Sad news from Everest with the third death of the season. A second cyclone is developing in the Bay of Bengal that has the potential to impact Everest around May 25, as Cyclone TC01A aka Tauktae bears down on Nepal but should clear out soon. Teams are leaving C2 for their summit bid now, targeting May 22 for the summit.
Sherpa Death
27-year-old Pemba Tashi Sherpa, working for Climbing the Seven Summits apparently fell into a crevasse while descending from C2 to C1 according to this report in The Himalayan Times. He had five Everest summits. He was from Sirijung Rural Municipality in Sankhuwasabha district. My condolences to his family, friends, and teammates.
Cyclone #2?
Cyclone Tauktae is dumping snow on Everest and there have been reports of tents blown away, however that is unconfirmed. Meteorologist Chris Tomer told me this morning of a second storm:
“… you won’t believe this but we could have a 2nd Cyclone that ruins summit windows after the 27th. I mentioned it to my clients this morning. It could come out of the Bay of Bengal. Something to watch.”
Summit Waves 3 and 4
Teams are leaving C2 today aiming to summit on May 22. More groups still at base camp are looking at May 27/28. Of course with all this weather, COVID uncertainty, this season’s end-game will be a nail-biter. See my location table for team locations.
I expect these teams to head up now: Climbing the Seven Summits (partial), IMG (partial), Madison Mountaineering, Mountain Professionals, Summit Climb, 7 Summits Club, Pioneer Adventure,.
And for the last major wave of the season around May 27/28: Alpine Ascents Int., Altitude Junkies, Asian Trekking:, Elite Expeditions, Mountain Trip, Climbalaya, Satori Adventures, Himalaya Ascent, Himalaya Expedition.
True Summit?
The use of helicopters is becoming more common on the big peaks. They’ve occasionally been used to ferry climbers between base camps or gear to the base of the Lhotse Face but this year, starting with a resupply mission to the high camp on Annapurna, we now are hearing the Seven Summits Treks used their company-owned helicopter to transport Bahraini prince Sheikh Mohamed Hamad Mohamed Al Khalifa from Camp 2 after his summit. Department of Transportation responsible for overseeing climbing in Nepal responded through their spokesperson Mira Acharya that, “Technically, one has to climb down Icefall route after summiting to get credential of successful Everest summit. “The prince was evacuated from camp II as emergency rescue,” source
Embassy Recall Nationals
The Spanish Embassy in Nepal has called on all Nationals to depart Nepal on a charter scheduled for May 20. This included Carols Sora who has departed Dhaulagiri along with Norwegian Vibeke Sefland. The US flew a charter out earlier this week and has another schedule for the 25th.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
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9 thoughts on “Everest 2021: Sherpa Death, 2nd Cyclone on the Way”
Books and movies are made about clients who perish, regrettably when a Sherpa dies, he’ll receive little in the way of acknowledgement.
Thank you Alan
A Big Congratulations to the Prince of Bahrain & his team for *conquering* Chomolungma/ Mount Everest a Sherpa to Client ratio of nearly 3:1, while also being airlifted from camp 2 to safety during the decent. That’s mountaineering in its true essence. I’m sure his majesty will be really proud of this achievement.
Apologies if you covered this in another article, but re the COVID outbreaks – is this even with people that are vaccinated? Is there a significant number of folks that came to Everest not having been vaccinated? I realize that one can still get/transmit COVID while vaccinated, but……
A small % of all the foreigners came to Everest vaccinated because it was not available in their country. Virtually no Sherpas, cooks, staff , tea house owners, yak drivers were in Nepal for the same reason.
Let’s see…COVID throughout the country and at EBC, embassies recalling their citizens, dearth of international flights out, no oxygen for patients, two cyclones, a few avalanches, three tragic deaths, and a compressed window for summiting. Did I get this right? What else could go wrong?
I know!
Thank you Alan! Following your detailed updates. Do you think more teams will try to summit before 27/28 because of the weather?
absolutely. Some are leaving tonight aiming for the 22/23
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