Positioned for the Summit Wave 1

After fighting fierce winds on Wednesday and Thursday, team after team made progress and climbed to the launching point on both sides of Everest Friday, ask May 21st and are ready to go for their summit bids starting Friday night, Nepal time (see sidebar for current time).

The good news is the winds have calmed somewhat as reported by several teams at the South Col and Camp 2/3 on the north side. I know many people are following Jordan Romero, the 13 year-old on the north and from his SPOT tracking unit, they appear to have left camp 2 going higher. This would put them on the summit Saturday morning.

You can follow them real time at this link. A caveat, I have rarely seen or experienced any of these satellite units function 100% perfectly throughout a climb. Batteries die, it is turned off accidentally, the signal bounces off rock walls or is completely lost; so if the track looks strange it is more than likely the technology, not the climbers.

Some reports from teams over the past 24 hours:

This in from 7 Summtis Club:

Today, 21 May, as previously predicted, wind was decreased. It allowed the first group to climb to the camp at an altitude of 7700 meters (camp 2). The second group climbed up to North Col (7000 m). Sherpas continued carry goods to upper camps. So, the expedition is going up with a lag of one day. And now dates of summit assault are defined, respectively, for 23 and 24 May. Most of expeditions from the north and south moved to high-altitude camps. The summit wave on the south will be 22 May. On the north most of climbers are behind for about a day.

Apa Sherpa’s BC updated us hours ago from the North Col:

Everybody is at Camp 4. There was a possibility of some very high winds, maybe up to 60 mph, but the team reports that all is calm. They will be leaving for their summit attempt in about 4 and half hours.

These next reports show that many teams hit the wall on Thursday, May 20th battling the weather and will be looking at an actual summit attempt on Saturday night with a Sunday morning summit.

Alpine Ascents joined the teams that tried to move to C3 and reed as the winds hit harder:

We were planning on going early this morning up to Camp 3. However, with the wind and the snow blasting away we decided that our option was to take another rest day. It certainly was agonizing, making that decision, but we think we made a good one. The wind has now been roaring all day long as well and we prefer for people to stay warm and keep all of their digits.

We’ve had a restful day, although it’s been pretty emotionally taxing. A lot of people were having moments of doubt while trying to decide how committed they were to this mountain. It happens often on a days when it is this windy and nasty, people start thinking about back home and all their loved ones. But, with a lot of good open discussion, we’ve become a new stronger better team and we’re excited about getting up early tomorrow morning and moving on to Camp 3.

Once again Gabriel Filippi gives us insight into the conditions on the north:

I am still at camp 1: the weather winning over my efforts.  I just saw something quite amazing: two flying tents!  What is even more spectacular, is that the first one was still occupied by a climber.  Fortunately, his flight was only a few centimeters long, and he is fine.  The other tent literally disappeared with all its content: clothing, sleeping bag, food, oxygen.  We still don’t know who owed it, but it is safe to say that his expedition is seriously compromised by the loss of his equipment.  Lhakpa and I evaluated the winds at 140km/h.  I will leave for camp 2 tomorrow… until then, I am streching the soup!

As I have mentioned throughout this season, the First Ascent site has excellent video and outstanding writing from Leif Whittaker and now Melissa Arnot. I previously mentioned, via my Twitter feed, this video from Dave Hahn on the conditions. Dave has summited Everest 11 times and knows his stuff so when he says they will be “lucky” to summit, that says a lot. Take a look at the video for his full report.

It is difficult to know who will go for the summit tonight, given the variable conditions so check your teams’s website for their latest and I will try to provide a summary as often as possible. Many who said they would go on the 21st are now delayed a day or may change their minds once at the Col or Camp 2/3 on the north if the conditions are not favorable.

Bottom line however: there are climbers climbing towards the top of the world right now and will be throughout this weekend. I will create a new post for ongoing updates in a few hours or mid day Friday; US time.

Climb On!

Alan