Its really kind of quiet right now, especially on the Tibet side of Everest. Teams are wrapping up their acclimatization rotations and Sherpas are busy dodging wind and rock to stock the high camps.<\/p>\n
Lots of talk about when people will summit<\/strong> Everest. There may be a small train following the rope fixers on the Nepal side, something they really don’t like as they kick rocks and snow down and don’t want to be slowed up worrying about the safety of others. They usually request everyone stay lower and climb the day after the ropes are fixed. On the Tibet side, they have strict rules everyone seems to follow.<\/p>\n A few teams are talking about a May 17th summit.\u00a0Sergi Mingote<\/a> says he will summit Everest on May 14. He is\u00a0trying to summit Everest, K2 and Kanchenjunga with no Os in a year. Nirmal Purja is planning to\u00a0summit Dhaulagiri on the 12th after getting Annapurna last week. He posts “25 days left and I have Everest, Lhotse, Kanchenjunga, Makalu and Dhaulagiri to climb.”<\/p>\n May 10 was a suggested day the ropes will get to the summit, but the jet stream will have the last world on that. Some weather forecast call for\u00a0strong winds for the next 5 days with a little window near the 13th-14th of May & then maybe some relief around the 23rd.<\/p>\n Anatoli\u00a0Boukreev coined the phrase “touch grass before the summit” and by that he meant\u00a0walking down to one of the lower villages, not flying \ud83d\ude42 Regardless of the mode, this has become quite famous on both sides of Everest.<\/p>\n Going lower allows climbbers’ bodies to enjoy higher oxygen levels above the 50% density found at base camp. Sleeping off the floor, eating different food, rejuvenates many. Today there are many teams at the villages of Namche and Tingri enjoying these luxuries \u00a0Some\u00a0teams on the Nepal\u00a0side are keeping the helicopter companies very busy by chartering choppers to take them to the lower villages for a few nights of rest and recreation; some teams have\u00a0gone as low as Kathmandu and stayed in 5 star hotels. The cost can range from\u00a0$2,000 to $5,000 depending on destination – one way – and is usually split among 3 to 5 people. One downside of this strategy is exposure to the bugs new people have that you have avoided for the last month. It’s a real risk that has stopped a few people from going to the summit.<\/p>\n The 65 North<\/a> team is back at Camp 2 and weighed in on how many people were heading back up after hunkering down during the Cyclone:<\/p>\n \u201cVery tough day… Arrived at C2 in just under 9 hours, that\u2019s including stuck in heavy traffic on the icefall. Soon as we reached Camp 1 we had a short break and made our way up the western Cwm in the intense heat towards C2. We are all extremely tired now and have just had some lunch. Feeling good though so no issues apart from needing to rest up and recharge\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n IMG<\/a> reported that their Sherpas made it the South Col:<\/p>\n Up at Camp\u00a02, we sent our first climbers to the South Col today to survey the situation up there and start working on our Camp\u00a04. The Sherpa team reported that the winds were reasonable for their climb of the Lhotse Face up to the Yellow Band. Then, from the top of the Yellow Band to the Geneva Spur, the winds started to increase and by the time they reached the South\u00a0Col, the winds were quite\u00a0strong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile Madison Mountaineering<\/a> has clients flying back to Namache or trekking to the lower villages to recover from the ails of high altitude:<\/p>\n \u00a0Today our team started the first day of the \u201cdrop back\u201d where we go back down valley to rest and recover in preparation for our summit rotation.\u00a0 Some members were able to fly to Namche, where they are staying at the Panorama Lodge.\u00a0 And other members of our team have hiked down valley to Pheriche on their way to the village of Debuche for a few nights.\u00a0 All\u2019s well here in base camp.\u00a0 Our Sherpa team is heading up tonight to Camp 2 to start working on carrying loads to the South Col.\u00a0 We are just waiting for the winds to drop down up high on the mountain so we can get back to work for rope fixing towards the summit.\u00a0 All\u2019s well here on Everest, we\u2019ll check in soon!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With the rope fixers on holiday, waiting for the jet to move, most of the action is between BC-ABC and the North Col. Given that most of the teams have already spent the required night on the Col, they are now back in CBC waiting for the ropes and a weather window.<\/p>\nTouching Grass<\/h4>\n
Nepal – All Over<\/h3>\n
Tibet – Waiting<\/strong><\/h3>\n