By Alan ArnetteEverest, Everest 2013 Coverage6 min read

Everest 2013: First Steps into the Icefall

Alan Climbing the Khumbu Icefall in 2002
Alan Climbing the Khumbu Icefall in 2002

There is progress to report all around today. Teams are in Base Camp making their first trips into the Icefall. Others are finishing up their trek in the Khumbu and the North side teams have crossed the Chinese border and are starting the first of four nights en-route to the Chinese Base Camp.

Several teams including Adventure Consultants are getting close to South Base Camp and only have a couple more nights on the trek. Ang Dorge reports on the weather today:

The weather has changed, turning windy, medicine cloudy and colder than before. Flurries of snow flakes have come down this afternoon, and they sky is grey. Dorjee says this often happens when the Sherpa calendar changes into a new month.

Touching the Icefall

Wally Berg’s Berg Adventure small group made their first sortie into the Icefall. They reached an area known as the popcorn where the moving glacier has become quite jumbled and broken off looking like a field of popcorn. They used this climb to be introduced to crossing the ladders while wearing crampons, rope safety and the need to stay clipped in to the safety rope while crossing the ladders.

Dave Hahn’s RMI team also went in to the Icefall to the Popcorn area but they also are in search of something else:
We went up about an hour, the consensus was that we’d reached close to 18,000 ft, but we stopped just before the “popcorn” section of the Icefall where the risk ramps up a bit.  Back down to camp we came, stopping off for a cyber break, of course, in a safe place where we were finding the all-important 3G signal out of Gorak Shep for our smart phones.
The 3G cell phone signal provided by NCELL is spotty at in Base Camp. Sometimes you can get it in your tent, but most most often you have to walk around holding your phone high in the air similar to a divining rod looking for water. Once found, you immediately sit and do not move a muscle for fear the signal will be lost. Even if it means cramping, your call will go through! Sometimes it seems it takes more dedication to make phone call than it does to climb the mountain!
 
The first steps onto the Icefall represents a huge milestone for an Everest expedition.
 
Sitting crossed-legged in your tent, you try to visualize what you will need. It should be easy, you have had this vision daily for the past two years. But now it is real. You will only be gone for a few hours, not overnight, so the pick list is short: snack, water, normal layers (base, outer, wind, warmth), gloves, hat, sunglass, sunscreen.
 
And the fun stuff: harness rigged with cordelette to attach to jumars, carabiners, ice axe with the grip wrapped in duct tape to stop the cold and your crampons. Your boots lie in your tent vestibule looking ready for action, the tongue of the inner boot seems to wag like an excited pup. OK, your visions have crossed the line and it is time to go.
 
All of the gear gets stuffed into one of the small day packs you brought. You tug the boots on with a hard pull and give the laces one extra inspection. Crampons are lashed on the outside of the pack and the ice axe is in your hand. Hmm, you are no longer trekking the Khumbu.
 
The sun is just below the top of the Icefall and it is a bit cold, you pull the hood around your neck but not over your head. The Sherpas are not wearing jackets.
 
The walk to the edge of the Khumbu Icefall is short or long depending on where your Base Camp is located. In this case it is on the edge of the main camp so it takes 20 minutes to walk to a flat area known as Crampon Point. You will get to know this place well. It is flat, a frozen stream of glacier melt water surrounded by ten foot high snow and ice banks. The last time you come through this area in late May, it will be a rushing river.
 
Other teams arrive, Sherpas are already making the Icefall their own by carrying load after load to establish Camps 1 and 2. The Icefall Doctors come by with a long ladder tied to their backpack. It looks like a wing.
Crampon Point
Crampon Point

Taking a deep breath, you kneel on one knee as you position your heavy climbing boot out front. You step onto the crampons, giving your foot a small twist, exerting slight pressure to seal the gap between tool and boot. With one quick move, you latch the heel lever into the boot groove.

This time you have your gloves off to manipulate the straps. One crosses the toe, then around to the other side and into a latch. You feel good going through the mechanics of putting on your crampons. It is familiar, and comfortable, it makes the start of the day. But you know you need to do this with your heavy gloves on, so a doubt creeps in.
 
