{"id":34047,"date":"2019-05-18T13:51:16","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T19:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=34047"},"modified":"2019-05-18T14:05:39","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T20:05:39","slug":"everest-2019-next-summit-waves-prepare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/18\/everest-2019-next-summit-waves-prepare\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2019: Next Summit Waves Prepare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teams are staged at high camps just waiting for the green light from their weather forecasters. It is a mixed bag on both sides with howling winds on the Tibet side, and relative calm on the Nepal where the first summit may happen on Monday, May 20. The ropes are still not to the summit on the Tibet side.<\/p>\n

Big Picture<\/h3>\n

Now that we are a day or two away from the next window, many questions remain. The biggest question is just how long will this wind be. In other words, how long will the winds stay low per what each guide considers a safe speed before leading their members higher. Most consider 30mph\/48kph to be their upper limit, others are a bit more allowing for the difficulty they put their members through!<\/p>\n

A few days ago the winds after the 20th looked to be calm for as long as 5, even 9 days, but now may split into two separate ones. So this means some teams will push hard to get the summit on May 21\/22\/23 and others will go during May 26\/27\/28. In any event, we are getting closer to the end of May and the end of the season for most. It’s a tense time.<\/p>\n

I do my best to track the teams I can during the summit push but don’t have direct communication with any of them or know the status of any individual. You see what I see on \u00a0the tracker table.<\/a><\/p>\n

IMG on the Nepal side sums it up well for everyone as of Saturday, May 18:<\/p>\n

The winds for tomorrow are forecasted to be dropping, which can make the Cwm quite warm when the sun hits, so our climbers at Camp\u00a01 will leave early tomorrow morning to beat the heat on the way to Camp\u00a02. The climbers who went all the way up to Camp\u00a02 had a great day of climbing today and are looking forward to a rest day\u00a0tomorrow.\u00a0We are keeping our eyes on the weather forecast, which continues to have the winds dropping over the next few\u00a0days.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jake Norton<\/a>, expert mountaineer, photographer and general great guy, made another in his series of outstanding updates as he is on the Tibet side. In this one he finds a piece of “trash”. Please read his entire short post on Facebook<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A simple piece of wire. Looks like trash, and in many ways it is, mere jetsam from days past. But, it is much more, with a story. In 1933, the 4th British Mount Everest Expedition ran telephone wire some 14 miles from Basecamp up to Camp IV at the North Col to enable better communications for the team. Bits and pieces of this wire artifact have been popping out along the route for the 20 years I’ve been climbing here. Trash, yes, but also a story, a connection to the past, a reminder of those who came before.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Everest 2019, Tibet Side. Courtesy of Jake Norton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nepal – Staged at C2, Waiting for No Winds<\/h2>\n

Base Camp is just about empty as many teams are targeting their summit bid for May 21 but it may be a day or two later. They \u00a0include:<\/p>\n