Everest/Lhotse 2016: Gear Ferried into Western Cwm as Safety Move

A bit of Everest history happening right now, 10:00 am April 23, 2016 Nepal time.

Summit rope fixing gear (rope, anchors, oxygen for the Sherpas above the South Col) is being long-lined to Camp 1 by helicopters – all approved by the Government.  It has taken six trips by the helicopter plus a spotter in a separate helicopter to deliver the gear. No climbers or Sherpas were transported. This will save 87 Sherpa loads and potentially lives if there is another serac release or other natural disaster in the Icefall.

As my regular readers know from this season, the temperatures at Everest Base camp have been quite warm this year, similar to what climbers experienced on K2 last summer where no one sumitted due to snow conditions. While I don’t expect that (no summits this year) for Everest/Lhotse, most people are concerned about the  conditions on the Lhotse Face and when passing thru the Khumbu Icefall.

I took this video of running water on the “main street” of base camp a couple days ago in base camp. This is what you usually see in late May.

While some may see this as a slippery slope to ferrying climbers into the Western Cwm and by passing climbing the Khumbu Icefall, for ?#?everest2016?, this is all about safety for the Sherpas. I can report first hand that the Sherpas are pleased with this decision.

Not as a defense of potentially flying climbers into the Cwm to bypass the Icefall but more as a sense of perspective, looking at the world’s mountains there is precedent for such moves. On Denali climbers used to hike in via the Woodrow glacier trek vs flying onto the Kahiltna today. On Mont Blanc, almost everyone now uses the téléphérique to the Aiguille du Midi for the more popular routes. And some people actually fly to 14K on Aconcagua these days ….. Not saying it is right or wrong just that this seems to be the evolution when the “approach” becomes too “inconvenient”, difficult or dangerous. Of course, everest is viewed totally differently than any other mountain.

If you are curious as to why continue the Everest/Lhotse 2016 season at all, most operators feel the seracs above the Icefall are “laying back” so while there is still risk and it makes sense to take all precautions, by climbing in the middle of the night, objective danger can be minimized (hopefully). Our team will leave base camp at 1:00 am for our acclimatization rotation to Camps 1 and 2.

That said – there is always danger and that is part of climbing, especially on Everest. Of course, if there is another large avalanche onto the Icefall or into the Cwm or the Lhotse Face is thwart with rockfall – all bets are off for some and we may see expeditions cancel like Russell Brice did in 2012.

No doubt, there is an air of apprehension here, you would be ill-informed to feel otherwise. Seeing the helicopters fly by – six times – brings the reality home.

Climb On!

Alan

Memories are Everything