KATHMANDU, MAY 11
A team led by record holding climber Lakpa Sherpa aka Makalu Lakpa opened a climbing route on Mt Dhaulagiri becoming the season's first climbers to scale the 8,167-meter peak in the spring season.
According to Chhang Dawa Sherpa, Expedition Director at Seven Summit treks, the Makalu Lakpa-led team opened a route to the summit point yesterday.
"The team scaled the mountain fixing ropes to the summit point," Sherpa said, adding that the team began the final summit push from 8,050 meters as they found a favorable weather window. The rope-fixing Sherpa team included Lakpa Sherpa (Fixing Leader), Taraman Tamang, Pasang Norbu Sherpa, Ngawang Paljor Sherpa, Phurba Kusang Sherpa, and Pem Dorchi Sherpa.
A total of 13 climbers, including six foreign members from SST also reached the summit point after opening of the summit route, according to Sherpa. Chung-Han Lu, Anja Karen Blacha, and Sajid Ali scaled the mountain without the use of supplementary oxygen while Dragan Celikovic, Afsaneh Hesami Fard, and Mohammad Shahlaei used oxygen support to reach the summit point, he added.
According to the Department of Tourism, at least 15 foreign climbers have obtained climbing permits for Dhaulagiri for the spring season.
