Wave 3 Recap

Sunday night saw the last large push of the season however, climbers still remain in position for summit bids Monday night, May 24th.

There were summits on both sides in spite of variable conditions and heavy snow at time. Most of the summits occurred in very snowy and cloudy conditions.

On the South AAI (17) and IMG (9) put a combined 26 climbers on top. AAI commented on the heavy snow resulting in not only difficult climbing conditions but also making radio communications challenging. This was IMG’s second group and put a total of 42 on the top of the world for 2010.

From the Australian team, Brad Jackson and Sandy Hobby sumitted! well done you two!

Simone Moro also summited. he used supplemental oxygen due to the difficult conditions. The elite climber explained:

Only 48 hours of climb and the 22nd May I was on the summit of Everest. I planned a no oxygen climb but it had been not possible to realize it due the cold. In fact when I arrived at South col 8000 m coming from 6300 m of C2, the weather deteriorated and started to snow. After 2 hours the sky get clear but the temperature drop down. So I started after midnight to climb without oxygen but it started also my fight with the cold. At 8500 meters I lost the sensibility of my feet and hands and to avoid dramatic frostbites I decided to use oxygen for the last 300 meters. At 6:25 I arrived on the summit and enjoyed for the 4th time that moment. Probably I will go back for the fifth time to attempt a no oxygen climb but I’m happy also for this climb. I had a wonderful view from the op and realized how free and lucky I’m to enjoy this life….

An update on Chad Kellogg’s status with an interesting twist that will add fuel to his detractors:

Update from the VertiCulture Editor; Sun. 5/23: Chad began his summit bid Saturday at approx. 3 a.m. For those waiting on the word, we have not directly heard from him, but received an update from Sam Bricker that Chad has returned to basecamp. A technical glitch prevented us from getting the SPOT coordinates, but we will update with this information as well as details on Chad’s ascent as soon as we can. Thanks for checking in

On the North, the very proud South African team, Adventure Dynamics, summitted 6 members and 7 Sherpas including expedition leader Sean Disney, who now has a double for the entire 7 summits. Another 6 people from 7 Summits Club made it as well. Plus the Mexican climbers Yuri Contreras and Laura Gonzalez

Montagna.org reports 5 north summits from Silvio Mondinelli’s team including a no O’s summit from Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner who is looking to be the 3rd woman to summit all 14 8000m mountains; Everest was her 13th.

The Austrian team lead by Kari Kobler’s company put 11 climbers up made up of 4 members and 7 Sherpas to the north summit.

Congratulations to all these climbers for making it in difficult conditions.

Check the location chart for links to all the teams plus summit numbers. A new post will begin for the what could be the last push for 2010.

Climb On!

Alan

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One thought on “Wave 3 Recap

  1. Alan, did you see this on Chad?

    **Update from the VertiCulture Editor; Sun. 5/23: Chad began his summit bid Saturday at approx. 3 a.m. For those waiting on the word, we have not directly heard from him, but received an update from Sam Bricker that Chad has returned to basecamp. A technical glitch prevented us from getting the SPOT coordinates, but we will update with this information as well as details on Chad’s ascent as soon as we can. Thanks for checking in!**

    What do you know about Al Hancock? I haven’t been able to locate him?

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