All news: 18 November 2010

Nepal Expeditions - Autumn 2010 (Government Peaks):

The following is the detail of the permits issued to expedition teams for 8000m Peaks by the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation in this Autumn Season 2010:

2 Teams of 1 member each on Mt. Everest (Nepal Side)

2 Teams with a total 6 members on Mt. Lhotse

8 Teams with a total of 86 members on Mt. Manaslu

2 teams with total of 9 members Mt. Dhaulagiri from Nepal Himalayas

The above figures do not include the number of high altitude Sherpa (HAS) climbers.

Tibet Expeditions - Autumn 2010:

The following are the teams permitted on 8000m Peaks in Tibet:

2 Teams with a total of 12 climbers on Mt. Everest (including HAS)

25 Teams with a total of 340 climbers on Mt. Cho-oyu (including HAS)

3 Teams with a total of 45 climbers on Mt. Shishapangma(including HAS)

Death and Casualties:

Mt. Dhaulagiri (8167m):

An avalanche on Mt. Dhaulagiri killed three Japanese climbers, Osumu Tanabe(49 yrs),Toshio Yamamoto(36 yrs) and Daisuke Honda(32 yrs) and a Nepalese Guide Pasang Geylu Sherpa on 28th September.

Mt. Cho-Oyu (8201m):

The leader of the Cho-Oyu South West Face Expedition 2010, Walter Nones(39 yrs) of Italy had a fatal fall on 3rd October and died while climbing Mt. Cho-Oyu from South West Face New Route.

Mt. Manaslu (8163m) Base Camp:

Mr. Nobuaki Kuwabara(61 yrs) of Japan diet at the Base Camp of Manaslu on 24 September 2010. He was member of "Adventure Guides Mt. Manaslu Exp.2010" under the Leadership of Mr. Kenji Kondo of Japan.

We pray that may all the departed souls rest in peace and express our condolence to their family members and friends.

UIAA General Assembly Highlight:

The UIAA General Assembly which was held from 6th-9th October in Bormio was very fruitful. The outcome of the assembly is beneficial to all the members of UIAA. It focused on the necessity of the Expedition Commission to be re-activated. On the sidelines of the 2010 UIAA General Assembly, leading members of the global climbing community discussed the concerns of climbers and challenges of undertaking expeditions to high and remote mountain ranges.

The next general assembly of UIAA will be held on 5th to 8th October 2011 and the general assembly of UAAA will be held on 9th October 2011. Both the events will be hosted by Nepal in Kathmandu. Since the same year Nepal is celebrating Nepal Tourism Year 2011, I hope that both the events will be instrumental in promoting Nepal Tourism Year 2011 to make it a great success, as well as bringing many benefits to the mountaineering community.

Summit of Manaslu

Explorerweb

October 15 at 12:30 PM Eric Larsen plus Sherpas Dawa Gylatzen, Tshering (Chhering) Dorje, Pasang Temba and Dawa Tenzing bagged the first Everest fall season summit in four years. The Terramar sponsored expedition concluded Larsen’s quest to reach the “Three Poles” in record time.

Serial Everest summiteer lost on Baruntse The loss of Chhewang Nima Sherpa put a sad end to the climbing autumn season, wrapped up in a special report by Ang Tshering Sherpa. 19x Everest summiter Chhewang Nima Sherpa was caught in an avalanche while fixing ropes on Baruntse upper sections.

Marty Schmidt’s “shortest Himalaya expedition ever” Marty cut his solo 4-day Lhotse attempt short in order to guide a client on Ama Dablam.

Jordises out of Lhotse Spanish “K2 pirates” Corominas and Tosas finally threw in the towel on Lhotse, due to dangerous conditions.

Shisha Pangma South Koreans Chang-Ho Kim, 41, and Sung-Ho Suh summited Shisha Pangma at 2:15PM on October 14, after climbing the British route on the peak’s south side. Chang-Ho Kim claims Shisha as his twelfth 8000er without supplementary O2; Sung-Ho Kim his tenth.

Cho Oyu summit mysteries German Ralf Arnold told ExplorersWeb he was the first Cho Oyu summiteer of the season, topping out October 1, 2010 at 10:30AM in a 15 hours roundtrip from C2. An October 7 Cho Oyu summit claimed by Argentinean Adrian Sanchez was questioned after the alleged summit picture turned out shot in C1 by expedition mate Marcelo Hernandez.

Dhaulagiri Search parties found the body of Daisuke Honda, one of the four climbers swept by an avalanche, buried in snow at about 5,000 meters on Dhaula.

Manaslu Together with a Japanese climber and his two Sherpas, Mexican couple Badía Bonilla and Mauricio López reached Manaslu summit sans O2 at 2:40PM, local time on October 1, some time after the HiMex and Carlos Pauner’s groups. “We were the last to summit that day,” Badia debriefed back in Kathmandu.

Blind Everest summiteer Erik Weihenmayer led a team of war-battered soldiers to the top of the 20,075-foot Lobuche on October 13.

Putha Hiunchuli (7,246m) was topped out on October 8 by Dutch Dick Valk, Kaji Sherpa and expedition leader Paul Boslooper.