{"id":25547,"date":"2017-03-08T09:01:04","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T16:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=25547"},"modified":"2017-03-08T13:33:02","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T20:33:02","slug":"alex-txikons-everest-winter-summit-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/08\/alex-txikons-everest-winter-summit-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Txikon’s Everest Winter Summit – OVER"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Txikon<\/a>\u00a0said going on would have\u00a0been “suicide.” \u00a0With a team of five Sherpas he reached Camp 2 on 7th<\/sup> March 2017 from\u00a0the Nepal side of Everest. They felt the extreme cold and high winds with the same in the forecast for many days and called it quits. Txikon says he will\u00a0return.<\/p>\n

Txikon deserves a lot of credit for not giving up easily. He reached the South Col almost a month ago but was stopped by high winds – so much so that they couldn’t even pitch their tent. One of the Sherpas was hit by rockfall on the descent to Camp 2 and the entire team flew back to Kathmandu, against Txikon’s wishes.<\/p>\n

The organizer for this winter attempt was Seven Summits Treks, a Sherpa owned guide company that\u00a0has become the dominate guide force on Everest. They regularly have between 60 to 100 members each season, primarily from China and India.<\/p>\n

The Icefall Doctors initially helped set the route thru the Khumbu Icefall with Txikon chipping in on the work.Txikon is\u00a035\u00a0years old and was\u00a0joined by 28 year old Spanish climber Carlos Rubio who was better known for extreme skiing than climbing. \u00a0Aitor Barez was the expedition movie director and Pablo Magister was the cameramen. Carlos Rubio was evacuated by helicopter with lung inflammation a few weeks into the effort.<\/p>\n

Summiting\u00a0any 8000 meter mountain\u00a0in winter is\u00a0difficult but Txikon had knocked off Nanga Parbat last winter and had hopes to summit Everest this season without using supplemental oxygen.<\/p>\n

History of Winter Ascents<\/h3>\n

Txikon is\u00a0not alone in not reaching the summit in winter. A paltry 0.2% of all summits since 1953 have occurred in the winter.<\/p>\n

\"Everest<\/a>
Everest Seasonal Summits. Source: Himalayan Database<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0Himalayan Database<\/a>\u00a0reports that the last successful winter\u00a0summit was in 1993 and the only previous summit without supplemental oxygen was by Ang Rita Sherpa in 1987. Technically winter begins\u00a0on the winter solstice on December 21st<\/sup>\u00a0or 22nd<\/sup> and ends on March 20th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

To add some controversy, the solstice in 1987 was on December 22nd<\/sup> at 4:45:13 and Ang Rita summited at 15:20. Some articles\u00a0position Txikon\u00a0as the first winter, no supplemental oxygen summit, if successful, others note Ang Rita’s winter, no Os winter summit.<\/p>\n

If Txikon had summited it would have been widely admired given he spent the majority of the winter on his quest.<\/p>\n

\"Everest<\/a><\/p>\n

There have been 21\u00a0winter expeditions with only five successful summits:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2017 Winter Attempt Timeline<\/h3>\n

The team arrived in Kathmandu on Christmas day, 25th<\/sup> December 2016 with plenty of time to summit before 20th<\/sup> March, 2017 – the end of winter. They spent weeks setting the route thru the Khumbu Icefall and establishing Camp 1 and Camp 2 before leaving Base Camp aiming for a 14 February\u00a0summit.<\/p>\n

The First Summit Attempt<\/h3>\n
\"Txikon<\/a>
Txikon summit team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Txikon, and\u00a0Seven Summits Sherpas: Norbu, Chhepal left base camp on 10 February for the summit push arriving at Camp 2 in about 8 hours. The next day 3 more Sherpas, Nuri, Furba and Pemba joined them. They reported extremely cold still air temps in the -20F to -30F range, without windchill.<\/p>\n

They\u00a0left Camp 2 to establish High Camp at the South Col and began to experience even worse weather -45C\/-49F air temp with 60 kph\/37 mph winds. This puts the wind chill at -70C\/-95F, perhaps a bit lower at this extreme altitude but still deadly cold.<\/p>\n

Skin would instantly freeze in those conditions and even with the world’s best down suits the climber\u00a0would soon become chilled beyond recovery. Given they were climbing without supplemental oxygen, the risks were dramatically increased.<\/p>\n

Dead Bodies at\u00a0South Col<\/h3>\n

On the push from Camp 2 directly to the South\u00a0Col, there were fighting the wind on each\u00a0step. At the South Col, the high winds made\u00a0it impossible to set up a tent.<\/p>\n

