Everest 2019: Summit Wave 1 – Update

After what some are calling a historic day with summits on four of the 8000-meter peaks mainly by the rope teams, the mountains remain busy on Wednesday morning in Nepal as this 2 day window comes to a close. The ropes on the Tibet side reached 8300 meters but the fixers are retreating in advance of forecasted high winds.

I’ll update the summits using the terminology “Summit Wave.” Yesterday was Summit Wave 0 with the outstanding work of the Sherpas to get the ropes to the summit. I’ll primarily focus on Everest but when information is available for the other 8000ers, I’ll add it.

Big Picture – Good News, Bad News

OK, the ropes are in on the Nepal side. That’s the good news. The jet stream is forecasted to move back on top of the summit for 5 to 7 days. That’s the bad news. And the ropes are not on the Tibet side summit. More bad news.

So it was and is exciting to see how many people will summit this Wednesday morning in Nepal as they will get to go home now! (once they get back to Kathmandu!)

Nepal updated their permit list to show 379 member permits were issued. Double that with the Sherpas in support and subtract a handful that are trying right now, around 30, and that leaves 728 humans all planning their summit push between May 20/21 and 29/30. Or 9 days.

IF the jet behaves itself and stays away, 9 days is tight but doable to accommodate that many climbers. If it returns early or leaves late, this year might be tough. There are a lot of conversation going on within the guide community right now.

Nepal – Summit Pushes underway

More for May 15 Happening NOW!

Teams that should be on their bid or even summited with this post at 7:30 am Wednesday, May 15, 2019.:

May 15 Summits

Seven Summits Trek’s Indian Team: Seven Summits Treks says the team leader, Kami Rita Sherpa summited. at 7:50 am but no word on the rest of the team. This was Kami Rita’s 23 summit.

To wrap up yesterday, May 14:

Madison Mountaineering‘s Garrett Madison and Himalayan Guides who are hosting/managing the rope team said 8 Sherpas got the ropes to the summit at 1:15 on the 14th. No members were reported to have summited.

Imagine Nepal’s Mingma Sherpa put 12 people on the summit of Lhotse on Tuesday, May 14th including the first Greeks and Pakistani.

Tibet – Planning

With the ropes still not to the summit, the Tibet side teams were forced to skip this narrow window and plan for the one after May 20. The ropes are at Camp 3, around 8300-meters/27,230-feet. So lots of planning activity on this side as the same window should emerge for them. Look for teams to leave Chinese Base Camp this weekend or sooner.

The New Line

Alpenglow posted this update on the new route:

@estebantopomena and @coryrichards have headed all the way down the mountain and into the town of Shegar to get a solid rest before their big push

Others 8000ers

Makalu Summits!

The 5 Sherpa rope team from Seven Summits Treks on Makalu got to the summit at 8:45 on the 14th. Other climbers turned back due to extreme cold. It was reported to be -18F/27C!! There are more climbers trying this morning, Wednesday, May 15.

Update:

Summit by Sarah Strattan and Brad Johnson in what Brad described as “perfect conditions.”

Kanchenjunga Summits May 15!

And 6 Sherpas stood on the top of Mt Kangchenjunga at 15:10 on the 14th from Seven Summits Treks. And the success continued on the 15th with 5 members with 5 Seven Sumits Treks Sherpas (no names provided for the Sherpas!)

1. VIRIDIANA ALVAREZ CHAVEZ – MEXICO
2. KLARA KOLOUCHOVA – CZECH REPUBLIC
3. SOHPIE MARIE LAVAUD – SWITZERLAND
4. STEFAN IVANOV STEFANOV- BULGARIA
5. TOMAZ ROTAR – REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

Sherpas:
1. CHHEPAL SHERPA – OKHALDHUNGA

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15 thoughts on “Everest 2019: Summit Wave 1 – Update

  1. Any tracking of team Climbing The Seven Summits’s private team? Ascent Himalaya is now at 8700, aiming to summit by sunrise.

        1. Longer, they are at 27,700’/8442m so probably 3+ hours which would have them summiting around 7 am local, assuming they continue at the current speed, winds don;t pick up, they don’t get too cold, etc. It’s not done yet.

              1. Im following their GPS trackers. How can i share it with you without it being public?

  2. Absolutely the right decision to turn back on Nuptse if the conditions are not good.

    Does anyone know the difficulty of the standard route on Nuptse in comparison with the standard south col route of Everest or Lohtse?

  3. Thanks for always naming the Sherpas Alan. It means a lot that they get recognition.

  4. Not sure how the others are doing, but the link you provided for Myrmidon team has them just short of the Hilary Step, based on their geo-dots. Exciting to be able to track in live time, hoping everyone gets back safely. Getting to the summit, is only half the trip.

    1. I am no expert but my interpretation of Myrmidon’s tracking looks like they turned around 200mtrs form the summit????

      The map is well out but the altitude tag reads them as only getting to 8684m… I hope I’ve interpreted this wrong…

      1. Looks like you were right Scott. I fell asleep around 2:00 am Eastern and looking at the GeoDits it seemed little progress was being made for a few hours. Didn’t comment or speculate. I went to the teams WebSite as well and they have not posted an update.

        Alan, has anyone chimes in yet with conditions and progress reports or updates as to any teams status?

        1. Matt… Kirstie had mentioned in her last Blog/IG post that they she wouldn’t be posting anything else until back down… So who knows if any of the others will be in touch… If they didn’t make it, I hope it’s not the end of the road for them…

          1. Thx Alan… That really is gutting.

            I’ve followed Kirstie through her IG and blog pages and was really rooting for her and her team. Any news on whether they will take another stab at it in the next window… Or do you think they’re done…

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