Himalaya Fall 2010: Season Finally Ends On Lhotse

The Fall Himalayan season has been slowly crawling towards the finish line for a few weeks now. While most of the mountains have been deserted for awhile, there have been a few lingering climbers hoping beyond hope that they would get an opportunity to summit. It seems for two of them, that hope has now been dashed.

ExWeb is reporting that the two Jordis, Corominas and Tosas, have now called it quits on Lhotse. The pair of Spaniards were attempting to climb along the South Face, but have been stymied by the conditions there, which included poor weather and lots of snow. While they waited, the two men had a go at the Lhotse Shar, and have made two separate bids up the face. But the conditions have been slow to improve and now high winds near the summit it have made any further attempts to climb the mountain nearly impossible. Because of these ongoing issues, they've elected to go home for the year.

Meanwhile, Marty Schmidt, who had been attempting a solo, alpine style attempt on Lhotse, gave up his attempt on that mountain in order to guide a client up Ama Dablam. Turns out that expedition isn't happening either, as when Marty joined his companion in the Khumbu Valley, the client revealed that he wasn't ready to make the climb and had decided to go home instead. With no interest in climbing Ama Dablam himself, Marty is now heading home as well.

Finally, ExWeb is also reporting that Alpine Ascents, one of the companies that Chhewang Nima Sherpa worked with while guiding in the Himalaya, has set up a checking account to accept donations to help support his family, for which is was the sole provider. The 19-time Everest summitteer went missing last weekend when an avalanche swept him off of Baruntse. Search and rescue operations were ceased after it was determiend that no one could have survived the accident. To make a donation to the fund, ExWeb says checks can be made payable to: “FBO Chhewang Nima Sherpa” and can be mailed to: Alpine Ascents International at 109 West Mercer St. Seattle, WA 98119. Contact AA for further details.