Everest 2013: A Normal Day
For a change, Thursday was a normal day on Everest, whatever that means! Good weather allowed climbers to move among the camps accomplishing their acclimatization program objectives while Sherpas continued to ferry gear up the mountain. While at Base Camp on the Nepal side, climbers will often take a few hours to climb up to Camp 1 on Pumori. This is a good way to stay active while getting a view of Everest seldom seen. Pumori at 23,494 feet (7161 m) is the iconic pointy shaped mountain that dominates Base Camp. Expeditions previously climbed it as a training peak for Everest but in more recent years avoid going beyond Camp 1 or 2 due to extreme avalanche danger. The hike to Camp 1 takes climbers along narrow dirt trails then onto the large boulders and a bit of loose rocks aka scree before reaching the flat spots overlooking hazel blue lakes to the West and Everest to the East. The view is similar to what is seen from Kala Patar but being more northerly, provides a clear view of both sides of Everest. Climbers typically reach around 18, 300 feet or 5800 meters. The Base Camp cooks will pack a lunch of a juice carton, boiled egg and piece of bread plus an apple for the climbers. You kind of feel like a 4th Grader going to school. This spot offers amazing views of Base Camp, the Khumbu Icefall plus both sides of Everest. If you go high enough, you can easily spot the Steps on the Northeast ridge. Back at Base Camp, it is not unusual to be sprayed by an avalanche off Pumori. I have vivid memories of relaxing on the rocks like skinks only to hear the peaceful quiet broken by a loud crack, then a whoosh of noise. Looking towards Pumori, a living avalanche flowed toward us. A few minute later, we all enjoyed a nice spray mist from the remnants. Teamwork Ang Jangbu, expedition leader, IMG noted this cooperation among the teams to fix the Lhotse Face starting Friday, April 26th.: Up at Camp 2, Greg and Phunuru coordinated a meeting at our camp among the various teams that are helping do the fixing. For tomorrow we have 15 climbers heading up to start working on the Lhotse Face: IMG: Chewang Lendu + Nima Karma; AAI: Fura Kancha + Karma Serki; AC: Sange Dorje + Kami Rita; HIMEX: Ang Rita + Nima Tenzing; ASTREK: Shera Gyalzen + Pemba Tshiri; SEVEN SUMMIT: Lhakpa Nuru + Lhakpa Sherpa; JG: Pema Tshering; MIURA: Nima Nuru; PBE: Damian Benegas. Recovery Yesterday, I noted Nelson Dellis’ difficulty at altitude so I thought it was only fair to post that he is doing remarkably better today as he and the Altitude Junkies team prepare to tag the North Col. Must be the Crossfit! I felt like crap yesterday, but feel great (as great as I’m ever gonna feel at 6400 meters). Urubko and Bolotov are reported on Russianclimb to have made their final rotation before their still unknown summit route: Yesterday the duo reached 7400 and set C3 on normal route for other climbers. Then descended to BC. Today they’re going to the valley, Deboche village, for some days rest in green zone, – before the start to the main goal – newroute in alpine style on Everest SW Face. We will see many teams return to the relative comfort of the Khumbu once they compete their acclimatization programs. “Touching the grass before the summit” was coined by the late Anatoli Boukreev. Bob Kerr with Adventure Peaks has a nice update on their rotation towards the North Col. He makes a comment on the ladders that are near the base of the climb towards the Col: As we got higher up the route towards the North Col I was surprised by the number of ladders crossing crevasses. This was the first time that I have ever used horizontal or gently angled ladders to cross crevasses. I am glad that my feet are fairly large as crampons mounted on my altitude boots comfortably span the distance between two ladder rungs – this is not something that I could reasonably train for in the Scottish hills before coming out here. It was a good new experience. The ladders in the Khumbu Icefall on the South get a lot of attention but there are also multiple ladders on the North. They are back at CBC now. Other 8000 meter spring Climbs In spite of the focus on Everest each spring, there is other mountaineering activity throughout the Himalaya each year. Most expeditions are small, private or even individuals so usually there are not a lot of updates. Altitude Pakistan does a great job of covering these climbs as does the Adventure Blog along with outdoor adventure in general. Currently there are active climbs on Makalu (27,825’/8481m), Dhaulagiri (26,795’/8167m), Manaslu (26,759’/8156m) and Kanchenjunga (28,169’/8586m). Conditions vary greatly across the 8000m mountains but heavy snow has been reported stalling several efforts thus far. Finish climber, Samuli Mansikka has been active on Twitter with colorful updates on his private Makalu attempt. I climbed Alpamayo last summer with Sammy, quite the guy! Climb On!AlanMemories are Everything
Everest 2013: Restless Nights at High Camps
What a difference a day makes, discount The US Air Force team now at Camp 1 reported sunny skies over a satellite phone audio update before they lost the connection. Several teams moved up to Camps 1 and 2 or touched the North Col while others returned back to Base Camp on both sides after their initial rotations. Route Updates Billi Beirling, climbing Nuptse and also blogging for Himex, posted a long update. They have had communications issues and also “forgot” to post an update. In the newsletter she details their Lobuche acclimatization experience and has an interesting section on the Icefall. They had the eight Icefall Doctors over for tea and discussed the conditions. Also, Himex is outfitting the Doctors with avalanche transceivers as they do for all their Sherpas and members. Chhiring, who is also the base camp manager for the icefall doctors, further explained that this year the icefall was moving more quickly than in previous years. “The team has to go in more often this season as the ice is changing very fast, so the avalanche transceivers could not have come at a better time,” he said. Ang Sarti, Ang Karmi, Gyalgen, Nima Wangchu, Thupden Dorjee, Nima Dorjee, Dorjee and Chhiring joined us for a cup of tea afterwards and Francois, our Nuptse guide, recapped what they had learnt. “They have certainly understood what the transceivers are all about; now they just have to practice a bit more,” he said. Other than the avalanche transceivers, the Icefall Doctors received boots from the German boot company Lowa and outdoor clothing from the Chinese outdoor company Toread. It looks like most first time climbers are making the climb through the Icefall around 5 to 6 hours. They will get faster as their bodies acclimatize. Dave