A Race to the Summit

The lure of Everest’s summit has taken on new dimensions and is spreading throughout the south base camp. First up, we have an old-fashion foot race on Everest. Two Finish women are literally racing to claim bragging rights to being the first Finish woman to summit Everest.  Then in addition to the previously announced summit intentions, click including the Hanesbrands team, the entire Summit Climb team is heading up.

The concern is that summit winds are currently in the 80 mph range. The forecast calls for a reduction on Saturday night and then regaining strength. Climbers like to see the summit winds under 30 mph at max. With extreme winds, if something creates a delay, there is a high likelihood of frostbite, hypothermia or even death; especially on the descent.

These teams are out on a long, narrow, weak limb that all the other teams are refusing to touch. Most teams are looking at a May 22nd-26th as the summit opportunity. Obviously, I wish them only safe climbing up and down.

The first summit this year was on May 5th. While early, there have been other early summits according to research with 44 on May 5, 54 on May 8 and 44 on May 9 over the years by various routes. There have even been summits in February and April! Historically the majority of Everest summits have occurred between May 20th and 25th.

Now the details.

After weeks of posting on their blog about being careful and not taking risks including some strong comments about Lucille deBeaudrap summit in a narrow window, she has succumb not only to the call of the summit but also the competition of a race.

Anne-Mari’s decision to start her summit push was made yesterday. Her goal is to be the first Finnish woman on top of Everest. Another Finnish woman, Ms Carina Räihä, has the very same goal and she started her summit push early Tuesday morning, a day ahead of Anne-Mari. Even though mountaineering should not be a race, Anne-Mari felt that she should climb higher up, at least to Camp 2, and be ready to strike should a weather window open. Today, both Anne-Mari and Carina are in Camp 2 and cannot yet climb higher due to strong winds.

Carina is climbing with Peak Freaks, who already put one climber on the summit. Anne-Mari is with Sky Climbers team.

Honestly, I am baffled by these attempts. As experienced guide Phil Crampton of Altitude Junkies posted today, the two premier weather forecast services both agree:

We have been studying our weather reports very closely the past few days as we received some data revealing a possible small weather window on the 16th and 17th. As the two dates approached, the window seemed to close as we were not satisfied with the safety margin it offered us. The wind speeds predicted by the two premier weather forecast services used on Everest, both our US forecast and the Swiss forecast, are still predicting very dangerous high winds for another week.

Robert Hill of No Guts, Know Glory team summed up the danger with this dispatch direcrtly from the south Base Camp:

Several teams moved up the mountain today hoping to take advantage of a potential window from May 15th to the 17th, but accounts from camp two suggest that some camps have been decimated and attempts to move up to camp three have been thwarted by high winds. We expect the wind to diminish somewhat over the next few days – summit winds have been 100 kilometres an hour plus for the past four or five days – but not enough to offer a good window. Any teams who decide to push up the mountain are taking considerable risks, including the chance of severe frostbite.

The absolute latest reports have all the teams attempting the summit on Sunday pinned down at camp 2 in howling winds with reports of destroyed tents. Let’s hope the winds abate for safe conditions for every climber this weekend.

On the north, the weather continues to change plans.

Bill Burke called in with a detailed reported from Advanced Base Camp. Basically, they are on hold due to weather and lack of fixed lines. He described the harsh winds and extreme cold on that side this year and then the fact that the fixed lines and from camp3 to the summit are still not fixed. Bill commented that one of their empty tents literally blew away and was never found and a laptop computer ripped from the hands of a climber standing outside his tent. Many expeditions use a mesh net to secure tents against the high winds.

As a result, Bill has abandoned his plan for a double summit – a climb from the north then a climb from the south. He will focus only on a north summit around May 22nd. This is the same date young Jordan Romero is probably considering.

Meanwhile, Bill’s partner, David Liano will continue with the original plan. He is looking at May 17th as a summit day when the winds will still be high, Bill said 40-64 mph. Still dangerously high. David will utilize a running belay where climbers use a rope and anchors but move it as they progress through the climb.

David still may be able to utilize fixed ropes. Summit Climb reports a large team leaving base camp today:

The latest talk has been about the weather, as its too windy on the summit to climb Everest now. However, we did see the larger Chinese-Tibetan team leave BC today with around 30 people in their party. That is good because they aim to fix the ropes to the summit in the next few days!!!

In other updates, Alpine Ascents has listed their Sherpa who participated in fixing the ropes and making the first summits this year. To be complete, here is the entire list of these strong climbers:

IMG:

Nima Karma Sherpa (Phortse)
Phu Tshering (Phortse)
Phinjo Dorje (Pangboche)

Himex:

Phurba Tashi
Dorje Sherpa
Ang Rita Sherpa

AAI:
Chewang Nima Sherpa
Kami Rita (Thapkee) Sherpa,
Fura Kancha Sherpa

Of note this summit by Chewang Nima Sherpa, AAI said, now ties him with Apa Sherpa at 19 summits of Everest each.

I mentioned yesterday about helicopter activity on Everest. In case you missed it, I posted an overview of helicopters, rescues and Everest late yesterday on this site. You can find it at this link. Himex just reported that a new landing pad was built yesterday away from base camp to support non-medical flights.

The body recovery activity by the Extreme Everest team of Sherpas continues.This most recent update:

The weather is quite difficult these days with strong winds blowing. We found three dead bodies in the Khumbu icefall in the presence of Sherpa witnesses and one liaison officer. One of the bodies was identified as Ang Phinjo and the other two are yet to be unidentified.

Besides these unfortunate finds, we also found some treasure in our trove of garbage – an oxygen cylinder left behind way back in 1986!

Finally, I am getting several questions about the search the Mallory & Irvine’s 1924 lost camera on the north side. The alleged teams apparently looking for the camera (how’s that for mitigation!) have gone totally dark. So don’t expect to hear anything if they find the camera until they are back home and nothing at all if they don’t find it.

Finally, I like to talk about the emotions of climbing as well as the mechanics. Mike Roberts, leading the Adventure Consultants team had a private moment as he returned from a little R&R down valley. Thanks Mike for sharing this with us in the Blog of the Day

On the route to Base Camp we stopped at the 1996 Gorak Shep Memorial for Rob Hall, Andy Harris, Doug Hansen and Yasuko Nambo. I like to spend some time alone at this memorial, particularly before a summit attempt. In particular, Andy was one of my mates and I inevitably find myself having an emotional conversation with him and Rob about that fateful day on Everest. As I clarity and understanding I talk about everything that has changed now in how we now operate on Everest and I find myself saying prayers that as an expedition leader my decision making may be with prudence, insight and integrity. I psyche myself up to make the hard calls that Everest demands of one.

Be safe climbers, be safe.

Climb On!

Alan