Climbing
A team organized by Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja returned to Shishapangma, Tibet, this month to retrieve the bodies of American climber Anna Gutu and her guide Mingmar Sherpa, seven months after their tragic deaths in an avalanche in October 2023. Anna Gutu was aiming to become the first American woman to climb all 14 8,000+ peaks in the world. At the time of her death, she was in a head-on-head race with Gina Marie Rzucidlo who was led by Tenjen (Tenjin) Lama Sherpa. The two climbers from Seven Summit Tracks perished on the same day in a separate avalanche on Shishapangma.
Nims’ team was given special permission by the Chinese Government to climb Shishapangma, as the team around Elite Exped, Nims’ company, knew the precise location of the two victims. The same permission was also sought by a team around Kristin Harila for the bodies of Rzucidlo and Tenjen Lama Sherpa, however, Harila’s team did not obtain permission to retrieve the two bodies of the Seven Summit Tracks expedition. Harila had summited the 14 8,000+ peaks with Tenjen Lama Sherpa just prior to his death. Harila shared on her social media how heartbroken she was to not be able to search and repatriate the body of her former guide and climbing partner.
“It feels like everything in my life is on hold, at least until we have tried to find them. We need a closure. But unfortunately, not now, not this time.”
— Kristin Harila
China did not issue any climbing permits for Shishapangma for the April/May climbing window. Approximately 50 foreign climbers had applied for permits to climb the 8,027-meter-high Tibetian mountain this spring and were turned away. Nims’ team was the only climbing team to receive special permission to climb. Harila is aiming to apply for a permit for the October climbing window, although conditions in October could be less opportune, as Shishapangma might be buried in snow by then.
Nims’ team spent three days and nights retrieving the bodies of Anna Gutu and Mingmar Sherpa with the help of three Tibetian sherpas. Their bodies were taken across the border to Kathmandu, from where Gutu’s body will be flown back home while Mingmar Sherpa will be reunited with his family in Nepal. Nims admits that the trip was one of the most challenging tasks he has ever undertaken on the mountain. The mission almost failed after three team members became ill en route and two had to be on oxygen. A team of 30 men helped carry the bodies of Gutu and Mingmar from the start of the glacier to the vehicle point.
