Everest 2013: Moving Up
This season is turning out to be somewhat normal, well at least with respect to weather. April was bit windier and snowy than usual but now as we approach mid May, advice the jet stream is cooperating by moving away from the summit and teasing climbers with forecasts of calm winds perfect for a climb to the top of the world. The only rub seems to be the temperatures are a bit cold, but it is the top of the world! The teams who summited yesterday are all back down at Camp 2 after threading the needle. Again, congratulations. As for the other ‘400’ people, their turn is coming. It is estimated over 100 climbers will push from Camp 4 on Sunday May 19th for summits early Monday morning, but you know by now, plans are fluid. Many of those may leave a day earlier or later depending on how they feel, their perspective on crowds and, of course, the weather. Moving Up The route between EBC and Camp 2 is pretty crowded right now. IMG had two teams move to Camp 2 looking to summit in a few days. Alpenglow’s two person team also is pushing higher looking to summit Everest, then Lhotse with a ski descent. Tim Rippel, Peak Freaks, mentions the Nepal Ministry of tourism’s Liaison officers seems to be collecting schedules from the teams: Teams are starting to find their spot in the big picture for a summit bid. A Minister from the tourism office came around today trying to get an idea of who is going when. Everyone seems to spacing out pretty good but we had this conversation last year season as well as we do every year. You will never really know till you go. But many teams will still try to keep their plans a secret to minimize crowds and prying eyes. The small group from Berg Adventures is pushing for the next wave of summits. According to Wally Berg: It’s just before 7 pm on May 13th. I just talked things over with the team and the weather is continue to change and is heading to the right direction. The plan now is that tomorrow morning the team will walk out of camp II, heading for the Lhotse Face, and after two to three hours walk, they will get on the steep fixed lines, ascend the Lhotse Face to our Camp III and spend the night there. On May 15th, the team will move to the South Col, already you are over 8000 meters when you arrive at the South Col. It is a windy place, and in some ways it is also very, very beautiful. Our summit day is scheduled for the evening of May 15th – 16th. Yesterday, the Altitude Junkies team on the North left for the North Col but were hit by high winds forcing them to re back to ABC. Phil Crampton posted: The group has just returned to advanced base camp after spending the night at the North Col. We had hoped to complete a second rotation to the Col some time ago but we kept finding excuses with the weather. We combined this rotation with a possible early summit attempt but as our weather forecast had predicted, the winds were too strong to venture safely above the North Col without the chance of frostbite injuries. The team will now rest for a few days here at ABC and then we hope to summit sometime from the 20th onwards when the forecast predicts the high winds to drop. There have been many eyes on the radar maps showing the swirling winds off India. The Indian Pune team had this comment about the cyclone in the Bay of Bengal: While the cyclone roaring on southern part of Bay of Bengal is expected to move towards north and then to the east, meteorologist at IMD forecasted no impact on the weather above world’s highest mountain. At the same time the westerly disturbances are expected to wane. Above all the wind on the mountain is forecasted to be favorable for climbing. Considering the inputs Giripremi’s team will stick to their plans as scheduled. Asian Trekking provides logistics for a wide range of climbers from different nations. This update shows the various names and schedule for later this week: We are ready for summit. First team will attempt 18th May and second Team will attempt 20th May. First team : Allan Jonhson,Horacio Galanti, Horacio Cunietti, Udo Ebner, Andrzej Wojda, Barnabas Borbely, Anita Devi, Sushen Mahato, Dr Nima Namgyal. Horacio Galanti, Allan Johnson are at C1, Andrzej Wojda, Anita Devi, Sushen Mahato, Horacio Cunietti will leave tonight for Camp 2.Udo Ebner , Barnabas and Dr. Nima Namgyal will leave tomorrow night for Camp 2 and all members will sleep at Camp 3 on 16 May, Camp 4 on 17 May,summit push on same night and 18th morning summit. Second team : Carlos Canellas, Carlos Santalena, Rodrigo Ranieri, Joel Kriger, Douglas Scarborough, Arunima Sinha, Ramlal, Kanta Devi and Lovvraj Dharamshaktu. Got to love Dave Hahn, RMI, as he watches team after team leave EBC for their summit bid. Once again he shows patience: There are many teams leaving from Base Camp today and heading to higher camps. This will put them in position for their summit bids later this week. We are sitting tight at Base Camp for a bit longer as the weather forecasts are showing some heavy snow arriving soon. We are continuing to watch the weather patterns and predictions and will move up hill when the timing looks good for us. An update on Denis Urubko and Alexey Bolotov attempting a new route on the Southwest face: Denis and Alex will start tomorrow. They are planning 8 days ascent and 2 days descent. But they take food only for 6 days. Not sure what to make of this! Trash Day Keeping Everest clean is a top priority of the Nepal expeditions. Asian Trekking has been running a ‘trash
Everest 2013: Summits and Waiting
A few bold climbers actually summited in harsh conditions early Monday morning, ambulance but most teams are ly waiting. I will update this page throughout today as I get more information. I hesitate to mention this but at the moment teams are becoming optimistic as a nice long summit window appears to be emerging for May 17th – 24th with almost calm summit winds near the end. If this week long window emerges, malady it will allow all the teams to attempt the summit in an orderly manner, thus reducing the risk of crowds and long waits at the regular bottlenecks on both sides. But, as always, we are talking about the weather. Summits Update: Word has it that Tim Mosedale and a member have summited, but no confirmation from Tim directly. Tim had said he would keep his summit plans secret and it looks like he was successful! A few independent climbers using logistics from Henry Todd and also The Himalayan Ascents team put one Westerner and two Sherpas on the summit early Monday morning. The rest of the team turned back amazingly close being near or above