Blizzards at Camp 1 – Life on Shishipangma for Nims and his team as they close in on his 14th – 8,000 meter peak

It’s one thing to look at a weather report, and it is another to see and hear it in action.

This morning Nims posted the latest, and also confirmed his date of October 29 for the summit attempt – which is hopefully in better conditions than this.

And this is only from Camp 1.

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. Wait till the end . . Yesterday, we had a pretty tough day climbing. We climbed for 15 hrs non stop in an extreme weather conditions with the wind speed of more than 75 km/hr .We spend more than 3 hours finding the way/route on the glacier. On the way to camp 1, the avalanche triggered but all team are safe . ( I was like wtf, I couldn’t even run 🙈 ). Imagine the weather conditions where we couldn’t actually flim and just had to carry on with the climbing? #extremeclimb @ #extremealtitude . 20 x 8000m exped with summit success achieved, everyone who’s been involved in my expedition has come back home the way they left. . I promise to bring all my team members back home safe from #Shishapangma with the successful summit #leadership 🙌🏽🙏. . . . . #nimsdai #shishapangma #14peaks7months #extremehighaltitudemountaineering #bremontprojectpossible #uksf #extremeoftheextreme #nolimit #silxo #ospreyeurope #antmiddleton #digi2al #adconstructiongroup #omnirisc #summitoxygen #inmarsat #thrudark #gurkhas #sherpas #elitehimalayanadventures #alwaysalittlehigher #nimsdai #beyondpossible #achieveyournewpossible

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He also mentions an avalanche, a real danger of course on the lower angled slopes. In heading out of Camp 1 and up towards towards Camp 2, the easier angled slopes are also right in the danger zone for more of the same and the recent snow will not be helping.

shishipangma, neimsdai, robertmadsanderson
Moving from Camp 1 to Camp 2 on Shishipangma. Above the avalanche slopes and heading into the long hanging valley that curves around to the left, only the occasional rather large crevasse to navigate. 

They have also confirmed a date for their summit push, and mention climbing from Camp 3 on the exposed Col that starts the final ridge to the summit. At 7,400 meters it puts one in pretty close proximity to the summit, but it is also highly exposed.

ShishipangmaFromCol7400meters
Sunrise on the Col at the site of Camp 3 on Shishipangma. 

Looking well bundled up, I guess that is a given at this time of year, Nims announces the summit day to complete his quest is set for 29 October. Just in time to get back down for Halloween it seems.

Right now, 29 October does look optimal on the weather chart, providing time to get in position as the weather improves, then go for the summit on the day forecast to have the lowest winds. Himalayan climbing pretty much always starts some time the night before, so the Monday night/Tuesday morning time is critical.

 

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