KATHMANDU: Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, managing director of Imagine Nepal, has demanded formal recognition and rewards for the six climbers whose independent push through the Khumbu Icefall on April 26 made the 2026 Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse climbing season possible — a contribution he says has gone unacknowledged despite over 1,000 summit bids across the three peaks.

In a detailed public account, Mingma G described a season that nearly did not happen. A large hanging serac had blocked the standard icefall route since mid-April, and a joint recce by 17 senior mountain guides from the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal (EOAN) and eight icefall doctors from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) on April 26 concluded that no safe alternative route existed and recommended waiting another ten days — or abandoning the season from the south side entirely.

Mingma G, who had flown to Base Camp on April 25 after three days of hospitalisation following his Dhaulagiri summit, said the EOA meeting in Kathmandu on April 23 had reached broad agreement on deploying IFMGA-certified guides for an alternative route, but that commitment dissolved at Base Camp. "The fruitful meeting with the EOA team in Kathmandu turned into a disappointing scene at Everest Base Camp," he wrote.

Concluding that the larger team had no workable plan, Mingma G organised a separate six-member group. His own Sherpa team was joined by Phuri Kitar from Elite Expeditions — whose representative Tejan visited his camp and offered support — and Polish mountaineer Bartek Ziemski, who had independently explored higher than the icefall doctors the previous day and agreed to join overnight.

The six-member team departed the crampon point at 6:30 AM — deliberately an hour and a half after the larger group — to avoid being drawn into what Mingma G described as unproductive deliberation. While the 25-member joint team turned back and concluded the season was unviable, Mingma G's team pushed through, fixed ladders and ropes above the contested section, and reported conditions significantly safer than the prevailing assessment. A whiteout forced the team to stop just short of Camp I, but the route was effectively broken open. EOAN and SPCC conducted a follow-up inspection of the same line the next day, and a joint team of 13 guides and eight icefall doctors reached Camp I on April 28, formally opening the route.

Mingma G said the six climbers faced public criticism and accusations of recklessness throughout the season from those who argued the team was overconfident and endangering others. "We took the risk for everyone and opened the safest route, yet we were kept on the edge of a knife for the entire climbing season," he wrote. He noted that posts by several guiding companies and guides calling the icefall dangerous were quietly deleted once Imagine Nepal announced the route was nearly open.

The six climbers were: Sensai Pemba Waiba, Dawa Tenzing Sherpa— a 30-year Everest veteran and first winter K2 summiteer — Saila Mingma Sherpa of Altipro, IFMGA aspirant guide Dipen Gurung, Phuri Kitar of Elite Expeditions, and Bartek Ziemski of Poland.

Mingma G said every climber who summited Everest, Lhotse, or Nuptse this season owes the six a debt of gratitude, and called on the industry and authorities to recognise and reward them accordingly.