the Hillary Step. They also put climbers on Lhotse finishing the ropes to the summit. They report: Our teams had a successful morning. Young Chirring picked up where the fixing team left off on Lhotse and fixed the last 300m of the summit blocks, and summited at 10.30am this morning. Chris summited at 11.30am with Lakpa and Pasang. We’re proud of Chirring for the first summit of the 4th highest mountain this season! Previously a monk and now a young guide, Chirring has the luck of his uncle Lakpa’s climbing genes. Great news on Everest too. The group set off at 9pm last night under calm and cold conditions. Peter summited at 6.30am with Nima and Mingma. Satisfied with their climbing success, Margaret and Warren gave the full summit a miss and turned around after the Hillary Step (8790m, ~5.50am) and after the South Summit (8770m, ~6.30am). A near summit indeed. Due to cloud cover, the sun was late arriving to warm up bodies. After climbing ~9hr in cold conditions, our Sydney friends were missing warm Sydney beaches. Peter on the other hand is Irish (enough said). Margaret and Warren still climbed higher than any other mountain (K2 is 8611m)! Awesome effort. Both teams are heading back to Camp 4 to rest. I have a question into them as to the conditions of their climbers given the high winds and cold temps that kept every other team away. I have seen many climbers summit on days like this but suffer extreme frostbite. I admire their determination and send them sincere congratulations for their grit. On the North side, Altitude Junkies is moving from ABC to the North Col according to Edita Nichols’ home team however a tweet from one of their members indicated they returned to ABC due to winds. Watching and Waiting The Jagged Globe team got in a bit of extra work as they went to C2 ready to summit on Saturday but reed to EBC when conditions declined: Five of the team had climbed to Camp 2 on Saturday, but descended back to base camp this morning… Five of us, myself, Guy, John, Andrew and James all set of a day ahead of the rest of the team to C2. Our aim was to set of a day early so that we could have a rest day in 2 before going to 3 and hopefully to the summit a few days after. Unfortunately the following day the forecast changed and winds increased too much on our target summit day. Scott Woolums, Mountain Trip, sees the conditions through the experience of his nine climbs. He told me via an email today, he is happy looking at May 21st for their summit: We are hoping some groups take advantage of a small dip in the intensity of the tropical jet stream winds on the 18th and 19th, as that will mean somewhat less climbers heading to the top during our summit window. It also good news this arm of the jet stream will slowly be moving away over the next couple days. We still see very high winds until the 21st. While this is interesting, there is no surprise, as this is a normal pattern of very short, sharp, cold, windy pre-May 20th weather windows. In the nine seasons I have been coming to Everest, this has been the normal pattern. The Famous at BC Reinhold Messner visited Everest Base Camp (South) to film a documentary on the 60th anniversary of the first summit. He visited several teams. Adventure Consultants has this comment: Initially he came to our camp as he had heard that Austrian members where part of our team. He interviewed Josef and Lukas Hochmeister (father and son), as well as AC owner Guy Cotter (about commeration), Lydia Bradey as the first woman to climb Everest without oxygen, and Heather Geluk on the Lhotse team. These interviews will be part of a television documentary celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest (on the 29th of May), and will be shown on German and Austrian television very soon. Specifically for those of you in Europe, the documentary will be shown on ServusTV in Austria on the 23rd May, and on ZDF German TV on the 29th May 2013. I wonder if he took urine samples? He had said a few weeks ago he wanted to test his hypothesis that 90% of the Everest climber use drugs. We can always count on David Mauro with IMG to keep things in perspective: The word around EBC is that two Hollywood movies are being filmed here. One is a reenactment of the 1996 Everest Tragedy, the other tells the tale of George Mallory’s fatal Everest attempt. I cannot substantiate either of these rumors. There is a third, and possibly related, rumor that actor Tom Cruise will be arriving
Everest 2013: Weekend Update May 12
We saw the first summits of the 2013 Everest season on Friday with the Sherpas fixing the line to the summit. The UK’s David Tait plus Himex Sherpa Lhakpa Nuru were close behind allowing David to nab his 5th summit. On their heels was David Liano, climbing with logistics from Asian Trekking, who summited at 8:05AM Saturday morning, May 11 with Sherpa Samden Bhote. They left the South Col at 11:15PM Friday night and were the only climbers to summit Saturday from the South. David is now in route to the North side and told me he is looking at his second summit bid on May 19th. Yesterday afternoon, the winds picked back up. Today, there are multiple teams staged at various camps on both sides waiting for the next window expected mid week. But a few are pushing it and going for the summit tonight or tomorrow. The Big Picture We are now in the last phase of climbing Everest, unless you include coming home. As almost everyone quotes Ed Viesturs to concerned friends and family as they leave for Everest: Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory. The weather people are watching a tropical depression in the Bay of Bengal. It has already impacted weather at Base Camp with a few inches of new snow. The IMG team canceled their move to Camp 2 due to the conditions. Overall, these weather events cause the jet stream to move north and off the summit of Everest allowing for calmer winds and summit opportunities. However if the cyclone moves too far north it can bring rain, snow and winds of it’s own. Russell Brice, Himex, became famous on the series Everest Beyond the Limits for pouring over weather maps had this to say: As forecast by Meteotest, we are on the edge of a storm from the Bay of Bengal, so Saturday afternoon is punctuated by thunder, lightning and snow showers, but of course we are all safe and comfortable within the round walls of the White Pod. The large Indian team from Pune climbing with Giripremi made these comments: Indian Meteorological department predicted good weather for climbing Everest in next week. Recent cyclonic conditions in the Bay of Bengal