Everest 2017: Weather Playing Cruel Tricks on Climbers

Plumes off Everest and Lhotse

All dressed up and nowhere to go! That is the story on Everest right now. Those staged at the high camps expecting the ropes to be fixed to the summit are disappointed. Those down valley relaxing in tea houses are smug and those at base camps are bored.

On the Nepal side, the team of Sherpas trying to set the route from the Balcony to the summit didn’t leave the South Col yesterday as planned due to high winds and extremely cold temps.

As we approach 10 May, climbers are getting a bit nervous about when the route will be open, but more importantly if the weather is going to cooperate this season.

Snow and Rain …

I asked Michael Fagin of Everest Weather for his thoughts on all the rain and snow and if the monsoon was starting early this year.

The best source for monsoon related information for Asia is from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).  IMD will issue a statement when the monsoon season has officially stated and I  have not seen a statement yet. It usually starts about May 20 in the south parts of the Bay of Bengal

The IMD did issue a long term  outlook last month regarding the monsoon and stated that “the monsoon seasonal rainfall is likely to be 96% of the long term average.” Finally, there is a correlation with the monsoon season when have a La Nina, below normal sea surface temperatures  off the west coast of South American along the equator. We have had an La Nina this past winter and this pattern  “usually” brings above normal rainfall during the upcoming monsoon season.

No mention of if this leads to an early start of the monsoon season.

Asian Trekking noted:

The rope fixing up to summit of Mt. Everest (8848m) from Balcony (8400m) was postponed today due to bad weather. The team did not go beyond camp 4 today, as it was windy and very cold. They are returning to camp 2, and planning another date to fix the rope beyond balcony to summit. It has started to snow in Base camp and raining down valley. Will update more in later post.

Adventure Consultants summed it up well:

This morning we were all excited by the prospect of the rope fixing team, including our Sherpas, reaching the summit of Everest. However a deterioration in weather, with significant snowfall, has altered that plan. The fixing team had no choice but to retreat lower, and for now, all plans are on hold. A few teams were already high on the mountain, planning on maximising on the rope fixing, and the good forecast. For now the summit remains untouched, despite best efforts.

Downtime

Ben Jones, who posts very nice photos noted how Lhakpa Rita Sherpa (we summited K2 together) and Gopal are passing the time – playing chess!!

Lakpa Rita and Gopal playing chess. courtesy of Ben Jones
Lakpa Rita and Gopal playing chess. courtesy of Ben Jones

Lucas Furtenbach posted this picture of his team relaxing in a nearby Tibetan village. Hard to feel sorry for them if there are any delays! 🙂 🙂 Actually they are back at base camp now.
furtenbach adventures

Plans

Also on the Tibet side, the Iowans are making plans for a 15 May summit:

Years of climbing successively higher, more difficult mountains and hard physical training over the last year are now being put to the ultimate test. We start our push to the top of the world this afternoon. The summit winds are low and the temperatures are manageable. The only downside is heavy snow this entire week: between 8 inches and 2 feet projected every day throughout our summit push. Challenging.

If everything goes as planned, we will be in middle camp (19k) tonight: May 9; ABC (21k) on May 10; rest day ABC on May 11; North Col (23k) on May 12; Camp 2 (25k) on May 13; Camp 3 (27k) on May 14; leave for summit at around 11 PM on May 14; SUMMIT (29k) at around 7-8 AM on May 15; back to ABC (21k) by 6-7 PM on May 15. Rest day at ABC on May 16 or head down to BC.

If we are successful we will be the first Iowans to scale Everest’s Northeast Ridge. This climb is for you, Iowa – we are Iowans for EVERest!

Illegal Climbing – follow up

Finally in a follow up to the story of the illegal climber on the south side, Dawa Steven Sherpa CEO of Asian Trekking (the largest and most respected Nepali based guide company) told me:

Hi Alan, saw your blog today about the illegal climber. We looked into it and he’s also climbed lobuche east and pumori illegally. Not only is he not repentant about his actions, you know he has atone further and insulted the people that have caught him on his FB.

