Month: May 2010

2010 Coverage, Everest

Threading the Needle on Everest

Threading the weather needle and taking a gamble that paid off, Domnhall O’Doughartaigh, an independent climber, and Lucille deBeaudrap from Tim Rippel’s Peak Freaks team along with their personal Sherpas Tshering Sherpa and Pemba Sherpa made the summit of Everest on Friday, Nepal time. On the north, Bill Burke reported in from ABC on the north that the fixed lines are not in to the summit thus no summit push for him and David Liano. The lines are only up to 27300 or camp 3. The China Tibetan Mountaineering Association (CTMA) is responsible for fixing lines on the north.

2010 Coverage, Everest

The Next Everest Summits Today?

There is a summit bid currently underway in what could be difficult conditions. But first a small surprise on yesterday’s summits. Previous reports emphatically said no western climbers were to be allowed to join the Sherpa rope fixing team, however, it seems that western guides were exempted.As I have previously mentioned the search for Sandy Irvine and the infamous 1924 camera might be underway again this season. This has become an annual event with most searches conducted under a tight veil of secrecy. The question everyone is trying to answer is did Mallory and Irvine summit Everest in 1924? Well, Jake Norton is writing a multi-part series on his site about the mystery.

2010 Coverage, Everest

First 2010 Everest Summits!

Eric Simonson’s IMG Blog is noting the first summits of 2010 on Everest. As expected it came on the south side from the Sherpa team fixing lines to the top. Adventure Peaks, amongst other teams, reports on heavy snow on that side. They noted a meter (3.3 feet) of snow at the north col limiting further climbs up the Northeast Ridge for the moment. Summit Climb commented that high winds destroyed some tents at the Col as well.

2010 Coverage, Everest

Climbing in Place

With yesterday’s fresh snow, teams were content to take a day or so to let it settle. Unlike expeditions on Denali where you are stuck for a week at the 14 camp or High Camp in your tent or snow cave, on Everest, climbers have the luxury of large tents, folding chairs and tables. And at Base camp, heaters! … One more item to note, Tim Ripple tells us that Nepal Telecom has turned on coverage for Everest. When first announced they said it would reach the summit but let’s wait for confirmation before making that claim.

2010 Coverage, Everest

Que the Weather!

Well, right on schedule a somewhat unexpected snowstorm, complete with lightening and thunder, rolled into the Everest camps. Climbers stopped in their tracks, literally, to wait it out. Needless to say, this put a bit of a chill on talks of an early summit. But we will see. As I had mentioned before, it uncanny how the weather is excellent in April then turns ugly on May 1st almost every year – happy May Day!

2010 Coverage, Everest, Weekend Update

Everest 2010 Weekend Update May 1 (updated)

There are good weeks and bad weeks on Everest, a bad week is when someone dies. On Monday, April 26, Hungarian climber Laszlo Varkonyi was swept into a crevasse by an avalanche on the North Col. A desperate search ensued, however, by Thursday, the search was called off. Teams on the south, while aware of the north side events, continued their acclimatization rotations with many climbers spending the uncomfortable night at camp 3. The weather continued to play nice and Sherpas took the fixed line all the way to the South Col on the south and to camp 3 on the north. They are now being supplied with oxygen bottles, stoves, fuel, tents and other suppliers needed to launch summit bids. Both camps are roughly at 8000m. As of today, the ropes are not fixed to the summit from either side.