have pushed the jet stream winds prevailing on the summit of the mountain towards north. This will lower the wind speeds on the summit making it favorable condition for attempting the mountain. Based on this forecast the team has planned the movement up the mountain. The Altitude Junkies and Adventure Peaks teams are at ABC on the north monitoring the winds and prepared to launch at any moment. Paul from the Adventure Peaks team had this to say: Well the winds continue to blow and the team are doing their to keep busy until our preparations are in place and weather is right for our summit attempt. Against the Odds? The team from Himalayan Ascents has been pushing the envelope all season being the first through the Icefall and to most of the Camps. So it is not a big surprise that today, Sunday, they are at the South Col. However, they seem to one of the only teams willing to bet against the weather. This is their last report from the Col: It’s just a matter of waiting a few more hours now. The Everest party of Warren, Jangbu, Margaret, Angkaji, Dendi, Peter, Mingma and Nima arrived into Camp 4 ~7925m at the South Col about 3.30pm. All team members are feeling strong and healthy. They will rest a few more hours, drink water and will try to stomach some food before moving for the summit push. The Everest group will depart around 8pm. There’s another independent group at Camp 4 going for the summit tonight as well. The Lhotse team are aiming to depart at 1am. The plan is to bring all climbers back to Camp 2 tomorrow 13th after the summit. This is weather dependent, which at the moment is not too bad. The winds are easing and the sky is clear. Go team!!! I wish them all the and hope for a safe journey. The Mental Game Climbers are getting their minds wrapped around the summit. Daniel Branham, with Berg Adventures said this as they look to summit between May 16-18th : I wanted to write a great dispatch today on the “why’s”. Why do this? Why risk life and limb? Why sacrifice time and treasure? Honestly, this is the subject of a book, not a blog. I know that there are as many answers as there are climbers, and most climbers probably have a multitude of reasons. I could tell you my reasons and maybe one day I will. They have changed over time, but I am at peace with them. I would invite you all to start climbing the mountains in your lives that are as real as the one we are on now. And if somebody asks you why are you striving and struggling against the norm, you will know the difficulty in answering this question. When asked the question, why climb Everest, George Mallory famously said “because it is there”. I think we climb because, WE ARE HERE, and it is just what we do. It is how we find our . I have been watching Dave Hahn, RMI, climb Everest for over a decade. He is consistently one of the last teams, if not person to summit almost every year. Once again, Dave puts his thoughts out there: Everything seems a little different now with the news that climbers made the top yesterday… And indeed, a few more went there today if the radio grapevine is correct. The mountain is not impossible. But we do hope those most recent summit climbers got down fast, since by late afternoon we’ve experienced a thunderstorm and a few inches of quick new snow. And that roar is back… The one that sounds like Niagara Falls as a ribbon of the jet
Everest 2013: Summit Chances
With the route fixed from Base Camp to the Summit on both sides, climbers are shifting their attention to one thing: their turn. For those of you who love details, view you might like this post. Another summit! David Liano, climbing with logistics from Asian Trekking, summited at 8:05AM Saturday morning, May 11 with Sherpa Samden ote. They left the South Col at 11:15PM Friday night and were the only climbers to summit today from the South. The conditions were noted as ‘windy’. He is now heading down to fly back to Kathmandu. From there he will drive overland to Chinese Base Camp on the North to attempt another summit. If he is successful, he will be the first person to summit from both sides in the same season. Don’t look for more summits right away. The winds are forecasted to pick up on Saturday afternoon and shut down summits for a few days. Many teams are looking at Wednesday, May 15/16th and again around May 21st. But it is the weather and anything goes. First Summits It was a big day Friday with the first summits of the season. Mark Tucker, RMI, summarized it this way: And what a day it was and what a day here today – May 10th. We now have a group of Sherpa on top of Mount Everest, so the floodgates are now open. The (Sherpa) team did a great job. Sounds like conditions were very favorable for an ascent as of now. People are starting to rally, lots of teams are looking at the weather of course, as well as us. Making some plans to the start the movement uphill. The Lhotse and Nuptse Teams have gotten very far along in the progress of fixing the ropes. We are not quite sure on the status of those, but it won’t be long now for those mountains to see some summitters. It’s a crazy place here right now and we are enjoying some good weather. It looks like there is some wind up high with the jet stream around. Hopefully some people will get started taking advantage of the opportunity to make their summit attempt and get on top this season. Our Sherpa team is resting well. And they are ready to give us the support that we’re going to need in the near future and Dave Hahn, he’s the in the business, so we will have a great attack coming up here pretty soon. So, we will keep you posted when we can. Nelson Dellis, climbing with Altitude Junkies, gave this update for the North Side: Ok, so things are getting closer and closer, I can feel it—both here and on the South Side. The Chinese said they saw the Tibetan rope fixers near the summit and our head Sherpa Dorje confirmed that the ropes had indeed been roped all the way to the summit. BEAUTIFUL. I believe the South Side was also roped to the summit this morning as well, but the Tibetans beat them by a few hours! Woohoo! Secondly, our Sherpas completed their loads to C3 at 8300 meters. All our tents, oxygen, and other stuff is all up there, ready for our summit bid. Can I just take a moment to say that some of the Sherpas double carried yesterday—they carried 33 kilos (that’s just over 70 lbs)—at high altitude, in really high winds. These guys are freaking superheroes. Wow. Summit Odds From the original estimated 415 Westerner climbers on both sides, there are now about 360 who are going to the summit, in my very, very