Wave 3 Recap
Sunday night saw the last large push of the season however, climbers still remain in position for summit bids Monday night, May 24th. There were summits on both sides in spite of variable conditions and heavy snow at time. Most of the summits occurred in very snowy and cloudy conditions. On the South AAI (17) and IMG (9) put a combined 26 climbers on top. AAI commented on the heavy snow resulting in not only difficult climbing conditions but also making radio communications challenging. This was IMG’s second group and put a total of 42 on the top of the world for 2010. From the Australian team, Brad Jackson and Sandy Hobby sumitted! well done you two! Simone Moro also summited. he used supplemental oxygen due to the difficult conditions. The elite climber explained: Only 48 hours of climb and the 22nd May I was on the summit of Everest. I planned a no oxygen climb but it had been not possible to realize it due the cold. In fact when I arrived at South col 8000 m coming from 6300 m of C2, the weather deteriorated and started to snow. After 2 hours the sky get clear but the temperature drop down. So I started after midnight to climb without oxygen but it started also my fight with the cold. At 8500 meters I lost the sensibility of my feet and hands and to avoid dramatic frostbites I decided to use oxygen for the last 300 meters. At 6:25 I arrived on the summit and enjoyed for the 4th time that moment. Probably I will go back for the fifth time to attempt a no oxygen climb but I’m happy also for this climb. I had a wonderful view from the op and realized how free and lucky I’m to enjoy this life…. An update on Chad Kellogg’s status with an interesting twist that will add fuel to his detractors: Update from the VertiCulture Editor; Sun. 5/23: Chad began his summit bid Saturday at approx. 3 a.m. For those waiting on the word, we have not directly heard from him, but received an update from Sam Bricker that Chad has returned to basecamp. A technical glitch prevented us from getting the SPOT coordinates, but we will update with this information as well as details on Chad’s ascent as soon as we can. Thanks for checking in On the North, the very proud South African team, Adventure Dynamics, summitted 6 members and 7 Sherpas including expedition leader Sean Disney, who now has a double for the entire 7 summits. Another 6 people from 7 Summits Club made it as well. Plus the Mexican climbers Yuri Contreras and Laura Gonzalez Montagna.org reports 5 north summits from Silvio Mondinelli’s team including a no O’s summit from Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner who is looking to be the 3rd woman to summit all 14 8000m mountains; Everest was her 13th. The Austrian team lead by Kari Kobler’s company put 11 climbers up made up of 4 members and 7 Sherpas to the north summit. Congratulations to all these climbers for making it in difficult conditions. Check the location chart for links to all the teams plus summit numbers. A new post will begin for the what could be the last push for 2010. Climb On! Alan
Summit Wave 3 (update 6)
update 7: Summits!! With late news, as expected, discount there are more summits Monday morning on the north. Adventure Dynamics reports 6 members and 7 Sherpas on top. 7 Summits Club put their second team up with 6 members plus an undetermined number of Sherpas, they do not list their Sherpas unfortunately. A foot of new snow was noted at the North Col making conditions difficult. update 6: Summits!! I would estimate we had at least 50 summits tonight on both sides making season total approaching 400. Still more on the north and a few on the south for tomorrow, Monday night. Specifically Monday, May 24th on the south. AAI reports 9 members and 8 Sherpas summiting around 8:00AM Nepal time. This means it took 10 hours to reach the summit from the South Col. They note: … this has been a very challenging summit day. It has been snowing heavily between Base Camp and Camp 2 for most of the night, which has drastically interfered with radio communications. Up high the Ice Ninjas had less snow but more wind. But they persevered and pulled it off. We’re really, really proud of them. IMG reported 5 members and 4 Sherpas summited as well with this report on the conditions from Eric Simonson: The weather up high on Everest has been light winds with some clouds and a few flakes. Down lower there was more snowfall overnight, but the sun is now starting to burn through. We have a group of Sherpas on their way to the Col from C2 to start carrying down the empty oxygen bottles and equipment. We’ll keep you posted on the team’s progress. Gabriel Filipi reports his summit from the north side. PS: Je suis au sommet d’Everest! PS: I am on the summit of Everest! Also AC Sherpa summitted from the south at 9:00AM Nepal time. As always check the team’s website for details and all the names. Hearty congratulation to all the climbers, regardless of their result. update #5: AAI just noted they are at the South Summit! They are pushing hard and I would assume the IMG more senior team is right there. However, it appears the conditions are getting tougher on the south side. A couple climbing under a Henry Todd permit just reported: Brandon and Kristine started their summit climb early in the morning but had to return to Camp 4 three hours into the climb due to blizzard conditions (heavy wind and snow). They will try to summit again tomorrow. If there is heavy snow, it could interfere with sat phone connections so don’t worry if you are expecting one. update #4: In spite of tough conditions, AAI and others, I assume (dangerous) are making their way to the Top of the World! AAI names each team with a ‘cute’ name, thus the Ninjas. This from AAI: Our little Base Camp community has come together in a big way to track down the Ice Ninjas. The 4 or 5 inches of snow we received last night and the clouds up through the Ice Fall have made communications a bit of an interesting project, but we have managed to get direct word from the Ninjas! They are currently at the South Summit and steadily making their way to the top!! We have certainly been juggling radios around down here; calling to other expedition base camps, relaying messages through Ang Tshering at Camp 2, and running around camp with our antennas out to find the radio reception. Ellie has an 8 battery ?super? radio that, as it turns out, seems to get optimal reception from inside her tent. I brought her a giant thermos of Sherpa Tea and she is nestled comfortably into her sleeping bag, backing up my communications here at the Base Station here in the Comms tent. It?s not uncommon for her to receive a message that doesn?t make it through to the Base Station at which point she will radio the message to me across the snowy 60 feet that separate us 🙂 Up near the summit the climbers are, perhaps, not quite as comfortable as Ellie, but they are progressing well. The sky is still cloudy up there, but the snow has stopped and it is now daylight. There is a steady wind with some stronger gusts but nothing strong enough to phase the Ninjas. The South Summit is at 28,700 feet and it generally takes a few hours from there, traversing to the Hillary Step and then onto the summit! On another note, the Altitude Junkies home team reports all members are fine and an update on their site will happen soon. They are descending to camp 2. update #3: There is progress on the north via the 7 Summits Club: At 7 a.m. local time, the second group is in the “snowy triangle”, an hour from the summit. Snow is strong, there is no wind at all. It seems that this is the first day of the monsoon. Alex Abramov. Group members: Guide Sergey Larin, Ma?gorzata Pierz-Penkala, Daniel Mizera (mother and son from Poland), Lena Gorelik (Moscow), Zdravko Dejanovic (Macedonia). Summit Climb and Adventure Dynamics are also headed up on the north but no word from them. It appears the only major teams on the south are AAI and IMG, and they have not reported any problems. There are other team wanting to summit but they do not update websites so there is no way to track them. update #2.5: Teams continue to be mixed early Monday morning on Everest on the south side. RMI has postponed their summit bid for 24 hours similar to Robert Hill. Meanwhile AAI continues to climb led by Vern Tejas. IMG’s second team is at the Balcony saying the weather is good. Dave Hahn and Leif Whittaker stated their intentions on their summit bid tonight. Hahn and Whttaker have now decided to wait 24 hours due to the snow and winds. On the north Gabriel Filipi just reported that
North Summits and South Push (update 4)
update #4: Multiple teams are reporting summits this morning in Nepal. I estimate well over 30 summits from the south, probably much more. Weather was holding as of early morning. Congratulations and well done to all. The tracking chart is updated based on available information but so please check their sites for details on their sites and a summary later here. update #3: teams at South Summit. Note: Please remember that my Everest coverage is to raise money for Alzheimer’s research. Please read my story. Please make a donation that goes 100% to research, nothing to me. Thank you. update #2. First reliable update directly from the climbers. Sounds like wind is not an issue. However, some teams have asked their slower climbers to wait for next weather window since winds are expected to pick up Monday afternoon. Also I added part of the Jagged Globe team to summit push. At this pace, look for summits from 7 to 9 AM Nepal time (see sidebar for current time) Could be a lot of people up there according to this from Jamie Clark: Above The Balcony, moving slow due to crowds. Enjoying star light, heat lightning in the distance. update #1: No solid updates from anyone attempting the summit Sunday night, now Monday morning as of 3:00 AM. By now, climbers should be above the Balcony. If winds were a big issue, we probably would have heard about by now. The next milestone will be at the South Summit where high winds, if present, usually cause teams to consider returning to the South Col. So far so good. We have new Summits! On the north, the Chinese team topped out while fixing the ropes to the summit according to Adventure Dynamics. This opens the door for all the climbers during the large summit window anticipated next week. And it looks like the South teams have begun their summit push from the South Col. Over 50 climbers and Sherpas were seen climbing the Lhotse Face on Friday and Saturday looking to take advantage of the predicted short summit window this weekend. As they began to go for their summit bids on Saturday night, the winds picked up thus postponing the effort. Now it is early evening on Everest and teams are on their way right now. Michale Fagin of everestweather.com said the conditions were good that afternoon. Note that this is a snapshot and conditions can change quickly above 8000m. Sunday May 16, 3 pm Nepal time estimated summit winds of 30 to 40 mph (48 to 64 km/hr), mostly clear. Temperatures -20 F (-29 C) This is bit high and could be uncomfortable for some climbers. There are reports of new snow on the Triangular Face which leads to the Balcony. A little new snow actually makes the climbing a bit easier as long as there is not too much. With all the traffic, a path will be worn in quickly. Patrick Hollingworth posted an informative audio dispatch from the North Col saying he took 11 hours to go from camp 3 to the South Col which is normally a 4-6 hour climb max. He had issues with his oxygen mask and cold feet. He also noted the effort to return the body of Russian climber, Serguey Duganov, who died on Lhotse last week. The routes are the same near the Yellow Band. He felt there were no summit attempts on Saturday night. His plan is to go for the summit leaving the Col 8:00 PM Sunday night. He is climbing with a small Sherpa team only from Himalayan Ascent. I like his post for many reasons but you feel his emotion in this 8 minute update. Kenton Cool of Dream Guides posted this report: All the team are now at Camp 4. We are resting on oxygen and attempting to get as much food and fluid down us as the forecast is showing that the winds will be returning shortly, so, if we are going to go for it, it’s tonight or not again for another week. It’s currently snowing which doesn’t make for great underfoot conditions on the ascent but we have a really strong sherpa team with us who will be helping me break trail (nobody has managed to summit yet this weekend so the trail is under quite a bit of snow). Wish us luck and let’s hope the next update has some good news. Jamie Clark and Scott Simper of the Hanesbrands team report planning on leaving the South Col via these tweets: Scottie, Sherpas, and I in Camp IV. Winds calmed down nicely last night. Trying for summit tonight. We will have radio darkness for a few hours, but will hear from us at The Balcony and share our Steps to the Summit. The Malta Everest team also posted they are leaving for the summit around 9 local time. During summit pushes there are long times with no communication. Climbers normally stop at the Balcony and South Summit to update their status back to base camp via radios. Then the base camps updates website if that is their process. But many will simply report a summit or a return to the South Col in the event of a turn-around. So all this is to say, no news is most often good news. On the north, we know there were teams and climbers making bids on the north the same time as the Chinese so there were probably summits from Western climbers but nothing official at this point. I assume there are summit bids on that side tonight as well. Remember there are more teams on that side than I list on the charts and many do not communicate with the world like commercial expeditions. Looking forward, the Adventure Consultants team makes this note of the next weather window: Meanwhile for the AC Team the Everest weather game continues as we try and tune into the time period for us to head up. Long term
North Col Avalanche (updated)
There was a large avalanche near the North Col on Monday, Tibet time. Before going further, remember that breaking news of accidents from Everest, especially from the north side, in almost every case is inaccurate. The early reports from multiple teams are contradictory. Some say it was a rock fall but most eyewitness are saying it was a large serac or cornice that collapsed near the fixed ropes.