{"id":49393,"date":"2026-05-19T21:18:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=49393"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:18:34","slug":"everest-2026-ski-descent-and-more-summits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/19\/everest-2026-ski-descent-and-more-summits\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2026: Ski Descent and More Summits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More summits! The forecast of high winds may have kept many teams on hold, but we still saw a few summits on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. I’ll update the totals when we know more.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Diana Marema \u00a0told me about her summit last week:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Summited on 17th and it was the best decision ever! Traded brutal, windy and snowy nights, including cold, cold on the summit push for lesser crowds. When I came down today, C4 to BC, HUGE CROWDS were going up. They were not too happy ….happy to provide photos and videos…I’m one of 7 US females. Live in WA and AZ.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
German climber Anja Karen Blacha deserves recognition for reaching the summit of Lhotse without supplementary oxygen on Monday. She has now completed 13 of the world\u2019s 14 mountains over 8,000 meters without using supplemental oxygen.<\/div>\n

Australian Success<\/h2>\n
Australian climber Bianca Adler summited, becoming the youngest Australian to do so at 18. According to Seven Summit Treks, Bianca reached the summit this morning, May 20, 2026. She was accompanied by climbing guides Pemba Chhiring Sherpa and Ngudu Sherpa. The achievement adds another milestone to Bianca\u2019s growing mountaineering career. In 2024, she became the youngest female climber to summit Manaslu at the age of 16, earning a Guinness World Record.<\/div>\n

Crowds!<\/h2>\n

This post from Adventure Consultants sums up what the team had in higher:<\/p>\n

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We left Camp 2 at 3:00 am this morning to avoid the heat of the day. Right now, people are still arriving at Camp 3 in the stifling afternoon heat, wearing their down suits! I don’t know how they cope.<\/p>\n

We arrived at the bottom of Camp 3 at 6:47am, still in the shade. The priority now is to rest, eat, and rehydrate. We made much better time on the Lhotse Face today, a testament to our acclimatization rotation beforehand.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we will have another alpine (midnight\/early morning) start. Stella remarked that the Yellow Band and Geneva Spur look close, as they are, but we’re now above 7,000 m and everything is hard-won. We have 900 meters of climbing tomorrow to reach Camp 4. Thankfully, we have supplemental oxygen to help us tomorrow, in the second and middle parts of our Everest climbing days.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Impressive Ski Descent<\/h2>\n

Polish skier\/climber Bartek Ziemski, 31, made an historic no-Os summit, no-support ski descent today on Everest. On May 12, he made the same accomplishment on Lhotse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

More to Come<\/h2>\n

By my count, I’m predicting 800 total summit attempts, so with 162 completed, that leaves another 638 to go. Look for more from: Climbing the Seven Summits<\/a>, Seven Summits Treks<\/a>, Elite<\/a>, Madison Mountaineering<\/a>, \u00a0Adventure Consultants,<\/a> AAI<\/a>, 8K<\/a> and many of the smaller Nepali teams.<\/p>\n

Kanchenjunga<\/h2>\n

Four Sherpas from Imagine Nepal fixed the ropes to Mount Kanchenjunga’s summit before high winds halted further climbing on May 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

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Nepal Permit Update<\/h2>\n

As of May 8, 2026, Nepal has issued 1,134 climbing permits to 135 teams across 30 peaks, bringing in $8.3 million US dollars in permit fees, with Everest accounting for $7.2 million. Everest climbers are from 55 countries. China has the most climbers at 109, followed by the U.S. at 76, India at 61 and the UK at 32. There are 101 female climbers on Everest this season. This is the current tally for the 8000ers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
8000er<\/strong><\/td>\nTeams<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0 Male Clients<\/strong><\/td>\nFemale Clients<\/strong><\/td>\nTotal<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Annapurna I<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n19<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n27<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dhaulagiri<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n18<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Everest<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n387<\/td>\n105<\/td>\n492<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kanchenjunga<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n13<\/td>\n36<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lhotse<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n85<\/td>\n35<\/td>\n120<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Makalu<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n51<\/td>\n21<\/td>\n72<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Manaslu<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TOTALS<\/td>\n84<\/td>\n585<\/td>\n194<\/td>\n779<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Here\u2019s to a safe season for everyone on all the peaks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

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The Podcast on alanarnette.com<\/h2>\n

You can listen to #everest2026 podcasts<\/strong>\u00a0on Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0Apple<\/a>, Breaker<\/a>, Pocket Casts<\/a>, Anchor<\/a>, and more. Just search for “alan arnette” on your favorite podcast platform.<\/p>\n

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Previous Everest 2026 Season Coverage Posts<\/h2>\n