Everest 2014: Lukla: Traveller to Trekker
Everest 2014 continues as the climbers who arrived in Kathmandu a few days ago have now flown to Lukla to begin their week long trek to Everest Base Camp. For many, case this is a flight of a lifetime, or at least they hope. 🙂 A few teams will take a helicopter, considered safer by […]
Everest 2014: Goodbye Home, Hello Kathmandu
Our climbers are starting their Everest experience in full force. After 18 hour flights, and crossing multiple timezones, they are arriving in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Once they are settled into their hotels, one of the first orders of business for many climbers, and trekkers, these days is to get a sim card for […]
Everest 2014: Weekend Update March 30 – Arrivals and Confusion
Kathmandu has become flooded with climbers in addition to the normal spring trekkers. The hotels are full, the restaurants noisy and an overall feeling of anticipation in the air. In spite of all the bad press Everest receives each year, it is forgotten once the team arrives in Thamel. The climbing teams will trickle in […]
Everest 2014: Moving a Small City
Many people focus on the climbers when thinking about Everest, and rightfully so. However supporting those climbers is a massive exercise in logistics. The team from International Mountain Guides starts around the first of every year gathering gear and sending it to Kathmandu for further transport to Everest Base Camp. They use a variety of […]
Everest 2014: The Pre-Season Frenzy
In my 12 years of covering Everest, I have never seen so much early interest from the mainstream media, not to mention climbing media. They usually wait until there is a death or a disaster to cover Everest. So what is going on this year and what does it mean for this year’s climbers? The […]
Everest 2014: Weekend Update March 23 – Transitions
Transitions: where an end meets a beginning; where a beginning meets an end. This is when emotions are fueled, salve relationships defined, sense awoken. Births, deaths, marriages, divorces, beaches and oceans, mountains and plains. This weekend marks a major transition for our Everest 2014 climbers and their families. The dreaming has ended, the climbing is […]
Everest 2014: Predicting Tropical Storms and Massive Snowfalls at Everest
Guest post by Michael Fagin Most of the discussion of Mt. Everest weather revolves around when we will have that prefect weather window when the jet stream briefly shifts to the north and get reasonable summit winds, usually 20 mph or less occurs. This can occur briefly in early May but more common in the middle […]
Everest 2014: Sherpas Arrive at Base Camp
Right on schedule, look the Sherpas have arrived at Everest Base Camp (EBC) to begin establishing the route and camps. To reserve their favorite spots, some teams sent Sherpas to “reserve” a place as early as mid February. Most climbing members will not arrive until April 10th at the earliest. International Mountain Guides’ Eric Simonson […]
Everest 2014: Interview with Greg Paul and his New Knees
How often do we have an ache, sit down or just stop. As I like to ask “Are you hurt or are you hurting?” Well, hospital one day Greg Paul found himself beyond hurting, advice he was hurt and needed to fix it. Now with two new knees, he is back to climb Everest – […]
Everest 2014: Nothing Left Unsaid
For many climbers, medical people, they will be leaving their homes and families for Everest in less than a month. This can be the culmination to a difficult, trying and, for some, a very exciting time in their lives. A fictional essay: The kids are in bed, the house is quiet; now is the time. […]