{"id":40626,"date":"2022-04-17T12:07:22","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T18:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=40626"},"modified":"2022-04-19T13:59:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T19:59:44","slug":"everest-2022-weekend-update-april-17-first-deaths-carlos-on-his-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2022\/04\/17\/everest-2022-weekend-update-april-17-first-deaths-carlos-on-his-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2022: Weekend Update April 17 – First Deaths, Carlos on his Way!"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Activity is strong at Everest Base Camp, with more still on the trek. The permits increased as expected this past week and will top out fairly soon. They still lag behind last year by over 100 for Everest. The fixed lines are now to Camp 2 in the Western Cwm, ready for more teams to arrive at EBC this week. We saw the first 8000er deaths of the 2022 Spring season this past week.<\/p>\r\n

Big Picture<\/h2>\r\n

As of April 15, 2022, the Ministry of Tourism has issued 738 total climbing permits thus far, with 262 for Everest, with 56 female climbers. The United States represents the largest country on Everest this year with 58 climbers, a spot recently ceded to India and China, with only 21 and 9 climbers, respectively. The UK comes in at 33, with Canada at 14 and Australia at ten thus far. Russia has 16 climbers on Everest this season.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Everest Base Camp is rapidly filling up with most teams reviewing basic skills and preparing for their first walk into the Icefall, a big day ahead. See the<\/span>\u00a0tracking table<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for the latest team locations.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Climbers on Dhaulagiri and Annapurna are climbing with summit pushes expected soon. Also, climbing will soon begin on Kachchenunga and Makalu.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Last Week – Deaths<\/h2>\r\n

This week brought the usual but always tragic deaths in the mountains. Sadly, two climbers died. First, on Dhaulagiri was highly experienced Greek climber\u00a0<\/span>Antonis Sykaris<\/span><\/a>, 59, who died around 7,400m after summiting the 8,167 meters (26,795 ft) peak at 12:40 local time Monday, April 11, 2022. He was climbing with Dawa Sherpa using the logistics of Seven Summits Treks. The other death was Nima Tenji Sherpa, 38, an IMG Sherpa who died while carrying loads along with 11 other Sherpas in the Khumbu Icefall. They were going higher to stock Camp 1. IMG said, “… was found sitting next to the trail still wearing his backpack, lifeless. There was no fall, avalanche, or trauma involved.” My sincere condolences to his family, friends, and teammates of both climbers.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Everest Base Camp<\/h2>\r\n

The first days at EBC are always interesting. The primary task is to rest and continue acclimatizing to the altitude, 17,500-feet\/5,334-meters. But also it’s a chance to review some basic skills. Most teams set up a course in the ice adjacent to Base Camp with a fixed rope and a ladder. For example, Madison Mountaineering made this post on their play day:<\/p>\r\n

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Today our team of climbers ventured out onto the pinnacles of ice right next to base camp here on the Khumbu Glacier. We practiced the fixed-line technique, traversing on fixed lines, ascending\/descending. That’s one of the most fun things we do here in base camp. It’s just like a playground out there on the glacier.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

There are reports of WiFi access at EBC being expensive, slow, and unreliable. Not sure how to read this as the definition of “expensive” varies by individual – slow and unreliable is pretty straightforward. Access to WiFi has become standard for all teams on Everest. All are hoping EverestLink will be up on the Nepal side. Last year, I contacted EverestLink about their WiFi prices at EBC and heard back from their General Manager:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
DATA PACKAGE<\/strong><\/td>\r\n\r\n

RATE<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

(IN NPR)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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RATE<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

(IN USD)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n

1 GB<\/strong><\/td>\r\n5,000<\/td>\r\n$45.04<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
2 GB<\/strong><\/td>\r\n7500<\/td>\r\n$67.56<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
5 GB<\/strong><\/td>\r\n14,500<\/td>\r\n$130.62<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
10 GB<\/strong><\/td>\r\n20,000<\/td>\r\n180.16<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

So how much is enough? Remember that 1 GB is 1,000 MB. Most people want access to email, text, or WhatsApp, so 1GB would be fine for most people costing around UDS$50. Others might want to FaceTime or Skype, and they will need to bump up to probably 5 GB if they connect every few days. Then for those who want to stream movies or videos from YouTube, break out a couple of hundred bills and buy the 10 GB card.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This list will give you an example of how much each of these scenarios will eat up:<\/span><\/p>\r\n