Welcome to the 2021 edition of Alan Arnette’s annual coverage of the Everest climbing season. I try to provide insight and interpretation of the activities ranging from routes to weather to the challenge and reward of climbing Everest. It’s based on my own three Everest attempts and my 2011 summit plus my climbing experiences of a K2 summit in 2014, Manaslu in 2013 and 30+ more peaks around the world. My reporting uses my own research, sources, and public information.
It was a big week of news on Everest this past week from client summits to a major operator canceling their expedition. This next week looks to be even bigger with 300 people trying to summit beginning May 19.
Furtenbach Adventures canceled his entire #Everest2021 expedition citing COVID risks at base camp. This follows the Chinese decision to cancel their only team on the Tibet side. Meanwhile, the officials responsible for the safety of guests climbing in Nepal deny climbers have COVID at Everest Base Camp.
The #Everest2021 scene is quiet now with the jet stream on the summit. Look for teams to begin their bids aiming for May 20-23. China stopped their team this week citing COVID fears. With two deaths, I take a deep dive into deaths on Everest, why, and how to avoid them.
Tragic news for the recent summit pushes. Two climbers using Seven Summits Treks have died both during their descent from the summit
At least 50 people summited on Tuesday morning, May 12, 2021. This takes the total to over 150 for the first two summit waves of commercial clients. By my count, there are as many as 350 clients with their Sherpas yet to make a summit attempt. We may see a few more for Thursday, May 13 summit morning.
The second summit wave is taking place starting late evening May 11 with summited expected around dawn on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Bad weather appears to be getting closer, including a potential cyclone outer bands so anxiety is inching higher to get up and out as fast a possible. If they miss this window, they be looking for a summit bid after May 20.
Over 50 people summited Everest between 5:30 am and 9 am on Tuesday morning, May 11, 2021. There are least that many at the South Col ready to go tonight.
The first summit wave is underway. Everest 2021: Summit Bid Wave 1 is underway. Looks for summits around 06:00 am Tuesday, May 11, 2021, Nepal time
First up is the 30 people (including support) team from Bahrain. Using logistics from Madison Mountaineering, Kenton Cool with Ardavan, and Jon Gupta with Becks are headed up. The six-person IFMGA Sherpa Guided Team from Climbing the Seven Summits are aiming for May 12. Ascent Himalaya, Imagine Nepal, and Peak Promotion are on their push. We could see well over 150 summits on the 11th and 12.
I will update this post throughout the push and give a summary tomorrow.
As the #Everest2021 summit wave 1 begins, a quick roundup of all the news across Everest, Dhaulagiri, and Makalu. Plus now China is in the “silly rules” business for Everest.
We can expect summits in the next 24 hours from many commercial teams. There are some comments suggesting summits have occurred daily since last Friday when the ropes reached the top, but that’s unconfirmed. The winds are amazingly low, under 15 mph on the summit according to multiple computer models. I’ll be posting updates on another post throughout the push.
