Yesterday, Nirmal Purja confirmed to ExplorersWeb that the ropes on Everest were cut near the Balcony. He also published a video on social media of cut ropes tied together.
Today, Pioneer Adventure also insisted on its previous assurances the ropes were in place. The company offered photos and the testimony of a second team that was on the mountain on May 27. This group successfully retrieved a dead body from the upper slopes of Everest. That would have been impossible, they say, if 40 meters of rope had been missing.
In the end, it’s up to Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation to decide who’s right.
When Pioneer first saw Purja’s Instagram post on May 26 about cut ropes, “we immediately contacted our team at South Col [Camp 4] to advise caution while ascending further,” they explained.
Two teams
The first Pioneer team included Satyadeep Gupta of India. He was attempting his second Everest-Lhotse double-header this season, assisted by Pastemba Sherpa and Nima Ungdi Sherpa. A second team of four men was also there to recover the body of Binod Babu Bastakoti of Nepal. Bastakoti died below the Balcony, at around 8,300m on May 22, on his way down from the summit.
Gupta and his guides left Camp 4 on the evening of May 26. They summited Everest at 12:45 am on May 27. On his way down, Gupta told Pioneer Adventure’s staff that he didn’t encounter any missing ropes while climbing. Nor did he recall any extra difficulty on the route, which he knew from his previous ascent on May 21, apart from a strong summit wind.
