Month: May 2022

Climbing News, Everest, Everest 2022 Coverage, Everest News, Everest Popular Posts

Everest 2022: Summit Wave 2 Recap – 100+ Summits, 1 Death

We have our first Wave 2 summits on Everest 2022! I’ve received reports directly from Everest that the weather is excellent tonight, making for ideal summit conditions. I estimate between 60 to 90 people (clients and guides) on the Hill this morning. The summit temperatures are hovering around 0F/-17C, which is extremely warm. This is excellent news for those climbing without Os as they will move slower and be colder than those on Os. Look for huge summits crowds leaving the South Col Thursday night, May 12, for a May 13 summit.

Climbing News, Everest, Everest 2022 Coverage, Everest News, Everest Popular Posts, Weekend Update

Rescue and Frostbite on Annapurna 2022: Tim Bogdanov

This is a special Podcast and YouTube interview with Tim Bogdanov, 37, who was rescued from Annapurna last month. He tells a chilling tale of getting lost and multiple mistakes he made during his no Os climb.

Tim has summits of Manaslu and Annapurna plus over 30 6,000-meters peaks around the world. His style is to climb alone and without supplemental oxygen. He summited Annapurna on April 28 alongside an Indian team that was climbing independently. Also on the summit, that day was Italian Alpinist Giampaolo Corona, who was climbing in a similar independent style.

They both got into serious trouble once descending, albeit separately. The rest of the story is in the video.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

Climbing News, Everest, Everest 2022 Coverage, Everest News, Everest Popular Posts, Weekend Update

Everest 2022: Weekend Update May 8 – Ropes to the Summit!

It was a busy week in the Himalayas with summits on multiple 8000ers, including Everest. On the Nepal side of the mountain, Kami Rita Sherpa led the rope team to the summit and at the same time extended his summit record to 26. Sadly, there were two more deaths of the season, one on Kangchenchunga and another on Everest. Still, thus far 2022 is a low-drama season. With the good weather emerging, the summit trolls will now allow everyone to make their attempts.

Big Picture

2022 is turning out to be an unusual season but in a good way. On Thursday, I did a podcast with three world-class meteorologists, Michael Fagin of Everest Weather, Chris Tomer of Tomer Weather Solutions, and Marc De Keyser of Weather4expeditions , about what we are seeing and can expect these last few weeks of the season. They all agreed that it is warmer than usual, drier than usual, and with less wind than usual. The culprit is the Jet Stream is not sitting on top of Everest like it usually does.

They even suggested that we may see another year like in 2018 when we had 11 consecutive days of low winds that allowed a record year for Everest summits with 802 summits on both sides. The Nepal side saw a total of 562 summits made up of 266 foreigners (aka members) and 296 High Altitude Workers (aka Sherpas). We won’t see anything like that number of summits in 2022, perhaps around 400, including support.

A wild card was a potential typhoon brewing in the Bay of Bengal but now it appears that  “ASANI” will track away from making landfall. Again, there are currently NO typhoons warnings issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center:

Climbing News, Everest, Everest 2022 Coverage, Everest News

Everest 2022: 3rd Death of Season

A 52-year-old Indian client of Pioneer Adventure died after leaving Camp 4 on Kangchenjunga. His outfitter, Pioneer Adventures, tells the press that his Sherpas told Narayan Iyer to turn back, but he refused. Also, Helicopters are consuming the Khumbu.

With most Everest climbers resting at EBC or down-valley waiting for the weather window, the ‘other’ 8000ers are still busy. There are remaining attempts on Kangchenguga, Makalu, and Dhaulagiri.

In my Podcast yesterday with Michael Fagin of Everest Weather, Chris Tomer of Tomer Weather Solutions, and Marc DeKeyser of weather4expeditions.com, they are seeing something very different this year – a missing Jet Stream! All three experts agree that we are in for a period of calm weather, albeit with higher than usual summit temperatures. However, note that it will still be -20C/-4F on top! They also talked about the potential typhoon in the Bay of Bengal that may have landfall around May 15, but the path is very uncertain due to an immense area of high-pressure in the area.

Climbing News, Everest, Everest 2022 Coverage, Everest News

Everest 2022: Talking Weather with Three Experts

With both sides of Everest seeing significant activity, let’s take a pause and talk to three world-class weather experts about the current situation and what they see in store for May. Also, I ask them to predict the first day for a member to summit Everest.

The historical weather pattern on Everest has been a calm April, a rough beginning of May before calming again starting around May 15 for about two weeks. In this Podcast with three professional weather forecasters who are currently supporting many teams on Everest, Michael Fagin of Everest Weather, Chris Tomer of Tomer Weather Solutions, and Marc DeKeyser of weather4expeditions.com, they are seeing something very different this year. The case of the missing Jet Stream!