rough estimate. Using leaving Base Camp as the marker for a summit attempt, I estimate about 210 on the South along with the same number of Sherpa and around 150 total, Westerners and Tibetans/Sherpas on the North. So overall, around 570 total people attempting to summit Everest this month. Thus we can expect to see about 500 people, over half being Sherpas, stand on top of the world, about normal for the past few years. There is a natural attrition in climbers and some get sick, lose their motivation, have emergencies back home all leading them to abandoned their summit attempts. Then there are those who know they won’t summit and set a smaller goal to return to a high camp for example, perhaps in preparation for another try next year. Every climber and team is different but International Mountain Guides has an interesting chart on their site that gives insight into the attrition on Everest. Himex has a similar chart but most companies do not provide this level of detail. This chart does not include Sherpas. The key take away from this is that, 86% of the IMG climbers reaching the South Col made the summit. Also, many people stop after reaching Camp 2 on the south. Overall, of those who reached Base Camp, 67% went on to summit. For Himex that same number is 60% from 1994 to 2011. Many companies promote higher statistics but rarely show details, break out Sherpas from guides and members and over a long time period. David Hamilton, Jagged Globe, details their Camp 4, South Col, preparation: The Jagged Globe sherpa team are all back in Base Camp for a short rest before the summit push begins. Over the last 4 days the team of 11 people have carried all the expedition equipment from Camp Two at 6,400m to Camp Four (South Col) at 7,950m. 8 of the sherpas made this carry twice while 3 of the team made the trip three times. Oxygen bottles make up the bulk of the material carried, but tents, food, fuel, stoves etc are also heavy. Now that this phase of the expedition is completed we have 22 bottles of oxygen at Camp Three 7,200m and 110 bottles at Camp Four 7,950m. There are 13 tents standing at Camp Two (plus dinning tent, kitchen tent & toilet), 7 tents standing at Camp Three, and 8 tents ready for
Everest 2013: First Summits – Update 2
We have the first summits of 2013 as the Sherpas have fixed the line to the summit from the South Col opening the gates to all the teams. Similarly, view the Tibetan rope fixers on the North are reported to be close. Climbing with the Sherpas from the South Col was David Tait making his fifth Everest summit. He summited at Friday, prescription May 10. On the South it took 13 Sherpas from 8 different teams worked together to get to the summit. I will have their names and teams later today. They are reported to be returning to Camp 2 now. The winds were reported to be moderate and temperatures cold. According to Asian Trekking, the Sherpas included (update 2): Adventure Consultants: Kami Rita Sherpa Alpine Ascents: Kami Rita Sherpa and Phurba Kancha Sherpa Asian Trekking: Pemba Tshering Sherpa and Sera Gyalzen Sherpa Astrek: Pemba Tshering Sherpa IMG: Pasang Kami (Phortse) and Tsheten Dorjee (Pangboche) Himex: Gyalzen Dorji Sherpa, Nawang Tenzing Sherpa, Phurba Tashi Sherpa and Nima Tenzing Sherpa also summiting: David Tait with Lhakpa Nuru They were able to put anchors in for a second rope on the Hillary Step to avoid delays associated with this notorious section. David Liano and Samden Bhote arrived at the South Col at 12:30 pm. Now they are resting and at 9:00 pm tonight, Friday, they are planning to leave for summit attempt. Eric Simonson, IMG, provides the south details from today (update 1): Ang Jangbu reports that eleven sherpas from the fixing crew reached the summit today including IMG’s Pasang Kami (Phortse) and Tsheten Dorjee (Pangboche). Congrats to all these guys for a job well done. Sounds like the winds stayed pretty low and conditions were decent. The sherpas reported knee deep snow across the Traverse to the Hillary Step, so it is good—they broke a good snow trail across there (as opposed to rock slabs). The team was able to establish several additional rock anchors for the alternate descent route (climber’s left of the Hillary Step), so that will enable the second rope to be put in place up there. We are hoping to send the first wave of climbers up from BC in the next couple days, depending how the forecast looks. He gave this update from Thursday when they reached the Balcony with the fixed rope: Good news from up high. The wind dropped, and the rope-fixing team with our IMG sherpas made it to the South Col. While some of the sherpas prepared Camp 4, the others managed to get the route fixed up the Triangular Face to the Balcony. Now the fixing crew are ensconced back at Camp 4, planning to head out at 3am for continuing the fixing up the Southeast Ridge above the Balcony. Phil Crampton, Altitude Junkies, discusses the north: Twelve of our Sherpas made a load carry to camp three at 8,300-meters yesterday and today they will once again repeat this carry. Upon reaching high camp yesterday they watched the Tibet rope fixers close to reaching the summit. We have no official word if they fixed all the way to the summit but we hope so. If not completed yesterday, the Tibetans should finish the job today. Now climbers from all the teams shift their focus to the weather. They are looking for a 4 to 5 day period of low winds. They will leave Base Camp, spend a night or two at ABC on the North or Camp 2 on the South, then the high camps over the next two days before their summit attempt. The return usually takes two nights. The team from Himalayan Ascent is already at Camp 2 trying to get a jump on everyone else. The big question is if the winds allow an early attempt. Most teams are looking at mid next week when the next lull spot begins. Congratulations to all the climbers today and of luck to those on their way. Climb On!AlanMemories are Everything
Everest 2013: Summits Tonight and Moments of Reflection
