January 2026 - Adventure Mountain

22. January 202623. January 2026

Search and rescue operation on Makalu reportedly over

Makalu in first daylight, from Gokyo Ri (in 2016) — The eight-thousander Makalu (seen from Gokyo Ri)

No chance. “Biting cold and strong winds made it impossible to proceed,” said Sanu Sherpa, according to the Nepalese portal The Tourism Times. The rescue team led by Sanu returned from Camp IV at around 7,900 meters to the base camp at the foot of Makalu.

The rescuers from the commercial expedition operators Makalu Adventure and 8K Expeditions would return to Kathmandu in the coming days after what was now their second unsuccessful attempt, it was reported. Further ascents would be too dangerous in view of the continuing bad weather and the high altitude.

21. January 202624. January 2026

Alexander Huber on Honnold’s skyscraper free solo: “Not relevant for us climbers”

It’s a media spectacle – no question about it. When top US climber Alex Honnold free solos (climbing alone and without any safety equipment) the 509-meter-high Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan on Friday night/Saturday morning German time, and Netflix streams it live, Alexander Huber will probably be fast asleep.

“Climbing Taipei 101 will not provide any new insights into climbing, so from that point of view, the event is not relevant to us as climbers,” writes the younger of the two Huber brothers to me. “But of course, it will reach a very wide audience via Netflix, and Alex is obviously entitled to do it.”

16. January 202620. January 2026

Makalu winter expedition: Tragedy reported during descent

The 8,485-meter-high Makalu in Nepal (left, with the 7,000-meter Chamlang on the right) — The 8,485-meter-high Makalu in Nepal (left, with the 7,000er Chamlang on the right)

The line between triumph and tragedy can be very thin on eight-thousanders. Yesterday, Thursday, the second winter ascent of Makalu was celebrated; today, a Nepalese mountaineer who lost his life is being mourned.

In addition, Iranian mountaineer Abolfazl Gozali is missing. At least, that is what the Nepalese portal “The Tourism Times” reports, citing unspecified sources.

15. January 202615. January 2026

Winter summit success reported from the eight-thousander Makalu

Abolfazl Gozali (left) and Sanu Sherpa (right) — Abolfazl Gozali (l.) and Sanu Sherpa (r.)

“This morning, at 10:27, our client Abolfazl Gozali and his guide Sanu Sherpa reached the summit of Mount Makalu (8,485 m),” reported Nepalese expedition operator Makalu Adventure on Facebook.

Indian client Piyali Basak felt unwell at Camp 3 and returned to base camp, it said. The successful summit team is expected to return there tomorrow, Friday.

The fifth-highest mountain on earth had previously been climbed only once in winter: in February 2009 by Italian Simone Moro and Denis Urubko, who was born in the Russian North Caucasus. As with all their ascents, the two professional mountaineers did not use bottled oxygen.

9. January 20269. January 2026

Hari Budha Magar scales Mount Vinson in Antarctica

Hari Budha Magar on the summit of Mount Vinson

“If you have a dream and dedicate yourself and never give up, you can achieve anything – whatever life throws at you.” With these words, Hari Budha Magar commented on Instagram about his ascent of the 4,892-meter-high Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

The Nepalese mountaineer, who has had both legs amputated, has thus completed his collection of the Seven Summits – at least those that are currently possible for him.

7. January 20267. January 2026

Winter attempt on the eight-thousander Makalu in Nepal

Second attempt: A team from the commercial Nepalese expedition operator Makalu Adventure is making another attempt this winter to take Iranian mountaineer Abolfazl Gozali to the 8,485-meter-high Makalu – with bottled oxygen.

As Gozali revealed yesterday in an Instagram story, the team fixed the ropes up to an altitude of 6,000 meters and transported equipment there.

It is the only expedition on an eight-thousander in Nepal this winter so far. Simone Moro’s winter project on Manaslu ended in mid-December before it had really begun. As reported, the Italian suffered a heart attack during acclimatization in the Khumbu region.

Last October, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa announced a possible winter expedition to Mount Everest, with the goal being the first winter ascent of the world’s highest mountain by a woman. Nothing came of it, “because of financial issues,” as the head of the operator Imagine Nepal wrote to me.

1. January 202631. December 2025