Himalaya 2010: Kathmandu Busy, Base Camps Showing Signs of Life

799px Annapurna I ABC Morning
As I mentioned yesterday, the annual descent on Kathmandu has begun, with climbers and trekkers beginning their pilgrimages to the various mountains that have been calling their name over the past few months. Word from KTM is that the city it is busy and bustling at the moment, as our usual cast of adventurers make last minute preparations before heading out to the mountains.

One team that has been in and out of Kathmandu, and on their mountain of choice, is Edurne Pasaban’s Annapurna Squad. For the moment, they remain the only team on the mountain, and have already established themselves up to C2. In fact, the team has been fixing ropes to C3 the past few days, and have been living in Camp 2 since Wednesday, which puts them well along in their acclimatization process. The group is hoping to make an early summit then move over to Tibet to take a stab at Shisha Pangma, grabbing the last two 8000 meter peaks on Edurne’s schedule.

ExWeb is reporting that another woman in pursuit of the 8000 meter peaks, Miss Oh Eun-Sun of South Korea, is set to arrive in Annapurna BC this week, after acclimatizing on Tharpu Chuli. Anna is the only mountain left to add to her resume as well.

Meanwhile, the Shared Summits Team is in Nepal and preparing to take on Makalu, the 5th highest peak in the world? The team consists of Chris Warner and Marty Schmidt, who will be attempting a new route on the mountain along the South Face.

The Adventure Dynamics Team is made up of a group of climbers from South Africa who are taking on Everest from the North Side. The team leaves in a little less than a week for Kathmandu, and are in the last minute stages of planning.

Similarly, the Peak Freaks have begun sending updates from their Everest team, with climbers arriving in Kathmandu. The dispatch from today notes that bad weather is once again delaying flights into Lukla and Phablu, another village nearby. Seems like a rocky start to the season, but not unusual for this time of the year, and the mountaineers are in no rush to get to Base Camp at this point anyway.

Hold on to your hats, by next week this time, things will really be getting interesting.

Kraig Becker

4 thoughts on “Himalaya 2010: Kathmandu Busy, Base Camps Showing Signs of Life”

  1. Nice post and thanks for sharing this info. Our last tour of Kathmandu was in 2009 and we have stayed at “Trekkers Holiday Inn”. It is really suitable hotel and has a beautiful location. In our point of view this is the best and most peaceful place to stay in or around Kathmandu!

    Best Regards,

  2. I wish I could attend some of these events. Kathmandu is looking beautiful, all the best as you trek up it!

  3. It is extremely interesting for me to read this blog. Thanks for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon.

    Julia Smith

  4. Pretty cool blog you've got here. Thanks for it. I like such themes and anything connected to them. I would like to read more on that blog soon.

    Bella Smith

Comments are closed.