The Sherpas are reported to be fixing the line between the South Col and the Balcony today, Thursday May 9 Nepal time. Apparently David Tait, with Himex, is going with the Sherpas and made this cryptic Tweet: Im at c4 – going summit tonight. Hopstile as everg This was his plan all along but had backed off due to an injury, weather and politics. He would summit early Friday, May 10. David Lianno is also on his summit push currently at C2 looking to summit on May 11, Nepal time. Eric Simonson, IMG, provided this detailed update with: IMG leaders Greg and Jangbu report that the rope fixing plan has been agreed upon with ten teams (IMG, AAI, JG, Global Adventure, Arun, Peak Freaks, Himex, Astrek, Miura, Seven Summits) working together to carry 13 loads to the Col (11 loads of rope with 2200 meters total and two loads of hardware). Then we have 14 sherpas from 6 teams staying up on the Col to start fixing (IMG: Pasang Kami, Tseten Dorje, Damai Sarki; AAI: Thapke, Phura Kancha; Himex: Phurba Tashi, Nima Tenzing, Nawang Tenzing, Gyalzen Dorje; Astrek: Shera Gyalzen, Pemba Tshiri; Seven Summits: Lhakpa Thundu, Mingma Dorji; AC: Kami Rita). Tomorrow we also have 19 IMG sherpas carrying more oxygen and supplies to the Col from Camp 2 to finish getting all our gear up there for summit bids, and we have another 22 IMG sherpas carrying up to Camp 2 from EBC to keep the logistics flowing up the hill to support these efforts up high. So… all the pieces are in place, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on the weather for the next few days. Russell Brice, Himex, added this: We are right on schedule and the ropes on Mount Everest have been fixed all the way to the South Col at 7,900m while the ropes are only 150m short of the summit of Lhotse. The Himex Sherpas also used the low-wind-period and fixed the route on Nuptse all the way to 7,400m. The precise weather forecast from different sources, which the expedition leaders are sharing, enables us to make the work of the Sherpas as safe as possible. On the north, there is also progress. Climbing with Altitude Junkies, Edita Nichols‘ home team relayed this update for lines on that side: Their Sherpas, that are carrying loads to camp 3, spotted the Tibet team fixing ropes. It looks like there will be fixed rope all the way to the north summit by this evening or tomorrow. This is very important because now they can plan to go up once the weather is cooperative. They are waiting for the “China winds” which are warm winds that come from over the mainland. If all goes well (again weather dependant), they could be standing on the summit of Mount Everest in one week from today! Arnold Coster, guide of Summit Climb says he is looking at May 16-8 for their summit bid. Posted as general location updates you can follow climbers from Brazil and India. Spaniard Carlos Pauner is ready for his summit push. He is looking to complete climbing all 14 of the 8,000 meter mountains without using supplemental oxygen. He is on the South side. This is an update on various climbers with Asian Trekking: Carlos Canellas, Carlos Santallena, Anita and Ramlal went down for rest today. Rodrigo and Joel will leave tomorrow and join the Carlos. Horacio Cunati went to C2 today and will be back after tagging C3. Douglas is at C2 after sleeping at C3 and will be back tomorrow. Rest of us are in BC. Arunima and Susen are in good health resting in BC and short day hikes to near by places to stay fit. No intention of going down the valley for rest. They will try to attempt in the first window which may not seem likely before 15 May as of now. Reflections With climbers back from the high rotations, they are taking time to update blogs. While waiting for the weather window, climbers have a lot of time on their hands to think about what they have done and what is ahead of them. This perspective encourages very introspective posts. Dave Mauro, with IMG, has written an excellent series of short updates tracing his climb to C3 and back. He shares the experience of seeing death on the mountain and his own struggles. It is the Blog of the Day. These are excerpts, please read his entire post. Myself and another team member set out with our Sherpas for camp 2. I could see direct sunlight slowly working its way down the side of Nuptse, staging a soft landing on the gaining valley floor. At some point I left the other team member behind and it was just Mingma and I. I could see the tents of camp 2 an hour and a half up the valley, but now the over-exertion of the ice fall came to collect and I “bonked”. I stopped in the trail and breathed hard for twenty chest-fulls. Feeling marginally better, I motioned to Mingma that we should continue on. 100 steps later I had to stop and breath again. “I’m sorry, MIngma” I apologized. “I just can’t catch my breath.” “It’s OK,” he offered, “we go slow.” I continued to deteriorate, only able to go 80 steps, then 60, and so on before needing to rest and breath hard. We straggled into camp 2 six and a half hours after leaving EBC. I am unsure by what hidden strength I managed the last quarter mile. and this excerpt: We were only 20 minutes up the face when Mingma stopped to listen to his radio. “Sherpa sick,” he said to me with concern. He said one of the Sherpas above us at camp three had gotten up, dressed, eaten some breakfast, but then said he felt dizzy. The Sherpa vomited, then went to lay down in his tent. A camp Physician was patched onto the line and I could hear her instructing the
Everest 2013: Everest is not Enough
For most people just climbing Everest is more than enough of a challenge. But for a few, they want more, and more, and more. As you know by now, there are two other huge mountains that dominate the view of Everest climbers: Lhotse and Nuptse. Lhotse is the world’s 4th highest peak at 27,940’/8,516 m and Nuptse is 25,791’/7,861 m. Nuptse is rarely climbed and is considered quite technically difficult and it’s South Pillar attracts the world’s climbers. The main summit was first climbed on May 16, 1961 by a British expedition. Lhotse has become very popular as a stand alone climb but recently has caught the attention of overachievers 🙂 who attempt to link their summit of Everest with a direct summit of Lhotse. This is a remarkable physical feat given most people can barley drag themselves back to Camp 2 after their Everest summit attempt. This schedule calls for climbing Everest, returning to the South Col for the night then the next day down climbing to the Yellow Band where they make a hard left and climb to the summit of Lhotse. Some will spend the night or a few hours at the high camp on Lhotse before making the summit push. In any event, two 8,000 meter mountains in 24 hours – nice. Alpine Ascents guide, Garrett Madison, updated his plans to climb Everest and Lhotse this year: I am very excited that Alpine Ascents is finalizing a Lhotse permit. We have 4 climbers plus 2 guides who will be attempting “the double” this season! Currently there are 6 documented ascents of Everest & Lhotse in the peak to peak crossing, we hope to double that number plus have the first Sherpa achieve this with us. But for some