Posted: Oct 08, 2008 10:10 am EST
(MountEverest.net) "A summit is where everything goes down in all directions," said Inaki Ochoa about the increasing attempts to claim fore summits as victory. Inaki evaluated that up to 40-50% reported summits on some mountains in later years were not correct, and the current Manaslu season adds fuel to the fire.

Also today, tragedy struck Lukla’s airport, when a Twin Otter crashed (read more in a separate story).

Everst Skydive: Member injured in parachute incident

“This is to inform that none of the Everest Skydive clients or crew were aboard on the ill fated Yeti Airlines plane crash that occurred this morning at Lukla airport,” Everest Skydive team posted today. However, they have had another scare.

The parachuters have been performing daily jumps in Shyangboche area and, according to Peak Freak’s Tim Rippel, currently climbing Pumori, one of the jumps went not so well.

“Tim hears a wap-wap-wap above him; it is the skydivers coming in,” Peak Freaks home team reported on Monday. “He ran the edge of Syangboche airstrip to film them dropping off over the edge when one of our trekkers came running to him yelling "Tim, Tim, one of them crashed!". He was first on the scene to stabilize the female skydiver until their medical team arrived. She had apparently dropped in through the fog and became disoriented. When she went to correct her chute, she picked up too much speed and smashed into the ground. She is bruised and broke her leg.”

Manaslu: Nives' and Phil's reports

Nives Meroi has now posted a full debrief of the Italians Manaslu climb. Not yet fully acclimatized, Nives, Romano and Luca bivvied at 6,900 m and left 2:00 am on October 4th on their summit push.

“The wind had erased tracks made by Sherpas on the previous day. By 5:00am we reached the place where several teams had established their C4 (at 7,500m)," the team reports.

"A long line of Sherpas with foreign climbers behind them were on their way up – except for those turning around."

"We climbed at a regular pace until we reached the summit at 9:00am. There was just the three of us there – everyone else stopped at the foresummit: It was a large bunch of people, most of them on O2… there were empty canisters all along the route.”

“As for us, we hugged, took summit pictures and went down, retrieving our camp on the way and returning to BC by 8:00 pm."

“Valerie, Tarki Sherpa and I summited Manaslu at 9:30 AM local time on October 5th,” . Altitude Yunkies/Project-Himalaya leader Phil Crampton reported.

“The summit this year is decorated by prayer flags bearing an exposed corniced ridge that leads to the true summit, which many teams have avoided. The Spanish expedition was first to summit this morning followed by the Japanese using supplementary oxygen. Both of these teams went the extra distance and reached the true summit so we all decided to climb to the true summit over Manaslu along with our Mexican friends Yuri and Laura. We have to say a huge thank you to the Spanish team for putting in the route along the exposed cornice ridge.”

“We believe that Valerie has become the first British woman to summit Manaslu without supplementary oxygen. Tarki Sherpa and I did not use oxygen," Phil added.

Members Guntis, Stuart, and Pasang Gombu Sherpa attemted the summit on Monday, but conditions turned for the worse. “They battled in vain against the fierce wind until reaching just below the summit and had to make the decision to turn around as none of them were using supplementary oxygen and the risk of frostbite was too high,” Phil said. All members are currently safely back.

Other summits?

Jagged Globe departed 7,400 meters on October 4th. “All members and Sherpas were down suited and fitted with oxygen,” JG home team reported. “This led to a straightforward climb through the undulating snow slopes and up to the summit itself which was reached at 9:08 am,” they state.

A similar report was posted yesterday by HiMex team member Adrian Ballinger. “We have done it. Almost exactly 2 days ago, we were standing on top of the world’s eighth tallest mountain, at 8163 meters. And equally as important, today our entire team is back in BC happy and healthy. It was an incredible push that enabled us to be the first team to establish Camp 4 on the peak, and the first team to push the route to the summit. And of course, a huge part of the credit goes to our sherpa team and their effort.”

According to other climbers' reports however, it seems that both teams stopped before the actual summit so further confirmations are expected from those outfits.

Annapurna newcomers

Czech Zdenìk Strnadel reports that Czech climbers Martin Minarik, Petr Masek and Slovak climber Jozef (Dodo) Kopold will be attempting Annapurna NW wall this fall via the Gabarrou route whose first summit was bagged by Czech climbers Josef Nežerka and Jindøich Martiš on 2.10.1988.

Cho Oyu

IMG’s second team have all safely descended to ABC on Monday. “By now you may have heard that there were several accidents on Cho Oyu over the last few days involving several other teams,” director Eric Simonson reported from the outfitter’s HQ. Simonson expressed his condolences, but provided no further details. There are neither further reports from Summit Climb team since last Saturday, but check in for a special report by Gavin Turner later today.

Meanwhile, Spanish Extremadura team members Isabel and Nico set off from BC today, intending to reach the summit by October 8th. Members Arturo and Vanesa were on retreat from C2, but still hope for a further attempt in a few days time. “Some teams are already departing,” they wrote. “Most of them were short of time, due to delays caused by problems with visas and climbing permits, which made us waste a whole week in Kathmandu.”

Links to Himalaya fall 2008 teams:

Everest

News on Korean Park’s SW face expedition on Donga
Skydive Everest

Kangchenjunga

Fredrik Eriksson’s dispatches

Annapurna

Jean Troillet’s updates
American Dare to Dream expedition’s updates

Manaslu

Nives & Romano’s updates
Edurne's blog on Diario Vasco
Serbian expedition’s website
Stephan Keck’s website
Rosa Fernández’s website
Amical Alpin
Altitude Junkies/Project-Himalaya team’s dispatches
Kari Kobler’s team reports
Jagged-Globe
Yuri Contreras and Laura
Adrian Ballinger's blog (climbing with HiMex)
Kinga Baranowska
Friendship Beyond borders

Makalu

House's posts on Patagonia's blog
Vince Anderson's blog
Jesus Calleja’s blog
Bachinepally Shekhar Babu's website

Cho Oyu

Spanish Extremadura team’s posts
Italian From the Appennino Reggiano to the Himalaya
Field Touring Alpine’s team blog
IMG Expedition’s website
Summit Climb Expedition’s website

Pumori

PeakFreaks' updates
Fabrizio Zangrilli's blog

Annapurna II

Croatian expedition's blog

Baruntse

Alpine Ascents - Dave Morton's live dispatches
Adventure consultants' live dispatches
(AC team member) Louis Kosztelny's live dispatches

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