Hahn, RMI, discusses fixing the Lhotse Face: The teams have all joined forces to equip the Lhotse Face with fixed rope for the next series of acclimatization rounds. As a small team we will do our part by bringing gear up to Camp 2. If the weather holds then the ‘fixing’ will start on the 26th. That will clear the path to the South Col and then teams will begin establishing camps there. Tim Rippel, Peak Freaks, keeps us informed on work to the summit in early May. After CAMP 3 is fixed the Sherpa climbers will move up to fix the route with rope to Camp 4 and then the summit. If all goes well the summit rope should be fixed starting anytime after May 1st to 6th. This is the typical time it’s been fixed the past few years so we are on schedule and then if it’s a typical season we will get hit with weather that will ground everyone for a bit. Of course this is always dependent on weather, which has been a challenge this April. Phil Crampton, Altitude Junkies, reports the route from ABC to the North Col is “more direct than last season” making it faster. Others have commented that it is a bit steeper than usual. The Junkies’ Sherpas carried 60 bottles of oxygen to the North Col. Restless Nights More reports on the difficulties of that first night at extreme altitude. Nelson Dellis with Altitude Junkies on the North noted: Made it to Advanced Base Camp (ABC). It has been hard and we’re all struggling—the jump in altitude was significant and it’s taking its toll. I’m exhausted and have lost all my appetite. The rest of the team feels the same. We’re staying here for another night and then going up to the North Col. Then we’ll come back down to ABC for another night and try for the North Col again. I know that this is what I need to do to get to the summit in a few weeks, but I’m happy knowing that I won’t have to come up here again between now and then. The first night at altitude is tough for almost every Everest climber. Having reached camp earlier in the day, you passed the day resting, trying to recover from what was one of the most physical days of your climbing life. Knowing the temperature will drop like a rock as the sun sets, you have everything ready for darkness. The sleeping bag is laid out neatly on top of two mattress, a thin one to protect from the cold and a thicker air filled version for comfort. This one serves as a constant source of worry for fear of puncturing it by accident. You take inventory before crawling into the bag: water bottle, headlamp, snack, pee bottle – they are all there. Maybe you should put your water bottle and camera in your bag. No just the batteries. Electronics is another source of worry. No on the camera but yes on the water bottle. What to wear? Wool cap, absolutely. Taking off your softshell pants makes sense but not the down jacket. Wait, you bought this -40F bag for a reason, so go with it. Quickly you make the decisions to strip down to only long underwear, but you put on your “sleeping socks” since your toes get cold at night. No gloves, yeah, the hat for sure. Shaking your head, you have to laugh at this level of indecision. Just about then you hear a noise, flapping. Then movement. A gust of wind hits the tent. At first you think one of your teammates is playing a joke shaking the tent so hard you think it will collapse. You glance over at your tentmate, eyes connect but no words are said. Settling into your bag, you are glad you put your down jacket in a stuff sack to use as a pillow. Lying on your back you are cold. -40F? Hmm. You put your headlamp on. Maybe read for a few minutes. You can see your breath as you exhale. Holding the book above your head, your hands get cold. On with the gloves. You
Everest 2013: Teams Climbing Again
After yesterday’s huge dump of snow near Camp 1, click the trail has been broken by the Sherpas and climbers allowing movement between camps. Avalanches are being reported as the snow settles but nothing out of the ordinary For most Everest climbers, ask this is the time when they internalize the work, and fun, of climbing. Each morning, they awake not fully knowing what lies ahead that day. And when they are in the middle of the day, they are unsure of tomorrow. This uncertainty brings exhilaration and anxiety. Climbers Moving Alpine Ascents reports they moved from C1 to C2 and plan on spending two nights there on this, their first rotation. Peak Freaks returned from a night at C2 to EBC. Adventure Consultants reports sunshine at Base Camp: The sun has finally got his hat on again today, hip, hip hooray! So not only does that mean that these so called climbers can get moving up the mountain tonight, it has also given everyone a chance to catch up with well over due loads of washing. Doing laundry is a standard part of a long Everest expedition. Climbers go over to the cook tent and ask for two metal basins of water, one hot and one cold. Most climbers have remembered to bring a small amount of detergent and start washing the old fashion way. Soon camp looks like a yard with clothes hung over ropes, tents and rocks. Not a pretty sight but definitely appreciated when they get in close quarters! Himalayan Ascent has set an ambitious schedule: The rest of the team (Margaret, Warren, Chris and Peter) are preparing for the Camp 3 rotation due to start around Thursday. By the 26th, they should be one of the first teams to sleep at Camp 3. They were already one of the first to sleep at Camp 1 and 2. Everyone is feeling quite strong. Weather permitting, we hope to make the first summit window in the first week of May. Of course their ambitions are based on the progress of the fixed rope set by the Sherpas. And it is not clear what the schedule is for setting the Lhotse Face much less to the summit as of now. Route Plans Tim Rippel made this comment on the route up the Lhotse Face our team got out to look at the Lhotse Face close up. Lots of snow built up on the lower mountain but not much at all on the Lhotse Face. We’ve been watching how things were going to develop up there and make a decision on the fixing of the route to Camp 3. It’s pretty much decided now to not even bother with the route that has been used up until last season, instead the the old original route that was established years ago will be fixed as we did last year. The wind keeps blowing the new snow off the Lhotse Face so this will be the safest option once again in an attempt to avoid potential rock fall hazards. If you remember, this was a huge issue last year as the lack of snow allowed loose rock on the Lhotse Face to fall onto climbers injuring several Sherpas. The teams abandoned the traditional route somewhat right of center on the Face and established a similar path to the one used in the 1950’s far to the right