A Good Start to a Busy Week
There were at least 40 summits on Monday morning, May 16th from the south side. It is still not clear if there were any from the north. The winds did pick up late Monday bringing a stop to this brief window. There were no reports of serious problems with any of the climbers at this time. After a false start on Saturday night when the winds did not cooperate, teams huddled at the South Col, some spending an extra night which is usually avoided. But Sunday night, the winds still between 40 and 50 mph at the Col, let up enough and they were off. Multiple reports came in of crowds and slow progress especially above the Balcony but no mention of high winds. However, they did comment on extreme cold this year. Most teams are reporting their climbers down to at least the South Col. With the next window estimated to start soon, teams are already leaving base camps on both sides to be in position for summits on May 22nd through the 24th. Being in Base Camp is quite exciting during a summit night and morning. Many of the Sherpas and climbers monitor radios of the other teams. Then you hear one word over the crackling radio, usually from a Sherpa, who draws out the word for at least 10 seconds “Summittttttt!” The kitchen staff begins banging pots together and word spreads throughout the 1,000 person community and ends a while later with smiles, hugs, handshakes and back slaps. Everyone is happy regardless of who made the summit. I have updated the location chart based on the available information so please click on the team to see who they listed as summiting. Of note on climbers many people were following, these summited: Carina Räihä, Kenton Cool and Bonita Norris plus Jamie Clark. Again congratulation to all of them and to the Sherpas who made it all possible. Once again, Patrick Hollingworth, brings us in with his audio quite a long time. I appreciate Patrick’s effort to share all this with us. Listening to his excitement gave me goose bumps. Well done Patrick! On the north, in case you missed it, the Chinese/Tibetans have fixed the route to the summit. Also, Jordan Romero is at ABC and looking at a summit bid this weekend as well. Looking into this week, some teams are climbing to camp 2 today where they will spend a few nights before moving to C3 for a night, then the South Col and their summit bid. However, as well know, predicting the weather is difficult at and Jamie McGuinness put it well: Anyway, after coffee our first job is checking all the weather sites and making an analysis of when might there be a summit window. We know with high certainty when it will be very windy and so have planned an attempt after that as it is far more comfortable to climb above North Col in low winds. Note that it takes us around a week from leaving Base Camp to when we actually summit, and weather forecasts are perhaps 50% accurate five days out. So conditions/forecasts could – or will – change. This is really where my skills will be tested. This past window, while narrow and a bit windy and cold, was solid and it was excellent so many people made it. This will help a bit with the crowding for the next wave. Again congratulations to all the climbers, Sherpas and leaders who made the summit yesterday. Climb On! Alan
South Teams Racing Against the Weather for Summits
The summit push is on and the south is pushing hard. Teams are at camp 3, Sherpas are at the South Col with tents and oxygen ready for the summit push. If the weather window holds, per some forecasts, teams should arrive at the South Col mid-day Saturday, Nepal time and start their summit bids later that evening, May 15th. This would have summits on Sunday morning, May 16th starting perhaps as early as 6:00Am. Of course all of this assumes the winds die down enough for them to climb. The competition continues and now is a bit ugly with feelings of deceit designed to trick the competitors. The Sky Climber team down at base camp report Carina Räihä at the South Col prepared to go for the summit anytime and Anne-Mari Hyryläinen has climbed to Camp 3.
Fins at High Camps in Race for Everest
With teams now heading higher, the race between Carina Räihä and Anne-Mari Hyryläinen to be the first Finnish woman to summit Everest is being explained fully by their support teams, Peak Freaks and Altitude Junkies. Both are viewing it as a friendly race (kind of) and this is supported when I interviewed Anne-Mari back in February. She commented then on the “race”:
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 intentions, click including the Hanesbrands team, the entire Summit Climb team is heading up. The concern is that summit winds are currently in the 80 mph range. The forecast calls for a reduction on Saturday night and then regaining strength. Climbers like to see the summit winds under 30 mph at max. With extreme winds, if something creates a delay, there is a high likelihood of frostbite, hypothermia or even death; especially on the descent. These teams are out on a long, narrow, weak limb that all the other teams are refusing to touch. Most teams are looking at a May 22nd-26th as the summit opportunity. Obviously, I wish them only safe climbing up and down. The first summit this year was on May 5th. While early, there have been other early summits according to research with 44 on May 5, 54 on May 8 and 44 on May 9 over the years by various routes. There have even been summits in February and April! Historically the majority of Everest summits have occurred between May 20th and 25th. Now the details. After weeks of posting on their blog about being careful and not taking risks including some strong comments about Lucille deBeaudrap summit in a narrow window, she has succumb not only to the call of the summit but also the competition of a race. Anne-Mari’s decision to start her summit push was made yesterday. Her goal is to be the first Finnish woman on top of Everest. Another Finnish woman, Ms Carina Räihä, has the very same goal and she started her summit push early Tuesday morning, a day ahead of Anne-Mari. Even though mountaineering should not be a race, Anne-Mari felt that she should climb higher up, at least to Camp 2, and be ready to strike should a weather window open. Today, both Anne-Mari and Carina are in Camp 2 and cannot yet climb higher due to strong winds. Carina is climbing with Peak Freaks, who already put one climber on the summit. Anne-Mari is with Sky Climbers team. Honestly, I am baffled by these attempts. As experienced guide Phil Crampton of Altitude Junkies posted today, the two premier weather forecast services both agree: We have been studying our weather reports very closely the past few days as we received some data revealing a possible small weather window on the 16th and 17th. As the two dates approached, the window seemed to close as we were not satisfied with the safety margin it offered us. The wind speeds predicted by the two premier weather forecast services used on Everest, both our US forecast and the Swiss forecast, are still predicting very dangerous high winds for another week. Robert Hill of No Guts, Know Glory team summed up the danger with this dispatch direcrtly from the south Base Camp: Several teams moved up the mountain today hoping to take advantage of a potential window from May 15th to the 17th, but accounts from camp two suggest that some camps have been decimated and attempts to move up to camp three have been thwarted by high winds. We expect the wind to diminish somewhat over the next few days – summit winds have been 100 kilometres an hour plus for the past four or five days – but not enough to offer a good window. Any teams who decide to push up the mountain are taking considerable risks, including the chance of severe frostbite. The absolute latest reports have all the teams attempting the summit on Sunday pinned down at camp 2 in howling winds with reports of destroyed tents. Let’s hope the winds abate for safe conditions for every climber this weekend. On the north, the weather continues to change plans. Bill Burke called in with a detailed reported from Advanced Base Camp. Basically, they are on hold due to weather and lack of fixed lines. He described the harsh winds and extreme cold on that side this year and then the fact that the fixed lines and from camp3 to the summit are still not fixed. Bill commented that one of their empty tents literally blew away and was never found and a laptop computer ripped from the hands of a climber standing outside his tent. Many expeditions use a mesh net to secure tents against the high winds. As a result, Bill has abandoned his plan for a double summit – a climb from the north then a climb from the south. He will focus only on a north summit around May 22nd. This is the same date young Jordan Romero is probably considering. Meanwhile, Bill’s partner, David Liano will continue with the original plan. He is looking at May 17th as a summit day when the winds will still be high, Bill said 40-64 mph. Still dangerously high. David will utilize a running belay where climbers use a rope and anchors but move it as they progress through the climb. David still may be able to utilize fixed ropes. Summit Climb reports a large team leaving base camp today: The latest talk has been about the weather, as its too windy on the summit to climb Everest now. However, we did see the larger Chinese-Tibetan team leave BC today with around 30 people in their party. That is good because they aim to fix the ropes to the summit in the next few days!!! In other updates, Alpine Ascents has listed their Sherpa who participated in fixing the ropes and making the first summits this year. To be complete, here is the entire list of these strong climbers: IMG: Nima Karma Sherpa (Phortse) Phu Tshering (Phortse) Phinjo Dorje (Pangboche)
The Realities of Everest
The north has become quite busy in spite of some difficult weather, meanwhile on the south, climber after climber has slept at camp 3 – their ticket to the summit – and are back at the lower camps.