Report by Lyudmila Korobeshko on the attempt to climb Dhaulagiri by the 8000 Club team
May 12 Dhaulagiri
Namaste to everyone from Nepal from the Dhaulagiri Lovers Club group! Report for the past period.
May 7 - moved from BC to C1. A little faster than last time - in just 9 hours. The icefall melted, the cracks became wider.
May 8 - moved from C1 to C2. By evening we learned that the advance group had been walking from C2 to C3 for as long as 12-14 hours... This made us a little... wary. We felt that our plans could change. However, we were told by radio that the plans were in effect and the advance group (the hanging team and the combined group) was ready to go on the assault in a few hours. Around midnight we were woken up and told that plans had changed and the upper group had decided to spend an extra day in the upper camp.
May 9 - woke up late. Anyway, it was a forced rest day at 6200... Celebrated Victory Day and Igor Smirnov's birthday. Walked up a bit.
May 10 - early rise and exit at 5 am to C3. The crossing turned out to be really tough - a snow-ice slope with falling snow. By the end - 35-40 degrees. There was nowhere to rest at all. We got there quickly - in about 10 hours. But we were exhausted. The camp is not conducive to rest and recovery at all - a tiny area at an angle of 25-30 degrees. The tents are crooked, it is impossible to walk between them without crampons and self-belay. There are 3-5 people in each tent. Boiling water is a huge problem. By this time, the ropers and climbers from the international team had just started to return from the summit (their journey to the summit took 15-20 hours).
In the end, we decided to leave after 9 p.m. We slept for 2-3 hours (whoever could). And by 10 p.m. we somehow got out of the tents. And immediately a steep snow-ice slope. We passed it in an hour and a half. Then the ridge. And then - an oblique traverse. All the ropes are under snow. Everything needs to be re-tracked and the ropes dug out. Snow above the knee. We walked very slowly. And then the wind picked up. We all hoped that it would die down. But it only got stronger. It was very cold. After 2 hours of fighting the wind and snow, the Sherpas said that it was dangerous to go further in such a wind. And we ourselves realized this. So we decided to turn around.
There were many adventures on the descent, including an avalanche, which miraculously only touched us with the edge. By the evening of the same day we were already at the Base Camp.
May 11 - today. We are already on our way to Kathmandu. We are resting and exchanging impressions in Pokhara. We decided that even if we go to another mountain, we will keep the previous name - "Dhaulagiri Lovers Club".
