The storm is still raging around Everest, with more than a meter of snow hitting South Side BC yesterday. Most of the teams on that side of the mountain have already evacuated, and are returning to Kathmandu, but in other parts of the Himalaya, there are still some on going climbs.
Last week I reported that the Polish Nanda Devi Team was preparing to make their summit bid, but unfortunately poor weather over the weekend put a premature halt to that attempt. But the team waited out the storm, and the weather window opened up on Monday, allowing them to begin their final push at last. According to the team's website, Jarek Woćko and Daniel Cieszyński are in the midst of their summit bid now, having set off from 6900m two nights ago. That means, that we could have news of a successful summit at any time. What a way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the first ascent on this beautiful mountain.
On the North Side of Everest it is being reported by both ExWeb and Alan Arnette that teams that were stranded in C1 yesterday are now back in base camp, and waiting to see if they'll get another crack at the summit. One team isn't waiting around though, as the Serbian team is already heading up, with an eye on topping out tomorrow. They figure it's better to battle the snow than the crowds I guess.
Finally, sad news from the Lhotse-Everest Traverse team, who were trying to make one last valiant attempt at achieving their very ambitious goals when the storm hit the region. The weather was too much, and the elected to give up on their bid to make the first successful traverse from the summit of Lhotse to Everest. On their descent, tragedy struck however, as Kazakh climber Sergei Samoilov was lost. Details are still a bit sketchy at this point, and I'm sure we'll hear more about this in the days ahead, but for now, my thoughts are with Sergei's friends and family.
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