{"id":45086,"date":"2024-05-16T09:30:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T15:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=45086"},"modified":"2024-05-16T09:30:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T15:30:47","slug":"everest-2024-risky-decision-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/16\/everest-2024-risky-decision-making\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2024: Risky Decision Making"},"content":{"rendered":"

High winds were in the forecast from multiple services and internet sites, but some teams either didn’t believe them or ignored them and made a summit push on Tuesday, May 15 – around fifty people turned back, and two climbers have been missing for days. Almost every team is targeting this weekend for their summit push; thus, we can anticipate significant crowding.<\/p>\n

High winds have hampered the search for the two Mongolian climbers missing since May 12th: Usukhjargal Tsedendamba, 31 and Purevsuren Lkhagvajav, 53. They were climbing together without supplemental oxygen or Sherpa support.<\/p>\n

Unbelievably, around 50 people turned back after attempting to summit on May 12 with winds gusting to 50mph. The top limit for the best teams is 30 mph. Why expedition leaders choose to put their clients in obvious danger is beyond me. That said, it’s well documented how some operators have a different risk tolerance than others. We’ve seen this many times, for example, last autumn on Manaslu when every Western operator abandoned their climbs after seeing several deaths due to avalanches and continuing heavy snowfall and high winds. At the same time, all of the Nepali operators stayed for an extended time to make more attempts before eventually reaching the same conclusion.<\/p>\n

As expected, the new rules announced earlier are having little impact. For example, the ban on helicopters for non-emergencies is simply ignored. In an IG post, Eduard Kubatov explains that climbers turned back on their summit push due to the forecasted high winds, and some took helicopters back to EBC.<\/p>\n

The high winds are expected to ease as we move closer to the weekend, but serious concerns are brewing. With May 19th<\/sup> -21st<\/sup> as the sweet spot (low winds), crowds become an issue since high summit winds have kept people off the summit this week. So if everyone targets May 19th<\/sup> -21st<\/sup>, look for masses to push to be in position at C2 and the Col by the 18th<\/sup>.\u00a0It appears that almost every team still at EBC is targeting this weekend for summits, with a few exceptions.<\/p>\n

On Everest, there have been about 93 summits thus far, with 414 permits issued to foreigners.<\/p>\n

Climb On!
\nAlan
\nMemories are Everything<\/p>\n

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Podcasts<\/h2>\n

You can listen to #everest2024 podcasts\u00a0on Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0Apple Podcast<\/a>, Breaker<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, Pocket Casts<\/a>, RadioPublic<\/a>, Anchor<\/a>, and more. Just search for “alan arnette” on your favorite podcast platform.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Everyday Everest<\/h1>\n

A 16-part podcast series during the Everest 2024 climbing season.<\/h3>\n

Based on my Fictional<\/strong> 2020 Virtual Everest series, I posted a twenty-minute updated episode a few times a week throughout this season. Everyday Everest follows a fictional team of nine climbers and their personal Sherpas from leaving home to trekking to base camp, acclimatizing, and finally, on their summit push. The story’s protagonist, Harper, sets the tone for the story when she tells her husband, Marc, “Honey, I’m going to climb Everest.”<\/p>\n

You can listen to Everyday Everest on Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0Apple Podcast<\/a>, Breaker<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, Pocket Casts<\/a>, RadioPublic<\/a>, Anchor<\/a>, and more. Just search for “alan arnette” on your favorite podcast platform.<\/p>\n

Previous Everyday Everest Episodes<\/h3>\n