Japanese climber with no fingers abandons bid to scale Everest

A Japanese climber who lost all his fingertips to frostbite and was trying to become the first person to conquer Mount Everest since its worst disaster has abandoned his bid to reach the summit because of poor weather. Nobukazu Kuriki, 33, gave up his attempt about 700 metres (2,300ft) below the summit of the 8,850-metre (29,035ft) mountain. Climbers usually scale Everest and other Himalayan peaks in May, just before the rainy season sweeps in from the south bringing snow at high altitude. But there is also a short climbing season in the autumn, after the summer rains ease.

I tried my best, but I judged that I would not be able to come back alive if I went any further given the strong winds and deep snow.

Nobukazu Kuriki

Members of the climbing community in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu said Kuriki’s summit attempt so late in the year was too dangerous, with the increased risk of avalanches and high winds capable of blowing people off the mountain. It was Kuriki’s first attempt to climb Everest since losing all of his fingertips on the mountain three years ago after spending two days in a snow hole in temperatures below minus 20 Celsius. Despite his disability, he can still grip an ice axe with one hand and pin it with the other. Kuriki had became an unlikely face of Nepal’s efforts to revive its climbing industry after 18 mountaineers were killed in the Everest region in avalanches triggered by a big earthquake in April.

I am grateful to everyone’s support from the bottom of my heart.

Nobukazu Kuriki

Odd News Everest