"Attempted Mardi Mimal via the South Western ridge route. Reached high camp on Day 3 (3550m). Set up our base camp the following day at Mardi Mimal base camp (4200m) even though the sign and the local map show 4500m. This was critical shortcomming as it placed us way too low to give the summit a shot with a high degree of success. It snows fairly regularly on the high mountains in April at 2pm, so one should aim to be off the technical slopes before the visibility drops. Strongly suggest setting up an advanced base camp at the 4500m after the steep 300m slope. Post a rest day on day 5, which stood us in very good stead for the altitude, we started out summit push on day 6 at 3am. Snow had all turned to hard ice. The 4 of us roped up together and slowly ascended the steep 300m slope to reach the top of the ridge line. We're told that there was a significant amount of snow on the route (our guides are used to the snow line only starting from 4700m, it was down to 4000m this year which significantly added to the challenge, without snow one can normally scramble to this point). We unroped and headed up the broad ridgeline which steepened on both sides as we climbed, eventually reach..." — CraigBurnsStellenbosch • Apr 22, 2026