The Sherpas stand by quietly, observing but not judging. Once everyone is ready, a Sherpa starts walking. He goes slowly. He is going very slowly. You take your first steps up  a small ice ridge. There is no fixed rope. You use your ice axe for balance. On top of the ridge, you see your mission. An endless expanse of ice, huge ice blocks, some standing straight up, some on their side. It is like nothing you have ever seen, felt or experienced. The short pause allows the vision to become reality.
 
You are climbing the Khumbu Icefall.

Saying Goodbye

I often talk about the difficulty on those left back home while their loved one climbs. David Tait is going through a reverse sort of emotion. His wife and two sons accompanied him to Base Camp. They all arrived today at EBC and will fly out tomorrow. David’s thoughts on saying good bye to his family:

So tomorrow I repack their bags one last time. We will stand as a group next to BC helipad and wait for the rattle of the B3 as it enters the valley, its jet engine screaming in protest at the thinness of the air. With the freezing rotor wash pushing us into the ground and the engine barely coming off full power, I will hoist them aboard. With a last slam of the door and a brief salute to the oxygen-masked pilot I will pat the fuselage and watch helplessly as they vanish from my life for the next 6 weeks.

Dave Mauro once again has a post rich with descriptive words. What strikes me about this post is the absence of any big news, it is just a day in the life. And it sounded quite nice. Please read the entire post as it is the Blog of the Day

There was a haze of smoke filling the second floor hallway as Ty and I walked to our room last night. There was no concern of fire as the smell immediately identified itself as burning yak dung. Trust me on this; it has a distinctive odor.  We debated opening the window in our room but decided this was just as likely to invite still more smoke in. Lacking other options, we sat on the floor eating hershey’s chocolate bars with almonds while watching episodes of The League on my laptop. Our room is at the far end of the Himalayan Hotel, abutting the Yak pasture. All night long the casual clang of metal bells spoke to the nocturnal grazing habit of the Yaks. Yet it was not unpleasant. 

 

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

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10 thoughts on “Everest 2013: First Steps into the Icefall”

  1. Thank you for all the work that goes in to maintaining this blog and website.

    Having just returned home from my EBC trek, it has been fun reading all the climbers’ dispatches as they have walked the same route. One thing that stands out is how pictures almost never give you a sense of the true scale of things. This is really true of the icefall which seemed to me much larger, steeper, and more intimidating than I expected. It must really get the adrenaline flowing going in there for the first time.

  2. My Prayers are with Climbers & Sherpas for a Safe Summit & back home.

    Hope Sagarmata Blesses them all with an enjoyable climbing season.

    I will be watching their progress thru this blog.

  3. Alan…I love reading what it’s like to get ready to climb in the morning and how there is a specific point where everyone puts on their crampons but why don’t climbers have a fixed rope for safety as they enter the icefall. I would think fixed ropes would be used as climbers enter the icefall so they don’t slip into a crevasse.

    I am going to pak a small battery operated fan when I go so I can sleep with with all the yak dung smoke. I’m sure glad you tell us all these details so I can keep a list of things to take.

    If the weather holds as you mentioned there may not be a gushing river in May in the lower icefall.

    It has been another enjoyable journey in my mind thanks to your wonderful Everest memories.

    1. Lynn, the fixed rope begins a bit higher up in the Icefall. There is no need for it at the precise beginning. Also, the crevasse danger at this point is very small as the Icefall has flatten-out. As for the yak dung smoke, it is mostly in the older teahouses and in the central dinning room where the single stove is located. The sleeping rooms are quite small and isolated. There can be smoke but at a much, much lesser level.

  4. Really great to read and it seem that I was there in my dream .
    Wish you a safe climb .

  5. The climb starts ! I hope that everyone on the teams summit safely and without mishap ! May God give His Blessings to all the teams and protect them !

  7. thanks for your blog and website Alan ive read pretty much all your climbing blog and your photos also – this is the first everest season ill follow as it’s happening and your site is great for giving the context of what the climbers deal with

  8. Thank you for the above article. I am a 62 year old woman who is fascinated with mountain climbing and have read many books on the subject. Although I will never experience Everest climbing myself, your article made me feel like I was actually there.

    May Chomolungma be kind to the climbers this season

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