We also understand that he planned to make a movie out of this ‘adventure’ which would have sent a really bad message to potential visitors to peak. What ever his claimed motivations travelers like him are a danger to themselves and other on the mountain as well as threat to Nepal’s economy and attractiveness as a destination for responsible climbers who do thing the proper way.

We are not taking this lightly. We will get the government to take the maximum possible action against him so people like him are discouraged from trying this sort of thing again.

Time for Respect

This is a serious situation. There have been other people assuming they can just enter Nepal, climb peaks without paying for a permit or following their rules. Imagine if you showed up on Denali without a permit, and flaunted it. The US National Park Service would enforce all the laws. Similar on Aconcagua.

He was a guest in Nepal, just like anyone who enters any country on a tourist visa. If a law is broken, the government of that country has full legal rights to prosecute, fine, jail, etc. Nepal law says you must have permit to climb Mt. Everest and in that permit it has rules that must be followed. If you are caught above Base Camp without a legal mountaineering permit, you can be fined 2X the price of the $11,000 permit, deported, jailed, banned from climbing Nepal of 10 years. There is a member of the Nepal Government at base camp who has full authority to enforce Nepal’s laws.

Not only do we need to respect the mountains by adhering to ethics like Leave No Trace, but we also must respect the countries in which we climb

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

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22 thoughts on “Everest 2017: Weather Playing Cruel Tricks on Climbers

  1. Just had to say this what in the world did a awesome 85year old have to prove? He already had more respect than anyone could need.

  2. I just find every thing about Everest and the climbers the Sherpas the history fascinating ..always saddened by the loss of life .sitting here in Randleman nc .people here probably think it is strange but thanks and keep us informed …

  3. I’ve been thinking about this character & his claims that he was going up the mountain to save people. It is clearly a fantasy & an attention seeking exercise but where was he going to sleep at camp 2, 3 & 4. At a stretch he could have taken a tent to EBC with cooking equipment & some food but thereafter? Did he just think he could use an empty tent which has been provided & paid for by one of the professional guiding firms?

    Then if indeed he did find someone needing help just how did he intend to help them?

    It is all nonsense of course.

    1. Who knows Peter. One plausible scenario is that the entire thing was a well thought out publicity stunt with zero intentions of summiting. He wrote he reached 24,000 feet (Yellow Band) but told authorities he only reached Camp 2 – 21,500. Occasionally, climbers will take over empty tents, steal oxygen/food and generally slipstream off the other expeditions. No idea if this was his plan or he planned to get caught, raise a stink and have everyone talk about him. If the latter, he has been very successful!

    2. It’s insane that on dude’s facebook page it’s all sweetness and light and unicorns, and of course–the obligatory get out of jail card, GoFundMe. Either no one disagrees with his foolishness, or someone has a tight grip on his page and is removing posts.
      It really annoys me that this silly arrogant man-child thinks it’s fine to break laws, endanger people, and get others to clean up his mess.

  4. What does the permit cover? They dont even send help to the dying – I do not understand how it costs 11000.00 to let someone “through the gate.” It appears they dont collect the dead, it is not insurance, “they” dont clean up the mountain – what expense is there to letting people climb for free if it is not in any way maintained? Seems to me the work is done by the teams/guide services – they pay the sherpas through what they charge the members, etc so where is the cost to the government? I would think if the mountains are really important to them, they would love everyone to enjoy them and visit and not only those with 11000.00? What am I missing?

    1. Curious myself. What do you – or mountaineers and mountaineering in general – get for your $11,000? Is there any benefit whatsover to the climber or to the mountain, or just a nonsensical fee? Thanks. PS Great job Alan.

      1. I take it neither of you guys have taken the 50 seconds to Google this answer?

        1. nope – took 50 seconds to ask where I thought someone with real experience and a dedicated blog would provide a better answer. thanks for GREAT advice tho – never heard of google before (actually was wondering if you feel better being rude than just helping someone – hope you are not on that mountain)

        2. Mike Anderson

          nope – took 50 seconds to ask where I thought someone with real experience and a dedicated blog would provide a better answer. thanks for GREAT advice tho – never heard of google before (actually was wondering if you feel better being rude than just helping someone – hope you are not on that mountain)

    2. A climbing permit gives you permission to climb the mountain. It is a way for Nepal to generate revenue. Edited to add that a tiny part of the $11,000 permit goes to fund the Icefall Doctors to fix the route from EBC to C2.