even that is not enough. Kenton Cool posted today he wants to climb not only Everest (for the 11th time) but also Lhotse and Nuptse. Kenton made these comments on Facebook today: In the last 24 hours the plan has formed and there is a chance that I maybe able to make use of the first weather window of the season. The next 4 days see’s relatively low winds up high (7500m and higher) and the group of Sherpas plan to fix to the summit of Everest and Nuptse in the next 2 days, after that there is a slim 24hour window when I hope to climb either Nuptse or Lhotse. After that the jetstream returns bringing those toe numbing unclimbable winds but then later in the month around the 16th or 17th the winds appear to drop again opening up more possibilities. If my writing hasn’t confused you yet then I’m clearly improving, what I am trying to come to grips with is the fact that tomorrow morning at 4.30am I’ll leave basecamp and climb back to camp 2. What happens after that is somewhat in the hands of the gods, I’m hoping that I will be able to climb all 3 mountains without returning to Basecamp but for that I’ll need a bucket load of goodluck and a heap of good weather. I’m not even sure if its possibly to climb all three of these monsters in the manner that I hope, but surely thats one of the reasons to try. There is an all womens team from Himex climbing Nuptse this year so the lines are fixed and the route established. The Himex newsletter had this update on their climb: While most of the members and guides were ambling across to the bottom of the Lhotse Face, our Nuptse guide Francois as well as 11 Sherpas crossed the Western Cwm and climbed up to Nuptse Camp III to set up a tent and start fixing the rope. “It was very cold and exhausting to keep up with the Sherpas but I am very proud to say that we fixed the rope half way up the arête,” said Francois when he got back after about 10 hours on the ridge. “The start of the arête is quite tricky but it is a beautiful line – even the Sherpas say that.” Best of luck to all these ambitious climbers. Everest Mid Week With so many climbers resting at Base Camp or down valley, there is not a lot of news. High winds were reported yesterday high on Everest as the jet stream made a visit. The IMG guides posted this observation: Max said the wind was really ripping up high on the mountain, with the “freight train” on the South Col audible all the way down at Camp 2! The latest weather forecast has at least one more windy day coming, with a drop still predicted for the 9th/10th/11th. Down at Base Camp Greg reports that the rest of the climbers and sherpas had a good rest day today, enjoying the good food and thick air. Alex Abramov, 7 Summits Club, made this note of the conditions on the north. They are back at Chinese Base Camp (CBC): Weather forecast is disappointing, it promises a hurricane for 11-12 and 14-15 of May. So now we are getting ready to go down to 4200 to rest. Fatality Update The Sherpa who died after a fall on the Lhotse Face has been identified as Lobsang Sherpa, from Kharikhola. He was reported to be only 22 years-old and was working for Seven Summits Treks. Dave Hahn, RMI, made this comment today: Unfortunately, there is a somber feeling once again around the mountain. Another tragic fall occurred yesterday, killing a climber on the Lhotse Face. It isn’t our place to divulge details and I don’t wish to try to sensationalize Everest climbing by exploiting such sadness, but I’ll mention the incident in order to give proper credit to those who worked hard to make a bad situation better. Lam Babu was one of those who rushed up to the scene to render aid and who helped with the difficult job of retrieving the victim’s body which they then transported to ABC. Today,
Everest 2013: Summit Talk – Update
UPDATE: There are reports of a Sherpa with Seven Summits Treks falling down Lhotse Face between C3 and C2. This would be the 3rd Sherpa 2013 death. IMG reports “wind was really ripping up high on the mountain, case with the “freight train” on the South Col audible all the way down at Camp 2″ Early May means summit windows – or not! It looks like the Sherpas will fixed the final section from the South Col to the Summit on May 9th and 10th. A longer but still small window is forecasted for May 11/12. Expect to see the start of annual rush then. But all this can change! Historically, > Everest provides 8 to 12 weather windows where the winds are under 30 mph with little to no snow making an attempt relatively safe. With all these windows, crowds have not been a huge issue. In 2012, poor weather reduced the available windows to only four and compressed all the climbers into these windows thus magnifying the crowd issue. It remains to be seen how 2013 will develop. David Liano, using logistics from Asian Trekking, has made his plans and they are aggressive. Remember that David is trying to summit from both the south and north sides during this season – this has never been done before. He needs to get the south side completed so he can move to the north. He has already spent a night at C3 and now is planning on threading the needle of this weekend’s tiny summit window hoping to summit early morning on May 11: Since a few days ago saw a reduction in the wind for 9 and May 10. Yesterday there was a meeting at which it was decided to take advantage of this brief window to attach ropes to the top of those two days. The problem is that the 11th seemed that the wind speeds increased again extreme and I’m not willing to go along with the Sherpas and interrupt their work (see the incident of Simone Moro). Last night I first noticed that the models showed that the window would be extended a few hours until the morning of May 11 and today I confirmed all that day the winds will remain low. Everything was to try to climb to the top that day. I spoke with the head of our Sherpas, Nanga Dawa Dorjee and Steven and they confirmed he was ready to make this attempt along with Sonam Sherpa. Bottlenecks Eric Simonson, IMG, walks us through the thinking for one of the notorious bottlenecks located on the Hillary Step. This section, while short, only 40 feet or so, is a narrow crack in the rock. Usually there is only one rope used by climbers going up and down. If the Step was at 10,000 feet most Everest climbers would scurry up but at 29,000 feet combined with obstructed vision of goggles and oxygen mask; climbers have more difficulty. Eric says: Today at Base Camp the various expedition leaders had a big rope fixing meeting to discuss the strategies for above the Col. If the winds up