While most of the climbers have now packed it in for the season, and the mountains are starting to fall silent until the spring, Lhotse sill has a few climbers looking to top out from both sides of the mountain. ExWeb posted an update on their progress yesterday.
First up is Marty Schmidt who is climbing the 8,516m (27,940 ft) mountain in solo and alpine fashion along the normal route. As of Tuesday, he was at the 6000m (19,685 ft) mark and was looking to head up to the Lhotse wall yesterday. If the weather holds and the conditions around the summit are good, he hoped to complete the climb today. There has been no update on his progress yet, but it’s likely that he made the final push this morning and is now headed back down the mountain. ExWeb says he’ll move over to Ama Dablam next, where he’ll guide a client.
The other team on Lhotse consists of Jordi Tosas and Jordi Corominas, who are working the peak along the South Face. On Monday, they were in BC and evaluating the conditions, which seemed to be improving, and on Tuesday they moved further up the face. If conditions continue to get better, they are expected to make an attempt on the summit in the next few days. They have already acclimatized up to 6500m (21,325 ft) and are now ready for the final push.
These climbers seem to be the last on the big peaks in the Himalaya this season, although there are still plenty of climbs that are taking place on some of the “lesser” peaks in the region. Soon, the weather will change once again, and they’ll all be shut down save for a few bold winter expeditions. Spring seems like a long way off at the moment, but the season will be here before we know it.
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