{"id":23691,"date":"2016-05-29T15:09:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-29T21:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=23691"},"modified":"2017-01-02T10:20:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T17:20:32","slug":"everestlhotse-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/29\/everestlhotse-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest\/Lhotse 2016: Season Ends with Strong North Summits"},"content":{"rendered":"

It appears the Everest 2016\u00a0season is over with the base camps on the Nepal and Tibet side becoming ghost towns. I will post a full summary of the entire 2016 season along with my thoughts\u00a0on the season\u00a0next week, but wanted to make\u00a0sure I included\u00a0a brief coverage of the summits from\u00a0the north as the south usually\u00a0gets all the attention.<\/p>\n

I estimate\u00a0(and its a wild guess) that about 135 people summited from Tibet this year, compared\u00a0to over 400 from Nepal. Getting accurate numbers and stories from that side of the mountain is difficult, thus the limited coverage. And some people shun all publicity while others make it a media event.<\/p>\n

Tibetan Benefits<\/h3>\n

Climbing from the Tibet side has always been less popular than from Nepal. Thru\u00a0last year, the Nepal side had\u00a04,421 summits compared to 2,580 summits from the Tibet side. And looking at deaths historically, the Nepalese side has seen 176 deaths through August 2015 or 3.98% while the Tibet side has 106 deaths through August 2015. or 4.1%.<\/p>\n

The North side seems to usually attract more attempts not using\u00a0supplemental oxygen. But this year\u00a0there were 20, almost evenly split between the two.\u00a0Part of the North\u00a0attraction to the no Os crew\u00a0is that there are less crowds on the north and being delayed could\u00a0mean frostbite\u00a0or death.<\/p>\n

There are many reasons for fewer\u00a0climbers\u00a0on the North\u00a0but it is primarily\u00a0driven by more commercial expeditions climbing from Nepal because the government is more predictable, and the Sherpas are closer\u00a0to their home\u00a0villages and\u00a0prefer to climb in their country.<\/p>\n

But the North side has so much history – Mallory & Irvine in 1924 and if they summited\u00a0or not? Many consider it be more of\u00a0a challenge and primitive, raw and rough … thus requiring more skills as you climb with crampons on steep rock.<\/p>\n

And then there is the weather – cold and windy and windy and windy. Many who do not summit point to the weather as the main reason. And we saw it this year as well.<\/p>\n

Frustrated Climbers<\/h3>\n

There were a handful of\u00a0commercial\u00a0expeditions in Tibet this season – many\u00a0of the regulars each season: Adventure Peaks,\u00a0Alpenglow, Asian Trekking, 7\u00a0Summits Club, Kobler & Partner, Satori Expeditions, SummitClimb and many\u00a0smaller independent teams with logistics support from Nepal\u00a0and Chinese companies.<\/p>\n

The ropes are fixed not by commercial expeditions but by the Chinese Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA). Prior to 2008, they\u00a0were set by Himalayan Experience, but that year, frustrated by difficulties in dealing with the Chinese government, Russell Brice\u00a0switched his operations to the Nepal side.<\/p>\n

This year was quite normal for the past eight years with delays in getting the\u00a0ropes to the summit. Weather was blamed, remember\u00a0cold and windy. Some teams voiced their concerns publicly especially after multiple summits from Nepal increased the pressure to get on with it.<\/p>\n

Dutch climber Peter Boogaard noted on his blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The skies are bright, no clouds, no wind but\u2026. no fixed ropes beyond 8300 m. For whatever obscure reasons the CMA (Chinese Mountaineering Association), which is responsible for fixing the ropes doesn\u2019t proceed. On the Nepalese side everything is ready and the first summit attempts are underway. There are all kind of rumours why the Chinese delay but basically nobody knows.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But long time\u00a0north side operator, and leader of 7 Summits Club<\/a>, Alexander Abramov posted a few days later that\u00a0everything was right on schedule:<\/p>\n

usually we climbed Everest from 20 to 25 May \u2026\u00a0There is nothing strange happens \u2013 it happens every year. Chinese (Tibetan) climbers are going to go to complete the processing of the route, the expedition is expected in full combat readiness<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Acclimatization<\/h3>\n

