{"id":9375,"date":"2012-04-16T09:30:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T15:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=9375"},"modified":"2019-04-06T12:28:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T18:28:40","slug":"everest-2012-into-the-icefall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/16\/everest-2012-into-the-icefall\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2012: Into the Icefall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bottom<\/a>
Bottom of the Icefall and beginning of the Khumbu Icefall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Monday morning at Everest Base Camp! Just like at home, climbers are busy doing what climbers do on Everest as the trekkers become climbers. Base camp is a bee hive of activity. I would guess there are forty or more teams established at EBC-South each with their sprawling compound of tents. The rock and ice trails meander throughout the camps creating roads, cul de sacs, intersections and traffic jams – especially when a yak train comes through!<\/p>\n

Icefall Laybrath<\/h4>\n

As expected teams are making their first climbs into the Khumbu Icefall. Usually, they go to the first ladder or perhaps the flat area know as the Popcorn just to get a feel for climbing in an ice cube tray. This is an important milestone in climbing Everest because it sets the tone for every trip above EBC over the next six weeks.<\/p>\n

Most teams will eat breakfast around 3:00AM and get to the base of the Icefall or an area called Crampon Point around 4:30 or 5. With headlamps shining, they put on their crampons – what would you expect at Crampon Point? \ud83d\ude42 and start climbing.<\/p>\n

Not too surprisingly, the angle actually starts steep, There is a fixed line but it is limp without the weight of multiple climbers. Yet everyone clips in to start establishing good practices. You feel good about your conditioning as you made the short walk over from your tent, but now you are breathing deeply, heavily appreciating any pause that allows you to look at the sky instead of your feet. It all begins to sink in.<\/p>\n

A soft glow begins to emerge from the hard packed snow as the sun tries in vein to top out over Lhotse; this will take another couple of hours. A breeze passes by telling your cheek that it got short changed with all the rest of the layers. All of a sudden you hear voices and look behind. Ten Sherpas, each carrying a fully loaded pack with sacks tied on the outside, maybe even a table or chair, are moving twice as fast as you; no ten times as fast. Your Sherpa says something to them, some touch fingers, shake hands or pause for a quick exchange. Again, you appreciate the rest. In a blink it is quiet again; except for your breathing.<\/p>\n

This how Adventure Consultants described their first trip yesterday:<\/p>\n

This morning the main team made their first foray into the icefall proper. The Khumbu Icefall is the name given to the tumultuous cascade of ice between BC and Camp 1. In this glacial region the ice is forced between the confines of Nuptse and the West Shoulder of Everest. The sky was perfectly clear and it was crisp, probably -10 or so. Two hours of cramponing took us to an area of jumbled ice known as the \u2018popcorn\u2019 section. This was our designated high point.<\/p>\n

An hour into the day a massive avalanche released from the upper slopes of Nuptse; an awe inspiring and frightening sight that had us believing we would be engulfed in a powder cloud. Fortunately this was not the case! Infact, as often happens when the avalanche debris had receded it was hard to determine where the massive ice chunks had released from. This avalanche was witnessed by Victor and others at BC who categorized this slide as most impressive \u2026 translated = F#*!en big. Such avalanches are the reason one minimizes the number of passes through the icefall and one does not dilly dally around because they do not always stop short.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These avalanches are quite common. There was quite a bit of fresh snow over the weekend and it has to go somewhere as it collects on the slopes of Everest’s West Shoulder and Nuptse, which frame the Icefall. Usually they release with a huge crack, causing everyone in ear shot to involuntarily drop their heads along with their shoulders while looking up. However, there is the occasional huge avalanche like the one on May 7, 2009 that killed Lhapka Nuru Sherpa.<\/p>\n

And this from Kenton Cool’s team with some good news on the condition of the Icefall this year:<\/p>\n

It was an extraordinary morning. We followed the route laid out by the ice doctors \u2013 an enterprising group of sherpas who have got together to keep the route open through this billion ton glacier so that the 25 or so expeditions can travel as safely as possible through the jumble of seracs and hanging glaciers that fall 3,000ft in less than a horizontal mile. Its a frozen labyrinth of enormous chunks of ice that creak and groan the whole time. Its very clear that its on the move.\u00a0 There is of course a toll to be paid, by each expedition, and a healthy one at that! This falling glacier is the key to gaining entry to the Western Cwm, and Everest itself. Kenton reckoned from our recce that this was one of the safest passages that he had seen over nine years, which bodes well for us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Khumbu Cough<\/h4>\n

The infamous Khumbu cough is making the rounds on schedule. With the constant cold air and dry humidity, it is almost impossible to avoid developing a very annoying dry cough that feels persistent to you and definitely constant to your teammates. Many people wear a Buff or mask continuously in an effort to warm the air as they breath and it works but requires great discipline. This is how Bandar<\/a> explains it:<\/p>\n

John and I visited the Everest Base Camp to see it and to tend to our Khumbu Coughs, a common cough that plagues those of us who spend a lot of time up high in this dry, cold climate and were just told to moisturize our throats. Waking up in base camp you can hear a symphony of coughs from every tent. Thank god for strepsils and halls lozenges.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Looking Ahead<\/h4>\n

OK, this week we will see a lot of movement as opposed to last week where the teams rested up after their trek to the Base Camps. Don’t expect a lot of long dispatches because most climbers will only post from their base camp. This is where the teams have their solar panels, computers and, most importantly, energy. We can expect to see them spend their first night at 19,500′ or Camp 1 and, obviously make their first full trip through the Icefall. It will be a week to remember.<\/p>\n

Climb On!
\nAlan
\nMemories are everything<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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