Pumori

Pumori () (or Pumo Ri) is a mountain on the Nepal-Tibet border. It is in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. Pumori lies just eight kilometres west of Mount Everest. Pumori means "the Mountain Daughter" in Sherpa language. It was named by George Mallory. "Pumo" means young girl or daughter and "Ri" means mountain in Sherpa language. Climbers sometimes refer to Pumori as "Everest's Daughter". Mallory also called it Clare Peak, after his daughter.

Pumori is a popular climbing peak. The easiest route is graded class 3, but avalanche is still a danger. Pumori was first climbed on May 17, 1962 by Gerhard Lenser on a German-Swiss expedition. Two Czechs (Leopold Sulovský and Zdeněk Michalec) climbed a new route on the south face in the spring of 1996.

An outlier of Pumori is Kala Patthar (5,643m/18,513'). It appears as a brown bump below the south face of Pumori. Many trekkers going to see Mount Everest up close will try to climb to the top of Kala Patthar.

Trekking and mountaineering

Nearly 500 people had reached the summit of Pumori by 2005. 42 (13 after reaching the summit) people lost their lives while climbing by 2005. It's popularity increased by 2008. From the summit, high Tibetan plateau can be seen on the one side and Nepal can be seen on the other side. The western part of the Everest can also be seen from the summit. However, there have been some dangers from avalanches. Some Spanish climbing teams took heavy losses (such as in 1989 and 2001). 2015 avalanche killed and injured many people. It was likely caused by the 2015 Nepal earthquake. It is said to have started from the Pumori-Lingtren ridge.

In 1982 a group climbing to Pumori also did a ski-hike around Everest. Jim Bridwell led the climbing expedition to Pumori.

Ascents
 In 1962, first ascent was done by Gerhard Lenser of a German-Swiss expedition.
 In 1974, Alpine Club Unpo, Japan, climbed through a new route on the west face of Pumori. Minoru Takagi and Nobuyaki Kaneko reached the summit on Oct 13.
 In 1986, Hiroshi Aota and Yoshiki Sasahara (Japan) climbed a new route on the east face of Pumori. They reached the summit on the third day, December 3.
 In 1986, 1985 Catalan Route on the east face was climbed by Todd Bibler. He reached the summit on December 5.
 In 2002, three women (Leila Bahrami, Mitra Nazari, and Farhondeh) from an Iranian expedition reached the summit on October 20 through the southeast face to the east ridge.

Ski attempts
 In 2013, Seb de Sainte Marie and Paul Holding tried to climb and Ski the West Face but they were not successful.

Accidents
In late October 1988 two Icelandic climbers died on the mountain. They were found 30 years later, in November 2018 by an American mountaineer.
In 1989 a team of four Spanish climbers were killed in an avalanche on Pumori. Again in September 2001, another Spanish team was killed in an avalanche.
On 19 October 2002, five Basque mountaineers were swept 600–800 meters down the southeast face by an avalanche caused by seracs falling above them.
On 25 April 2015 a 7.8 MW earthquake struck Nepal and caused several avalanches on and around Mount Everest. This includes the one that hit Everest Base Camp. A witness described it as "a huge avalanche coming off Pumori". The avalanche traveled through part of the Khumbu Icefall and into the South Base Camp. At least 19 people were killed.

References

Mountains of Nepal
Tibet