The acclimatization schedule on the North seems\u00a0shorter than on the South, and many would say safer by avoiding the Khumbu Icefall. While the base camps are about the same altitude ~17,000 feet, the higher camps, are well, higher. By spending\u00a0time at the higher camps, fewer rotations are generally required.<\/p>\n

This table shows\u00a0the camps but the numbering system makes\u00a0it confusing and have changed over the decades, so focus on\u00a0the altitudes and not the numbering system. Also, the exact elevation\u00a0of the camps vary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
CAMP<\/strong><\/td>\nSOUTH<\/strong><\/td>\nNORTH<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Base Camp<\/td>\n17,500’\/5334m<\/td>\n17,000’\/5182m<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Interim Camp
\n<\/code>(only on North 1st rotation)<\/td>\n		\u00a0N\/A<\/td>\n20,300′ – 6187m<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Camp 1<\/td>\n19,500’\/5943m<\/td>\n21,300’\/6492m
\n<\/code>(Advanced Base Camp)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Camp 2<\/td>\n21,000’\/6400m
\n<\/code>(Advanced Base Camp)<\/td>\n		24,750’\/7000m
\n<\/code>(North Col)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Camp 3<\/td>\n23,500’\/7162m<\/td>\n24,750’\/7500m<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Camp 4<\/td>\n\u00a026,230’\/7995m
\n<\/code>(South Col)<\/td>\n		27,230’\/8300m<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

The season progressed normally, similar to the south with climbers making\u00a0the sorte’ to the North Col and some climbing\u00a0higher to tag Camp 3\u00a0at 7500 meters. Those climbing\u00a0without supplemental oxygen pressed higher and stayed longer to give themselves the and safest chance.<\/p>\n

Leaving from the high camp on the Tibet side at 8300 meters va 7995m at the South Col, the summit night is shorter than on the Nepal side, a huge benefit given the usual colder and windier conditions.<\/p>\n

Summits!<\/h3>\n

Finally, the weather window appeared, albeit not the , and teams began to position themselves for their summit pushes. But some were impatient …<\/p>\n

In spite of the line not being fixed to the summit, a small team from 7 Summits Club tried and turned\u00a0back on May 11, the same day the ropes were fixed to the summit on the Nepal side.<\/p>\n

Our impulse to move sharply upward was stopped by snow and the lack of a fixed ropes. But this, in some sense, the audit showed the willingness of absolutely all the participants for the assault at any moment.<\/p>\n

Information from the Chinese changed about when they will finish fixing ropes to the summit. So there are many reasons \u00a0to be fidgety. We are encouraged by the fact that no one in our team use it. Everyone understands that patience\u2013 it is a \u00a0part of successful expedition.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pushing the acceptable\u00a0weather conditions, the first summit occurred on the morning of 19 May, when\u00a0USMC Ssgt. Charlie Linville become the first combat wounded veteran to summit Mount Everest along with Tim Medvetz of the Heroes Project. They were supported by\u00a0Climbalaya Treks and Expeditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Chad<\/a>
Chad Jukes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another veteran, Chad Jukes<\/a> also summited\u00a0as part of the USX<\/a> effort and logistics by SummitClimb. His fellow veterans on the same expedition also summited,\u00a02nd Lt. Harold Earls, 23 and\u00a0Army Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy, 26. The names of their Sherpas were not mentioned.<\/p>\n

But Lt. Earls had a challenging\u00a0time according to a USX statement:<\/p>\n

\u00a0harrowing climb and descent with temperatures of minus 20 and wind gusts up 65 mph. Earls, a novice climber whose only previous experience was reaching the top of\u00a014,416-foot Mount Rainier in Washington, suffered bloody, frost-bitten toes, and his goggles were blown off his face.\u00a0A Sherpa guide gave Earls his goggles, but\u00a0eventually he began to suffer snow\u00a0blindness, nearly falling\u00a0off a 7,000-foot ridge. Earls managed to grip a rope linked to the guide, which\u00a0saved him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With the ropes set and weather forecast decent, the flood gates opened.<\/p>\n

