Everest 2012: Weekend Update May 6

This was the week Everest fell apart – literary and figuratively. With concerns over the lack of snow surfacing back in late March, it was not until the Sherpas, store the tireless heroes of Everest, s started to establish Camp 3 on the Lhotse face that the danger became real.

Multiple injuries from rock fall caused the commercial team leaders to meet trying to find a solution to a natural problem. The lack of snow , perhaps a recent earthquake, but certainly the extreme winds demanded a different route up the Lhotse Face, and even abandoning Everest entirely for spring 2012.

As the week progressed we saw two approaches to the problem: attack and re – but both involved a wait and see attitude towards the future and an overriding concern for the safety of members, guides and Sherpas, with one startling exception.

A new route on the Lhotse Face was established under the leadership of IMG, AAI and Patagonia Brothers and safely used by hundreds of Sherpas and over 50 climbers to either tag Camp 3 or sleep overnight, thus completing their acclimatization program before attempting the summit.

Himex Cancels Season

Several teams including Himex, that had waited out the drama at Camp 2 choose to withdraw to their base camps declaring they would not climb Everest until there was more snow, the winds calmed down and yet a different route was established on the Lhotse Face and above.

On May 5th Joe Martinet’s home team posted that Russell Brice had canceled the entire Everest expedition. I assume this includes Lhotse but am not sure about their Nuptse effort given it does not require climbing on the Lhotse Face but the recent avalanche that hit Camp 1 came off Nuptse. I have not confirmed this but if true, a gutsy call by the veteran.

Avalanche Survivor Report

Hugo Searle posted a startling account of being hit by the avalanche from Nuptse. This is the one that essentially destroyed much of Camp 1  and swept his Sherpa cook into crevasse necessitating a dramatic rescue and evacuation:

When the avalanche hit it blew me backwards, off my feet and slammed me to the tent floor.  Avalanche powder was pouring into the tent with such force that I could not breathe.  I opened my mouth and it filled with snow, I opened my eyes and everything was white.  The noise was intense, a rushing, roaring, tearing loud, loud noise.  I struggled to get myself up onto my hands and knees, still being pummelled.  I thought “I’m going to die because I can’t breathe”.   I was fighting to get to the back of the tent, because I thought if I got out I could roll into the crevasse behind my tent and take shelter.

Please read the entire report on his site

Goodbye Winds, Hello Snow

On May 3, the winds relented allowing many teams to safely climb the Face, but it was cold. I read one report of severely frostbitten fingers, something that should not happen in this time of modern gear. In spite of improved conditions, some choose to simply tag the High Camp rather than sleeping. Time will tell if this has an impact on their overall acclimatization. Many of those spent almost a week at Camp 2 hoping their bodies achieved the necessary adjustment to the lack of oxygen.

IMG, taking the lead in salvaging Everest 2012, had their large core of Sherpas bring more rope and anchors to Camp 3 planning to set the route to the summit.

Greg and Ang Jangbu report that the IMG Hybrid and guided teams made it down to EBC, and the first Classic group went up to Camp 2. The fixing teams have 29 bags (200m each) of rope at Camp 2, and 4 more 200m bags on top of Yellow Band, along with screws and pickets, ready to move up the hill for further fixing of the route when the conditions improve.

Then on May 5, the snow began, well at least at base camp. This lifted spirits on both sides of the mountain or the remaining teams.

The Everest 2012 Experience

I always enjoy reading posts from 18 year-old Leanna Shuttleworth climbing with AAI. She explains her climb to tag Camp 3 through her young eyes. However, she is now speaking like a high altitude veteran and becoming “blase” about crevasses.

One thing I noticed today just before we got into the main section of the Ice Fall was just how blasé you become about crevasses; we would be walking over tiny snow bridges with a gaping crevasse going down 50m on each side of us, and no one blinks an eyelid, or more often just doesn’t even glance down. This isn’t usually a coping mechanism either; it’s just that you cross so many of them that they stop being of particular interest or awe. However, every time we pass it the place that the Sherpa fell still revives my fear of the crevasse crossings.

