Category: Climbing News

Many teams will not climb today, April 18, 2022, as eight years ago to the day, at 6:35 am, a small section of an ice serac released onto the Khumbu Icefall. 16 Sherpas were killed in a moment as tons of ice fell, leaving the mountain workers with few options and nowhere to hide. Today is a day to remember. Om mani Padme hung

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A few more permits were issued over the weekend, bringing the total for all 22 peaks to 740. On Everest, they remained steady at 262 with 94 on Lhotse.  Sherpas will return to stocking high camps tomorrow, but on the other 8000ers, we may see summits tomorrow or the next day. One I’m keeping a close eye on is Dhaulagiri with Carlos Sori, 83, Sito Carcavilla, and the six Sherpas are at Camp 3 of Dhaulagiri with a solid weather forecast. Thye could summit tomorrow marking Carols’ 13th summit an 8000er, leaving on Shispanagma. There is still a lot of climbing on the ‘other’ 8000ers, with Makalu, Lhotse and Lhotse South Face, and Kangchenjunga, but heavy snowfall delays progress on Annapurna. Look for summits on most of these over the next few weeks and the serious acclimatization rotations to begin on Everest around April 19-20. #everest2022

A Sherpa has died in the IceFall near the Football Field. He apparently just collapsed as there was no fall, illness, or avalanche. Teams are starting to stock the higher camps with tents, food, and fuel getting ready for the first rotations. A narrative on arriving at EBC.

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Teams on Everest have already begun the acclimatization process. It usually begins with a short trip halfway up the Khumbu Icefall to an area called, the ‘Football field.’ This is a relatively flat section, somewhat safe from avalanches from Everest’s West Shoulder. Climbers will be very slow on this first climb as they are not fully acclimatized. They will be hurting puppies! #everest2022

Right on schedule, several teams have arrived at Everest Base Camp. It will be their home until late May, for most, or a few days after they reach the summit. The majority of Everest summits occur between May 18th and 23rd. There is a lot of climbing left on the ‘other’ 8000ers.

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The permits issuance continue to pick up. As of April 13, 2022, Nepal had issued 250 permits for 31 teams on Everest. I’m still expecting the final number to be under 300.  As for countries on Everest, The US continues to have the most climbers with 58, followed by the UK at 33, India-21, Russia-16, Canada-14, Nepal (non-Sherpas) with 14, and Australia at 10. For all of Nepal mountains requiring permits, 689 foreigners have received one. See the table at the end of this post for details.

There is still a lot of climbing on the ‘other’ 800ers, with Annapurna, Makalu, Lhotse and Lhotse South Face, and Kangchenjunga. Look for summits on most of these over the next few weeks and the serious acclimatization rotations to begin on Everest around April 17. #everest2022

Tragic death after summiting occurred on the 8000er,  Dhaulagiri. Highly experienced Greek climber Antonis Sykaris is reported to have died after summiting around 7,400m on the 8,167 meters (26,795 ft) peak. Sykaris was 59-years-old. He was climbing with Dawa Sherpa using the logistics of Seven Summits Treks and summited at 12:40 pm local time. Just this past weekend 22 people summited as I previously reported. Sykaris was on a mission to submit all 14 of the 8000ers.

Teams continue to arrive in Kathmandu from afar. Many are proudly posting pictures of receiving their Everest climbing permits, but as of today, the pace is way off what we saw only a few years ago or even last year. In this post, I talk about the first time I thought about climbing Everest, back in 2002.

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By early April 2021 Nepal had issued 222 permits for 23 teams, but this year that number is 138 on 16 teams.  It looks like Everest will get somewhat of a respite this season with less than 300 foreign climbers. And that is good news for the mountain but bad news for Nepal tourism.  We are seeing a lot of pictures of the trek, most feature Ama Dablam – perhaps one of the most recognizable mountains on earth since almost every climber and trekker takes a few hundred each year – not kidding! I have hundreds myself!! But Ama is a special peak for me as it was on her summit that I first considered climbing Everest.  #everest2022