towards Nuptse. This route, while longer and more circuitous, was safer and allowed climbers to reach Camp 3 without further incident. Chris Jensen Burke once again has an excellent post describing her journey to C2 and back. Full of rich details, she is quite humble in describing the challenge. It is the Blog of the Day: So, why was I angry with myself? Well, when we went to leave C1 for C2, I secured my crampons to my boots. I generally check them several times before moving. On this occasion, I was satisfied that I had them on securely but within 10 minutes, my left crampon had come loose. I was fuming at myself on the inside because securing one’s crampons is basic stuff – and if a crampon comes off and I don’t realise (yes, this can happen) or it falls down a crevasse, I create a big problem for myself. Even worse, expeditions can come to an end abruptly when you lose such an important piece of equipment. So, stop, relax, and take a breath I told myself… North Update There is solid progress on the North side with several teams at Advanced Base Camp. Phil Crampton, Altitude Junkies, gave an update on Advanced Base Camp: Yesterday the complete team arrived at advanced base camp at an elevation of 6,400-meters. The Sherpas had done a great job of erecting our heated and carpeted dining tent and kitchen as well as 18 Mountain Hardwear sleeping tents. The group had spent the evening of the 21st at intermediate base camp and we elected to spend only one evening at this campsite because of the bad water source and the fact that the yaks graze here on the way to advanced base camp. We shall spend the next two days resting in camp and then make our first rotation to the North Col hopefully on the 25th if all the team members feel like it. Our Sherpas will make a second carry to the Col tomorrow as they have already tagged the Col several days ago to rope off our campsite. At this point probably every North team is there but not all are reporting in given they usually keep their communication equipment back at Base Camp. Not everyone is having a good time, however. Javi Clayton posted his location via SPOT along with this ominous message: Resting at ABC after horrible nigh Feel tired The first nights at these higher altitudes are always rough and should improve as the body adjusts. The High-End Expedition Finally, Simone Moro posted on his site a video
Everest 2013: Snow has Teams Holding
The heavy snow has stopped most of the activity Monday on Everest. It is predicted to continue through at least Tuesday. Thigh deep snow is reported in the Western Cwm. The Adventure Consultants team posted this excellent update: After having had such perfect weather on the approach trek it is unusual to be getting shut down so early on. But this is the reality of big mountain climbing. At the end of the day our agendas are meaningless to Chomolungma. It is all about playing it as safe as possible and going with the flow. Our Sherpas descended from Camp 2 to Base Camp today and this trip took them 8 hours due to waste deep snow encountered, particularly at Camp 1. The top of many tents are now level to the snow surface. This trip down would normally take more like 3-4 hours. Given this update it is unlikely we will attempt to go anywhere tomorrow particularly as snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. But a big improvement is forecast for the 24th and 25th, thank goodness! Scott Woolums, Mountain Trip, mentioned “Last night we had some spectacular thunder and lightning! “. This is not all that unusual but creates a mental disconnect when it happens to everyone around! Even Über climber Ueli Steck said too much snow: Monday april 22. We got lots of snow the last couple days. Today the porters all returned back to base camp. The weather forecast looks like more snow this week. For us it will be a easy week. We need for sure two days sunny weather before we can move on towards the west shoulder. We have to be paciant now. But also we have plenty of time. Summit push will be not before May 20. 4 weeks left to get ready. As usual, weather proves to be challenging on Everest. The pattern for almost ten years has been a decent late April followed by a difficult early May followed by the predictable summit window in mid to late May. This year it seems to be changing day by day. For those teams descending from their rotations in the Western Cwm, they are finding the Icefall is quite active this year. Dave Hahn, RMI, made this observation on a feature they had nicknamed ‘horseshoe hotel’: We were all stunned to see that the “horseshoe hotel” had fallen. This was a massive free-standing cube of glacier which we’d been passing under with a fair amount of trepidation. It came down all at once… luckily with no one in the vicinity, and we were amazed to see that the massive chunks of debris had fallen in several directions… But they hadn’t bulldozed away the climbing route. The intervening crevasses had done their work and swallowed up a whole lot of hotel. David Mauro had a creative update on what EBC sounds like, yes sounds like. A good read: It is early morning, and we can hear snow sliding off our tent. Normally it is too cold to snow at Everest Base Camp (EBC), but a warm spell has settled in. There is bird singing from the top of a nearby rock pile. We peek outside the tent to see it. This bird looks a lot like a Robin. Aside from the big wooly yaks, there aren’t many animals around EBC, so this is special. The snow has covered all the tents scattered among the giant piles of rock and dirt here. It is very peaceful. If you are curious what an 80 year-old eats for breakfast on Everest, Japanese Yuichiro Miura posted this menu: curry, rice, okra, fried egg, natto lunch: noodle, vegetable tempura dinner: curry with pork cutlet, spinach boiled, dried radish, vegetable soup He is currently at Base Camp on the South. You may be familiar with Noel Hanna. He has completed the Marathon Des Sables, Deathvalley 135, Discovery Eco-challenges and Himalayan 100 miler and summited Everest five times. He is with the 7 Summits Club on the North and has a Blog. I have added him to the blogger list on the sidebar along with Yuichiro Miura and Carlos Pauner and Kenton Cool. I have also added Swiss Kari Kobler’s North side team to the location table. The table is for teams only, not individuals. I am glad to track any team that posts regular updates but cannot track individuals or teams who do not post regular updates. It is said a picture is worth a thousand words and the UK’s Dan Hughes has taken it literally with his updates. A man of few (or no) words, his updates are mostly pictures interspersed with a few videos. It give a good idea of the visual environment. Finally for today, Tim Rippel, Peak Freaks, makes note of a memorial service held at Base Camp for the recently d Icefall Doctors: Meanwhile back at base camp all the leaders attended a memorial service for the resent deaths of Sherpas that have worked here for a very long time and who have made great sacrifices in making climbing Everest possible for everyone. It was a very touching event put on by the SPCC, the environmental control services for parks. The leaders all left with envelopes for collecting donations for the passing of two senior ice-fall doctors who have been major contributors, Mingma Sherpa (49) the most recent who fell in a crevasse while working here on April 8th, and Ang Nima Sherpa (59) the oldest of the team who passed away in his home in Pangboche in January. It was a nicely orchestrated function. Climb On!AlanMemories are Everything
