Everest 2017: Summit Wave 1 Recap

Wow, what a big night on both Everest and Lhotse, 16 May 2017. Many teams either ignored poor weather forecasts, believed the good weather forecasts or simply said they would go and take whatever the mountain allowed – many achieved their dreams early this morning.

With so many summits, the fear of crowds is quickly diminishing but all remaining eyes are on the weather forecasts. Believe them or not!

A Split Jet

It seems the Jet Stream that normally is parked on top of Everest almost the entire year, is spitting off what I call “mini-jets” (I am sure there is a scientific name for this 🙂 ) These high speed flows are reeking havoc on both sides – at times – and then disappear. This has made forecasting this season challenging to say the least, according to Chris Tomer.

The next “windows” are suggested to be two days each on either side of 22 May: 18-21 or 23-25.

I expect the activity to slow down a bit over the next few days as teams prepare to head up. However 100 Chinese rumored to be climbing from the Nepal side tonight, 17 May.

I posted a play by play as the summits were happening last night so I will not review every detail but let’s look at the big picture and what is up next.

North Summits:

Adventure Peaks with 2 members, 1 guide and 2 Sherpas.

Mollie Hughes became the 16th female to summit from both sides of Everest with her summit along with Jon Gupta. See the previous post for complete list.

Our buddies over at India’s Transcend continues their solid performance with four more teenagers on top along with six Sherpas.

There were other summits but not reported yet.

South Summits

Ascent Himalayas aka Ireland to Everest had a big night with 17 total summits including several first. See the previous post for details. Adventures Global put two on Everest from Nepal. There were other summits but not reported yet.

Lhotse Summits

Lhotse is in desperate need of coordinating rope fixing similar to what happens on Everest.  In 2016, three were no summits because no team was willing to fix the ropes after a Sherpa fell to his death while setting the route.

This year, it appears there were duplicate rope fixing efforts. Australia’s Everest One‘s home team told me:

 Allan Cohrs and Raul Helander summited 5.20pm Nepal time. They fixed their own ropes along with Angelu Sherpa and Chirring Sherpa.

Meanwhile Seven Summits Treks  is reported to have put 10 on the summit – 7 Sherpas, 1 Norwegian, 1 Bulgarian and an Indian. They also said they fixed the lines:

First Summit of Mt.Lhotse 2017 : Route fixed by climbing sherpa guides of Lhotse Expedition organized by Seven Summit Treks and 14 Peak Expedition company. 01 Norway , 01 Bulgarian and 01 Indian climbers reached to the Summit of Mt.Lhotse at 5pm

My K2 summit buddy, Al Hancock, looks to be on the next push.

And another Ascent Himalayas team, this one on Lhotse, made the top and also fixed ropes:

AH Lhotse Expd 2017 update by Mingma Tsiri Sherpa(Everest Base Camp)After the 100 % success on Mt Everest this morning approx 9:45am Our Lhotse Team member John Snorri Sigursson(Iceland) and Cian O Brolchain(Ireland) together with Tsering Pemba Sherpa(IFMGA GUIDE) & Ang Chhiring Sherpa summited Mt Lhotse at 04:20pm.This is the first summit of Mt Lhotse(8516m) this season. Tsering Pemba with other climbing guides fix the route all the way to the summit.They started to summit at 11:00 pm.John Snorri(Iceland) became the 1st Icelandish to summit Mt Lhotse(8516m) and Cian O Brolchain(Ireland) became the 4th Irish to summit Mt Lhotse(8516m).We Ascent Himalayas team congratulate our member and climbing for the successful summit.

There 100 permits issued for Lhotse so it will continue to see activity through the remainder of this season. There should be plenty of fixed ropes. 🙂

Extra Proud Moments

For every climber, summiting is special but for some they are completing a huge project.

Over on Dhaulagiri, Peter Hámor summited thus finished all 14 of the 8000 meter peaks. According to the Himalayan Database his first 8000er was Everest in 1998 with supplemental oxygen and tried again in 2014 without but only reached 7800 meters.

Romanian climber Horia Colibasanu summited Everest from Tibet also without supplemental oxygen, the second for his country. This was his 8th 8000er. His home team posted on facebook:

He made it!!!! Horia reached this morning, 6.20 RO hour, the highest point on Earth, the peak of mountain Everest, after a long summit that lasted 12 hours. “It was very, very hard, and very, very cold”, he said.

Last Chance

While not finished, noted German Alpinist Ralf Dujmovits is trying to get Everest without supplemental oxygen gave us this update: See his page for pictures.

Yesterday I came back from another acclimatization loop on the Tibetan side of Mt. Everest. I spent one night in CII (7,700 m) where I had a relativ good night – beside some slight disturbance from my stomach which told me at 3 a.m. to leave the tent in less than 20 seconds…. In this picture – taken by a Tibetan Highporter of a Chinsese expedition- you see me zig-zagging up the snowridge leading from the North Col to CII. In the background you see Pumori (7,161 m), Cho Oyu (8,188 m) and Gyachung Kang (just below 8.000 m, from left to right).

