KATHMANDU: All climbers have abandoned their attempts to climb Mt Dhaulagiri after they found unstable snow conditions and encountered high winds above Camp III, expedition organizers said.

All climbers from the expedition teams of Seven Summit Treks (SST), 8K Expeditions and 14 Peaks Expedition have been returning to base camp after abandoning their summit push, they said.

“Due to safety reasons, we officially closed Dhaulagiri to climbing for this autumn season,” Lakpa Sherpa, Managing Director and Expedition Leader of 8K Expeditions, said.

A joint team of climbers had fixed ropes about 400 m above Camp III a few days earlier, as they planned to make a final summit push on October 13/14. “But fresh snowfall has increased the avalanche risk above 7,400 m, while strong winds also thwarted the summit bid,” Lakpa said.

Chhang Dawa Sherpa, Expedition Director at Seven Summit Treks, also said that heightened avalanche risk and strong winds forced SST climbers to end their climb on Dhaulagiri this season. “Considering the safety of our climbers, we decided to end the climb,” he said.

After strong winds on October 10, conditions became increasingly dangerous, with a high risk of slab avalanches, said Lakpa Sherpa, also known as Makalu Lakpa, who is leading the 14 Peaks Expedition team. “Based on my experience leading expeditions on some of the world's highest mountains, I carefully assessed the situation and made the difficult decision to turn back to protect my team,” he said.

The Department of Tourism issued permits for 36 foreign climbers on Mt Dhaulagiri this season.