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.
Team split up after fatal fall
As reported, last Thursday (15 January), Sanu Sherpa and Iranian client Abolfazl Gozali, as well as Sanu’s younger brother Phurba Ongel Sherpa and Lakpa Rinji Sherpa, reached the summit at 8,485 meters at about the same time. Then tragedy struck during the descent. Sanu later described what happened to Tourism Times.
Phurba Ongel and Lakpa Rinji were a little ahead of the other two. “I saw Lakpa Rinji crying a few meters below, and I asked him what happened. He told me that Phurba Ongel had fallen from that area,” Sanu reported, according to The Tourism Times. Sanu and Lakpa Rinji decided to search for Phurba Ongel and asked Gozali to stay where he was. “But Gozali said he would slowly descend on his own,” Sanu said. “We then located Phurba Ongel at around 7,500 meters after staying in the area for about an hour.” They had expected to find Gozali at Camp 3, but he was neither there nor at Camp 2.
High price
According to expedition operator Makalu Adventure, there is no trace of the Iranian. In all probability, it is impossible for the Iranian to have survived a week on the mountain in temperatures around minus 30 degrees Celsius and hurricane-force winds.
The team has thus paid a high price for the second winter ascent of the fifth-highest mountain on earth. Two of the four climbers who reached the summit lost their lives: 45-year-old Phurba Ongel Sherpa and 42-year-old Abolfazl Gozali.
In my opinion, commercial tour operators should take a long, hard look at themselves and consider whether it is really responsible to take clients to eight-thousanders in winter. In the past, winter ascents of the world’s highest mountains were reserved for only the best and most resilient mountaineers – and not without reason.
Update 23 January: Makalu Adventure has confirmed that the search for Abolfazl Gozali and attempts to recover the body of Phurba Ongel Sherpa, who fell approximately 200 meters, have been permanently suspended. “Further attempts were not feasible due to terrain, altitude, weather, and safety risks,” the company said and speculated about what might have happened to Gozali: “It is thought he became disoriented and fell from the ridge between Camp 4 and Camp 3.”