It was a beautiful, almost windstill day – until I reached the camp side where snowfall and some wind started. I’m here to undertake my 8th and definitely last attempt to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. Everest is the only of the 14 8000m peaks on which I used oxigene during the summit climb (early October 1992). Since then I tried six more times to reach the summit without supplemental oxygen. Each time something went wrong or circumstances were not good enough. . .

Disappointments?

Over on Kanchenjunga, it appears the three Sherpanis (also fellow K2 summiters in 2104) turned back below the summit for lack of fixed ropes. This is the second event like this as other teams reported turning short of the summit of Makalu lacking ropes.

Next Everest/Lhotse Windows

Summit Climb’s Tibet team continues to show patience. Ricky Munday posted:

Snow overnight at Everest basecamp. It looks like we might be moving up tomorrow with a possible target date of 23rd May as latest forecasts show lower wind speeds high on the mountain from that date.

And Dave O’Brien added that they went shopping before their summit bid:

Hi this is David O’Brien. Yesterday we piled into a minibus for the one hour supply ride to Tashi som, a nearby Tibetan village. It was a slow careful drive on the way down with snow on the road, the driver was extra cautious. The local kids asked for money as we hopped out onto the muddy roads in the low altitude rain. We had a late lunch and then into the shop for a real buying spree. Pringles, coke, chocolate, yoghurt and any other local delicacies were carefully chosen , bought , eaten and re bought. Our last snack supply binge before the summit.

Reflections

Everest 2017 is a case study on taking what the mountain will give you. Some handle it well, other not so much. A few of the climbers are starting to become a bit reflective in their posts. Their posts deserve a full read, on their original location so I won’t repost all of their thoughts but a section or two that represents their thoughts.

Let’s start with this from Dr. Maria Nemethy at EverestEr on the south side:

Will the weather open windows wide enough for safety, or will winds and crowds lead to mishaps (or worse)? Will the varying levels of experience on the mountain dance smoothly around each other, or will they collide tragically on the ropes and ice? Will bodies worn down by illness, loss of appetite and the general deterioration from living for weeks at 5500m sustain themselves through higher elevations, or will they succumb to fatigue and the environment? Despite the consistently busy flow of the clinic this season, we are aware that the most serious part of our time here is still yet to come. We hope to be as ready as we can be, readying ourselves as well as the clinic’s resources.

Blake Penson, who had an ankle injury, returned home and had treatment, then returned to join his team lead by Tim Mosedale posted his feeling on his excellent blog. The critical paragraph:

There was a general feeling of anger, depression, exhaustion and stress after having this attempt snatched away for us. I wasn’t that fazed with not being able to go up as it is still early in the season and I knew another better window would present itself. I was however furious with the fact that I would have to spend another week or three in this place instead of heading home in a few days. The prospect of sitting around Base Camp for another 10 odd days and then having another attempt was grinding away at me.

The trip had been too long already and I was starting to question if I had enough interest left in Everest to justify staying here. I was missing my family too much already and it was only going to get worse. I really don’t care much for this hill any more. The 15 minutes on the summit is not worth the two months one has to spend trying to get there. It takes too much and in return, offers too little. Do I just throw this expired dream away and head home once I get down to Base Camp? A lot of thinking needs to be done.

And my Colorado climbing buddy Jim Davidson is on a life long quest to summit Everest. I can’t guess how many hours we have spent discussing his dream and my experiences. Jim was as well prepared as anyone I have ever seen and rich with climbing skills and experience.

He is at the IMG base camp on the Nepal side and posted a very insightful piece on his blog about his thoughts. An excerpt:

When we are waiting in Everest base camp for the weather to clear, the first few days are fine – we enjoy the down time, eating lots, and resting. But, once the waiting starts to exceed what you were mentally prepared for, the forced delay can start grinding on you. Mental attitudes start to decline. Small things start bugging you: the chilly ice under your tent seems annoyingly colder. The food seems boring. People can get a bit edgy. Spirits start to sink lower.

At mealtimes, you can often tell who is feeling down. When you see your teammate is discouraged, that is when you have to lift each other up. Crack jokes, take hikes together, cheer each other up. Remind each other that we can endure the wait and get through this.

If its been a long, slow day or the weather report is unfavorable, then, for me, night time is the toughest. Doubts magnify fears. Unhappiness amplifies uncertainty. The best thing to do, is just sleep. Rest is always good, and staying up late worrying about things that you can’t change is never good. I think the biggest challenge is accepting that we have to be inactive and patient, when our training and instincts as climbers urge us to be active and persevere. We are on Day 56 of this Everest trip now, and a big lesson for me has been that patience is actually passive perseverance

Sincere congratulations to all the summiters and for those on the bench, hang in there, your time is coming soon!

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything