North side of Mount Everest

The ropes are fixed up to the summit of Mount Everest – at least on the north side of the highest mountain on earth. On Thursday, according to consistent reports, nine Sherpas of an Indian team, responsible for securing the normal route on the Tibetan side, reached the highest point at 8,850 meters. The Nepalese operator Arun Treks, who had organized the expedition, dedicated these first ascents of the Everest season to the Swiss climber Ueli Steck, who had fallen to death on Nuptse on 30 April.

Summit, pre-summit or even below?

Meanwhile, the situation on Makalu remains confused. Who was how far up? On Wednesday – as reported – some teams had reported summit successes on the fifth highest mountain on earth. The German climber Thomas Laemmle, who is staying in the Advanced Base Camp after he had canceled his own summit attempt, wrote on Facebook, these were “fake news”: “So far nobody summited Makalu this season! Not even the fore-summit was reached due to lack of 100m fixed rope.”

Elisabeth Revol on Makalu

The Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol had informed via Facebook: “We stopped at the antecime (pre-summit). To the main summit too much snow, wind patches and too much wind. We were only 3 without oxygen on 20 climbers.“ I asked her via email whether this applied to all of the 20 climbers she had mentioned. “Yes, everyone turned back on antecime … not safe to climb,” Elisabeth replied.

On Thursday, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Dreamers Destination, announced: “We are now on Makalu summit. Clear weather and great view.” On 30 April on Dhaulagiri, the 31-year-old Mingma had succeeded the first summit success on an eight-thousander this spring, along with two more Sherpas and two clients. If his success on Makalu is confirmed, it is Mingma’s tenth eight-thousander. Only on Mount Everest, which he has climbed already five times, he used bottled oxygen.