While this may seem like a lot of people, Everest is a big mountain – on \u00a0both sides \ud83d\ude42 and can handle\u00a0this many people. On May 21, 2011 when I summited, I was the fourth person on the summit from\u00a0the south side and 125 people summited that day. I never waited a moment up or down.<\/p>\n
Also, as I have detailed before there has been a 30% attrition of foreigners due to illness, and personal\u00a0issues that has reduced the south side from a record year to a big year.<\/p>\n
Time to Climb<\/h3>\n
The sense of excitement is palpable, even over the internet, but more so when\u00a0you talk live to\u00a0one of our climbers\u00a0at Everest Base Camp.<\/p>\n
I spoke live with my climbing buddy Jim Davidson<\/a> as he sat\u00a0in his tent preparing to leave in a few hours. He sounded\u00a0strong, calm and confident. He is with the IMG<\/a> Classic team. You\u00a0can follow Jim on his Inreach<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jim told me before he left this morning:<\/p>\n I am still in Everest base camp, on Day 57 of this trip. Phew, what a long journey. The 57 days have been long. The 40 years have been long, since Dad first directed me to the polar and exploration section of the Concord Free Public library and I started reading Everest books.<\/p>\n It is hard to believe that there are no more training, workouts, skills development, practice sessions, workouts, ramp up peaks, intermediate goals, or rotations left until I get to try climbing Everest. The time to climb Everest is actually here!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n James Brooman<\/a>, also with IMG is climbing without supplemental oxygen. He has shown that he is a smart, strong climber. He posted today:<\/p>\n I am both excited and nervous. The big boss here rightly noted that the only reason to be nervous is if you are unsure of what you are doing. At least for me \u2013 without Os \u2013 I am also stepping into the unknown above 8,000m. I should perform well up there, but who knows. The final couple of hours was just described to me as \u2018crippling\u2019.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not scared, just worried that I might not perform as well as I want, or be physically unable to make it. In any case, I\u2019m going to give it every single thing I have. Everything else is out of my control, so I\u2019m focused only on what I can control.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Summit Climb<\/a> team on the Nepal\u00a0side are a bit ahead of every and moved to Camp 3 on the 18th, this should put them on the summit early Sunday\u00a0morning, 21 May – if the weather is kind.<\/p>\n Nobukazu Kuriki<\/a>\u00a0announced a major change in plans. He had been on the north side aiming to climb via the Supercouloir but will switch to the south and attempt to summit via the West Ridge to the Hornbein Couloir, the same route that almost took his life in 2012.<\/p>\n He cited “blue ice on the north wall” and the risk of high winds for the switch<\/p>\n He obviously is not satisfied with taking the standard routes on either\u00a0side. He plans to summit on 23 may.<\/p>\n 7 Summits Club’s Alexander Abramov<\/a> said their two teams are well on their way:<\/p>\n Today, our team had a rest – 3 days resting at base camp – once again emerged from the base camp towards the summit. Plan: climb to the summit on 22 May. We are now at 5800 Zawtar – ABC. Now Sergey Larin with three participants in the camp 7800 meters. Tomorrow they go to 8300 and in the night – in the assault.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Other teams are also\u00a0on the move, \u00a0but a couple\u00a0are holding tight for a couple more days. Remember on the north side climbers can climb into June unless\u00a0the monsoons create bad weather. The difference is no large Icefall on the north side that becomes more unstable as the temperatures warm into June.<\/p>\n In a strange twist, some climbers who flew to villages in the Khumbu to rest up before their summit push\u00a0are now stuck there unable to get back to ECB and join their team for the summit push.<\/p>\n Fog has shut down helicopter flights in Namache\u00a0and Lukla. Personally I never went down valley to “touch grass before the summit” fearing\u00a0catching new bugs from new people, but honestly, I never considered not being able to get back due to bad weather! Hopefully they will get back today or tomorrow.<\/p>\n Rory McHugh\u00a0<\/a>posted:<\/p>\n We\u2019re trying to get out of this place and back up the hill for a\u00a0summit push but the fog has set in and there have been no helicopters flying in or out of Lukla or Namche today. Feels like Groundhog Day. The same song plays on a constant loop in the background of the Barista Cafe. One by one each of us go off in a tantrum about one thing or another. At least we take turns.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve had a good rest break here and I now feel like I\u2019ve recovered from a lousy stomach upset but we want out bad.P Please someone lift this fog and let us get out of here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Many\u00a0of my long time\u00a0readers know that I summited both Everest and K2 with Kami Sherpa plus we went\u00a0thru the 2015 earthquake\u00a0together, standing side by side in the low clouds with avalanches crashing off Nuptse and Everest into the Western Cwm, the ground shaking under our feet.<\/p>\n Obviously I deeply care about this man, and his family.<\/p>\n Kami\u00a0was severely injured<\/a> in 2015 on K2. A basketball sized rock came careening down the steep mountain just below Camp 1, about 20,000 feet. His left shoulder was dislocated forward, his forearm broken as was the little finger on his left hand.<\/p>\n Through your generosity, over $12,000 was raised to help Kami with medical expenses and to rebuild his home in\u00a0Pangboche that was damaged by the earthquake.<\/p>\n I was supposed to climb Dhaulagiri with Kami\u00a0this spring but my own ‘incident<\/a>‘ in Colorado brought that to an abrupt halt. I am very grateful to Mingma Sherpa<\/a>, Dreamers Destationation<\/a>, for bringing Kami\u00a0onto his Everest team. He is at Camp 2 on the summit bid as we speak. This will be something like his 16th<\/sup> summit of Everest. He will be back on K2 this\u00a0summer.<\/p>\n![\"Nobukazu](\"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Nobukazu-Kuriki-2017-Everest-Route-357x480.jpg\")
<\/a>Japanese Changes of Plans<\/h3>\n
North Big Push<\/h3>\n
Climber’s \u00a0Stuck on ‘Holiday’<\/h3>\n
![\"Foggy](\"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Foggy-Namche-by-Rory-Mchugh-1-640x480.jpg\")
<\/a>Kami Sherpa\u00a0Update<\/h3>\n
![\"Alan](\"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_2493-300x169.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Kami](\"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Kami-Sherpa-with-Dreamers-Destation-Everest-2017-Team-640x480.jpg\")
<\/a>A Wild Ride Ahead<\/h3>\n