Conrad Anker Instagram – Changu – Wolf in Sherpa. On the lower north face of Tawoche (6495 m) is a three pitch ice climb. Rumor is the late Jeff Lowe soloed it on one of his early expeditions.
It’s a short walk from Periche and gets two hours of morning sun to takes the brittle out of cold & shady ice.
While we were on approach a wolf checked out our team. The video by @pemba_sharwa shows our buddy running along. This winter there are more wolves in the Khumbu, per local observation. In the Gokyo drainage we have heard their howls above Phortse and in the Thame valley we saw fresh tracks in the snow of three wolves watching a herd of yaks & zopkios. This year we have not seen any snow leopard tracks or scat. The wolves trot over the Nangpala Pass from Tibet and have interacted with the Sherpa community for generations.
As this climb didn’t really have a name (climb above Periche is descriptive yet has no meaning) in Nepali, our team of @manishh.t.p @sherpa_p_t_s and @pemba_sharwa gave it the honor of Changu – the Wolf.
The Changu we observed used the cave at the base of the as a sleeping spot. The wolf clawed across a bulge that we would not have done without crampons.
#iceclimbing #khumbu #nepal #wolf #everest #khumbimbingcenter2024
@iceclimbing
Timelpase and photos by Pemba. | Posted on 09/Mar/2024 17:47:04
