Broad Peak (with the shadow of K2)

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa does not seem to get fed up with climbing eight-thousanders this summer. Five days after his summit success on K2, when under his guidance twelve climbers had reached the top of the 8,611-meter-high mountain in the Karakoram, the 31-year-old expedition leader of the Nepalese operator Dreamers Destination set off with a team for a late-in-season summit attempt on neighboring Broad Peak. According to the GPS tracker of his client John Snorri Sigurjónsson, the team today reached Camp 2 at about 6,200 meters. Last week, John had become the first Icelander on the summit of K 2, the second highest mountain on earth.

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

The Untiring

“We rested well after our successful ascent on K2,” Mingma wrote on Facebook yesterday. “We are the only climbing team in (the) whole Baltoro Glacier (area) now.” It is not yet clear who else is ascending Broad Peak besides Mingma and Sigurjónsson. In case of success the expedition leader would have climbed five times to a height of more than 8000 meters this year. Before K 2, Mingma had scaled along with clients the eight-thousanders Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal last spring. At the beginning of the summer, he had reached with a team in blowing snow the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat not being sure if he had really found the highest point.

Update 3 August: Mingma G. Sherpa and nine other climbers pitched up their Camp 3 on Broad Peak at an altitude of about 7,000 meters. Scheduled summit push on Friday. Keep fingers crossed!