Over the next\u00a0few days, 7 Summits Club put 17 people on top including, reportedly\u00a0the first married couple to have summited together from both sides, Noel and Lynn\u00a0Hannah.\u00a0Victor Bobok and Irina Halay (first Ukrainian Mt. Everest summiteer) made it with\u00a0Pemba Tenjin and Pasang Sona Sherpa of Climbalaya Treks and expeditions<\/span><\/p>\n

Adventure Peaks put\u00a06, Satori with 12, Kobler with over 5, Alpenglow with 2 members, 2 guides and 3 Sherpas. SummitClimb had 7 plus the 4 from USX. Asian Trekking also summited\u00a0but the exact numbers\u00a0remain unclear. The Chinese team put 14 members and 22 guides on the summit on 20 May.<\/p>\n

Of note was a new female record for summits set by existing record holder, Lhapka Sherpa with her 7th summit on 20 May.<\/p>\n

No O’s<\/h3>\n

As for those trying to summit without\u00a0using supplemental oxygen, there were mixed results. 20 attempted the feat and only 5 succeeded.<\/p>\n

There were from 11 attempts from the North side with 4 summits and from 9 from the Nepal side with 1 summit. Those who cancelled their effort cited weather, illness or no reason for changing their minds.<\/p>\n

German climber\u00a0Thomas Lammle<\/a> ascended to the summit and back to Camp 3 on the Tibet side where according to his Facebook post:<\/p>\n

\n

It was not a complete none O2 climb: On the way down from C3 to ABC I used oxygen for safety reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I asked Richard Salisbury a key person with the Himalayan Database, that\u00a0almost everyone considers the final\u00a0authority on Himalayan summits, on how they categorized a summit where oxygen was used at any point\u00a0and received this reply:<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Hawley always considered O2 used if it was used anywhere from BC to high point to BC, even for medical use in descent.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In any event, well done to Thomas. As I’ve mentioned this\u00a0before, only\u00a0193 climbers have summited without supplemental oxygen through August 2015, about 2.7% of the 7,001 total summits\u00a0from both sides. But the risk is high.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/a> published a balanced story\u00a0on the complications with this statistic\u00a0as to the risks involved:<\/p>\n

The tiny subset of climbers who don\u2019t use bottled oxygen account for about 3 percent of total summits but 22 percent of the 111 deaths that have occurred above 26,000 feet, according to Richard Salisbury of the Himalayan Database.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, in spite of\u00a0the known risk,\u00a0Cory Richards, Melissa Arnot, David Roeske and Carla P\u00e9rez summited with no supplemental oxygen from Tibet. Many\u00a0consider this to be a summit by “fair means” and a sincere congratulations to all.<\/p>\n

Media Frenzy and\u00a0Silence<\/h3>\n

One interesting angle to these summits\u00a0was the publicity surrounding them, or lack thereof!<\/p>\n

While Aplenglow had an oxygen supported, guided climb, the owner, Adrian Ballinger and\u00a0Nat Geo photographer Cory Richards\u00a0made a no O’s attempt.<\/p>\n

To spice it up they used Snapchat generously throughout their attempt. This attracted the media across the globe and the two climbers seemed to appear on morning TV shows almost daily\u00a0(OK, a bit of an exaggeration) in the US.<\/p>\n

In the end, Cory summited\u00a0while Adrian turned back with cold feet around 8400 meters. The largest benefit\u00a0of supplemental oxygen is that\u00a0by keeping the core warm, it helps the heart\u00a0pump blood to the limbs thus reducing the risk of frostbite.<\/p>\n

Even with six previous\u00a0summits, Ballinger didn’t hide disappointment:<\/p>\n

