The #Everest2022 season is taking shape as teams continue to receive climbing permits and others are well on their way to Everest Base Camp. The first 8000er summits are expected soon.
Big Picture
There has been an expected surge in new permits for Everest, now at 200 including 46 female climbers. The United States represents the largest country on Everest this year with 49 climbers, a spot recently ceded to India and China which only have 15 and 9 climbers respectively. The UK comes in at 25 with Canada at 11 and Australia at 10 thus far. Russia has 14 climbers on Everest this season.
Annapurna and Dhaulagiri Summit Push
As usual, the first summits are by the ropes teams, as it appears on both of these peaks with team members following quickly a day or so later.
Pemba Sherpa founder of 8K Expeditions tells me he expects summits this weekend. On Annapurna, he told me, “We will fix the rope till C3 this few days, 10-11 April, After that will wait for the summit push.” Pemba has one of the largest Nepali presence this year, “We have also sent sherpa for Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, and Makalu. Lhotse-Everest we have huge access like 65 climbing sherpa”
On Dhaulagiri is Mingma G‘s Imagine Nepal team, “He coyly notes, “And we begin our summit push on Dhaulagiri.” One of his team members, Adriana Brownlee posted on her IG:
Yesterday’s successful rotation to Camp 2 – now back at basecamp looking at weather windows for summit push; conditions good although lots of avalanche activity; feeling strong and comfortably carrying 12Kg in pack; team is good and we are looking forward to the next few days; thanks for all the kind and supportive messages
“Hi everyone I just completed my first rotation up the mountain. Dawa and I stayed at camp 1, 5000m for one night. Then we headed to camp 2 5600m and stayed for 2 nights. I had a bit of a headache the first night but slept well the second night. We went up higher above camp 2 to scope the route to camp 3.
There is no easy or super safe way but we saw a route that is less dangerous than other routes. The fixing team left base camp this morning to start the route, fixing to camp 3 after Dawa showed them photos. Hopefully it will get completed in the next 2 days.
We have our Puja on Saturday and then Dawa and I will head up for the second rotation. We plan to spend 2 nights at camp 2, skipping camp 1 and then 2 nights at camp 3. After that I will be ready for the summit rotation.”
I think we are all anxiously waiting to see how 83-year-old Carlos Soria fares on his 13th attempt at Dhaulagiri.
Nepal Permit Update – Picking Up
The permits for Everest are picking up after a slow start as expected. I’m looking for between 250 to 300 total on Everest. 2021 was a record year with 408 permits issued to foreigners. The Nepal Ministry of Tourism posted these foreign permit tally as of April 7, 2022
- Everest: 200 on 21 teams (25+ teams with under 300 members expected)
- Lhotse: 52 on 6 teams
- Nuptse: 23 on 3 teams
- Manaslu: 9 on 1 team
- Annapurna: 26 on 4 teams
- Dhaulagiri: 21 on 2 teams
- Pumori: 0 on 0 team
- Makalu: 15 on 1 team
- Ama Dablam: 39 on 4 teams
- Gangapurna: 2 on 1 team
- Himlung: 16 on 2 teams
- Thapa (Dhampus): 6 on 2 team
- Bhemdang: 8 on 1 team
- Pokhar Kang: 9 on 1 team
Garrett Madison Interview
I caught up with Garrett Madison, founder of Madison Mountaineering from Nepal’s Namache Bazaar while on his way to Everest Base Camp. He describes #Everest2022 as looking more like a normal season. He has 12 members with three guides plus two private parties of a guide with their client. We also talk about climbing the so-called Second Seven Summits.
Here’s the video podcast version of the Interview:
The Podcast on alanarnette.com
You can listen to #everest2022 podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Anchor, and more. Just search for “alan arnette” on your favorite podcast platform.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
Summit Coach
If you dream of climbing mountains but are not sure how to start or reach your next level from a Colorado 14er to Rainier, Everest, or even K2, we can help. Summit Coach is a consulting service that helps aspiring climbers throughout the world achieve their goals through a personalized set of consulting services based on Alan Arnette’s 25 years of high altitude mountain experience, including summits of Everest, K2, and Manaslu, and 30 years as a business executive.
