Tag: Lhotse Face

2010 Coverage, Everest

Que the Weather!

Well, right on schedule a somewhat unexpected snowstorm, complete with lightening and thunder, rolled into the Everest camps. Climbers stopped in their tracks, literally, to wait it out. Needless to say, this put a bit of a chill on talks of an early summit. But we will see. As I had mentioned before, it uncanny how the weather is excellent in April then turns ugly on May 1st almost every year – happy May Day!

2010 Coverage, Everest

Climbing for a Cause

As we spend the last day of April monitoring the climbers on both sides of Everest, I thought it would be good to look at their motivations. Climbing historians know of the famous 1923 George Mallory quote, “Because it’s there” but others have more personal reasons. The primary action on both sides right now is working on their acclimatization through rotations to from low to high camps.

2010 Coverage, Everest

Climbing the Lhotse Face

On one of my Everest climbs, I was told outright – “If you can’t get to camp 3 in under 5 hours, you are out.” After a discussion with my grim reaper on people skills, the logic of the statement made sense. Speed is your friend on any mountain, much less the highest in the world. The Lhotse Face is the eastern side of the world’s 4th highest mountain Lhotse, 8516m or 27,939 feet. Many climbers attempt Lhotse itself in pursuit of all 14 8000m mountains or as a difficult 8000 meter mountain. The route is identical to climbing to the South Col but takes a hard right, upwards, just above the Yellow Band to the technical and rocky summit. But the Lhotse Face is the gatekeeper to all of this.

2010 Coverage, Everest

The Strategy of Acclimatization

Alan in Ouray

The big news is that the route to camp 3 on the Lhotse Face is now in thus preparing the way for climbers to spend the night at the highest camp prior to their summit bid. Many teams on the south have now spent a few nights as high as camp 2 and on the north only a couple have even made it up to the North Col due to harsh weather at the moment. Over the years, the strategy of acclimatization has not significantly changed. The primary tenet is to climb high and sleep low thus stressing the body to create more red blood cells needed to provide oxygen to the muscles.