high diminish as predicted, the tentative plan is to start on the 9th with 14 fixing sherpas heading to Camp 4. From there, half the group will continue on to fix up to the Balcony that afternoon, while the other half of the team sets up the Camp 4 and starts melting water, etc. They will spend the night at the Col, and then on the 10th, they will head up to fix the upper part of the route to the summit and then return back to Camp 2. This year we are using 10mm rope all the way to the summit which are stronger but heavier to carry. The goal will be to get double ropes on the Hillary Step and summit ridge to avoid the traffic jams that occurred last year. A number of the senior sherpas including Phunuru (IMG), Lhakpa Rita (AAI), Phurba Tashi (Himex), and others are working together to identify the places for anchoring the additional ropes. Sounds like they will try to add a descent rope to the climbers’ left of the Hillary Step, so descending climbers can rappel down the rock without having to wait for ascending climbers. Weather Watch Leaders are playing the cat and mouse game but also have some serious decisions to make as to whether to stay in BC hoping to take advantage of a weather opportunity or to relax and rest up hoping for something better later. One part of the game is sharing weather forecasts. Teams pay a significant sum to professional services and will guard the information for those who are trying to save money and not pay for forecasts. This goes on every year but there are few secrets on Everest. Tim Mosedale explains: For me this is a difficult period because folk often feel that sitting at Base Camp is wasted time. The weather doesn’t look to be bad enough for long enough to warrant dropping down the valley for a rest at lower elevations – it would be a shame to go down to be called straight back up again when the weather was looking to improve. That would amount to quite a lot of effort being expended in the name of having a rest! Tim goes on to say why he is not talking! For the time being I’ll not even divulge any thoughts about dates and potential weather windows because I would hate for folk to start getting all in tizz and excited about nothing. The other reason is that there are some expeditions watching what we and other teams are doing. Not only are they watching at Base Camp but they are tracking our blog, tweets and updates. If I mentioned potential dates, only to find that I was unable to update a change of plan because of lack of reception on the hill, then this could have far reaching consequences for
Everest 2013: The Work of Climbing
A Monday on Everest is not a lot different than a Thursday or a Saturday. If you still need to get an acclimatization climb in, you have work to do. If you are finished, then you sit back and wait for five days of good conditions for a run to the top of the world. The weather held off for Sunday as Scott Woolums, Mountain Trip, mentioned in this post: Perfect weather this morning. Our 4th day up at Camp 2. Lots of people moving below and above Camp 3 now. Always a good thing to remember, there is no hurry. Lots of people appear to be planning early summits, but there still are no fixed lines to the summit and the jet stream is coming back with very high winds in the forecast out as far as the 20th. We are hoping things come together for earlier teams as that will ease the traffic later. Were all looking forward to getting back down to base camp and lower, just a few more days up here to go! Once climbers are finished with their rotations, the Sherpas tend to take a short vacation back in their home villages. I was always amazed how they “run” down valley for an overnight or even a day trip. Tim Rippel, Peak Freaks, notes: Sherpa climbers will re for their big rest. Because our staff are all from Khumbu they can run home and catch up with their families. Check on the gardens and yaks, get caught up on house chores and visit with their families they’ve not seen for six weeks. This is an exciting time for them, this marks the half way point of the season. On Monday, the Jagged Globe team made the climb to Camp 3 in a very nice 5 hours: The climbers left Camp 2 at 0500 this morning, arriving at Camp 3 between 0930 and 1030. They report that the weather was calm and sunny and the mountain very quiet. They will spend the rest of the day in Camp 3 and sleep there tonight, before descending back down to Camp 2. A couple of items from this post: good conditions and good weather. If the Lhotse Face has too little or too much snow, it is more difficult than normal. This year, there have already been comments that the route up the Face is direct with no loose snow. As always it is icy towards the upper Camp 3 and that is confirmed this year but overall it appears to be perfect for ‘fast-ish’ climbs. That said, Dan Hughes with Jagged Globe posted a brief 1 minute video of their team while on the Face. It gives a good sense of the difficulty as you cannot understand a word he says due to his heavy breathing! The second item is the good weather. Teams had been rushing to get their Camp 3 climbs in on the south based on the fear of high winds. However, it seems they never really materialized to the degree feared. While still stiff, they were manageable. David Tait made this comment, somewhat tongue in cheek: Where are the forecast gales? It is a little early to begin berating some anonymous Swiss weather guru, but nevertheless, in the context of my goal, he skates on very thin ice. I agree on not slamming the forecasts too much. It is very difficult to predict Everest weather. Better than in the 1990’s but still like home, it is not always perfect. Unique Climber Updates An update from the Russian climbers Denis Urubko and Alexey Bolotov attempting a new route without O’s. I think Google needs to work on their Russian translation, but we get the idea: Dennis and Alex climbed the South Col. We are trying to survive) A couple of nights around 8000 meters. Alex is sick, but keeps the brand. The sunsets are incredible in a riot of colors, pragmatic chew Ryazan crackers David Liano, attempting a double summit, posted an update on his progress after sleeping at Camp 3. He laments his efforts to paraglide off the summit as well. Weather Windows In the latest update from Himex, they report all three of their climbing teams, Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse, have completed their acclimatization programs and are waiting for the summit window. Brice estimated a brief window near May 10th for the Sherpas to complete fixing the lines to the summit but word has it they did some work today, Monday Nepal time. Most teams are looking at a true summit bid near May 18th, but it is the weather forecast! North Fatality Update I had mentioned yesterday that there were three helicopter rescues from as high as Camp 2 in the Western Cwm. One of them was for a Sherpa with Asian Trekking who was hit in the back of the head by a falling rock. Even with ‘good’ conditions on the Lhotse Face, rocks still fall. He is reported to be in Kathmandu and out of danger. An update the death on the north side, Sergey Ponomarev died at Advanced Base Camp on the north side presumably of a heart attack. He was with 7 Summits Club. There is a complete report on the 7 Summits Club blog. My deep condolences to his family, friends and teammates. Climb On!AlanMemories are Everything
