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Everest 2019: Season Summary The Year Everest Broke

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Jun 072019
 
Everest 2019: Season Summary The Year Everest Broke

Everest 2019 will go down as the year Everest finally broke. It was one of those seasons where a lot of things went wrong, more things went right and many trends took center stage with new and old lessons for members, support, guide companies and governments. The only remaining question is, is anyone listening? One Person’s Story There are many stories to tell this year but this one perhaps encapsulates the entire season of risks, support, drive, judgment and motivation.  Los Angles resident Mark Parella was climbing with Seven Summit Treks. A he was headed to the summit he developed snow-blindnesss continue reading

Everest 2019: Weekend Update May 27 – It’s Not About the Crowds

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May 262019
 
Everest 2019: Weekend Update May 27 - It's Not About the Crowds

The third week of May 2019 may go down as one of the best and worse in Everest history. Over 500 people summited but it was not without cost, 10 people died, many of which were avoidable in my view. More are headed up to summit on Sunday, May 26. As I will develop in this post there are four reasons for the deaths on the Nepal side this season: Too many people Too few summit windows Too many inexperienced people climbing inadequate climber support The Joy of the Summit Not to be lost is the joy and satisfaction felt continue reading

Everest 2019: Weekend Update May 19

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May 192019
 
Everest 2019: Weekend Update May 19

Last week was important for climbers across the Himalayan. The ropes were fixed to the summit on four separate 8000-meter mountains all on the same day, May 14, 2019. This was historic in that it has never happened on so many peaks on the same day. With that, many peaks, including Everest, were summited in cold temperatures but manageable winds. Then something else historic occurred. Seven climbers lost their lives and three went missing, presumed dead. Add in one more death on Annapurna two weeks earlier, it totals 11 deaths and this is even before the largest summit push in history on Everest that begins early next week. continue reading

Everest 2019: Weekend Update May 12

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May 112019
 
Everest 2019: Weekend Update May 12

Update: Sherpas at South Col. Will fix to Balcony tomorrow and summit on Tuesday. Let’s be clear. Climbing Everest is complicated. The press likes to characterize it as an easy “walk-up” or “short-roped to the summit” after paying $65,000, As I have said for years, this is lazy cut and paste journalism that disrespects the climbers and the Sherpas. In 2019, the storyline is the trash and bodies. I’ll address this later. But for today, there is only word on the mind of most Everest’s climbers and followers today: ropes. Without the ropes, there will be few summits. The weather continue reading

Everest 2019: Weekend Update May 5

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May 042019
 
Everest 2019: Weekend Update May 5

If you look at Everest over the past decade or so, there is a slight trend with the weather. April is generally nice, May starts off horribly, then a ‘miracle’ happens and the winds and snow take a holiday off the summit opening the floodgates to everyone on both sides. Well, 2019 is on track! But no one counted on a Cyclone and the Jet Stream playing footsie on May 2! No doubt that the upper mountain was hit the hardest. Each weekend during the season I’ll post a “Weekend Update” summarizing the main stories for the past week. Also, continue reading

Everest 2019: Weekend Update April 28

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Apr 272019
 
Everest 2019: Weekend Update April 28

April is just about over and everything on Everest is mostly on schedule. High winds were reported on both sides. Lots of information in this Weekend Update. The #Everest2019 season is in full swing! The lack of rope to the North Col is a bit disturbing and suggest the objective dangers are growing on that side but I’ll get to that in a moment. Last week saw the first 8000-meter summits of the season on Annapurna – 32 in all but one climber is now in serious condition in Kathmandu after getting separated from the group and left behind. Each continue reading

Everest 2019: Weekend Update April 21

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Apr 212019
 
Everest 2019: Weekend Update April 21

As we close out the third full week of the 2019 season, all is well on both sides of Everest. No major incidents and all systems, except for EverestLink, seems to be up and running, but they seem to have their links worked out. Each weekend during the season I’ll post a “Weekend Update” summarizing the main stories for the past week. Also, now that the season is well underway, I’ll strive to post my daily updates for all #everest2019 each day before noon, Mountain Daylight Time, GMT -7. Headlines A quick rundown on who is where. For a complete continue reading

Everest 2019: Weekend Update April 14

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Apr 132019
 
Everest 2019: Weekend Update April 14

“Welcome to Base Camp!” has been heard over and over this past week. Teams are arriving at EBC daily and on the Tibet side, the roads are full with SUVs driving to CBC. Look for first foreign climbs into the Icefall this next week. But first what happened last week? Each weekend during the season I’ll post a “Weekend Update” summarizing the main stories for the past week. Headlines First an update on the comms situation at EBC.  It seems that EverestLink is having problems getting their system to be reliable this year. This happens occasionally but they usually get it continue reading

Everest 2019: Weekend Update April 7

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Apr 072019
 
Everest 2019: Weekend Update April 7

The Everest spring season is fully underway, at least on the Nepal side of the Hill. Multiple teams are trekking to Everest Base Camp – Nepal aka EBC. One team has already arrived at EBC. Meanwhile, there are only a few teams on their way to the Tibet side, more to begin this week. Each weekend during the season I’ll post a “Weekend Update” summarizing the main stories for the past week. Headlines The biggest news this past week was that the Icefall Doctors have finished putting the route in from EBC to Camp 2 in the Western Cwm. This continue reading

Everest 2019: When is a Rest day, a Rest Day?

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Apr 062019
 
Everest 2019: When is a Rest day, a Rest Day?

Another day, and another step closer to base camp. A bit of news mostly from the Nepal side. I post these headlines on the tracker page everyday and update with the latest as I get them and then cover the newest headlines in the next blog post.     These are the latest: First teams are now at EBC-Nepal in very cold conditions, -18C/0F Route opens from Base Camp through the Khumbu Icefall (20 ladders) to Camp 2 – Nepal Weather looks to be moving into Nepal over the weekend, could make the trek a bit uncomfortable EverestLink Internet is continue reading

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