Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Cho Oyu Summits, including Nim’s.
A quick update on the autumn Himalayan season after yesterday’s full update. We have the first summits of the autumn season by the rope team on Cho Oyu, including Nirmal Purja. Also, another team leaves Everest/Lhotse. Project Possible 12 of 14 Completed Looking to summit all 14 of the 8000ers in seven months, Nirmal Purja, […]
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Trouble on Everest
After poor progress last week due to heavy snow, the skies cleared over most of the big peaks and excellent advances were made in route fixing and acclimatization programs. Look for summits early this week on Cho Oyu and perhaps Manaslu and Dhaulagiri. But on Everest, cloudy weather returned and an ominous hanging serac forced […]
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Snow Stalls Progress, Clear Skies Ahead
With the big snow event this week, there was little to no progress on any of the big peaks. The ropes stayed where they were with no progress and the acclimatization rotations stalled. The Everest teams even thought it might be impossible this autumn but that seems to have changed. Now there are predictions of […]
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Heavy Snow
All the peaks are seeing a bit of weather for a few days stalling progress. Heavy snow hit Manaslu, but that is normal. Also, snow on Cho Oyu stopped progress. The Nepal Weather service sent out an adivsory: It’s a bit vague. I assume they don’t want to be pinned down so if they are […]
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Summits Soon!
We may see the first autumn client summits this week, especially on Cho Oyu and perhaps Manaslu. Meanwhile most teams have arrived at all the other 8000ers on the schedule this season in mixed weather conditions. The permit numbers continue to increase as the Nepal Tourism Department issued this update: Everest The weather is […]
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Early Progress
Teams are making excellent progress early in this autumn season across the Himalaya. Everest Prices to increase and more record breaking attempts are underway. A busy time on the world’s highest peaks! Everest First off, a small bit of news on permit prices on the Tibet side. It is being reported that the Tibet Mountaineering […]
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Manaslu Crowds!
The Himalaya climbing activity is picking up with climbers trekking to Everest Base Camp and others already there on Manaslu. The Nepal Ministry of Tourism posted these stats for the autumn 2019 season and as expected when factoring in Sherpa support, there are well over 400 people on Manaslu the season: Of note, the […]
Autumn 2019 Himalayan Season: Rare Everest Attempts
Climbers are on their way to Kathmandu for a rare Everest autumn attempt that includes some famous personalities. Plus there will be potentially record setting action on Dhaulagiri. There could be some interesting storylines this season. Mountain Hardwear Revival with Madison Mountaineering I spoke today with Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering. He was on a […]
New Everest Rules: A Deeper Look
Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism announced proposed changes for guiding and climbing on Mt. Everest at a press conference held in Kathmandu on August 14, 2019. The new rules need to be approved by Parliament before going into effect but are targeted for the 2020 spring season. I received a copy of the press release and […]
10 Years after Ida’s Death
Ten years ago on August 16, 2009, Ida Arnette died from Alzheimer’s disease. Hard to believe it was a decade ago. As I try to do each year on this anniversary, I climb Mt. Ida at 12889′ in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, a perfect peak to honor Ida. The Long Goodbye With an average life expectancy after diagnosis […]