{"id":29802,"date":"2018-04-21T16:12:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-21T22:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=29802"},"modified":"2019-04-06T12:27:58","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T18:27:58","slug":"everest-2018-weekend-update-21-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/21\/everest-2018-weekend-update-21-april\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2018: Weekend Update April 21"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some Everest climbers, they left home a month ago, others are leaving today. But for all, they’re dreaming of summits in a just a few weeks. The season continues smoothly with little issues and good progress on both sides. The weather remains good. Ropes are being set on the Nepal side, soon on the Tibetan side and climbers are moving on their first rotation on both sides.<\/p>\n

The Big Picture<\/h3>\n

About this time each year, climbers on both sides begin to move up the mountain to acclimatize their bodies for the summit push in about three weeks. On the Nepal side, the current focus is to get to Camp 2 around 21,000’\/6400m and on the Tibet side it is to get to Advanced Base Camp then a night at the North Col at 23,000’\/7,000m. Meanwhile the rope fixers are working hard to set the route as high and as fast as they can knowing that the sooner it gets in, the sooner some teams will push hard to be first to summit while other are content to wait. All of this is good as it reduces the potential for crowds. One of the main reason the 2012 season was chaotic was that poor weather and late ropes narrowed the summit days from the normal 6 to 16 with an average of 11 since 2001, to 4 or 5 causing teams after team to be forced to go along with the crowd.<\/p>\n

Thus far it has been normal weather, clear morning with cloud and light snow in the afternoons. The nights are cold hovering around 15F\/-10C. But it seems about time for a front to move in so they could be hit with a few weather days soon – all normal for late April on Everest.<\/p>\n

First Time Times<\/h3>\n

The first time to a new camp is always a milestone. For some people it’s the moment they realize they didn’t train hard enough, are not willing to take the risks inherent with climbing or something just doesn’t feel right and they end their dream. For others, they push hard, arrived knackered and wonder how they will ever make higher but they go on. Then there are those who cruise arriving happy, winded and tired but not exhausted. They are the ones that are are both lucky and to be praised for their preparation. Regardless of which profile our climber has, the key is to have a positive experience where new memories are made each moment.<\/p>\n

These are the approximate elevations and times between camps on the Tibet<\/strong> side:<\/p>\n