But I failed at my goal. And it hurts and that’s ok. I don’t need a participation award. I tried my damnedest and I came up short. In my next project I will work harder, train harder, and maybe the cards will play out in my favor.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Melissa<\/a>
Melissa Arnot on Everest summit 2016 no Os<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the other\u00a0end of the media frenzy spectrum was Melissa Arnot who quietly and with zero coverage set an American female record by getting her sixth summit and also becoming the first American female to summit and live.<\/p>\n

She shared her gratitude:<\/p>\n

My heart is so full having achieved something I was never sure was possible. I’m starting to process all the feelings but the stand out one is still gratitude.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I met Melissa while on my approach in April and during\u00a0a chat she told me a white\u00a0lie in that she was not climbing\u00a0this year. To summit without Os was a personal goal of hers and she wanted to keep it private until the results\u00a0were in. She had wanted to summit without Os from Nepal\u00a0but events over the last few years\u00a0stopped her.<\/p>\n

Deaths<\/h3>\n

update<\/strong>: it appears\u00a0this death was not on Everest. One death was reported on Tibet side from abenteuer-outdoor<\/a>\u00a0but details are extremely vague. This is a Google translation of the comment:<\/p>\n

Three days ago was in the neighboring British \/ Canadian expedition unfortunately one fatality.\u00a0A 61j\u00e4hriger Bergkamerad died of heart failure.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

update 2:<\/strong> Charles MacAdams died at Chinese Base Camp after reaching his goal of the North Col source<\/a><\/p>\n

Near Death<\/h3>\n

While it was a generally\u00a0successful and\u00a0safe season from Tibet, it was not without drama. US Climber Alexander Barber<\/a> was doing an independent attempt with as little support as possible – no Os, Sherpa and climbing ‘alone’ as much as that is ever possible on Everest these days.<\/p>\n

This impressively strong, young climber\u00a0was making excellent\u00a0progress, and showing good judgement\u00a0as when to push and when to wait. But as he began his final upper mountain summit push, he developed HAPE and almost lost\u00a0his life.<\/p>\n

He posted on his blog about understating the extent of his illness to\u00a0keep his father from worrying<\/p>\n

… I had full on HAPE, and nearly died the nights of the 23rd and 24th. It was an incredibly long 4 days \u2013 and a hell of a battle \u2013 to get down the mountain.<\/p>\n

In reality on the 23rd<\/sup> I wasn\u2019t sure I would survive the night \u2013 as crazy as that is to hear myself say. I knew I could count on little help getting down the mountain, so it was self-rescue or perish. I had promised my father that follow-up text when I arrived at Camp 1 from Camp 3. But I couldn\u2019t find it in myself to break the news to him. So I lied.\u00a0 I was in midst of a struggle for my life. At the time, I didn\u2019t know what exactly was wrong, but I knew I was deep in it and I suspected it was HAPE. Once I did get down to C1, and the next day when I got down to Advanced Base Camp, many people went far out of their way to help me. I probably owe my life to those kindhearted care givers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alex wanted to acknowledge\u00a0that Zeb Blais brought O2 to C1 and helped him\u00a0down from C1 to ABC. Glad you got down safely Alex.<\/p>\n

OK, so there you have\u00a0a brief summary of Everest 2106 from Tibet. I’m sure I missed something, someone and got a detail\u00a0wrong here or there but did my .<\/p>\n

Congratulations to all regardless of their results on this historic side of the Hill.<\/p>\n

Look for my full season summary next week.<\/p>\n

Climb On!<\/p>\n

Alan<\/p>\n

Memories are Everything<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It appears the Everest 2016\u00a0season is over with the base camps on the Nepal and Tibet side becoming ghost towns. I will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Teams climbing Everest from Tibet had a good year with about 135 summits. A look at who summited, with and without Os. #everest2016","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[460,463],"tags":[461,464],"class_list":["post-23691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everest-2016-coverage","category-lhotse-2016","tag-everest-2016-coverage","tag-lhotse-2016-climb"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Everest_North_Face_toward_Base_Camp_Tibet_Luca_Galuzzi_2006_edit_1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}