Despite the fact that most of the teams have wrapped up their climbs, and gone home for the year, there is a late season update out of the Himalaya. According to ExWeb, a Korean team is now in position on the South Face of Annapurna, and hopes to make a summit bid later this week.
A three-man team of climbers led by Park Young Seok, that includes Dong-Min Shin and Gi-Seok Gang, spent part of the fall acclimatizing on Island Peak, a 6160 meter (20,210 ft) mountain located in eastern Nepal. After the completed that climb, the men traveled to Annapurna, arriving in Base Camp on October 9th, and have been busy fixing ropes and building camps ever since. Now, we have received word that they are on their way to the summit and hope to top out on Friday. ExWeb says they are also still considering the route of their descent, either along the normal southern route or by traversing across the mountain and going down along the North Side.
Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world, reaching 8091 meters (26,545 ft) in height. It provides a considerable challenge to climbers however, with only 153 summits to date. Of those, 58 have died, which gives Annapurna the distinction of being the most dangerous of all of the 8000-meter peaks.
Hopefully the weather holds out and Annapurna’s notoriously bad avalanches stay well away from the Korean team while they make their summit bid. I’ll follow-up on the story as we learn more.
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This is one of the most esthetic mountains to climb in my opinion, and arguably one of the most punishing in bad weather. The Martin Hanzalek foundation is currently organizing a seven summits tour with an emphasis of accessing the base of the mountain by snowkite (traction kite). Training is taking place in Frobisher bay off Baffin Island and then in Greenland. If you are interested in joining the expedition (non-profit) contact the Hanzalek foundation for more information.