Please continue to follow the climbing news and my own adventures by reading The Blog on alanarnette.com. Everest 2010 is now over so all future updates on Everest and other climbing news will be posted on The Blog. I regularly add dedicated pages to my main site for my own climbs such as the recent climbs of Colorado’s infamous Little Bear Peak or the US’s highest peak, Mt. Whitney. Use the menu in the upper left of this page to explore the site.

With the controversial summit from the Tibet side by 13 year old Jordan Romero, China seems to feel enough is enough. Starting this fall, 2010, climbers must be between 18 and 60 to be issued a permit. This was announced by the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) who manages mountaineering in Tibet. In a report they said

Even though the season is over and climbers are back home, the ramifications from 2010 still echos throughout the climbing world. There are two developments – youngest records and the search for proof that Mallory and Irvine summited in 1924. First, the records race. This is precisely what people feared from the 13 year-old Jordan Romero’s summit. According to this article, Sherpa Pemba Dorje wants to find a younger climber to summit in 2011 saying that all Everest records should belong to Nepalese.

By recent standards, Everest 2010 was a safe and successful year. There were about 513 summits with 4 reported deaths, all on the north, and several injuries and rescues. The total Everest summits broke the total 5,000 (about 3500 are multiple summits by Sherpas and guides) level since the first in 1953. This year’s story line for climbers and their families was the weather, however it was all Jordan Romero and Apa Sherpa for the rest of the world. For the first time in several years, the north operated in an almost normal manner. Teams dealt with a few border [continue reading]

The first time I heard that an 11 year-old was climbing the 7 Summits, I dismissed it. 11 years old? Where does he get the money. Who will take him on these climbs? And, what does a 11 year-old know about climbing anyway. Well a few years went by and I heard about this kid again, but this time he had climbed 5 of the 7 and was on his way to Everest. Whoa. Jordan Romero is not your ordinary 8th grader and his father Paul is not your ordinary Dad. Jordan saw a painting at school showing the highest [continue reading]

It looks like the Everest season has finally ended with  a big cold slap in the face to many teams on both sides. The weather deteriorated for the few teams making a push this week so much so, some classified it as the worse ever. Another death was reported earlier this week of a Japanese climber on the north, still no details. But another death was also mentioned and again now. Details are vague at best. Duncan Chessell told the Australian news: “They were the worst conditions I have ever encountered by a factor of at least 10 on the [continue reading]

With the summits mostly ended, climbers are making their way back down to Base Camp. As they recover from their summit push, stories are emerging of rescues. Once again, we are seeing tangible proof that the climbing community is a tight one; especially in times of need. We are also seeing that pure accidents happen in spite of every precaution and mountaineering is dangerous and altitude treats everyone the same; regardless of experience. While impressive and motivating to non-climbers, one of the downsides of having a 13, 16 and 22 year old summits this year is that it could portray [continue reading]

On what could have been the final push for 2010, many climbers summited from the south including a record 12th summit for Dave Hahn who was guiding Leif Whittaker. The weather cooperated for the teams however it was extremely cold at 18 below zero F. Once on the summit, the winds started to pick up so climbers hustled down as quickly as possible. In addition to Hahn and Whittaker, climbing under the First Ascent/RMI banner, the rest of team made it to the top including Michael Brown topping out for his 5th time. They commented once back at Base Camp [continue reading]

update #3: South summits. First from RMI: Seth Waterfall is on the summit of Mount Everest. He has the summit all to himself. It is a bit chilly but he has plenty of oxygen and is feeling good! The rest of the team is at the Hilary step continuing up. Then Dave Hahn and Leif Whittaker. Thus far another 12 summits. Their announcement: Dave, Leif, Seth, Casey, Michael, Scott, Tendi, Tshering Dorjee, Dawa Jamba, Da Gyldjen, Nima Tenji, Pasang Temba. On top of the world. All are doing well. Robert Hill and his team reached the South Summit and made [continue reading]