Himalayan Expeditions Update: A Busy Spring on the High Peaks

Now that April is here, the expedition season in the Himalayas and Karakoram mountains in central Asia is in full swing. As I reported earlier, South Korean woman Oh Eun-Sun is attempting Annapurna, the tenth highest mountain in the world, and trying to become the first woman to climb all fourteen of the world's 8,000-meter peaks. Also on Annapurna is Basque climber Edurne Pasaban, who, if successful on it, only needs to climb Shishapangma in Tibet to complete her 8,000-meter list. There is no news right now from Annapurna base camp if either woman has been successful.

Mount Everest or Chomolungma is as usual very busy this spring with lots of commercial expeditions as well as some interesting attempts at records. On Everest's south side, an Argentinean group will try to summit in May to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of their country's May Revolution.  Andrea Cardona from Guatamala will try to become the first Central American woman to top Everest, while Anne-Mari Hyryläinen plans to become Finland's first woman to the summit.  The Eco Everest Expedition plans to use ten Sherpas to bring down garbage from the mountain's highest reaches, while team climbing leader Apa Sherpa hopes to climb Chomolungma for a record 20^th time.

On Mount Everest's north side, which opens in early April for climbing, 39-year-old Austrian woman climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and husband Ralf Dujmovits will try the North Face without oxygen. While Ralf has already climbed all the 8,000-meter peaks, Gerlinde has only Everest and Pakistan's K2 left on her tick list. California kid Jordan Romero, climbing with his father, hopes to become the youngest Everest summiteer at age 13.

Notable expeditions to other high peaks include Joao Garcia attempting Annapurna to become the first Portuguese to climb all the 8,000-meter peaks; Americans Chris Warner and Marty Schmidt are trying, without oxygen and Sherpas, a new route up the south side of Makalu; Carlos Soria, a 71-year-old veteran Spanish climber, will try for his ninth 8,000-meter peak on Manaslu; and  Austrians Stephan Keck and Paul Gürtler will  ski down from the summit of Dhaulagiri. It all adds up to be an interesting Himalayan season. We'll see what happens in the big ranges.

Photographs above: Top: Spanish climber Ferran Letorre climbing near Camp 3 on Annapurna last week. Bottom: Anne-Mari Hyryläinen is attempting to become the first Finnish woman to summit Mt. Everest. Photographs courtesy Edurne Pasaban and Anne-Mari Hyryläinen.