      1. Alan, is the permit fee money used to pay for the ice fall doctors and purchase the ladders and ropes? Or is that all paid for by the teams in on their own?

        1. Both. the Icefall Doctors are funded thru the permits but only fix to Camp 2 on the Nepal side. The Commercial teams fix to the summit and collect ~$150-$200 per climber to pay the Sherpas’s wages plus ropes, anchors, etc.

          It is similar on the North, at least this year, with Tibetans/Chinese fixing to 8300 meters (C3) and commercial teams taking over from there and charging the north side climbers $135 each. See this good explanation by Zeb Blais: http://www.zebblais.com/single-post/2017/05/10/Everest-Northside-Rope-Fixing-Update

    3. It’s just to put money in the pockets of bureaucrats in Kathmandu. I’ve read on professional climbers blogs about how the high price help reduce the number of inexperienced climbers on the mountain but really it just keeps “poor” inexperienced climbers from climbing. Nepal is basically a broken corrupt nation, a lot of people yearn for the days when the King was in power, at least things got done back then. They haven’t even managed to restore the ancient parts of Kathmandu that were damaged in the earthquake as the various bodies in charge won’t cooperate.
      I recently returned home from a round the world trip and of all the nations I visited, Nepal was the most money hungry. I only did the classic EBC trek and had to purchase 3 permits, even the main squares in Kathmandu require paid entry for tourists, and they are living breathing town centres. Imagine charging tourists to walk through your local town square, nonsense!
      Nepal is the most beautiful place but the tendency to view foreigners as walking ATMs left a bad taste in my mouth.

  5. Thank you for another great report back from the mountain.

    I have a question, in an earlier blog, you mention that “every couple of years, you see someone trying to climb Everest with out the correct permit”. I wasn’t aware it happened so much, so wondered how often this occurs?
    And did you know of previous cases?

    I find it very hard to imagine a person could summit without being noticed, even to reach Camp 4 would be remarkable to go unnoticed.

    Thank You

    1. It happens, more often than we know about. Not every case is as public as this one. It is easy to fly under the radar for a while but eventually they are all caught, The motuna gets very small up high:)

  6. I enjoyed the blog as usual and agreed with the comments re the guy without permit.I was interested about Michael Blake’s question about acclimatisation, what are your thoughts ? Looking at the photos I know where I would rather be !?
    Cheers Kate

    1. This was my answer:
      No, the general rule of thumb is it takes about the same time to loose your acclimatization as it took to gain it. But there have been some recent very interesting studies that show we adjust faster than previously thought and keep it longer.

      This article is interesting and the key point being

      “the volunteer’s red blood cells (RBC) had changed in a way that allowed the hemoglobin to hold more tightly onto the available oxygen. These changes happened almost overnight once the volunteers reached the higher altitudes. Because the red blood cells have a lifespan of 120 days, these changes persisted even when a person descended off the mountain.”

      http://www.digitaltrends.com/outdoor/high-altitude-hypoxia-acclimation-research/

      In any event, leaving an altitude for a few days is no big deal and for some the change of scenery is welcome as are the different foods and company 🙂

      Personally I never did this due to the huge risk of catching a bug from someone. After a month climbing with the same people, everyone has everyone else’s bug so become kind of immune. But exposure to new people starts the process all over.

      Also, for me it was kind of a climbing thing. Just never felt right to take a “holiday” in the middle of a climb. But that’s just me, plenty feel just the opposite!

      1. Thanks Alan really interesting for novices like me. I must have missed it on your first posting. It does seem to be a good deal of effort wasted after all the ” upping and downing” but as you say I suppose it’s a case of each to his own. Cheers
        Kate

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