An 82-year-old climber from Spain is managing the corona outbreak on the eight-thousander Dhaulagiri in western Nepal. “Five more people were evacuated today,” Carlos Soria wrote on Twitter today. “We have received 90 tests for everyone at base camp. We have done 30 tests: Twelve of them were positive. We are trying everything to stabilize the situation and take care of everyone’s health.”
Speaking to Explorersweb, Carlos described the situation at the base camp as “crazy.” Currently, 19 sick people were still staying there, Soria said. A total of about 20 people have already been flown out, he said. That the government of Nepal still denies that there is a corona problem in the mountains is a scandal against the background of the massive outbreak on Dhaulagiri.
Summit attempt via the Northwest Ridge underway
Actually, Soria wanted to try this spring for the now eleventh time (as he himself says – according to the Himalayan Database it is even the twelfth time since 1998) to scale the 8,167-meter mountain in western Nepal. Apart from Dhaulagiri, Carlos is only missing Shishapangma in his collection of eight-thousanders. Whether he will still set out for a summit attempt, the senior left open. His experience will first be needed at base camp. Hats off to Carlos’ selfless commitment!
Other climbers are on their way to the summit. Among them are the Slovak Peter Hamor and the two Romanians Horia Colibasanu and Marius Gane, who want to reach the highest point via a new route: the still virgin Dhaulagiri Northwest Ridge. They reached their Camp 3 at 6,400 meters today.