Everest 2013: Weekend Update April 21
The third week of April is traditionally when Everest climbers get serious and this year was no exception. This weekend teams are at Camps 1 and 2 on the South and Advanced Base Camp on the North. The rope fixing is going well. I’m not sure where the term “fixing” came from but it simply means attaching a thin nylon rope to the mountain side. It is used to mark the route but more critically for climbers to attach themselves and stop a fall either on a steep hillside like the Lhotse Face or into a crevasse. The rope is sometimes called the safety line and is strung from the lower camps to the summit on both sides. This has been a quiet week with low drama, just what everyone likes. The early teams made rotations to the high camps while the later arriving teams settled into Base Camp, practiced some basic climbing techniques before heading higher. Still other teams just arrived as they are on different schedules or climbing Lhotse which takes less time than Everest. The word of the conditions on the upper mountain remained somewhat mixed. Some mention dry conditions others snow packed. On Saturday, a big snowstorm moved in halting some teams as they planned to go to Camp 2 but reversed direction while others stayed in Base Camp to wait out this storm. There were two events that captured everyone’s attention this week. An avalanche off Everest’s West Shoulder onto the Western Cwm and a shift in the Khumbu Icefall taking out several ladders. In both cases, there were no injures. Events like these are somewhat common each year, still dangerous, but not too much should be read from them for the overall conditions. The Big Picture An Everest climb is divided into thirds: trek to Base Camp, acclimatization rotations and summit push, and perhaps a fourth- the return home. We are now in the early part of the acclimatization rotations. As I mentioned earlier this week, most teams like to have their climbers acclimatized as much as possible by May 1 due to the uncertainty of the weather. I created the following chart from data on research showing the sweet spot for Everest summits is between May 13th and May 22nd with 70% of the summits historically occurring during this period. This is due to low winds and light snowfall on the summit as the jet stream moves away from Everest for a short time. We will hear a lot about the jet stream over the next month. The Sherpas will most likely have the lines fixed to the summit well before this period. In 2005 the first summits were the latest in 40 years occurring on May 21. But the following year, the Sherpas took the line to the summit on May 2; so anything can happen. Based on updates reports from the Ministry of Tourism, there are slightly fewer teams on Everest this year: 2013: South team numbers revised to 29 teams, 315 foreigners granted permits 2012: South had 30 teams, 335 foreigners granted permits 2013: North has 10 teams and about 100 foreigners granted permits Climber Updates and Competition The climbers are pretty active posting updates. David Liano, attempting to summit from both sides in a single season is leaving for his Camp 2 rotation tomorrow. Melissa Arnot is “complaining” that Base Camp is too comfortable 🙂 Her blog is quite a good read and well worth visiting as she attempts to summit Everest for the 5th time, a record for women. Everest Basecamp is absurdly comfortable though. Sometimes when I’m here I feel spoiled and embarrassed by all the comforts; I have my own big dining tent, I have a cook who makes me three meals a day, I have a thick pad to sleep on and a pillow in my tent. I have friends surrounding the camp, everywhere from two to twenty minutes away. I’m not alone here and basecamp has a very certain social buzz. Manoj Vora climbing with Mountain Trip posted this update late Saturday night Nepal time: We left as planned at 2:30 am to go to camp 1. Sherpas ahead of us reported very bad traveling conditions. So, after 4 1/2 hours of climbing in the icefall, we all returned to Basecamp. Total time on our feet 7 hours. There are some shake ups happening in our team. It is with great regret that I state that if my time between camps does not improve than for my own safety and survival I may choose to abort this climb and return home in one piece. I will keep you posted. Chris Jensen Burke has a nice post along with some excellent pictures of her rotation to Camp 2: Our team moved through the Icefall quite easily, with most of the people in the Icefall being Sherpas, they were generally faster than us so it was a nice ascent. Moving through the Icefall is very physical: it requires a good amount of agility as you are weaving through buckled seracs, ice, tip toeing across ice platforms, climbing up and down ladders, and walking across wobbly ladders. You are also bending down kazillion times over many hours to pick up / put down and clip into / out of safety ropes. All with a good sized pack on your back. Physically, I find going up the Icefall easier than the down part. And David Tait, post another vivid description as he made a swift carry all the way to Camp 2. Yesterday, for the first time in my climbing career I felt intimidated but the sheer malevolent, destructive potential of this gigantic ice cathedral through which I was walking. One tiny shift in its bearing would see me crushed to liquid in microseconds. I focused, tearing my eyes from the threatening deep blue and trudged on in concert with the dawn’s early light. The professional climbers attempting new routes got ahead of everyone, as
Everest 2013: Teams on the Move
