{"id":38818,"date":"2021-04-10T14:58:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T20:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=38818"},"modified":"2024-01-17T08:49:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T15:49:49","slug":"everest-2021-everests-gatekeeper-the-khumbu-icefall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/10\/everest-2021-everests-gatekeeper-the-khumbu-icefall\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2021: Everest’s gatekeeper – the Khumbu Icefall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teams are approaching Everest Base Camp, with some already there; others expected tomorrow and early next week. They will take a few days to adjust to their new home at 17,500 feet while they will review the skills needed to climb the icefall safely. I expect a few teams to do a rotation to Camp 1 late next week. \u00a0Through April 9, Nepal has issued 244 Everest climbing permits to foreigners.<\/p>\n

EverestER<\/a>, the voluntary doctors at EBC who have performed these services for almost 20 years, gave this nice update:<\/p>\n

We are adjusting to life at 5350 meters (trouble sleeping, etc) and are meeting the growing community as we finish up our clinic organizing. We have officially seen 15 patients so far, 13 of whom represent the majority population here, Sherpas. One case of HAPE before we had our tent set up was evacuated, but most cases so far are of mild illness\/injury; respiratory infections, musculoskeletal injuries, Khumbhu cough and a single case of travellers’ diarrhea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

IMG<\/a> is now at EBC. As usual, they have a very large team, perhaps over 30, but they no longer give numbers until after summits, so we really don’t know how successful they are. They gave this update from EBC today:<\/p>\n

IMG Expedition Leader Jonathan Schrock checked in with great news from Everest Base Camp. Team\u00a01 pulled into EBC at the six hour mark. Everyone is happy to be at Base Camp with a full belly from Kaji’s cooking. All members of the IMG team, including climbers, trekkers and Nepalese staff have been tested for COVID-19 several times along the way to EBC and results have all been negative. We\u00a0will continue to be strict with our\u00a0protocols.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pakistani climber\u00a0Shehroze Kashif<\/strong><\/a>, who is the youngest person to summit Broad Peak, is now at Everest Base Camp and reported on the internet access. I’m not clear if he is using EverestLink, which has excellent coverage, or Ncell, the mobile phone company that has poor service at EBC:<\/p>\n

\n
Good Morning from Everest Basecamp !!\u00a0Alhamdulillah settling in well, weather is nice so far. Still alone and waiting for other team members to arrive at basecamp.\u00a0Accessing internet is a challenge in itself. It requires 20 min walk on glacier to reach the signals. But i will do my best to keep you all updated In Sha Allah !\u00a0Remember me in your prayers<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Brazil<\/a> is well represented this year by a team of 8. They are currently on the trek.<\/div>\n

The Icefall Doctors fixed ropes are to Camp 2.\u00a0But before anyone goes to Camp 1 or higher, they have to navigate the Khumbu Icefall. Of all the sections on\u00a0Everest, the Khumbu Icefall receives the most headlines for the danger. Why is it so dangerous? Does it deserve this reputation? What can climbers\u00a0do about it? Let’s take a look.<\/p>\n

A River of Ice that is Melting<\/h3>\n

Everything starts with the Khumbu Glacier, a 10-mile\/17-km river of ice that begins high on the Lhotse Face around 25,000’\/7,600m. The Khumbu Icefall is the section between Everest Base Camp, 17,300’\/5270m, and just below where Camp 1 is usually located, 19,500’\/5943m.<\/p>\n

Once it leaves Lhotse, the glacier defines the Western Cwm for about 2 miles before dropping rapidly to create the Khumbu Icefall for 2.5 miles. \u00a0Around Everest Base Camp (EBC), the glacier makes a sharp southern bend and continues another 6 miles\/9.6km to 16,000’\/4,900m. The Icefall varies in width from over half a mile\/800m to a third of a mile\/500m.<\/p>\n