An excellent read is from Paul Goughy on his experience on the Lhotse face with the rockfall. This provides some insight into what the Sherpas, guides and climbers are experiencing: This is the Blog of the Day:

While this has kept some teams tent bound we decide to brave them. Secondly, after a drier than normal winter, a lot of rock on the upper slopes is exposed and susceptible to being dislodged by wind or climbers. As some of the first climbers to head up the Lhotse Face we didn’t fully appreciate at the time how big an issue/concern this would become. We donned our (optional) helmets and started to ascend the Lhotse Face. Almost immediately, we were showered with rocks and ice from above (mostly from climbers descending).

I was hit several times in the helmet, back and once in the glasses (thankfully I brought a spare). People shout “rock/ice” from above, but even if you do hear them above the wind you struggle to know whether to look up (in the hope of seeing and then dodging the falling debris and risk getting the timing wrong and getting hit in the face instead) or just burying your head in the snow, so to speak. The combination of 80km/h winds, rock showers, terrain, and cold made the journey to camp pretty tiring. However, we all made it in around 5 hours, not too bad considering. I found it more difficult to navigate the ropes/anchors with my big mittens on which slowed me down a fair bit at each change over point. If you get this wrong,it is a one-way express ticket to the bottom of the Lhotse Face. Not pleasant….

A concerning report comes on Outside Online’s reporting that Summit Climb and their in-country logistics operator refused to pay for an evacuation of severally injured Sherpa. Apparently they had no evacuation insurance. Read the entire report of an unbelievable situation:

She immediately recommended a helicopter rescue to both the HRA and Coster. But Coster and Summit Climb’s in-country agent, Everest Parivar Expeditions, who Coster reached at the scene via satellite phone, said they had no insurance for such a rescue and couldn’t afford the $5,000 (Coster told Arnot it was $15,000, and a Parivar representative quoted Arnot $5,000.) “I told him to look me in the eye and tell me this guy’s life isn’t worth $5,000,” says Arnot.

Touching Grass

Anatoli Boukreev made famous the notion of returning lower in the Khumbu before attempting the summit. This is to allow their bodies to enjoy higher oxygen levels above the 50% density found at base camp. Sleeping off the floor, eating different food, rejuvenates many. Today there are many teams at the villages of Pheriche and Phangboche enjoying these luxuries but wondering if they will have their shot at the top of the world.

The Mysterious North

As usual the north side of Everest remains somewhat of a mystery. Not due to the teams secrecy but the difficulty in establishing communications. However, Jamie McGuinness, a north side veteran posted a revealing update:

It seems most teams are now at ABC and with sherpas pushing loads up. This season’s fixed ropes are still only as far as 7900m (I haven’t heard otherwise) and so most teams will push supplies up as far as there. It may be that last year’s ropes are still OK, and some sherpas simply use them to drop oxygen at 8210m, but I feel there is still some small but real risk there. Hopefully the rope fixers will return soon instead.

Are we/everybody behind? Certainly we are not ahead of the game, but it is a stretch to say that teams are behind, and North Col is fully loaded by most teams. It is still relatively early days and it just takes one or a couple of good days of hard work and all of a sudden everything is in place. Anyway, myself, Phil Crampton and others prefer to summit later rather than earlier. It is often warmer and therefore just that much less difficult.

Phil Crampton also kept us informed as he has throughout this season with this encouraging but simple statement on their May 6 experience:

No wind, no clouds and no crowds made this our day yet climbing on the “Big E”.

What is Ahead?

It is all about timing now. The south season ends on May 31 when the ladders are removed in the Khumbu Icefall due to excessive melting as summer nears. Everest 2012 summits are now dependent on heavy snowfall on the Lhotse Face and above to secure the loose rock thus allowing a reasonably safe attempt. If  this happens it will take a few days for the snow to settle, the route to get set, at least to the South Col, and for the climbers to get in position. The final route to the summit can easily be fixed as the first wave of climbers make their summit bid.

Once again, Dave Hahn puts it succinctly:

If the snow actually sticks to the blue ice of the Lhotse Face the chance of a rock blowing off the summit of the 4th highest mountain in the world and hurtling unimpeded down toward our fixed ropes would be greatly reduced and we’d be back in business.  If that happens sooner, then we might even have a chance to go back up for a more thorough acclimatization rotation before the summit bid.  If time drags on a bit before that snow sticks… we may be left with just a shot at the summit.  And if time drags on for several weeks without the change we need… a decent shot at the top is in doubt.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything