K2 2017 Season Coverage: Teams Begin Climbing
The climbing season in Pakistan’s Karakoram Range is well underway with teams arriving at base camps and some already spending a few nights at Camps 1 and 2 during their acclimatization rotations. There are reports of significant snow on the mountains. K2 Teams have just arrived at K2 base camp. British-American Vanessa O’Brien reports that she just arrived at K2 base camp today. Minga Gyalje Sherpa thru his company Dreamers Destination is doing the logistics for Vanessa on K2 plus three Chinese, another American, two Icelanders, one Norwegian and one Singaporean. They are also planning on Broad Peak. Russell Brice and his Himex team should also be there so we will have good reports soon. In the annual battle of who will be the first “American” woman to summit K2, it appears that both Vanessa O’Brien with both a British passport and an American passport is competing against Badía Bonilla from Mexico – geographically considered part of North America – for the obscure title of “First American Woman to Summit K2.” Bonnilla along with her husband Mauricio López were also on K2 last year when avalanche conditions stopped all climbers. Gasherbrum I/II At 26,362’/8035m. GII is often considered the most attainable of the Karakoram’s 8000ers. There have been about 340 summits of GI and 935 of GII. Karakorum Tours Pakistan has a small team of Americans and Spanish climbers in 2017. Juan Vallejo, Mikel Zabalza and Alberto Inurrategi have reached 6400 meters. Nanga Parbat At 26,660’/8126m Nanga is know to be one of the more technical 8000ers. – some will say harder than K2 by some routes. There have been around 360 summits including several in the 2016 winter leaving K2 as the only 8000er not summited in winter. According to the website Altitude Pakistan, Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan have ended their attempt via the Mazeno Ridge on the Diamir side of Nanga due to bad weather. On the other side of NB, Korean Kim HongBin on the Kinshofer route hit poor conditions as well. Broad Peak 26,414’/8051m Teams are all over Broad Peak, including a few who just arrived this weekend. Spanish climber Oscar Cadiach and Furtenbach Adventures are already at base camp. Furtenbach reports spending nights as high as Camp 3: Team up on the mountain again. Direct ascent to C2 (pic below) at 6200m yesterday, today to Camp 3 at 7100m and back down to C2 for another night. Tomorrow back to basecamp and acclimatization completed. Route was fixed by our sherpas. Ready for summit push when weather window opens. Grace McDonald from Canada reports about difficult snow conditions: Team was only able to tag about half way to C3. Rope fixing slowed by deep snow. 4 of us will go again tomorrow others go to basecamp. All sleep in C2 now. Rupert Hauer with Furtenbach is posting excellent reports. Kari Kobler’s team is reported to be at Camp 2. A Normal Start in Pakistan Thus far the season is starting like most do, the lower camps getting established, and climbers doing their acclimatization rotations. Once again we are seeing Nepal Sherpas doing a lot of rope fixing whereas in previous years, it was mostly the climbers themselves. Thus the Karakorum is becoming more like the Himalaya. The big question will be snow conditions above 7500 meters, and of course the unexpected weather. This is where the problems began the last two years. Hoping for the best for all. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
Everest 2017: Loose Ends
Now that the last summits of Everest 2017 are about a month old, there are a few storylines that continue to get press. In the grand scheme, nothing really changes with any of this “news”. Big Summit Numbers from Nepal Nepal Tourism reported for spring 2017 there were 445 summits from the south (Nepal) side consisting of 190 foreigners, 32 fee-paying Nepalis, 233 Sherpas. They issued 375 foreign permits thus a 50% foreigner success rate, much lower than recent history in the 70+% range – this was perhaps due to flu and an elongated summit window of a few days each that discouraged people, who left early. No solid numbers from Tibet side but in the 160-200 total range. Totalling both sides, 2017 was a big year with between 615-655 summits on both sides. But it was probably not a record for total Everest summits. The previous big years were 2016 when there were 641 climbers who summited from both sides, 658 in 2013 and 2007 saw 633 summits. The Himalayan Database will do their through research and update the database in a few months and for me they become the final word on who summited from both sides. The Himalayan Times posted slightly different numbers they received from the Ministry of Tourism. Every foreign guide service must use a local agency to obtain their climbing permits. Those agencies take great pride in supporting mountaineering thus often are listed as the guide with no mention of the foreign entity. For example IMG use Beyul as their agency. This is a list of agencies and their respective results: Hillary Step One event fed the media throughout the season and still does as climbers are returning home. Of course the question is if the Step was altered by the 2015 earthquake. The Nepal government says no. Sherpas say no. Guides say yes. The crux of the disagreement is whether snow has covered the Step in such a way that the route went to the climber’s right on a snow slope instead of directly up the offwidth crack between the rock formation. source American commercial guides weighed in and 15 time Everest summiter Dave Hahn, served as judge and declared the Step had in fact changed due to several of the large boulders missing. source No doubt these headlines will bring readers to more websites but nothing really changes. Both sides will declare victory and no one will really know until the snow is identical to pre-2015 conditions. Until then, take a look at all the images and judge for yourself. Jamie McGuinness posted one of his photos from 2008 next to Tim’s. It you really want to dig deep, read Tim Mosedale’s Facebook page where he defends his original proclamation that “The Hillary Step is no more”. Ueli Steck All deaths on Everest are deeply saddening to the friends, families and teammates but the death of Ueli Steck shook the entire climbing community. Now the Sherpa who found his body has done a western style interview with the click bait headline of “What really happened on the day that Ueli Steck fell from Nuptse?” It is a good interview but again, nothing really changes. Perhaps the most important outcome is the observation by Vinayak Jaya Malla who first found the body that there was no wind that day and he had sighted Steck “on a ridge that is 7100-7200m” suggesting he fell 800-900m. Also Malla made this comparison on what might have happened: If you have been to the Himalayas, you will often see Bharal, blue sheep, very high on the mountains. They are very agile and fast so as to protect themselves from snow leopards. But sometimes, blue sheep fall off from cliffs. Each time they do, there is a different reason. Sometimes they fall due to rock fall, other times, they have perhaps run too fast, etc. Perhaps we must think of Ueli as such – as a Bharal, as one of our blue sheep of the Himalayas who one day fell for an unexpected reason but was otherwise a master. Climbers Banned Both climbers who broke Nepal and China mountaineering rules were banned for 10 years for climbing in Nepal but not fined the $22,000 penalty or served jail time. One was for an illegal traverse and the other for not having a climbing permit. Height of Everest The actual height of Everest remains a top interest for at least two countries: India and Nepal. India announced earlier this year they would remeasure the height during the spring season. Apparently it didn’t happen. Now Nepal announced it will do the remeasurement taking over two years and costing $1.35M. source Nepal has made this announcement before, actually as far back as 2011. source But as normal with many Nepal announcements about Everest, there was no follow-thru. The 2015 earthquake is the driving force behind the remeasurement. Reports immediately after the quake suggested Everest had dropped by 2 inches, about 5 cm but it was an estimate based on satellite data. One would think that measuring the world’s highest peak would be somewhat easy given satellites, GPS and slide rules, but not so fast – even the naming has a convoluted history! In 1841 the Great Trigonometric Survey led by Welsh surveyor Sir George Everest identified the location of the mountain. Fifteen years later using trigonometry and measurements from 12 different survey stations around the mountain, Indian Radhanath Sikdar, a member of the survey team, finished the calculations and determined they had found the world’s highest mountain. They called it ‘Peak XV’ and noted it was 29,002 feet. In 1865 it was re-named Mt. Everest, against Sir Everest’s wishes, even though for centuries the Tibetans had called it Chomolungma. The Nepalese finally gave it their own name in the mid 20 century as Sagarmatha. In 1955, the height was adjusted to 29,028′. On May 5, 1999 a National Geographic Society Expedition put a GPS receiver on the summit. Using a second Trimble GPS receiver at the 26,000′ on the South Col they
K2 2017 Season Coverage
Using my experience of my successful summit of K2 in 2014 and covering the action in 2015 and 2016, I will once again be covering the 2017 K2 climbing season from my home in Colorado this year. I try to do it the same style as my annual Everest coverage but information is much more difficult to obtain from Northern Pakistan than Nepal. I’ll do my best to throw in occasional coverage for climbers on Broad Peak and Gasherbrum I and II. As always, I use my Blog to gain awareness for Alzheimer’s and if you appreciate my coverage, please consider a donation. The Savage Mountain As I covered in a post a couple of years ago, “Why K2 will not become Everest“, K2 is a totally different climbing experience requiring a different set of skills and experience. It is the second highest mountain in the world at 28,251’/8611m. The climbing is technical – meaning you are using feet and hands to climb; the exposure is extreme – meaning if you fall you will most likely die; and the weather is extreme – meaning it is less predictable due to it proximity to other nearby mountains. It is common to have very different conditions on K2 than on Broad Peak or the Gasherbrum only a few miles away. The number reason listed for death is “disappearance” suggesting the climber fell in a highly exposed area, was blown away by winds or buried in an avalanche. These are not bravado or ego based comments on my part given I have summited both peaks, but my effort to help readers understand that K2 is in a different league than the 8000ers. Just because you summited Everest, doesn’t mean you are ready for K2. If you attempt K2, you must accept that dying is a real possibility. It is well documented that K2 sees significantly more deaths than Everest. Thru 2017, I estimate 8,250 summits with 290 deaths on Everest – 3.5% compared to 355 summits with 82 deaths on K2 – 23%. Annapurna remains the most delay 8000er. While some will quibble with these statistics, it is a measure of risk. Years with No K2 Summits From 1986 to 2016, there were 12 years with no summits. From 2009 to 2016, there were only three years with summits – 2011 only from the Chinese side, and 2012 and 2014 each with about 40 – 50 people summiting – record breaking years as a result of a week of excellent and rare summit conditions. Everest went from 1974 to 2014 with summits every year – 40 straight years! Teams I will not be keeping a location table like I do for Everest given the lack of detailed information but these are a few of the teams on K2 this year. Himalayan Experience (Himex) Furtenbach Adventures Dreamers Destination Adventure Tours Pakistan Karakorum Tours Pakistan If you have a team and want coverage, please contact me. Also, Raheel Adnan has a great site for all things Karakorum. A few of the climbers are back after being stopped the last two years. Himex was there last year and British-American Vanessa O’Brien is back for the third year in a row. Vanessa has become a bit of a celebrity in Pakistan thru building a good relationship with the local press. She and her team were highlighted in this recent article in the Tribune Experess. These are the teams with climbing permits for the Karakorum this summer in Pakistan. Keep in mind that all foreign operators must use a local Pakistani owned and operated company to obtain permits. Also they have been required to hire Pakistani High Altitude Porters and discouraged from bringing Sherpas from Nepal/Tibet to support their teams, however many teams do albeit at a higher expense. The Easy Part of Climbing K2 Every K2 from Pakistan starts in Islamabad. This year it appears about 50 foreigners streamed into Islamabad to begin their journey to K2 Base Camp. Many are almost there this weekend. Most teams try to fly directly to Skardu via a daily Pakistan International Airline flight, but due to regular bad weather in Skardu, it is canceled 20% of the time and very delayed another 25%. Thus some teams are forced to take the 30 hour, 2 day drive along the very dangerous Karakorum Highway. Russell Brice reported on his initial journey: We all arrived into Islamabad on 12 and then attempted to fly to Skardu on 14, however the weather suddenly changed and so when we were just 15km away from our destination we had to return to Islamabad. We were met at the airport by our bus that was then to take us on a 9 hour journey to a mountain resort which we were beyond the attention to even know the name of at 01.30 in the morning. The same morning we were up at 05.00 and started our next part of the journey at 06.00 travelling over the Babusar Pass at over 4,000m and then continuing on the Silk Highway winding our way around a twisty narrow road with a large drop into the river below. After another 15 hours in the bus we were all pleased to reach Skardu late last night. Many of the teams arrive at Skardu and stay at the time honored Concordia Motel, enjoying Internet (slow) and evening cookouts (fantastic) with great views of the Indus River. It is here that you begin to feel like you might be a climber and not a tourist as most every climber in the Karakorum stays there, chatting, sharing dreams and talking mountains. Once they being the trek to their base camps, most teams will take 8 days hike up the Baltoro Glacier enjoying some spectacular views anywhere in the mountains. Gasherbrum I/II At 26,362’/8035m. GII is often considered the most attainable of the Karakoram’s 8000ers. There have been about 340 summits of GI and 935 of GII. Karakorum Tours Pakistan has a small team of Americans and Spanish climbers in 2017. Nanga Parbat The ‘Killer Mountain’ has a deadly
Climber Selfishness Causes China to Close Autumn Climbs
Without thinking of anyone else but himself, Polish climber Janusz Adam Adamski, 49, made an illegal traverse from China to Nepal this Everest 2017 season. Now, not only will he will be punished by Nepal and China, but his action have costs others their opportunity to climb in Tibet this autumn. Follow No Rules Adamski made an illegal traverse from China to Nepal, knowing he needed a permit. He said that he believes there is no border on mountains and thus ignored the rules apparently feeling they didn’t apply to him. Amazingly his total disregard for rules was flaunted in this quote to the Himalayan Times: “I am ready to face any legal challenge in Nepal to safeguard the greatest achievement of my life, I’ll never regret what I did. As there is no provision of issuing traverse permit in both countries, I had to traverse illegally for fulfilment of my lifetime dream,” Adamski faces a $22,000 fine and 10 year ban from climbing in Nepal. It’s not clear what China will do. A Bigger Cost The China Tibet Mountaineering Association sent out notices today to those teams hoping to climb Cho Oyu this autumn. Simply put, due to Adamski’s actions, they are closing all of Tibet to climbing this autumn. Previously they said they were limiting permits to only 50 for Cho Oyu only. Perhaps this is a convenient excuse for China to do what it really wanted to anyway – close all of Tibet to foreigners due to a “meeting” being held in the region, but to name Adamski directly is quite strong. I think it is safe to say, someone in Beijing is not happy. With this, if you are looking to climb an 8000er in Tibet: Cho Oyu, Shishapangma or Everest, it will have to wait for 2018. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
Everest 2017: Season Summary – A Mountain with Two Sides
This is one of the more difficult seasons I have covered to sum up in one word so let me use several: wind, tragedy, misinformation, spin and summits. Overall it was a good year, a normal year with many summits on both sides plus the average death toll. I think we saw how the pressure to be first with news can backfire with incorrect stories but we also saw the power of dreams. Similar to 2016, there were no natural disasters or issues with people getting along, other than a few individuals acting very irresponsibly and selfishly. While weather forecasting proved to be challenging across the entire two month season, it was not an inhibitor to teams reaching the summit. Finally the fear of overcrowding, dangers of the Khumbu Icefall or China closing Everest forever, proved unfounded. Bottom line – it was good year on Everest and for both Nepal and China, and for hundreds who quenched a long thirst to stand on the summit of Mt. Everest. UPDATE: Nepal Tourism announced on 9 June 2017 that the Nepal side had 455 summits: 190 foreigners, 32 fee-paying Nepalis, 233 Sherpas and 375 climbing permits were issued to foreigners. the summit rate for foreigners was 50%. However – a Toxic Mix Awaits As I am in Kathmandu for a speaking engagement on behalf of Nepal tourism, I must begin this summary with my concern that the climbing on Everest continues to be threatened by inexperienced climbers and unqualified guides – on both sides. In speaking with multiple climbers, Sherpas and guides they all make the same points: there are too many people on Everest who lack the basic mountaineering skills to survive a major weather event or their own misstep when it will undoubtedly occur. There are too many “Sherpa Guides” who simply don’t have the experience or skills to be of aid to those inexperienced climbers when the inevitable occurs. This toxic mix of inexperienced climbers with unqualified guides will result in a tragic event that will make 1996, 2006, 2014 and 2015 look minor. And the young climbers, dreaming of leveraging an Everest summit into fame and fortune will never come home. Perhaps I am whispering in the wind, but I will continue to raise these issues, along with my suggestions, to anyone in authority who will listen. More on this in future posts. Banner Year? As we entered 2017, it was clear that the south side would see record permits issued by the Nepal government. Permits that were extended after the truncated 2014 and 2015 season were expiring. A very successful 2016 season convinced many that Everest was back in business and an aggressive campaign by new companies courting the Indian and Chinese markets were seeing success. It stood to reason that some spillover might occur onto the north side for climbers fearing the crowds and those believing the constant doom and gloom spouted by the PR machines of a few that it was immoral to climb on the south side. So as late March neared, many held their breath not sure what this Spring would bring. And now that we are into early June, the answer is simple, and complex – Everest 2017 was a fairly normal season. No villains, victims or conspiracy plots. Not a bad or good year, just a bunch of people climbing a mountain. Sit back, grab a beverage and let’s review what happened on Everest in the spring of 2017. Permit Fever In late March, Kathmandu filled up with aspiring climbers. The Nepal government issued 371 permits for Everest. 70 used their prior permits, saving $11,000 on the cost of this year’s climb. Some spent all of that at the Kathmandu bars before they left for Lukla. These days you can count on at least one Sherpa for every foreigner so that meant the south side was looking at least 750 humans going up and down, probably closer to 800. Over on the Tibet side, figures are always hard to get. I was chastised by one western guide for using the wrong numbers (he read my post incorrectly) so he gave me the ‘right’ figures which I used only to come back and tell me I posted the wrong numbers (his numbers) and gave me newer ones. Sigh, see I told you getting accurate numbers from the north is as easy as understanding Presidential Tweets … covfefe Anyway, I digress. The north seemed to have about 136 foreigners and 170 support staff. Not nearly as many as I had thought. It would be interesting to understand why the north side never regained the strong momentum it had back in 2006 and 2007. I have my theories and a lot has to do with if you are spending tens of thousands of dollars, you want some kind of assurance you will get to climb. The big growth in climbers on the Tibet side was stopped cold when the Chinese effectively closed their side to take the Olympic torch to the summit in 2008. It has never reached the pre-2008 figures even with fights, serac releases and earthquakes on the south. Perhaps with the Mountaineering Center under development in Tingre and helicopter rescue to be offered in 2018 for Everest north for the first time, the north will again see big numbers. 100 permits were issued for Lhotse, a stone’s throw from Everest. A few were looking to bag both peaks while above 8000 meters making Lhotse significantly easier – if you had any strength left from summiting Everest! When you add all this up, there was over 1,000 people on and around Everest in 2017 – and that was a record. UPDATE: but the summits from Nepal was the second highest, not a record. Trek and Drive The usual trek and travel to base camp on both sides went smoothly. The Chinese played their usual games with permits delaying a few teams but those who climb regularly in Tibet know the drill well by now. The dirt trails were filled with Zos, yaks, school kids, porters, locals – oh and climbers and trekkers
Everest 2017: Team Locations and Headlines
Alan Arnette’s Everest 2017 coverage and annual coverage is based on my own Everest and K2 summits and climb experiences, research, sources, and public information. I try to provide insight and interpretation of the activities ranging from routes to weather to the challenge of climbing Everest. I am home in Colorado this season after a climbing accident in February that stopped me from a planned Dhaulagiri climb this spring. A sincere and deep thank you to everyone who joins the Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry or makes a donation to one of the Alzheimer’s nonprofits. HEADLINE: Normal Season, Windy, 7 Deaths, 600++ Summits See all the Everest 2017 posts here Last News: Monday, 31 May 2017 (Everest time: GMT+5:45) Nepal Tourism says 455 summits: 190 foreigners, 32 fee-paying Nepalis, 233 Sherpas Monsoon hits Kathmandu 10 June season is over on both sides Season headlines Nobukazu Kuriki has ended his West Ridge, Hornbein attempt closing out the south side climbers Cargo flight crashes at Lukla, pilots killed source Kami Rita Sherpa summited for the 21st time tying him with Apa and Purba Tashi Sherpa for most summits Kilian Jornet 2d summit in a week run again, ABC to summit and back in 29:30 on 27 May. Nepal officials say Hillary Step is just fine (bad for business?) source Traverse by Janusz Adamski A was illegal, operator sends letter to Government 4 dead at South Col inside tent – with new “guide” service – report was wrong Kilian Jornet summited in record time but ended speed attempt due to illness stopping at ABC on north Blind Austrian climber Andy Holzer summited on north with Furtenbach Adventures My climbing buddy, Jim Davidson, with IMG, summited at sunrise 22 May. Very proud of him Mollie Hughes – now part of “Both Sides Club”, youngest Brit to summit at age 26 EverestER has now seen over 500 patients North side of Everest saw first 2017 summits by Transcend/Arun Trekking Sherpas fixing the rope on 10 May Flu is hitting many climbers on Nepal side 7 Sherpas and 3 Gurkha achieve 1st summits on the Nepal side Monday 15 May 44-year-old Lhakpa Sherpa set record with 8th female summit on Tibet side 13 May Neither side of Everest appears to be suffering from overcrowding this season Himex Sherpa OK after long fall down Lhotse Face Min Bahadur Sherchan, 86, died from unknown causes at Everest Base Camp Ueli Steck dies on Nuptse acclimatising for Everest-Lhotse traverse Winds, winds, winds and difficult weather on Nepal side – the emerging stories for 2017 Arun Treks Sherpa injured by falling ice Gear flown into Western Cwm, eliminating hundreds of Sherpa carries North: 136 foreigners/170 Sherpas South: 28 countries represented, 455 summits: 190 foreigners, 32 fee-paying Nepalis, 233 Sherpas 70 Nepal side climbers used their 2015 extended permit 2017 Deaths: 6 Everest, 1 Nuptse deaths Camp cook for AAI died of a stroke/heart attack at base camp Vladimir Strba, 50 Slovakia, between Balcony/South Col on, climbing as independent with no Os- body retrieved Francesco Enrico Marchetti, 54 Australia, at 8300m after summit from Tibet with Expedition Himalaya – body retrieved Ravi Kumar, 27, from fall near Balcony after summit, separated from his guide from Arun Treks- body retrieved Roland Yearwood, 50 from USA Alabama climbing with SummitClimb – body not retrieved, too difficult Ueli Steck dies on Nuptse acclimatising for Everest-Lhotse traverse – body retrieved Min Bahadur Sherchan, 86, died from unknown causes at Everest Base Camp – body retrieved Connect Click to sign up or cancel email notification of new posts See all the Everest 2017 posts here If you value this coverage, please consider a donation to an Alzheimer’s nonprofit South Col Route (map) locations are for majority of team, individuals may be higher or lower Everest only TEAMS (members/western guides) 375 foreigners/~373 sherpas EBC C1 C2 C3 C4 S.Col Summits (foreigners/Sherpas) Fixed Line Rope to Summit Adventure Consultants (10/5) e 12/18 Adventures Global (8) e 2/2 Alpine Ascents Int. (7/3) e 6/5 Asian Trekking Eco Teams e 2/2? Ascent Himalayas e 8/9 Benegas Brothers 3/2 e 5/5 Himex e 4/4 IMG Classic Team 1 (14/2) e 2/2 IMG Classic Team 2 (14/2) e 12/15 IMG Hybrid (~8/3) e 9/13 Gurkha (10) e 10/10 Madison Mountaineering (11/5) e 13/16 Mountain Madness (5/2) w/MT e 5/7 w/MT Mountain Trip (5/2) w/MM e 5/7 Mountain Professionals e 2/2 Satori Adventures e 5/5 Summit Climb (15/1) e 1+/1+ (death) Seven Summits Treks (100+) e 60/70? Tim Mosedale (2/1) e 2+/2+ others 63/79 (est) SOUTH TOTAL (est) 222/233 Northeast Ridge Route (map) locations are for majority of team, individuals may be higher or lower TEAMS (members/western guides) 136 foreigners/170 sherpas CBC ABC C1 N.Col C2 C3 Summits (foreigners/Sherpas) Fixed Line Ropes to Summit Alpenglow (4/3) e 3/4 Adventure Peaks (4/1) e 4/2 Arnold Coster Expeditions (7/1) e 5+/5+ Furtenbach Adventures (8/1) e 9/8 Iowans for Everest (2) e 2/2 Kobler & Partner e 10/10 Mountain Expeditions (1/1) e 2/2 Summit Climb (11/1) e 7/6 Transcend Adventures (23/1) e 16/22 7 Summits Club e 2+/2+ others 21/19 (est) NORTH TOTAL (est) 80+/82+ LEGEND T/D=Trek/Driving to BC, K=Kathmandu, La=Lhasa, Lo=Lobuche, e=climb ended, x=last reported location, x+ =on summit bid, -x =descending h=high sleep point, t=touched not slept. Summit number=member/Sherpa. Locations estimated from public websites. Please refer to each expedition’s site for current information. Contact me to add/remove your team from my coverage. Other Teams Not providing enough updates to track or comment Dreamers Destination Himalayan Guides Indian Navy Indian ONGC I did similar coverage for the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons. I summited Everest on May 21, 2011 and have attempted Everest three other times – 2002, 2003, 2008 and Lhotse in 2015 and 2016. If you will forgive the self promotion, Outside Magazine posted an extensive interview with me and said: I was “one of the world’s most respected chronicler of Everest” If you receive value from my annual Everest coverage, please consider a donation to one of these Alzheimer’s nonprofits, 100% for Alzheimer’s, none for me Click this link to understand my personal journey with Alzheimer’s disease Everest Weather Base Camp Summit not intended to replace professional forecasts or critical climbing decisions Reader Polls [poll id=”-2″]
Everest 2017: Weekend Update May 27
This season had more twists and intrigue than a U.S. Presidential election. While not completely over, this past week brought a strong end for almost all the teams on both sides of Everest. Many dreams came true, like that of my climbing buddy Jim Davidson (who is already back home in Colorado!), and for others they set a difficult goal but were disappointed like Ralf Dujmovits. Perhaps the strangest twist of the week, or season, came from the report of four bodies found at the South Col. Then it was said they made a mistake but came back and said there are bodies, just not from this year. The truth remains elusive. While confusing, the deaths on Everest did prompt the annual discussion on how to make Everest safer, climbers more prepared and guide more competent. Why this coverage? Before I go further in the last weekend update of 2017 I want to thank you for all your great comments and questions plus your interest in my writings. This was my 15 year of covering all things Everest and you broke the traffic record with close to a million visits in April and May from virtually every country on the planet. I’ll keep reporting on more summits and other stories from the spring season but will wrap it all up with my season summary in a couple of weeks. Alos, I want to remind my readers that I am just one guy who loves climbing. With 35 serious climbing expeditions including four Everest trips under my belt and a summits of Everest in 2011 and K2 in 2014, I use my site to share those experiences, demystify Everest each year and bring awareness to Alzheimer’s Disease. My mom, Ida, died from this disease in 2009 as have four of my aunts. It was a heartbreaking experience that I never want anyone to go through thus my ask for donations to non-profits where 100% goes to them, and nothing to me. Any amount that is meaningful to you is meaningful to me. Select your own Alzheimer’s organization or I have suggestions at this link. This Past Week’s Summit Summary There were lots of summit this week, well over 300 total on both sides taking the season total to over 600. It will take a while – months – to sort out the exact numbers. Many of the commercial teams and no O’s climbers kept their powder dry until the very end hoping for several days of good weather. And it paid off. Click on the links to read all the names as I noted some of them throughout the week but these teams made it to the top: North Transcend finished out an excellent season with young Indian climbers having 38 summits. The wild Russian team of 7 Summits Club ran their shortest climb in 10 years at 39 days and also executed an unusual oxygen strategy. They won with 12 including Janusz Kochanski – world record of 128 days on all 7 summits, and Lhakpa Sherpa who set a female record for most summits at 8. Also under the leadership of 7 Summits Club Director, Alexander Abramov, they covered up some of the many visible dead bodies on the north side including Tsewang Paljor aka “Green Boots”, which I thought had already been moved by the Chinese: We also managed to cover the “famous” green boots. Everyone knows that at the level of 8 500 meters… (said with heavy breathing – approx. ed.)… Sorry, I now the air is not enough… In 1996 there died one Indian climber Tsewang Paljor, he just lay down to rest and froze to death. His body had frozen into stone. He had a green climbing boots. And all the climbers began to determine the height to talk about the green shoes. This is the mark of 8,500 meters. update: 7 Summits Club told me that just said that for the press and didn’t cover Paljor’s body … “I think it’s not worth mentioning. Maybe they put a couple of stones. These words were more for the press to show it’s done more than one action. In reality they covered only one Marko.” SummitClimb says they had summits but have not provided any details. The Iowans for Everest, Andy and Andy, summited after a false start. They were on a small team with few frills and showed what can be done. Alpenglow member team summits: Brooks Entwistle with guides Zeb Blais, Chad Peele, and Sherpas PaNuru, Dorji, Phurba, & Nawang Furtenbach Adventures had 100% success with 17. They endorse using altitude tents heavily. Austrian climber Andy Holzer became the second blind person to submit after Erik Weihenmayer in 2002. Rowaling Excursion summited 21/22 May Tibet including Benjamin Breckheimer becoming the 3rd Purple Heart recipient to summit Everest. Rounding out the international team was Swede Erik Akerberg and Pole Grazyna Dorota Machni Arnold Coster Expeditions got most of his team up – 10 climbers and support Adventure Peaks also saw summits with 6 total And a shout out to Anita Devi, a sub-inspector in Haryana Police has become the first Indian woman to scale Mt Everest from the North Col route. Note: it appears that Kilian Jornet is done for the season … I think 🙂 He should be tired, he went from the Rongbuk Monastery to the summit in 26 hours – a FNT record. He stopped on the descent at ABC due to illness. UPDATE: Well Kilian Jornet did run again, this time from ABC to summits and back in 29:30 on 27 May. He went from ABC to the summit in 17 hours. Amazing. This makes him the first person to summit twice in one week without oxygen – as if anyone ever thought of this before!! South IMG finished out their season with big numbers: 23 members and 30 Sherpas. Plus they had a summit without supplemental oxygen, James Brooman. Benegas Brothers were successful this week with all their members, three, plus guides and Sherpas for 10 total. Willie reported “NO WIND” Madison Mountaineering pushed in bad weather to put 29 up, including 13 members. After three weeks of waiting for improved weather, Himex, got
Everest 2017: Who is left? – updated
It has been a season of wild swings from the weather to information from the mountain. But it’s not over. Let’s look at who is left and where they are. Heavy snow appears to be arriving on 28 May, so there is a sense of urgency for those still heading higher. UPDATE: Summits thus far Saturday 27 May: South: 11+ summits Ferran Latorre – Summit per his tracker, used Os late in push Yannik Graziani – “”Too much snowfall, too much wind, you freeze on the spot … I turned around at 8 500m, too risky without oxygen, now safe on the south pass.” Elisabeth Révol, Hanz Wenzl, – no info but were with Ferran so probably summited Alpine Ascents – summits – Hello everyone team just reported that whole team members (11) peoples made to the summit at 8:15 am. Congratulations to Ben jones, Eric Murphy, Malcom Alexander, John Peterson, Santiago Perez, John Zeckendrof, jangbu sherpa, kami rita sherpa, fur kancha sherpa, mingma tshering sherpa and Dawa nuru sherpa. Great job everyone and have safe descent. North: 10+ summits SummitClimb says summits – no details Alpenglow member team summits: brooks entwistle, zeb blais, chad peele, PaNuru, Dorji, Phurba, & Nawang Adrian Ballinger with no Os, Cory Richards on oxygen summit Ralf Dujmovits -turned back at 8,500 m – 40 km/h wind and snow. He was losing feeling in his hands and feet. source UPDATE ~1:00 am Saturday morning 27 May Nepal time: Teams on both sides are moving well early 27 May Winds have calmed on south and north Alpine Ascent headed up Update from late Friday night: NEPAL: there were summits on south side by Tim Mosedale and Himex with generous oxygen on 26. David Klein without Os turned back citing high winds on 26. Ferran Latorre, Yannik Graziani , Elisabeth Révol, Hanz Wenzl, Sherpa Dawa Sangay left 9 pm 26 May. TIBET: No Os climbers –Ralf Dujmovits and Adrian Ballinger, Cory Richards and Alpenglow team, perhaps SummitClimb also, are starting up early 27 May. South Teams Alpine Ascents seems to have had perfect timing this year lead by Ben Jones. They have been off by a day or so from all the major movement on the mountain and have not had any of the difficult weather or crowds – in fact few teams have commented crowds on either side. They are at the South Col preparing to summit hopefully on the 27. but they will need to watch the snow coming in. Ben posted an update with a nice picture – he has posted some amazing photos this year: Last few minutes to the South Col today. It was unbelievably hot the entire day from Camp 3 to the Col but our team did great. We had some people coming sporadically but for the most part we had the entire day and route to ourselves…..just the way the entire expedition has been! Tomorrow we rest here breathing supplemental oxygen at almost 26,000ft before leaving for the summit the last couple of hours on the 26th. We have mild winds here at the Col right now and look for the wind to be quite calm on our summit day. We are pumped!! UPDATE: on summit push Himex with three members, one guide – Bruce Hasler – and a team of Sherpas are on their summit push. Jeff Smith and Joe Burke are two of the members. It has been a tough season for Himex with early summit attempts by David Tait and Kenton Cool not working out plus some illness in their team. Russell Brice choose not to even post his traditional information filled newsletters due to computer issue but probably more due to all the issues. UPDATE: Himex got their summits:Kazu,John,Jeff and guide by Bruce Hasler and 4 Sherpas. – reported no wind at 7:20 am 26 May Tim Mosedale and crew of three members plus support are pushing to the top. Tim already summited earlier this season with Scott Mac and documented the state of the Hillary Step. All the Irish back home are pumped for another Irish summit, this time by Rory Mchugh UPDATE: Blake Pension posted SPOT tracker from summit around 8:00 am 26 May NO Os David Klein turned back due to winds UPDATE: David turned back early 26th, just after midnight, Friday. That was last night. He is already down in camp 2 and descending to EBC tomorrow. source: Laszlo Pinter www.mozgasvilag.hu Ferran Latorre is at Camp 3 now Camp 4 headed higher. So is Yannik Graziani who posted: Reached this morning C3. Beautifull weather but verry warm (35degrees). Tomorrow to South Col, and saturday should be the day! Weather window seems to be great! We are the last team I think. UPDATE: Yannik posted: “We reached South Col at 12:00 (now time) with a bad weather. Fortunately this is the time to climb to the summit! “Fuerza !!!! West Ridge Nobukazu Kuriki has changed his mind adding my own personal issues with getting credible information from the mountain 🙂 He said he was feeling well, returned from Camp 2 or higher on the West Ridge – back to Gorak Shep, started feeling better and now feels he can summit via the West Ridge and Hornbein Couloir on 31/31 MAy. He will certainly be alone by then. One concern will be if the Icefall Doctors are still maintaining the route. He posted: Hi, It’s me, Kuriki. Yesterday, on the 24th May, I started to climb aiming for my final camp, but actually on the 23rd, I had been felt like vomiting, so yesterday, I waited until the afternoon to make decisions. I arrived until the altitude of 7,300m, however my nausea didn’t go away, so to make my condition better, I came down till Gorak Shep, 5,300m. At first, I thought about mountain disease, but my SpO2 is 80 and it’s quite good, and I don’t have headache, just have nausea, and now my condition is much better. I will stay here for one day, then, I will make my attempt again on 27th. If the weather holds, I will arrive at the summit on 30th or 31st. The belt of blue ice, on
Everest 2017: South Col Dead Body Report was Wrong
The same people that reported 4 bodies – 2 Sherpas, 1 foreign woman and 1 foreign male – were found at the South Col now say they got it all wrong. I spoke live with both key sources last night. Managing Director at Seven Summit Treks, Mingma Sherpa, who provided the the information to Himalayan Times reporter Rajan Pokhrel who wrote the story. Both now say it was a mistake and were no 4 new bodies. I also confirmed with another Nepali operator Navin Trital plus long time Everest climber and guide, Willie Benegas of Benegas Brothers contacted me from the South Col and said no new bodies. He said he checked every tent. Too Many Bodies? The best explanation is that the Seven Summits Treks Sherpas somehow “confused” seeing one body and thinking it was four. Assuming good intentions here, perhaps an analogy with the “fog of war” is apt. the six Sherpas were were sent to the South Col to retrieve the body of Slovak climber Vladimir Strba who died between Balcony and South Col while climbing as independent with no Os. That retrieval was successful. Seven Summits Treks was also involved in retrieving body of West Bengal climber Gautam Ghosh from the South Col. Another body retrieval will soon start for Indian climber, Ravi Kumar, 27, who reportedly died from a fall near the Balcony after summiting. He became separated from his guide from Arun Treks. First Report The original article on finding four bodies at the South Col reported: At least four climbers including a woman mountaineer were found dead inside their tent at a high altitude camp on Mt Everest taking the death toll on the world’s highest mountain in the spring climbing season to at least nine in Nepal side, the base camp officials have confirmed. Sherpa climbers from Seven Summit Treks who were there to recover the body of a Slovak mountaineer spotted four more dead bodies inside a tent, Managing Director at Seven Summit Treks Mingma Sherpa quoted the rescuers as saying over the phone from the incident site. Though the precise details of the incident are not available yet, the cause of death could be suffocation inside the tent, the rescuers reported. Multiple sources at the base camp also confirmed that four persons belonging to a new trekking company have gone out of contact since Sunday after they were last seen near the Balcony area. “We are trying to verify all shreds of evidence before naming the victims,” a liaison officer at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said. There were four deaths over this past weekend: Vladimir Strba, 50 Slovakia, died between Balcony and South Col on south side, climbing as independent with no Os Francesco Enrico Marchetti, 54 Australia, at 8300m after summit from Tibet with Thamserku Treks and Expeditions Ravi Kumar, 27, from fall on Nepal side near Balcony after summit, separated from his guide from Arun Treks Roland Yearwood, 50 from USA Alabama climbing with SummitClimb Good News While all this has created worldwide headlines, I am grateful there are no new deaths to report in addition to the current six. The other good news is that the mistaken report has generated a conversation about the experience of climbers and the qualification of guides. And that is a good subject to further explore. Summits Continue 25 May was another good day on Everest’s Nepal side with over 40 new summits including the Benegas Brothers and International Mountain Guides. Both reported superb weather conditions. On the Tibet side, several climbers seeking to summit without supplemental oxygen have moved to the higher camps. Heavy snow is now predicted for Saturday, so best if they can get up and down before then. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
Everest 2017: Climbing Continues – Updated
The last teams on both sides are moving higher and higher and some going for the summit tonight. IMG reports around 5:00 am Nepal time on Thursday 25 May. They have probably over 20 on this push. The lead climbers are getting close to the summit, and others are getting close to the South Summit. So far so good! The Benegas Brothers are also on their push: It’s 02:50 here, and all the team have already made it to the balcony, nearly half way to the South Summit, and where the South East Ridge takes a left about half way up to the South Summit. They will take a bit of a break here and change oxygen bottles and drink, before heading up the snow line of the South East Ridge with the enormous Kangshung Face of Tibeten Everest down on their right. It will take them several hours of climbing up the ridge before they cross some rock bands and reaching the South Summit. Stay tuned! Great work all! UPDATE: Benegas puts 10 on top: Willie just radioed in – NO WIND, MOST AMAZING SUMMIT EVER!!!!! Damian Benegas 6th Summit, Willie Benegas 12th Summit, Reagan Rick, Ed MacCollugh and John Oldring 1st Summits!!! Lopsang Sherpa IFMGA, Lhakpa Sherpa, Dawa Sherpa, Pasang Bhote (1st summit!!) and Chedden Lama Sherpa (1st summit!!). Everyone arrived at the Summit of Mt. Everest by 0810am May 25th 2017!!! 9 hours from South Col to Summit – an incredible effort. We could not have done it without our amazing Summit Sherpas who have not only encouraged endlessly but carried heavy spare oxygen bottles and drinks, and the rest of the team at the South Col and Camp 2 who carried close to 80 bottles of oxygen up (and soon down) the mountain this season in addition to tents, meals, sleeping bags, and stoves! Lam Babu Sherpa IFMGA, Lopsang Sherpa IFMGA, Lhakpa Sherpa, Dawa Sherpa, Khangdu Sherpa, Rinjin Bhote, Yuberaj Rai, Ang Rita Sherpa, Pasang Bhote and Chedden Lama Sherpa. As well as our base camp crew who literally work around the clock in addition to before and after the trip, spending three months in base camp! Shiva, Raju, Laxmi, Jetha and Maila, we can’t thank you enough. Everest is not climbed by any one individual, we have a huge support team here up the mountain as well as in Base Camp and furthermore around the world that make it possible for our climbers to be where they are now. Most of all we want to give thanks to all the friends and family that have supported us for the last 2 months here and during the entire last year of training and planning, this dream started for our members way back in 2014 and 2015, and has finally come true. You have been with us every step of the way and we could not be here without you. Thank you!! The weather definitely is improving on the south side according to Ben Jones with Alpine Ascents: Today we left Camp 2 for upper Camp 3 at about 23,800ft in perfect conditions. Just the way our rotations have gone and with waiting patiently for a weather window we have not encountered a single crowd this entire expedition. We feel good about that continuing through our summit bid as well. It’s definitely still windy up high and we have had some gusts of wind through Camp 3 here but overall it’s been a beautiful day. The Clearskies team canceled their climb: Due to the still bad weather forecasts and the stormy winds at Everest, Hannes and Markus decided today to cancel the ascent. The conditions are simply too bad and too uncertain for a climb without oxygen this year. Health is a matter of course!They have returned to the base camp with the entire equipment and will report in detail about your attempt to climb tomorrow. Looks like Nobukazu Kuriki has called it on this effort: We are informed that Kuriki got out of condition and he decided to go down. Even though he is out of condition, he doesn’t need to be rescued, and he is getting down all by himself. Ralf Dujmovits is optimistic he will summit: Today some still remaining climbers and I started the final ascent of Mount Everest from it’s North side. We hope for a late weather window starting the 26th of May and continuing for some days – low winds and relatively high temperatures are expected. This picture I took yesterday, 23rd of May at 06:15 a.m. with a 200 mm lens from advanced basecamp at 6,300 m: it shows the final summit snow slope on the Tibetan North side and if you look carefully you can see five Chinese Climbers coming down from the summit. I’m here to undertake my 8th and definitely last attempt to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. Everest is the only of the 14 8000m peaks on which I used oxigene during the summit climb (early October 1992). Since then I tried six more times to reach the summit without supplemental oxygen. After a perfect period of acclimatizing this time I’m really positive and optimistic. I hope so much it works out, fingers crossed. Finally the Nepal Mountaineering Association which represents the operators in Nepal choose to comment on the Hillary Step today instead of the deaths at the South Col – if they even occurred: Regarding the recent news reports now the Hillary Step has collapsed: We are aware of the reports and are actively seeking more sources of informations to varify this information. Untill our findings (investigations) is concluded, we can not officially authenticate the claims. The NMA’s charter is: Nepal Mountaineering Association was established on 1 November 1973 (2030 Kartik 16) Thursday. It is a non-governmental, non-profit and non-political organization working as a national alpine association of Nepal to promote mountain tourism, climbing sports, protect mountain environments and preserve and promote cultural heritage of mountain people. It is the only national alpine club authorized to issue climbing permits