Everest 2013: Weekend Update May 5, Deaths and Fights
The mountain condition is not too bad this year, try the same cannot be said for the human condition. Sadly, ed this weekend’s update starts with the report of two deaths. DaRita Sherpa and a death on the north side at Advanced Base Camp. No further details are available on the north side fatality at this time but it is confirmed. This is the second death of a Sherpa this season, the first being Mingma Sherpa who slipped into crevasse in Western Cwm in early April. He was one of the Icefall Doctors. According to various reports including David Tait, this weekend’s incident occurred at Camp 3. Eric Simonson has confirmed the death of the IMG Sherpa: IMG has lost a member of our Sherpa family today. DaRita Sherpa from Phortse reportedly spent the night at Camp 3 without any problems. In the morning he was up, had breakfast, was fully dressed, boots on, preparing to descend back down to Camp 2 when he suddenly felt dizzy. He lay down in the tent and stopped breathing, and despite CPR efforts by his teammates, died. The HRA doctors at Base Camp think that this was probably either a sudden cardiac or cerebral event. His remains were evacuated by sked stretcher by the IMG Sherpa team to Camp 2, from where they were flown by helicopter to Base Camp. At Base Camp his father-in-law Dasona and brother-in-law Mingma Tsering got onboard the helicopter and flew with his remains to Phortse, where the family will do the puja for him. Da Rita was 37 years old and is survived by his wife and two children. He was an Everest summiter and veteran of many expeditions including three with IMG. The whole IMG Team is very sad today after the loss of our good friend and great teammate. Adventure Consultants commented on the death: Very sadly this morning a sherpa from another team passed away at camp 3 just before descending. We send our sincere condolences to the expedition and to his family. The rescue team did an exceptional job of lowering his body down the Lhotse face; safely and professionally. There were multiple incidents on the Lhotse Face this weekend requiring 3 helicopter rescues up to 22,000 feet. Major Rob Marshall, part of the US Air Force team posted a poignant voice update from Camp 2. They had just come down from Camp 3. My sincere condolences to the families, friends and teammates. The Big Picture The first week in May is traditionally the busiest on Everest as almost every climber is try to get their final acclimatization nights in above Base Camps. This year is no exception. In spite of a week with somewhat high winds, many, many climbers made successful climbs and spent the night at Camp 3 on the South and even to the North Col on the North side. Climbers are reporting the Ice fall continues to be in decent shape as does the Lhotse Face. There has been reasonably heavy snowfall that has prevented the loose rocks from falling onto climbers. The route to at least to the South Col, looks to be in normal conditions for Everest. Sherpas have taken coils of ropes and the anchor material all the way to the South Col in preparation for fixing the line to the summit as the weather allows. Sherpas are also working hard to ferry oxygen bottles and tents to the South Col and above the North Col in anticipation of the summit bids. Some teams are now focusing on May 18th as the first potential weather window for a summit attempt. Why Fight? This past week was one of the worst in history for Everest mountaineering not involving fatalities. Professional climbers were attacked and trusted Sherpas were put into the spotlight. After the incident, press releases were issued, interviews arranged and yet, there is no clear explanation of the root cause. The only thing everyone agrees on is that there is absolutely no excuse for violence amongst alpinist, zero. We have yet to hear directly from any of the Sherpas who were on the Lhotse Face that day or involved in the Fight at Camp 2. No substantive news has been released late this week and the climbers involved have left the area. I reached out to multiple contacts, including owners of guide companies, and everyone expressed shock at the incident. Most would like to move on. Those at Everest and Lhotse have strong feelings but for now are focused on climbing. I am positive we will hear much more once everyone gets home and update their websites, does interviews and writes books but I’m not sure the storyline will change. I will not go through what happened, the interviews and stories are out there including on my site. I have an updated list of key publications on the location page. If you interested in a slightly different perspective than the widely published versions, I suggest you read the account from Lakpa Sherpa owner of Himalayan Ascent. One question continues to emerge – what really caused the extreme violence at Camp 2? Most people understand that tempers can flare, and egos can get out of control, but what caused this incident to become so violent and what is the deeper meaning behind those feelings, if any. Many reports of the incident offered theories on this question. Even the European climbers themselves waded into this area saying it was inevitable. The view suggested is that the Sherpa people have been exploited by Westerners for years. They are used on Everest and other Himalayan mountains only for labor given their inherent ability to perform at altitude. Over the decades, as the Sherpa people gained more experience, skills in different aspects of mountaineering, language skills and business ambitions they developed a desire to keep some of the hard cash being sent to western companies. This scenario created a low boil of deep animosity between the Westerners and the Sherpa. The Sherpa people have