Dhaulagiri's autumn climbing season has hit a holding pattern. No one has yet reached the upper mountain this fall, with the rope-fixing team stopped just above Camp 3 and dozens of climbers stacked up at Camp 2 waiting for a weather window.
Australian climber Paul Clarke, speaking from Camp 2 with his Hungarian partner Xenia Santha, said the pair expects to wait at least two more days before moving up. Clarke managed a push to 6,500m earlier this week before bad weather rolled in. Their tentative summit date is the morning of October 12. The plan is to move to Camp 3, drop some gear, and retreat to Camp 2 until conditions improve.
They won't be going up alone for long. Camp 2 has filled with clients from 8K Expeditions, Seven Summit Treks and 14 Peaks, backed by a large Sherpa team. Makalu Lakpa, who leads the 14 Peaks and Seven Summit Treks groups, reported that the rope fixers are making solid progress and preparing for a summit push, with snow conditions described as favourable — though the weather remains the wildcard. Clarke reported around 30cm of fresh snow in a single afternoon and winds near 40kph at Camp 2, which would be far stronger higher on the peak.
Meanwhile, Polish skier Andrzej Bargiel is resting at Base Camp after an acclimatisation rotation to 7,000m, from which he skied back down to Base Camp past Clarke on Tuesday. The other skier on the mountain, Spain's Borja Real, has pulled the plug entirely. Real, climbing in a demanding style — no supplemental oxygen, no Sherpa support, carrying his own gear — judged the snow-loaded upper mountain too dangerous for a ski descent, particularly the long traverse above Camp 3 and the couloirs to the summit ridge.
Real also raised an eyebrow at how commercialised the mountain has become, noting that some agencies are ferrying clients by helicopter to and from Camp 1 at 5,900m on the Dhaulagiri Col, skipping the technical, crevassed lower route.
For anyone following Himalayan autumn climbing, this is a story worth tracking: Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh-highest peak at 8,167m, sees far less traffic than Everest or Manaslu, and a successful summit in the coming days would be the season's headline. It's also a snapshot of how commercial expeditions are reshaping even the quieter 8,000ers — helicopter shortcuts, big client teams and fixed-rope races for the top. If the window holds around October 12, watch for a mass summit push from Camp 2.
