Summit day on Everest, Lhotse and Makalu – Himalaya 2008 climbing season – 3th report.

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MountEverest.net – http://www.mounteverest.net/

Project-Himalaya Jamie McGuinness called ExWeb from the summit of Everest, reporting plenty of climbers enroute or on top. More are expected up tomorrow and Friday.

Meanwhile, also Lhotse has been topped out and more summit reports keep arriving from Makalu. On Annapurna, the situation is still serious but at least Iñaki and Alexey are alive, and a rescue is underway.

Today’s summit reports

First summit news from Everest today was reported by Mountain Madness team (check a separate story published earlier today).

Shortly afterwards, Dominique was the first Peak Freaks member to reach the top. According to the team’s latest report Larry, Scott and George were closing in as well. Leader Tim Rippel was in between everyone, watching for Farouq and Sultan who were behind. Tim said everyone was moving slow as there were about 50 people in front of him. Saad Naseer aborted his speed ascent attempt.

Project-Himalaya team members, including leader Jamie McGuinness, also topped out. Listen to Jamie’s live voice message from the summit here!

Alan Arnette did not climb with Project-Himalaya (as earlier stated on ExWeb) but with Mountain Professionals (small team led by Ryan Waters). Extremely tired, Alan turned aborted at the Balcony and decided to return to Camp 4, according to his home team.

“At 6:23am (Nepal time) Danuru (#10), Dawa (#6), Casey (#2), and Ari reached the summit,” IMG Leaders Mark Tucker and Ang Jangbu reported. “Bob and Nima Karma turned at the South Summit on the way up and are now back to the Col. Vance, Chip, Joe, Adam and Kurt were on their way from C3 to C4.” In a later dispatch, IMG confirmed the summiteers had safely reached back in C4.

Spaniards Pepe Baena and Ricardo Guerrero, members in Cordoba Everest team, summited around 11:00 am, local time, after a 10 hours-long climb from C4. Also Spaniards Xavi Arias, Xavi Aimar and Lina Quesada have topped out.

SummitClimb team members Matt, Barry, John (Irish), John (from UK) and Ken reached C4 yesterday, planning to summit today. Andrew Brash, currently in C3, congratuated “Ken and the guys,” for having summited Everest in the morning.

Nepal Government still restricting comms?

While most teams seems to be able to use their sat-phones, Alpine Ascents’ crew in US has posted the following note: “We are still operating under limited communications based on the government restrictions,” they stated. AA team planned to reach C3 today.

Everest teams lower down

Andrew Brash arrived in C3 today. “Tomorrow morning it’s to the south col for us, and then summit night on the 22nd/23rd – no pressure,” he reported.

Adventure Consultant climbers are still holding in C2. “This morning we were greeted by the longest trail of bodies from Camp 3 towards Camp 4, anyone, even our Sherpa staff had ever seen,” they reported yesterday. “This made us happy, it hopefully means fewer people on our summit day.”

François-Guy Thivierge’s expedition, also comprising Sébastien Audy and two Sherpas, will attempt to reach the top tomorrow.

Mountain trip team members are also having a rest day in C2 today.

Lhotse: Summits, further news expected, and a rescue

Back in C3 at 7000m, Arnold Coster has reported on member Harris and Lhakpa Sherpa topping out yesterday, in spite of pretty strong wind. Maya Sherpa, Jangbu Sherpa and Arnold himself eventually turned around due to the windy conditions.

Spaniard Rosa Fernández also summited yesterday, together with a Sherpa and using supplementary O2. She had set off from C2.

As for today’s summits, there are good news from Asian Trekking international team: at 8.45 am, local time, Dawa Steven bagged his third 8000er after Cho Oyu and Everest. Team mates Stuart G. Smith, from Texas, Mexican David L. González, Nima Kanchha Sherpa, Peba Tshering Sherpa, and Palden Nyange Sherpa followed shortly after.

After some rest back in BC, Dawa will attempt Everest together with his fellow mates from eco Everest team.

Meanwhile, news is expected from Italians Mario Merelli and Marco. “There’s been lots of rumors, but no confirmed information yet,” Patricia from Mario’s home team stated. “Earlier today, Silvio Mondinelli told me from BC that Mario and Marco should be moving towards the summit at that moment.”