\"Everest<\/a>
Everest Southeast Ridge Route Map. Courtesy of www.alanarnette.com \u00a9 Reproduction prohibited without authorization<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As with all glaciers, the Khumbu moves as much as 3’\/1m a day in the center while barely moving at the edges due to friction against rock walls. The top of the glacier moves faster than the bottom due to friction against the earth. It is this dynamic of fast and slow-moving sections plus the precipitous drop that create the deep crevasses, some over 150’\/45m deep and towering ice seracs over 30’\/9m high.<\/p>\n

Melting<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Kathmandu-based mountain research institute,\u00a0ICIMOD<\/a>, the Khumbu Glacier is melting but not as fast as many other glaciers because of its altitude. It is the highest glacier on Earth. It is estimated to be retreating about 65’\/20m per year and has shrunk about 3,100’\/940m between the 1960s and 2001. 1<\/sup><\/p>\n

The glacier has thinned by 40-50’\/12-15m over most of the length. Everest Base Camp is lower today because of the ice melting. In 1953, when Hillary and Tenzing summited, EBC was about 17,454’\/5320m; today, it is 17,322’\/5280m.<\/p>\n

Between 1962 and 2002, the icefall thinned at an average of 56’\/17m, about a rate of 1.3’\/39cm per year.<\/p>\n

Long-time Everest guide Russell Brice told me in an interview<\/a>\u00a0in 2017 that this melting may result in a safer Icefall for climbers. But he added\u00a0the Western Cwm may one day become the major obstacle of the South Col route:<\/p>\n

But on Everest looking at photos from above, it seems that the Icefall between BC and C1 is actually getting easier and arguably safer. It also seems that several of the hanging glaciers above the Icefall are now leaning back and seem to be less active than what we experienced in 2012, again this can be explained by the warm temperatures at this altitude.<\/p>\n

However, it seems to me that the crevasses between C1 and C2 are getting deeper and are now longer which results in climbers having to walk longer distances as they zigzag through these crevasses, and of course this has also resulted in some longer ladder crossings over very deep crevasses. I will not be surprised to see that we will need more ladders between C1 and C2 than before. Maybe even at the bottom of the Lhotse Face as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Judging by the reports from 2021, it appears the long-time Everest veteran who has now sold his company, Himex, was spot on. The route through the Icefall is faster and flatter while the trek between C1 and C2 has to navigate massive crevasses.<\/p>\n

The First Icefall Climbs<\/h3>\n
\"Early<\/a>
Early Everest Crevasse Crossing. Courtesy of National Geographic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

George Mallory, while seeking a route to climb to the summit of Everest, is said to have sighted the Icefall in the early 1920s and said it was “terribly steep and broken … all in all the approach to the mountain from Tibet is easier”5; thus shifted his efforts to Tibet.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t until 1950, when Charlie Houston and Bill Tilman led a British reconnaissance team to scout a possible route from Nepal, that the Khumbu Icefall was considered feasible.<\/p>\n

In 1951, another British team led by Eric Shipton climbed through the Icefall but stopped just short of the top because of a wide crevasse. To cross the crevasses, the early expeditions used long tree trunks brought up from tree line after they ran out of ladders.<\/p>\n

A Swiss team\u00a0in 1952 overcame that\u00a0obstacle by climbing into the crevasse and crossing a dangerous snow bridge. They reached 8500 meters using today’s Southeast Ridge route but failed to summit. Of course, John Hunt’s 1953\u00a0British expedition made the first summit using that same route.<\/p>\n

The Hazards<\/h3>\n

There are multiple hazards within the Icefall that have taken lives. I used the Himalayan Database<\/a> to analyze the non-illness deaths between 17,500’\/5400m and 19,500’\/5940m, and that was in the Icefall proper. There were 45 total deaths in the Icefall, or 23% of the 194 total deaths on the Nepal side from 1953 to 2019.<\/p>\n

The 45 deaths broke down as:<\/p>\n