC on 11th.

The Kobler-Partner team is in C1, tonight. “Spending night at shisha c1. Ascent was fun but very cold and windy. Everyone feels good and settling in for a clear but cold night.” Billi Bierling ‏tweeted this evening.

C1 on Cho Oyu; Source

Manaslu

Weather on Manaslu has been a bit intermittent in past few days. However, the climbers continue their acclimatization on the mountain. Commercial expeditions Himex and Altitude Junkies are leading the rope fixing process. It’s reported that the route is fixed until just before C3. In next attempt the Sherpa will fix the route to C4. Interestingly, they have also fixed ladders over some large crevasses between C1 and C3.

Phil Crampton, leader of AJ team wrote today, “With our second rotation complete on the mountain we are now resting at base camp in anticipation of our summit push. We hope if all goes well to summit within the next 10 days.”

Several other climbers/teams are still acclimatizing before their attempt to go all the way to summit.

Cho Oyu

On Cho Oyu, multiple teams have completed their first rotation to C1. Summit Climb team is now heading towards C2. Expedition Leader Dan Mazur tweeted this morning, “SummitClimb Cho Oyu expedition (is) at Camp1 (6400m/21,000ft). No teams above us. We open route to C2. Breaking trail; very deep snow.”

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