Everest 2024: Leaving Nothing Unsaid

Leaving home to climb Mt. Everest is no simple task. It’s not a business trip; it’s not a vacation; it’s something entirely different. While it may be your dream, it can be something altogether different for those left behind. As we approach the end of March, scores of climbers are going through this process for Everest 2024.

It’s time for Everest climbers to get focused and serious about the last-minute preparations. Since their dream began, they wondered how this period would feel. They saved money, bought the gear, and trained their bodies for months or even years, but a few crucial steps remain before boarding that plane for Kathmandu.

A longtime reader and climber preparing for Everest sent me this question last week: “How do you keep sleeping and maintain mental focus 20 days before leaving for Everest without stressing yourself out?’ My answer was: Focus on “leaving nothing unsaid” with those who matter most in your life. Visualize being on the mountain with a positive outcome, review your gear using a mental walk-thru of the climb to ensure you have everything you need and want. Finally, surround yourself with positive people who have fun, laugh, and support you.

For this last step of prep, let’s take a closer look at three areas: Physical, Mental, and Emotional. #everest2024

Podcast with Author, Journalist Billi Bierling of the Himalayan Database

Close followers of mountaineering know the Himalayan Database and Ms. Elizabeth Hawley. Who you may not know is Billi Bierling who worked with Ms. Hawley since 2004 and continues her work today along with a small team in Kathmandu and the US.

Billi, born in the Bavarian Alpine resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, is a well-traveled journalist working primarily for Swiss Humanitarian Aid as a communications expert. She also writes mountaineering articles for German and English-speaking magazines, translates or writes books and leads mountain treks and expeditions in Nepal and around the world. And she climbs mountains, big mountains including Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Manaslu (fore summit) and Broad Peak – the latter three she summited without the help of supplemental oxygen.

Billi recently published a book, a memoir, Riding my Bike iN Kathmandu.

This in-depth podcast introduces us to Billi, her background in humanitarian work, her book and some of her climbs before discussing the changes we are seeing in the ever-commercialized world of mountaineering, especially in Nepal. Finally, we wrap up discussing the future of the Himalayan Database.

Grab a beverage or take a walk and please enjoy meeting Billi Bierling.

Everest 2023: An Insider Story

winter Everest 2017 Puja

The 2023 Everest spring season is over, and most of the climbers are back home with their families. They’re providing an intimate look at their experiences, sharing tears, laughs and holding hands as their loved one reveals their true story. Often are is difficult, as no one likes to see their partner in pain, yet it comes through in their eyes as they describe seeing a dead body or being told the summit push is canceled because of winds. Yet they also share the joy of the summit. While one climbed, the other stayed home, often wondering.

Summit Coach client, Asher Perez, summited Mt. Everest in May with Phil Crampton’s Altitude Junkie team. His wife, Elianna Perez stayed home with their one-year-old daughter, wondering. After all, this spring was the deadliest season in history on Everest. This is her story.
#everest2023

Everest 2023: Season Summary – Deadliest in History

In this 2023 Everest season summary, I look at the good and the bad during the deadliest season ever on Everest and the much-needed changes. Plus a narrative on the last Icefall passage and co ing home #everest2023

Nepal issued a record 478 climbing permits to foreigners. Add in one and a half Sherpa supporting each foreigner; over 1,200 people pursued the summit this spring. Fears were rampant of a 2019 repeat with long lines and deaths. The lines never developed, thanks in part to colder weather that sent a higher number of climbers home in mid-season, many with a persistent virus. However, the deaths did, but not due to the record permits or climate change. #everest2023