Carlos Pauner has just reported from C4. He was extremely tired, and reported he had turned around shortly before the summit.

Yesterday, there was also a rescue going on on Lhotse: a rock slide hit some tents in C4, injuring a member in a military team from Jaca, Spain. Francisco Borja was hit in the leg and had to be helped all the way down by his mates, who needed the entire night to bring him safely back to BC.

Makalu: Summits and retreats

Joao García is back in BC from Makalu summit, recovering form an exhausting climb in cold conditions. He reported on Andrew (Australian Andrew Lock) and Hector having reached the summit three hours ago. This would mark Lock’s 8000er number 13, with only Shishapangma left.

Catalan climbers Blanca Ardanaz and Jordi Servosa phoned yesterday from BC. They had summited on May 18 at 1:00 pm, local time, without O2 or Sherpas. The two climbers succeeded in their first shot, starting from C2. Blanca had previously summited Broad Peak last year, while Jordi had attempted Everest in 2006. They shared permit with the Basque Expedition.

Andalusians and Basques have finally called from C4 , after turning around on a summit bid on May 19, due to rough weather conditions.

Annapurna

Check out a separate story posted today.

Links to teams on Everest and Himalaya:

Everest

Canadian Mallory
Irish Everest/Graham and Ian
Klimb for kids/Tim Warren
James Balfour
No guts know glory/Rob Hill
Lee Farmer
Adventure Peaks
Peak Freaks
IMG
Alpine Ascents
Adventure Consultants
Summit Climb
Alaskan Granite
Danish Everest
Cordoba Everest
Nepalese 77 year old
Eco Everest/Dawa Sherpa
Coldfeat Fiennes/Cool
Mountain Madness
Jagged Globe
Lincoln Hall rescuers Andrew Brash, Myles Osborne and Dan Mazur
MountainTrip dispatches
Project-Himalaya Everest dispatches
Cheryl and Nikki Bart
Miura senior (Japanese)
Alan Arnette
David Tait
Rodrigo Raineri (Vitor Negrete’s mate) and Eduardo Keppke (no 02)
Gnaro’s Share Everest
www.marcoconfortola.it
Andalusian Lina
www.stephan-keck.at
Keck at www.alpinist.at
Francois Guy Thivierge
SpaceRef.com carrying news of Scott Parazynski
Scott Parazynski blog
Martin McGarvey’s blog
Vietnam Everest

OTHER HIMALYA

Makalu

UK Royal Navy
Waldemar Niclevicz and Irivan Gustavo Burda
Andrew Lock
French Makalu
Santiago Quintero
Blair Falahey
Joao Garcia
Ralf Dujmovits’ updates
Spanish paper covering Lolo Gonzales
Andalusia/Basques and Lolo Gonzales dispatches
Latvia:Atis Plakans (leader), Liga Plakane, and Kaspars Klapkalns
News on Juanito on Marca.com

Manaslu

Dutch team expedition website
Katja Staartjes
Menno Boermans
Amical
Maxut’s updates on Mount.kz (Russian)

Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri west face Babanov/Nick Totmjanin
news on the Argentinean team
Martin Minarik
Radek Jaros and Zdenek Hruby
Kinga and Kasia
Gerlinde
Carlos Pauner, Javier Perez and Marta Alexandre
Ivan Vallejo
Polish Dhaula with Artur Hajzer and Ryszard Pawlowski
Himalaya Maestrat
Lithuanian expedition
News on Al filo team on S.Alvaro’s blog

Annapurna

Inaki Ochoa
Horia Colibasanu
Don Bowie
Piotr Pustelnik’s dispatches
Peter Hamor’s website
Piotr Morawski’s website
Bogomolov updates on RussianClimb
Ueli Steck
Annapurna 4 ski expedition
Radek Jaros and Zdenek Hruby

Lhotse

DCXP
Rosa’s updates on LNE
Mario Merelli’s website

Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

* Previous story :

– Himalaya 2008 climbing season – report.

– Himalaya 2008 climbing season – 2nd report.

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