Update: ExWeb is now reporting that Marty has abandoned his attempt on Lhotse due to high winds and dangerous conditions. He’ll now descend back to BC and proceed to Ama Dablam, where he’ll guide a client up the mountain.
We have a bit more information on what’s happening on Lhotse at the moment as three climbers make very different attempts on the mountain amidst bad weather conditions. It seems things are deteriorating quickly in the Himalaya, and these men want to take advantage of one last window to see if they can summit.
According to ExWeb’s latest reports on the mountain, Marty Schmidt has proceed up to the Western Cwm where he evaluating the conditions on the Lhotse face today. He says that he has three different weather reports, each indicating that wind and snow are in the forecast, it’s just a matter of when they’ll arrive. Because of those reports, he was hoping to evaluate his position this morning (local time) and decide if he could have a go at the summit along the normal route. He’s been making a solo, alpine style ascent, which has put him into a good position to summit provided the conditions are right.
Meanwhile, the Spaniards, Jordi Corominas and Jordi Tosas, who are climbing along the South Face of Lhotse, are reportedly headed up the mountain today as well. They’re also hoping to take advantage of the proposed weather window, although their home team reports that there is a lot of snow high on the mountain which may make it impossible to reach the summit along their proposed route.
Stay tuned for updates. It seems that we’ll know if these bold climbers have a chance to summit in the next day or two.
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