Two climbers from Mongolia are missing in the summit zone of Mount Everest. As the Nepalese newspaper My Republica reports, citing the Ministry of Tourism, members of other teams last saw the two on Monday morning local time as they were climbing towards the summit. Since then, there has been no sign of life from them. A rescue operation has been launched, it said.
Climbing without breathing masks and without Sherpas
The two missing climbers were part of a three-man team from a mountaineering club in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator. The trio had set themselves the goal of reaching the highest point on earth at 8,849 meters without bottled oxygen and without Sherpa support.
The fact that two mountaineers climbing together on the normal route are missing sounds rather unusual. Even if one is in a bad way, the other could seek help. And you shouldn’t actually get lost on a route secured with fixed ropes all the way to the summit. But in spring 2023, two Nepalese mountaineers were also lost on the summit stage. They were among a total of five missing persons in the summit zone of Everest whose bodies were not found that season and who were later declared dead.
Summit successes on Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse
After the route was opened on Friday evening local time, commercial expedition operators reported several dozen summit successes on Sunday and Monday. There were also success stories from Everest’s neighboring mountains, the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse and the 7,861-meter-high Nuptse. On the 8,167-meter-high Dhaulagiri in western Nepal, however, the season was abandoned. The rope-fixing team was unable to reach the summit due to strong winds.
