Category: Everest 2022 Coverage

A member of the Russian team, Seven Summits Club has died of assumed altitude sickness at Camp 2 on Everest while completing their acclimatization rotations. Pavel Kostrikin,55, according to the Himalayan Database, had attempted Everest in 2013 and 2016 turning back both times citing exhaustion.

11 Sherpas led by Kami Rita, with his 26th summit, got the fixed ropes to the summit earlier than expected. Look for wave upon wave of commercial teams making their summits bids, some as early as tonight. And more summits on Kangchenjunga.

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.

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!

Nepal issued 68 permits to foreigners for Kanchenjunga, 8586-meters, this spring. Today, May 5, 2022, at least 32 stood on the summit, and a few very strong climbers turned back. Hungarian climber Varga Csaba noted, “Today’s climbing was made difficult by the scorching heat. However, since it snows every day, fresh snow slows down the progress.”

As usual, there is a bit of fog around who summited, turned back, and who is still moving up the mountain. So take all media reports, including mine, as an approximation and not perfect, even though we all do our best.

A second Chinese team of 13 climbers summited, making the total now 44 Chinese in this season. Five of the climbers installed a series of weather stations on Everest. The highest station was installed around 11:00 am, Wednesday, May 4, 2022, located just beneath the summit at 8800-meters.

They live-streamed the climb and installation on Facebook on May 4, 2022.

We knew there was a Chinese team on the Tibet side of Everest and that the rope team had made good progress. Now we learn from Mingma G that on April 30, 2022, 11 Chinese with support summited. I have not been able to independently verify the summits, but Mingma is usually in the know. 

The Chinese posted this video on YouTube of installing weather stations on Everest, including at the summit, in 2022., but it’s unclear if they are actually showing a weather station on the summit in a staging area. On a station, the elevation, 7790m, is written which would be between Camps 2 and 3. The summit is at 8848m.

I’ll stay on this, but I won’t be surprised if the Chinese summited.

It’s mid-season, and there are mixed results on the ‘other’ 8000ers and a lot of movement on Everest. The ropes are now at the South Col, and the rope team estimates tagging the summit around May 10, depending on the weather. This is slower than previous estimates. Let’s take a look at acclimatization and climbing the Lhotse Face.

Big Picture

As I previously reported, helicopters were used to ferry the gear needed for the summit fixed line to Camp 2, reducing scores of trips through the Icefall for the Sherpas. Good move by Nepal to be mindful of the Sherpa’s safety. Also, helicopters were used to remove trash from the 21015 earthquake down from Camp 2. Again, kudos, to all involved.

Teams are now scattered all over the Big Hill, working on their acclimatization, from EBC to Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face.

In what seems like a bit of contrived drama, multiple media outlets pasted headlines about missing Italian climber Giampaolo Corona on Annapurna. He was reported lost but then regained radio contact and said he was fine. Unfortunately, this situation is a fairly common occurrence, but happy Giampalo is fine.

Big news on the ‘other’ 8000ers with 15 members with 15 High Altitude Workers summiting on Annapurna. Over on Everest, the hard work of adjusting bodies to the thin air continues. 

Big Picture

With a break in the weather, the summit of Annapurna was visited by 30 people on April 28, 2022. but the other 8000ers are playing coy at the moment. Climbing is strong on Everest with the ropes high on the peak. Sherpas are beginning to stock all the camps to support summit pushes. Remember that the sweet spot is between May 18 to 23, so we have a few weeks to go for the masses. The first summits will be by the rope fixing team, and that could be any day now. See the tracking table for the latest team locations.