Every time I'm about to nail the lid shut on the fall Himalaya season, another report on successful summits from the region comes pouring in. Today we have two such accounts.
First up, ExWeb is reporting that the Field Touring Alpine Team has reached base camp on Ama Dablam on Monday (Nov. 10th) and are preparing to make their assault on the mountain in a late season attempt. Their latest dispatches say that three Polish climbers topped out on the mountain on the day that the FTA team arrived, and that the Sherpas who assisted in that climb report that conditions are great on the route up. So, while the Poles have finished their successful climb, and will soon be headed home, the FTA team is just getting started.
ExWeb also has some notes on Steve House's last dispatch from Makalu that I mentioned yesterday. You'll recall that Steve, and his climbing partners, abandoned their attempts on Makalu's West Face, but he elected to make a solo attempt, which was ultimately unsuccessful due to bad weather above 6500m.
Meanwhile, Everest News has posted this climbing report from Tunc Findik who, along with Dawa Sherpa, made a successful summit on Baruntse, a 7129m peak in Eastern Nepal. Tunc gives details on their climb, which involved he and Dawa going up in Alpine style in one long continuous push. Great work guys! Congrats on the summit!
At the risk of once again calling a pre-mature end to the season, it does look like these reports will wane dramatically now. We'll probably hear a few things from the FTA team on Ama Dablam, but for the most part, it's getting quiet in the region. It should be interesting to see if anyone shows up to make a winter ascent on any of the big mountains though. An 8000m peak in the spring and fall sounds cold enough. Winter just seems to be pushing it.
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