An avalanche has swept the Swiss Team's C1 on Dhaulagiri - big hidden crevases were also uncovered. The team found the rests of a tent hanging from the edge of one of them. Image courtesy of Kari Kobler's team (click to enlarge).
This pic shot by BAI in Gorak Shep yesterday shows loads of snow on Everest and nearby peaks (click to enlarge).
“The expedition is over for him, all because of a stupid stone.” Image of Loro in Shisha's BC courtesy of Edurne Pasaban (click to enlarge).
“A lot of the teams that were leaving the mountain are now having second thoughts and sticking around to see what happens,” reported guide Vern Tejas. Live image over Contact 3.0 of a team member sending emails from BC, courtesy of Alpine Ascents (click to enlarge).
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Everest & Himalaya wrap-up: Avalanche on Dhaula; Everest Hornbein summit attempt Friday-Monday!
Posted: Sep 28, 2006 11:15 am EDT
(MountEverest.net) Weather is great and, according to forecasts, will remain good in upcoming days. Exactly what the climbers needed to hear to start their summit pushes. A large number are going up Cho Oyu, hoping to reach the summit between Sunday and Monday. Much lonelier is the Spaniards’ alpine-style push on Everest’s north face, scheduled for Friday and expected to last 4 days.
On Dhaulagiri, Swiss Kari Kobler’s team had a close call; an avalanche swept C1, dumping their tents into freshly opened crevasses. Lucky enough, the climbers weren't in the camp at the time.
Everest
BBK Everest Hornbein team: Summit push starting tomorrow?
“Forecasts are excellent,” reported BC crew member Juanjo Sansebastian. “If the weather holds, the climb may start tomorrow. We are still waiting for a new forecast tonight, but anyway the climbers are preparing everything to go up – they minds are fixed on the top of the world. The summit bid via the Hornbein couloir is expected to last four days.”
BAI: Reestablishing the Icefall route
“We have had our Sherpa team back up into the icefall to reestablish the route,” reported Wally Berg yesterday. “According to Da Sona, they are making good progress but it is a lot of work. We are hoping we can push through to Camp 1 tomorrow (today).”
Annapurna
Mondinelli: Tilicho camp
“After receiving sad news from home, Abele departed on Monday – leaving us in rather low spirits and bad weather,” reported Silvio Mondinelli. “Trying to keep our minds busy, we took advantage of the first signs of improvement in the weather conditions to move to Tilicho Glacier, at 5000m. We didn't go further up today due to dangerous conditions but will start working and carrying ropes to fix tomorrow.”
Dhaulagiri
Kari Kobler’s team: Bad surprise in C1
The Swiss team had a nasty surprise yesterday. Climbers started their summit bid yesterday with great expectations - which sunk at C1 where their camp was gone - swept away by an avalanche, which also left open some huge crevasses. The team found the rests of a tent hanging from the edge of one of them.
Guide Mischu even rappelled down the crevasse, looking for essential gear. “Not only I didn’t see our stoves or sleeping bags – I couldn’t even see the end of that huge ice hole!” The climbers had hoped to spend the night in C1, but without tent or sleeping bags they were forced back to BC.
Despite the drawback, the team is ready to try again. “We have spare gear, plenty of time, weather is excellent and forecasts also good – there is nothing wrong with spending one more day in BC. Tomorrow two Sherpas will climb up to C2 and will assess the situation.” Mischu wrote.
Shisha Pangma
Edurne: Over for Loro
A falling rock injured Loro's foot some days back, breaking his toe. “The expedition is over for him, all because of a stupid stone,” said Edurne. “We will resume the climb without him, but we are really sorry he has to go.”
Cho Oyu
Camilo Lopez: Less to share the glory?
“I will set off tomorrow (today) to my camp 1, hoping the snow will allow me to climb fast,” reports Colombian independent climber Camilo Lopez. “The mountain seems to have noticed that all the commercial expeditions are leaving and it is smiling again! At this point only a few climbers are going to attempt the summit. Everybody else is leaving.” (Ed. Note: Actually most commercial teams are still planning to attempt the summit, according to their reports.)
“I will climb my planed route and try to join at camp 3 with the normal route.”
MM/IMG/Malaga team/Romanian Alex: Going up
MM team is setting off today, hoping to reach the summit on Sunday. Spanish Malaga team will depart tomorrow. IMG Sherpas are re-fixing the route today – members will start the summit bid tomorrow, with a planned summit day on Monday. Spanish Malaga team members are also departing tomorrow, and hope to top out on Monday as well. The yak herders will pick up their gear on October 5, so that this is the first and last chance to summit for the Spaniards. Finally, Friday is also the planned summit push date for Romanian Alex, alone after his mate Sergiu was forced to abandon due to health reasons.
AC: Early birds turn around - bid starting on Saturday
“When I poked my head out of the tent at 7am, I spotted two climbers at the ice cliff above camp one,” reported AC guide Paul today. “A very strong westerly wind was sweeping across the face, “creating wind chill” and moving snow around. These early birds turned around and descended back to camp one. By mid morning the wind had eased, and I could see a long line of climbers and Sherpa leaving camp one, and climbing up.”
“Part of Camp two has been destroyed by wind and snow, but our tents and equipment are ok. I plan to climb to camp one tomorrow morning and Luis and the rest of the team will depart on Saturday. “
AA: Undecided
AA team has not confirmed when they will set off for the summit.
“A lot of the teams that were leaving the mountain are now having second thoughts and sticking around to see what happens,” reported guide Vern Tejas.
Himalaya fall 2006 expeditions homepages:
Everest:
Berg Adventures Everest dispatches | News on Spanish Hornbein team on BBK (Spanish)
Annapurna:
Mondinelli’s website (Italian)
Dhaulagiri:
Ivan Vallejo’s website (Spanish) | Kari Kobler’s team Dhaula dispatches (German) | News on Polish teams on HiMountain
Manaslu:
JN Urban's Sky-ski attempt (French) | News on French teams - Manaslu, Nuptse, Melungtse on FFME (French)
Shisha Pangma:
Edurne Pasaban’s website (Spanish) | Joao Garcia’s blog on Sic/Sapo (Portuguese) | Tom Torkelson’s blog | Norwegian Hamar team’s blog (Norwegian) | Inaki Ochoa’s website (Spanish) | Project-Himalaya’s Shisha dispatches | Project-Himalaya’s blog| HiMex Shisha & Cho Oyu dispatches
Cho Oyu:
Tom Avery’s Ski Cho Oyu dispatches |D.Benegas’ dispatches |Alpine Ascents’ dispatches |Adventure Consultants’ dispatches | Kari Kobler’s team dispatches (German)| Mountain Madness’ dispatches | IMG’s dispatches | Polish expedition’s website (Polish) | Romanian expedition’s dispatches | Dutch expedition | Malaga Cho Oyu's reports (Spanish) | FPMEE Philippine team
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