Everest 2012: Summit Wave 2 – Update 1

Update 1

For those climbers starting very early and climbing fast, search the weather has been good.

Case in point is Adventure Consultant’s Ang Dorge Sherpa who made the summit (his 16th) in 7:20 with Spaniard Joan Clofent. This is significant in that it indicated the route was in good shape, the weather acceptable and the crowds low. As a reference, IMG’s Kami Sherpa (13 times) and I made the same climb last year in 7:40 which was unbelievable for me.

In general climbers can expect to take from 7 to 12 hours to summit and about half that to return to the South Col. Most will push on to Camp 2 taking another 4 to 6 hours.

Unless the climber has a personal satellite phone or their guide service is updating the website, don’t expect hear anything until they return to base camp a day later … I know forever.

There are reports of increasing winds from both sides. Grant Rawlinson with Altitude Junkies made a very brief voice dispatch from Camp 3 on the North after his summit saying the winds were strong on top. Very happy for Axe!

Peak Freaks has canceled their second wave of climbers positioned at Camp 3 on the South due to the winds and will go again on May 25th.

So it sounds like the winds have picked up. It was forecasted to be around 30 mph with gust to 40, at the ragged edge of comfort but still achievable. I had 40 mph winds last year on my summit. No word on crowds but climb times “feel” slow to me so the crowds could be an issue on this wave.

Remember not every team reports real time but this is that I can see of total summits or nearly there (Sherpas, guides and members). I will update the table once they post their complete info.

• Adventure Consultants: 15
• International Mountain Guides (IMG): 22
• Peak Freaks: 15+
• S2/Windhorse: 4

OK, so this is how it goes. They tell us they are leaving and nothing :). They climb, we wait but we have the better end of this deal. What they are doing takes the human body to it’s limits. I admire each and every climber regardless of their result.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

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The second summit wave is underway with teams lining up all along the route above the South Col and Camp 3 on the North.

General Updates:

Please note I may update the site a few times during the large volume summit pushes so you will receive several emails if you subscribed to receive updates.

If you are wondering about a specific team or climber, please understand that I cannot follow everyone because most of the climbers and teams do not have websites or are not providing updates.

The normal practice is once the team summits, they report the results to the Nepal Ministry of Tourism and they eventually publish a press release or report – this can take days or months for the official report. Hopefully the team you are interested in will publish something through their hometown press if/when they summit.

An update from yesterday’s summit by the 10 Chilean climbers and 10 Sherpas; as more information came out it seems the Chilean team and the 7 Sherpas fixing the rope basically summited together as shown by this audio post on the Chilean team site:

” The Sherpas who rigged Rodrigo Jordan route give me the top …. sample of his infinite generosity and humility strong”

Again, congratulation to the Chileans for being the first team on top of the world in 2012!

Climbers Climbing

A few updates already from the South. First from Eric Simonson of IMG. See their site for a great summit shadow picture:

IMG leader Greg Vernovage reports that the IMG climbers have now left the South Col (8:30pm Nepal Time). Sounds like there are quite a few other teams also climbing tonight, so they wanted to get out on the route ahead of them Conditions are good and not too windy. We are keeping our eye on the wind, as it is supposed to start ramping back up over the next 24 hours. Next check-in will be the Balcony in about 5 hours or so.

And from Tim and Becky Ripple of Peak Freaks. See their site to follow them on SPOT:

At 21:00hrs Nepal Time, Marty Schmidt heads up the first group to the summit. If you are watching SPOT you will see the tracks of Andreas Breitfuss from Australia and Tashi Thundu Sherpa, the second wave is now sleeping at C3 and will move up to the South Col tomorrow. They should reach the Balcony in about 3 hours from now as I was late getting Tim’s report, he’s been busy coordinating all the movement of our teams. All is looking good, stay tuned for regular posting here throughout the night.

And Adventure Consultants has checked in. See their site for a full list of climbers:

Ang Dorjee and Joan left the South Col at 8pm local time and as I write this Mike, Wilfred, Peter and Neil are donning their crampons and are about to start their ascent. Dean and Iza plan to depart in another half an hour, at 9.30pm.

Jagged Globe has decided to delay their summit bid until the next window after one of their Sherpas was injured and their view of the crowds.

On the North, teams have also left with a staggered start. This update at the last minute from Phil Crampton

The head of the Tibetan rope fixers, Samdo who is present at Camp 3 with the Chinese team, has organized the several teams present with staggered departure times to try and avoid any bottlenecks on the respective steps. We are quite pleased with our slot as we had planned to leave at midnight anyway and we have the 11:30 PM slot.

Also a note about the 7 Summits Club. Fedor Konyukhov who is climbing with Alex Abramov reached the Summit in 1992 as a member of first Russian Expedition, this year is Anniversary – 20 years after first climb. Hi son told me the only difference he is 60 years old this year! You can follow him on his website, but it is in Russian!

Alex just posted:

Hello! Alexander Abramov from the camp at an altitude of 8300 meters. We are OK, a few hours later we’re going to start our summit bid. The entire first group of seven members and seven Sherpas is here. All are feeling well. There are about 100 climbers are preparing for climb here. Now it would be a meeting of guides in Chinese camp…. We will decide who, when will start. It is necessary that pushed the crowd.

Route Info

Following the current Everest summit push? These descriptions may help: South North

Why?

I like to use these updates to occosionally remind my readers that I am just one guy who loves climbing. With 30 serious climbing expeditions including four Everest trips under my belt and a summit last year, this site tries to share those experiences, demystify Everest each year and bring awareness to Alzheimer’s Disease. My mom died from this disease a few years ago as did two of my aunts. It was a heartbreaking experience that I never want anyone to go through thus my ask for donations to non-profits where 100% goes to them, and nothing to me.

A few quick Alzheimer’s facts:

• there is no cure
• it is 100% fatal
• the cost of supporting an individual with Alzheimer’s is similar to ing 2 new cars each year
• depression is higher among caregivers than in the normal population
• research is severely underfunded

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything