This Tuesday, January 7, 2025, An earthquake of magnitude 7.1 has hit the border region between Tibet and Nepal. The epicenter was specifically in Tibetan territory, near the Khumbu Glacier and near Mount Everest, and about 150 kilometers east of Kathmandu.
As the hours go by, Nepal is updating the number of fatalities, which may change at the end of the day, but according to some local sources, there are already close to a hundred deaths. and more than 130 people injured in Nepal.
Jost Kobusch was in Camp 1
He German mountaineer Jost Kobuschwho is on Everest in his solitary winter attempt, without Sherpas and without extra oxygen, was in his camp 1 (at 5,700 m) when the earthquake occurred. This Tuesday morning, after quickly consulting his tracker (GPS) direct, it looks like Kobusch is descending right now and is in the lower section of the Lho La Col.
Kobusch has been immersed in his project of climbing Everest (8,848 m) alone for a few years, and instead of the normal route goes along the difficult west ridge, route that in the upper section of the mountain continues through the feared Hornbein Corridor that is already in Tibet.
For this winter, Kobusch set out to reach the altitude of 7,500 m that he achieved at the end of December 2024, after having reached the height of 7,537 meters. We will keep an eye on him as soon as he confirms that he is fine.
It is the second major earthquake that the 32-year-old German mountaineer has witnessed next to Everest. In the spring of 2015, at age 22, Kobusch was at base camp on the world’s highest mountain when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, 2015. coinciding with the high mountaineering season. That earthquake caused several avalanches on Everest that killed 24 climbers and injured more than 60.
On the other hand, the Italian Simone Moro, the Polish-Portuguese Oswald Rodrigo Pereira and the Nepalese Nima Rinji Sherpa, who want to attempt Manaslu (8,163 m) This winter, they have just reported that they are fine. (At the moment they are not in the mountains, but in Kathmandu.)
Regarding the winter Annapurna I (8,091 m), as we already know, Alex Txikon cannot continue with the expedition due to an urgent operation, but several other mountaineers from the Seven Summit Treks agency group are still at the base camp waiting for that he strong wind calms down on the mountain and the Nepalese Sherpas can continue fixing the ropes on the normal route.
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