“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.
Two more Sherpas at the summit?
The Iranian Abolfazl Gozali used a breathing mask during his ascent, Makalu Expedition replied to my question. Sanu Sherpa had planned to climb without a breathing mask.
The company wrote to me that whether this actually happened could only be confirmed after their return to base camp. Also unconfirmed is the news from base camp that two other Sherpas reached the summit at 8,485 meters, Makalu Expedition said.
Born in 1975, Nepalese Sanu Sherpa has summited all 14 eight-thousanders at least twice each. For 42-year-old Iranian Gozali, Makalu was his third eight-thousander after Manaslu in 2022 (with bottled oxygen) and Lhotse in 2023 (without a breathing mask).
Last year, Sanu’s team reached an altitude of around 7,800 meters on Makalu with Gozali before storm gusts with speeds of around 80 kilometers per hour and icy temperatures stopped the ascent and forced the climbers to turn back.