With a spell of good weather, capsule cold and dry, look teams on both sides of Everest moved to the higher camps as part of their acclimatization programs. Looks like a good decision as Saturday night, heavy snow was reported returning to Base Camp. Eric Simonson, IMG, notes that the jet stream is south of Everest thus reducing the high winds for a while. However, the jet is the primary source of the year-round high winds on the summit. A few teams are still in Base Camp or even trekking in. This is normal as it is a long season and there is plenty of time. Alpine Ascents, for example, has been at Base Camp spending a lot of time practicing skills at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall. They leave today for a five day rotation to Camp 2. Also climbers for Lhotse tend to arrive a bit later than Everest climbers. They usually require less time. So all in all Base Camp is a very busy place with people coming and going. Timing the acclimatization schedule can be tricky. Many teams finish up by May 1 after their rotation to Camp 3 on the South. Then they return to EBC or go back down to the villages in the Upper Khumbu to rest in the oxygen rich air. The traditional summit weather window starts around mid May. However, in past few years, the weather has turned bad around May 1 with snow and wind, so it is to be ready and wait than to risk being locked out. Garrett Madison, AAI, is looking to do a double 8000m climb of Everest then immediately go to Lhotse. This has become popular recently with climbers successfully knocking them off in one push: This year there will be a few climbers aiming to complete the Everest Lhotse peak to peak climb. Both International Mountain Guides and Adventure Consultants have 1 climber each (& 1 guide for AC) that are planning to attempt the peak to peak climb, and there may be a few other ambitious climbers out there as well who are planning for both 8000 meter peaks. Our team has several climbers interested but none yet committed, as of now all of our climbers and guides are solely on the Everest climbing permit. I will be following closely over the next 6 weeks to see if the climbers aiming to complete this climb are successful! Pool Table on the North With the fixed line now well above the North Col, the Sherpas are extremely busy carrying tents, and fuel to establish the high camps, specifically the most important one at the North Col. Adventure Peaks climbed to Advanced Base Camp on the North. Robert Kay, with Altitude Junkies, posted this schedule for their team: We leave for interim base camp (IBC) on the 21st, will spend a night there and then walk the rest of the way to advance base camp (ABC) the next day. The elevation jump is about 4,000′ so it is safer to do it in two days verses one the first time. We will then spend about a week at ABC doing one or two “touch and goes” to camp 1 at 23,000′ after which we return to BC for a week or so to rebuild our strength. Then, depending on the weather, we will either go for the summit or make another rotation to ABC. Seemingly comfortable to take their time the 7 Summits Club posted pictures of setting up a pool table, compete with marble slates, to their Base Camp. Remember, you can drive to the Chinese Base Camp, but still this has to be the first time for a pool table. Trash A common point of discussion is the trash left on Everest by the climbers. Asian Trekking has had a cash for trash program for many years to bring down used oxygen bottles and other trash primarily left by expeditions many, many years ago. Today, most expeditions work hard to practice clean climbing. Part of every Nepalese team permit is a $14,000 trash deposit. Tim Rippel notes how they manage human waste: Our human waste is collected in biodegradable individual bags from C2 on up, we highly discourage human waste anywhere on the mountain and have been promoting this responsibility to other teams for years. They eventually got on board and tried all kinds of procedures to try and find something better but the biodegradable kitchen bags are the trick. No chemicals, no plastic to burn and proven to start to break down in less than 10 days. They can be bought at Walmart, a bag of 40 for $3.99. Pretty simple… So while the south side is pretty good, the North needs a huge amount of work. Boston The echoes from the Boston Marathon attack and subsequent events continues to impact some climbers. Mike Chambers, from Boston made this post: After a beautiful climb of Lobuche we returned to Everest Base Camp on Tuesday to disappointing news about the Boston Marathon. It’s difficult to get news up here and impossible to distinguish between rumor and fact but painfully we put the pieces together. Being the only person from the Boston area I think it hit me harder than most and I was crippled with a sense of longing.. Longing for my family, my beautiful fiancé, my dogs, my college friends, everything that I think of when I hear of Boston. Making matters worse was the fact that we’ve had a considerable amount of downtime over the past few days; time for the mind to wander. Why is it that it takes an incident like this for us to be reminded of the important things in life? For the past few days my mind has been thousands of miles away from Mt. Everest in a cozy family room 45 minutes south of Boston. But it can’t stay there; tomorrow we leave Base Camp for our first rotation on Everest and now it’s
Everest 2013: Climbing to Camp 1
The Khumbu Icefall was busy with several teams making the sojourn from Base Camp to Camp 1 for their first rotation. A couple of teams are at Camp 2. Delayed for a day after a few ladders were eaten by the ice, climbers awoke at 4:00AM and made the first significant move of an Everest expedition. The big picture is that climbers on both sides are just starting their initial climbs to camps above Base Camps in order to begin the serious acclimatization process. Most climbers will do three or four total rotations lasting into early May depending on the weather. Check the location table to see where the teams are based on their latest public reports. Communications seems to be an issue on the South side this year with multiple complaints about 3G coverage, Internet access and the like. Oddly, comms from the north appear better than in the past. I know I sound like an old fart, but I remember when we sent postcards from Base Camp 🙂 On the north side, the fixed lines are now reported by Altitude Junkies to be set to Camp 2. This is very encouraging because the past few years, teams have been frustrated by the slow pace of setting up the fixed line. That said, there is still a long way to go to the summit proper. Phil Crampton says Not much other news to report on except that the word around base camp is that the Tibetan Guides from the Tibet Guide School in Lhasa have already fixed ropes to high camp two at 7,900 meters. We hope that this news is correct and that they can continue with their fast progress and get the ropes fixed to camp three at 8,300-meters in the next several days if the weather allows. David Tait, with Himex, has set the tone for his climb this year. After feeling very strong and extremely confident while on Lobuche, he wants to go with the Sherpas when they fix the line to the summit. He did this in 2009 and felt it was an incredible experience. See my interview with him about 2013. Climbing to raise money for the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, he has already raised over USD$300,000 this year alone. By the time I had reached Lobouche BC at 9am, I had made up my mind to ask Russ Brice, the expedition leader, if I could substitute my 2-night Lobouche Peak stay for a return to Everest BC and a couple of trips, perhaps carrying small loads, though the Khumbu Ice-Fall. The whole Lobouche experience is an effort to avoid the dangers of the Icefall, so my request appeared at first counter-intuitive. However, my desire is to be allowed/asked, when the time comes, to climb with the “rope-fixing Sherpas” [who set the first lines on the mountain], and I felt that having negotiated the Icefall at such an early stage as this, whilst everyone else is languishing on Lobouche will have put me in a strong position. Speaking of climbing fast, Chad Kellogg is returning this year for yet another speed attempt. He attempted to set a speed record last year but stopped just above the South Col. He will be climbing alone, without supplemental oxygen but will take water from teams at camps along the way and have a Sherpa trailing him with emergency oxygen should trouble develop, like last year. He currently at Base Camp. Elite climbers, Simone Moro and Ueli Steck, share on an EpicTV video their plans to go all the way to the South Col during their no O’s acclimatization program. Sometimes, the legend around Sherpas lead people to believe they can do anything. David Mauro gives us this insight as he discusses a punctured air mattress with his Personal Sherpa Mingma: I drug my miserable air mattress out of the tent and examined it’s wound. Mingma, ever attentive, came over to wish me a good morning. I told him the story of what had happened to the mattress, leaving out my expletive. He studied the hole. He studied the mattress. Mingma’s passive facial expression is one of quiet wisdom. I imagined he was about to share some time tested Sherpa anecdote that spoke to such circumstances in life’s condition. Then he looked up at me and said “S#&t.” Climbing to Camp 1 For many everest climbers, the Icefall represents a huge event and becomes a defining moment in their climb. The first step into the Icefall, is other-worldly. Yes, you took the practice run a few days earlier, but this time it is for real. Getting up at 4:00AM, you tried to eat the toast and eggs, washed down with coffee, but honestly your throat was too tight. Now you are making your way up what a lot of people term the most dangerous part of climbing Everest. A fair characterization except for everything above the Khumbu Icefall. Your headlamp lights up the area just in front of your boots but as the sun is rising there is just enough ambient light so the headlamp is really a placebo. After only ten minutes, you find yourself breathing like you had just run the fastest mile in history. What is wrong? You had trained for months, years and now you are crashing on your first real test. About now you hear voices behind you, a Sherpa train. You step aside as four Sherpas, each with a pack overflowing with pads, oxygen bottles, white sacks holding who know what goes by. They seem to be running, and talking, and laughing. They are having a great time. You are struggling to stand still. Back clipped into the fixed rope, you continue to climb. All of a sudden you find your rhythm, you get your cadence, your pace, your style. Your breathing calms down. For the first time you look around. Ice, nothing but ice. The boot track is clear ahead, the white nylon
Everest 2013: Icefall Collapse Delays Rotations, New Route Update
When climbing Everest, there is a lot of ready, set, wait. That is what happened on Wednesday. Several teams were up at 4:00AM preparing to climb through the Khumbu Icefall for their first rotation to Camps 1 and 2 when they saw headlamps coming down, not going up. The Adventure Consultants team first reported it as : Last night the ice fall growled and rumbled. Our sherpa team who were carrying loads through, found some ladders collapsed in an area known as the pop corn. This resulted in them leaving their loads and returning to base in order to give the ice fall doctors time to refix the lines and ladders. This is the reality of moving through this dangerous area. This morning saw the team back at the ice fall training station, further honing their skills in order to be able to move efficiently and swiftly through the ice fall when the time comes for their first trip. Dave Hahn, RMI, described it this way: We were all keyed up and ready to climb last night. Dinner was eaten with a sense of purpose, figuring we’d burn thousands of calories going up the Khumbu Icefall and living at Camp One. Each climber turned in carefully, arranging every piece of gear just so for a cold pre-dawn start. And we were up at 4 AM getting boots tied and helmets on when the word came down of a collapse in the middle of the Icefall. We could then see the parade of Sherpa headlights in the lower half of the Icefall… all going the wrong way. Down. Chherring and Gyalgen from our own team had radioed down to say that the route was impassible and that the midsection of the climb would need special attention -new ladders and fixed rope- from the Icefall Doctors. The coffee was hot and our pre-climb breakfast of boiled eggs and porridge was on, so we sat down together anyway and tried to get used to the idea that we weren’t going up. No great physical and mental test to pass after all. Until tomorrow. Peak Freaks also had a false start and will attempt to go to Camp 1 Thursday. This is not unusual. Remember the Icefall can move up to a meter a day, three feet. The ladders are basically propped across the crevasses, albeit anchored with pickets and ice screws. However, when there is a large shift, or a serac collapses, it can easily take out one or more ladders and cover the fixed line in the process. The Icefall Doctors quickly climb to the spot with new rope and ladders and put everything back in place. Often it requires finding a new route that might be safer. This is the danger you often hear about in the Icefall; a shift occurs injuring a climber. Thankfully this collapse occurred in the early morning hours and no climber was injured. What is interesting is that teams normally climb in the early morning hours when there is no direct sunlight on the Icefall and temperatures are the coldest, the theory being that this is when the ice is the most stable. Acclimatization Philosophy We are now seeing how different teams approach acclimatizing. Berg, Himalayan Ascent and others are taking the traditional approach of spending nights at Camp 1, maybe tagging Camp 2 before returning to Base Camp. But Mountain Trip is going to spend five nights at Camp 2 on their first rotation. IMG, Himex and others have spent time on the 20,000 foot peak, Lobuche to acclimatize. Alpenglow is on Island Peak. A lot of these different approaches come down to avoiding time in the Icefall. That said, the Sherpas still spend more time than anyone in this dangerous area. The major difference being they can climb incredibly faster than most Westerners thus reducing their time in the Icefall and the exposure to the danger a bit. Preparing the Route Preparing the route on the upper mountain is a huge task. There are thousands of feet of nylon line, hundreds of anchors and carabiners. Eric Simonson, IMG, describes the task: the IMG crew has been working to prepare the rope and rope-fixing equipment. To keep the 9+ kilometers of rope from getting miserably kinked during deployment, an axle is placed through the rope spools so they can turn, allowing the rope to be pulled off the spool and stacked directly into rice bags. The team has also painted 100 ice screws and 100 locking carabiners to identify them. When it comes time to fix the Lhotse Face, the rope will pull out of the rice bags with no twisting, and the screws and ‘biners will be used for anchors. North Over on the North, preparations continue for their first rotation to Advanced Base Camp. On the first sorte, they will spend a night at an interim camp between BC and ABC. New Routes While almost everyone waits for the route to be fixed and lines to be set, the elite climbers attempting new routes are pushing hard and fast without support of fixed lines, supplemental oxygen or Sherpas, other than ladders in the Icefall. Russian Climb reports this from Denis Urubko and Alexey Bolotov who have already climbed to Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face (translation via Google): … Yesterday climbed to Camp 3 on the Lhotse slope. Ponavyazali pieces of old railing. Spent the night at an altitude of 7000m, this morning piled up in the Base. During the second camp saw Simone with Uli they went to the side of the West Ridge of Everest. Icefall in a very bad condition (unfortunately. Today saw the recent collapses. Sherpas never went anywhere, dozens of dumped goods on the trail. Probably be glad when they find a new way for the Khumbu. “ … Yesterday we went to the Camp 3 on the Lhotse slopes; tied in ends of the old fixed ropes. We’ve spent a night at 7,000 m, and this
Everest 2013: Yearning for Home
One of the most difficult parts of a long expedition is being away from home when something important occurs. The attack at the Boston Marathon yesterday is in that category. Typically one climber hears about an event during a phone call, medical or email from home. The news spreads quickly. If the event happened in their hometown, the anxiety is overwhelming. They want to be there for their family, to give and receive comfort. But they are on a mountain. Feelings of guilt are common, but it is difficult to just pick up and leave, so they continue. Today, climbers continue to get ready to begin their first rotations to the upper mountain. This will continue all week. A few teams are already starting, so a mixed bag of activity to report on with this post. Home away from Home in Tibet Just like everyone has a favorite restaurant that serves the “” food, climbers also become fans of their teams. Most major operators provide a large three person tent for each climber. This allows room to spread out and for some personal space as well. There is always a large group dining tent with a long table, tablecloth and folding chairs; and a heater. And usually some kind of other group tent, again with chairs, sometimes a sofa (inflatable) and perhaps a video screen for watching movies. Even though this may sound luxurious, it has become a way for operators to separate themselves from one another. Edita Nichols does a nice job of describing her setup at the Altitude Junkies Base Camp in Tibet. I must admit, it sounds nice with large individual tents: To avoid clutter in the tent, Phil erected a storage tent where we can keep all gear and items we don’t need right away in that tent. I made my tent as spacy as possible. I already like it and spent a bit of time getting away from everybody and enjoying time with myself. Our lifes are so busy back at home, so I am taking this opportunity to just be with myself, listening to the wind outside and contemplating Chomolungma right in front of me…. Nelson Dellis piles on with more praise for the Altitude Junkies camp and an observation on seeing Everest from the north side: … there was the mountain in all of its glory. The first thing I said out loud when I saw it was “Holy crap, it looks bigger than I expected!” Seriously, it looks monstrous – bigger than in any photo I’ve ever seen. We’ve got 2 recreation domes with recliners in them – 1 for chatting and one for reading/resting. Then there are a number of big tents: 1 for dining, 1 for Sherpa dining, 1 for cooking, 1 for Sherpa Cooking, Storage tent, then a female bathroom and a male bathroom (equiped with a pretty comfy toilet seat and propane heated shower). Luxury at it’s absolute finest. Looking around at the other camps, it looks like we have it pretty darn good. I had my first night’s sleep here and it was pretty decent. Phil has all our tents lined with foam carpeting and that really seems to keep the temperature inside the tent at night pretty toasty The Junkies team will be acclimatizing at Chinese Base Camp until the weekend and then head towards Advanced Base Camp. Not to be left out, Bob Kerr with Adventure Peaks took a field trip and reported on doing some caving: We descended from Base Camp to a small monastery 3.3 km away. At this monastery the lama performs the rituals and last rights of monks that have passed away, including for the nearby Rombuk monastery. He showed us the underground area where the ceremony is performed. Just above the Everest rock at N 28.16451º E 086.84613º (5,076m) there is a cave system. When the Chinese invaded Tibet most of the monks at the Rombuk monastery fled, leaving a few brave monks behind, and the monks hid out in this cave system for a period of time. These monks later returned to the Rombuk monastery. We were priveleged to be taken through this cave system. I’ve not heard of any other Everest expeditions ever visiting these caves. It was a dry cave with plenty of crawling along the ground, maneouvering oneself to go down holes and scramble up sections. Throughout the cave there were signs of the holyness of the place. It was great fun caving here, but you certainly felt the altitude during the time in the cave. The cave was cold and it must have been a challenging time for the monks when they were hiding from the Chinese. Going Higher in Nepal On the South side, most teams remain in adjustment mode taking time to run through a training course set up in the bumps at the foot of the Khumbu Glacier. They will practice crossing ladders, using their jumars and clipping efficiently on and off the fixed rope around anchors. The US Air Force team has a nice picture on their blog of the training. IMG reports that their Sherpas are doing huge carries to establish a comfortable Camp 2 in the Western Cwm” The IMG sherpas did another big push today to Camp 2, carrying 29 more loads up there. Also today, we sent Camp 2 cooks Pema, Tashi, and Thile Bhote, along with Phunuru and 11 sherpas to Camp 2 to start setting up four big kitchen and dining tents and many smaller sleeping tents. Their plan is to work on Camp 2 for a couple days, then drop down and set up Camp 1 tents in preparation for our members. Most teams will have a smaller version of Base Camp at Camp 2 on the South and Advanced Base Camp on the North. Tents will be shared but there will be a dining tent and cooking tent. It is amazing to think about this at altitudes above 21,000 feet. I like
Everest 2013: Avalanche into the Western Cwm
An avalanche was reported off Everest’s West Shoulder onto the Western Cwm by Chris Jensen Burke climbing with Himalayan Ascent. No injuries were reported. Chris’ post is a nice recap of her climb to C1 and tagging C2. It is the Blog of the Day. The west ridge of Everest avalanched about 2 hours or so ago sweeping right across the Western Cwm to the Nuptse side between C1 and C2. We are relieved to say that reports indicate that there are NO casualties. Warren and Margaret and our Sherpa team had already left C1 to descend just before the avalanche and are on their way down through the Khumbu Icefall back to EBC – we should see them back here within a couple of hours. This is somewhat normal as avalanches have occurred in this area multiple times over the previous years. In 2010 an avalanche actually hit Camp 1, destroying many tents and causing some injuries. Camp 1 was moved further away from Everest and more towards Nuptse as a result. Last year, > a small avalanche hit Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face again destroying tents. It was very fortunate that few people were there at the time or it could have been much, much worse. Avalanches are common off the Pass above Base Camp often hitting Base Camp with the wind and debris blast. The real concern at this point for the climbers is the amount of snow deposited on Everest this winter. There have been consistent reports of new snow and heavy winds since the Sherpas have arrived in late March. It will be interesting to see the condition of the Lhotse Face given the high winds which in 2012 swept away all the snow leaving a layer of hard ice and exposed rock. But it is still very early in the season so a lot can change. Chris also reported visiting with Ueli Steck and having helicopters flying overhead filming them. Steck and Simon Moro report spending the night at Camp 2 in the Western Cwm as part of their acclimatization process. They still have not announced their precise plans for a new route on the SW Face. Going to Camp 2 is a normal part of climb from the Nepal side. Many teams are having their Puja and reviewing some basic skills before preparing for their first rotation. It is common for everyone to go through a dress rehearsal with their 8000m boots, crampons and harness rigged for glacier travel at Base Camp before going into the Icefall for the real deal. Nature Calling OK, a common question is how do people go to the bathroom on Everest. Well, for inquiring minds, Chris gives us a woman’s perspective: They were, however, situated a hygienic distance from our sleeping quarters and getting to them was a bit of a palaver. As one climber quipped “We’ll have to repel to the bathroom!”. And when the distance and tricky terrain were combined with darkness and frigid temperatures only the hardiest soul would be game to visit them at night. The IMG kit list accordingly recommended bringing a pee bottle. But how are we women to get the pee into the bottle without the advantage of inbuilt apparatus, so to speak? Enter the pee funnel… Working Together The team leaders had their first meeting at EBC according to RMI’s Dave Hahn: At three I went to the first meeting of team leaders. It was something of a reunion since everybody there was an Everest repeat offender. We tried to hammer out a few details about radio frequencies and placements for rescue gear, among other things. They will meet several times throughout April and May. One of the reasons Everest works, is the cooperation of the independent commercial teams. I have witnessed this work many times listening to radio exchanges between the leaders working on rope fixing, carries, and rescues. When a tragedy occurs on Everest, there are no teams but a unified community that comes together. Potpourri Phil Crampton, of Altitude Junkies, posted a nice update on their Base Camp on the Tibet side along with good pictures. It is very, very different than the Nepal Base Camp located on the moving ice of the Khumbu Glacier. Bob Kerr, climbing on the north with Adventure Peaks talked about their early days at Base Camp and shared some of the dangers of climbing Everest off the mountain: I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blogs that one of our group got mauled by a dog in Thingri during our last night there. Thankfully its teeth did not puncture her skin and she did not need to abandon the expedition and return to Kathmandu. She is gradually feeling better and was strong on the hill today. Tim Mosedale’s team is taking the long way around to EBC, not a bad thing for acclimatization and to see some different valleys. He posted this today: Just a quick update … we arrived Dingboche (4,400m) yesterday and are now having a nice day resting, washing, showering and generally chilling. Watched Monty Python & The Holy Grail last night which is being requoted and re enacted today with much hilarity. Over the years, it has become very common to bring a lot of DVDs to play on laptops. It helps to pass the time during downtimes and gives everyone something to talk about! One year, someone brought all the seasons of Lost and it provided daily entertainment for a month! Climb On!AlanMemories are Everything