They\u00a0arrived without sleeping bags assuming a short stay in the tent before pushing for the summit. The climbers\u00a0were becoming dangerously cold. As they struggled to establish camp, the wind broke a\u00a0pole\u00a0sending Txikon searching in tents from last spring’s expeditions for a spare. He finds not one, but two dead bodies in separate tents. He didn’t identify them.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0only half an hour, with harsh\u00a0winds making establishing Camp 4 impossible, they all retreated to Camp 3 for a short, cold night then down to Base Camp. But while on the Lhotse Face, an avalanche of snow and mostly falling rock, hits the team sending Txikon sliding hundreds\u00a0of feet and injuring Sherpa\u00a0Chhepal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Alex Txikon after summit attempt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back\u00a0to Kathmandu<\/h3>\n

With Chhepel injured, Seven Summits Treks orders a helicopter and the entire team was transported back to Kathmandu. Reports were confusing with some saying the summit effort has ended, others saying it would go on but Txikon posted he was not ready to give up.<\/p>\n

The difference in plans\u00a0between Mingma, one of\u00a0the owners of Seven Summits Treks and an extremely accomplished mountaineer himself and Txikon seemed to be that Mingma was protecting his employees and most likely felt the conditions were too dangerous for another attempt, especially given the rockfall. \u00a0Txikon, following his dream, was willing to take more risks.<\/p>\n

After a meeting between\u00a0Mingma, Txikon and the remaining Sherpas, it was agreed to\u00a0return to Base Camp and give the summit another attempt.<\/p>\n

While in Kathmandu, they ate, slept and recovered. A climber would usually keep their acclimatization for a couple of\u00a0weeks once achieved, so the 8 day rest at 5,000 feet did\u00a0not impact their\u00a0acclimatization and allowed Txikon\u00a0to recover.<\/p>\n

Txikon swapped out most of original crew of Sherps for reasons not cited. Most likely the Sherpas, who work for Seven Summits Treks, were committed to work on Everest for the Spring season and need to rest up.\u00a0Nuri Sherpa was the only Shepa from the first attempt to join Tixkon for the second try.<\/p>\n

Txikon posted a ghostly image of himself saying he lost 12kg\/26 pounds on his already lean frame.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Second Attempt and a Visit from Reinhold Messner<\/h3>\n

Once back at base camp, Txikon received a huge mental boost when Reinhold Messner, who was already in Nepal, flew to Base Camp to wish him\u00a0the best as he left for Camp 2 on 6 March.<\/p>\n

The team had to reestablish 60% of the route\u00a0thru the Khumbu Icefall. The Icefall moves constantly, sometimes as much as 3 feet a day in some sections, so ladders would fall into crevasses and ropes would be lost.<\/p>\n

Weather For Thwarted Summit<\/h3>\n

They reached Camp 2 but\u00a0were met by high winds. As you can see by the computer model below, a tiny window of low winds was forecasted for 8 March but would quickly regain strength for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Txikon noted winds well over 40 mph at Camp 2\u00a0with air temp of -40F. He knew the winds would be higher and the windchill would have been deadly so he called an end to their expedition.<\/p>\n

This was the computer model from Mountain Forecast<\/a>\u00a0for the summit of Everest for March 8, their anticipated summit day:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

You can see their\u00a0tracks from his GPS tracker<\/a>\u00a0and when they reached the South Col.<\/p>\n

He Will\u00a0Return<\/h3>\n

Txikon posted on facebook (translation by Google) on 8 March 2017:<\/p>\n

This was not a goodbye, it’s a “see you later”. Everest has not wanted this year to conquer her heart, but what I do appreciate clearly was that she has stolen my heart. I dream, every day, since we left our home on December 25 that we reach the 8848 meters that separate us from the sky, but greed was useless in the mountain. You never have to go against nature; This was something that has been engraved during my entire career in which I have lived very difficult moments: if you do not want the mountain defeating you, do not end with it; Respect and care of it. Therefore, although I feel very strong physically and psychologically, the winter has not given a truce, the strong wind tossed us to the ground and the forecast of the next few days was terrifying. However, there was no doubt that it has been the most special expedition of my life, In which I have been surprised by myself, and in which we have achieved the world of mountaineering to have a continuous follow up that excites me. In addition, without a doubt, all of you were icing on the cake, that I have felt you every minute as if you were my family, supporting me in every achievement and every complicated moment. I promise you that I would return to the mountain that you have stolen my heart in the purest way. I love you, guys.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Congratulations to\u00a0Txikon and team for a fine effort. Once again the whole mountaineering world will\u00a0be pulling for you when you try again.<\/p>\n

Climb On!
\nAlan
\nMemories are Everything<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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