Everest 2012: A Matter of Perspective
It may be Friday the 13 but that is not all bad around the world, here especially if you are at Everest Base Camp! Lot’s of good posts today as the climbers get their comms systems running and batteries recharged, cheap literally and figuratively. Today is first day of the new year in the Tibetan […]
Everest 2012: Oxygen Issues, EBC is Ready
Kind of a quiet day today as most teams are in the upper Khumbu and perhaps a few have arrived at Everest Base Camp on the south (Nepal). It is not surprising that they have not updated their sites. Arriving at EBC is a busy time so perhaps a quick call home is all that […]
Everest 2012: Annapurna Circuit, Lobuche and More
Teams continue to make the march towards Everest Base Camp on the South, while there is the usual dearth of news from the North. I have learned over the years that North side teams have much more difficulty in updating their sites due to a variety of issues so in their case, no news is […]
Everest 2012: Climbers in Kathmandu
More and more teams are now in Kathmandu preparing to catch their flights to Lukla or Lhasa. Anyone who has followed me or been there themselves know that Kathmandu is a meaningful part of any Everest experience. Ian Ridley captured it well on his blog: Driving through the streets of Kathmandu is one of those […]
Everest 2012 Weekend Update March 25
The Everest 2012 Season is officially underway with climbers now in Kathmandu and some already trekking towards Everest Base camp on the South. The North will remain quiet for a couple more weeks as the Chinese had previously stated that no climbers can enter Tibet until April 1st. In additional to frequents posts as news […]
Injuries on Everest
The last summit window was heralded as a great success by many teams. However it was not without incidents and many were not reported. EverestER, the base camp medical facility on the south posted a very revealing report on this summit window. And there are other reports on both sides from this season. First from […]
Good Weather Reported for the Summit Push! (update 2)
update 2: 50+ climbers to South Col on Sat May 15, few, if any, went for summit as winds picked up. Look for big Sun night, Nepal time with summits Mon morning assuming weather holds. Next big window now May 24(?). update: as we approach midnight Saturday at the South Col, some teams are delaying […]
A Race to the Summit
The lure of Everest’s summit has taken on new dimensions and is spreading throughout the south base camp. First up, we have an old-fashion foot race on Everest. Two Finish women are literally racing to claim bragging rights to being the first Finish woman to summit Everest. Then in addition to the previously announced summit […]
Inside the Climber’s Minds
With teams mostly enjoying the comforts and electricity of low villages or base camps, the blogs are full of rich details about their recent acclimatization climbs. As I have said so many times, I deeply appreciate it when a climber takes the time, and sometimes risk, to describe what is happening on the mountain. Not so much for the mountaineering details but for the insight into the human experience of climbing Everest. Thanks to you all. But first some mountaineering status.
Everest 2010 Weekend Update May 9 (updated)
This was a busy week on Everest with the first summits for the 2010 season along with a risky gamble. And several accidents and, sadly, a reported death on nearby Lhotse. A team of nine Sherpas fixed the ropes to the summit on the south side. They included Sherpas from IMG, Alpine Ascents and Himex. One western guide who was doing route work high on the mountain also joined them to the summit. Over on the north, it is an entirely different story. According to teams, the ropes are currently fixed only to camp 3 or about 27,300′, far short of the summit and thus stopping most summit attempts. The weather has been difficult this year. As usual, the north receives more snow and wind than the south and increases the difficultly of climbing on that side. It appears no summits attempts until May 11th when the winds could begin to ease but more likely it will be a few days later than that.