Everest 2012: Holding and Climbing

The Everest season has officially split on the South side. Over on the North, they continue their effort to reach the North Col and tag 7500m. On both sides, eyes are glued to weather forecasts wondering where they will be when the winds return.

South Split

As I have covered over the past few days, several teams are holding steady at base camp while others are taking advantage of the reduced winds to get their full acclimatization rotations in.

Eric Simonson, IMG, reports that 50 climbers took the new route up the Lhotse Face on Friday without incident. Visit their site for the full update:

Greg and Jangbu report from IMG Base Camp that the wind finally started dropping today, and there was some snowfall this afternoon. The chance of additional snow over the next couple days remains in the forecast. The Classic climbers up at Camp 2 with IMG guide Eric Remza are doing well. They report that about 50 people from other teams took the new (right hand) route today, up to Lower Camp 3, and that it went well for them. The Classic team plan for tomorrow is to climb up to Lower Camp 3 for acclimatization and then return to Camp 2. We are going to hold off sleeping people at Camp 3 for the time being.

Bandar posted a long blog on his climb to Camp 2 and back. His experience is fairly typical of many Everest climbers ranging from illness to uncertainty to fear. A long but good read. The Blog of the Day An excerpt:

During the night we were engulfed in a wind storm. Our tent walls were flapping strongly in the wind and sleep was very elusive. Waking up constantly, I would give a look at Atte and see his eyes open as well, unable to slumber with this constant freight train running over our heads. This also led to a draft inside our tent that allowed the cold to sneak in to each and every passage. Cold and wind led to a miserable night and we were ecstatic when the sun hit our tent to provide much needed relief. Only 1 more night in this place was a constant topic among the group.

Several teams are now spending time touching the green grass of the lower Khumbu, enjoying the relative comforts of tea houses. This has become more common after a team completes their acclimatization program to go lower and enjoy the oxygen thick air.

The benefits are obvious but many teams avoid this fearing exposure to new illness from strangers and not being able to react quickly to a weather change and  missing a potential summit window. Last year for me, our opportunity to summit came two hours after after we crawled into our tents when a revised weather forecast arrived. Talk about a fire drill!

North Push

The usual sources for information on the north side are busy climbing but we know that many teams left base camp a few days ago with the intention of spending a night at the north Col plus climbing to 7500m to meet their acclimatization program. Some people have asked if the rock fall is as bad on the north as the south and the answer is I don’t know.

Climbing to the North Col is more of a very steep ice and snow slope and the pictures I have seen suggest it is in good shape. However above the North Col, it is very rocky so they may experience similar issue as South side climbers once they get higher.

Weather Watch

Reports of low winds came across today allowing teams to climb. Other forecast suggest low winds through the weekend and then returning. But low winds are not enough to solve the rock fall issue. It will take some heavy snowfall to bond the rocks. So time will tell. But there is still 27 days left on the south, eternity in mountaineering, or a blink.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything