Podcast with Jost Kobusch’s Winter 2023/24 Everest West Ridge Attempt
I caught up with German Alpinist Jost Kobusch, who now lives in Chamonix, France, to discuss his upcoming 2023/24 winter, no O’s, solo attempt of Everest’s West Ridge. No climber has reached the summit using this route and precise style. He will begin climbing on December 22, 2023, the beginning of the astronomical calendar winter. He will complete his climb no later than February 28, 2024. #everest2023 #everest2024
Podcast: How Much Does it Cost to Climb Mount Everest? – 2022 Edition
This is the Podcast version of my annual post of “How Much Does it Cost to Climb Mount Everest?” Prices have risen on both sides, and there is price parity on the Tibet and Nepal sides. Also, I look at some of the most expensive options – it’s shocking!
Video Interview with Rebecca ‘Becks’ Ferry: Six 8000ers in Six Months
I caught up with British climber Rebecca ‘Becks’ Ferry to discuss her amazing 2021 climbs on six 8000-meter mountains. This British mother of five children ages 12 to 18 had limited high altitude experience, with summits on Island Peak and Ama Dablam, but deep inside, she wanted to try the hard ones saying, let’s begin with K2!
Video Interview with Jon Gupta: 7 Himalayan Climbs in 2021
I caught up with British climbing Guide, Jon Gupta of Mountain Expeditions to discuss his amazing 2021 where he guided mostly one client, fellow Brit Rebecca ‘Becks’ Ferry on six 8000-meter mountains. He also climbed a 7000er with a friend and is now on Ama Dablam. Overall he climbed (the time the discussion starts in the video)
Everest (Summit) at 19:50
Lhotse (Summit) at 22:00
Makalu (reached 7500m)
K2 (Summit) at 25:05
Pobeda (reached 7200m)
Manaslu (Fore Summit ~8160m) at 40:00
Dhaulagiri (reached 7817m) at 36.09
Ama Dablam – TBD
Video Interview with The First All Black American Team to Attempt Everest in 2022
It was an honor to do this video interview with three of the nine members, seven male, and two female, of the Full Circle Everest team. They hope to make history as the first Black climbing team to attempt to summit Everest. As of late 2021, there have been 10,184 summits but only eight Black climbers have stood on the top. I spoke today with Phil, Rosemary, and Dom about the expedition. We discussed their “why”, who they are trying to reach and of course, all things Everest including their acclimatization and training efforts.
Video Interview with Jost Kobusch’s Winter 2021/22 Everest West Ridge Attempt
I caught up with German Alpinist Jost Kobuschh, who now lives in Chamonix, France to discuss his upcoming 2021/22 winter, no O’s, solo attempt of Everest’s West Ridge. This exact style and the route had never been attempted.
Three Questions for Jost Kobuschh’s Winter Everest West Ridge Attempt
I caught up with Jost Kobuschh and congratulated him on a fine effort. In review, he was attempting a winter, solo Everest climb on the rarely attempted West Ridge without supplemental oxygen and no Sherpa support. This exact style and the route had never been attempted or accomplished. The German alpinist tagged his high point at 7,329-meters/23,750-feet. He said before starting the expedition, he would be pleased to tag 8,000-meters so he got close. Well done by any measure. I asked him three questions and he generously replied: 1. Overall, how are you feeling – physically and emotionally? Emotionally its this time where you realize that the project is over for now and that there will be something else guiding your life – its a bit of relief from the suffering but also a kind of grief about it being over. Physically I went for a trail run yesterday morning and it just feels amazing to go back to training but my ankle is still stiff and I do physiotherapy right now – my stomach issues haven’t disappeared and i will have further investigation on that as soon as I’m back to germany 2. What was the biggest surprise on Everest? The huge variation of weather patterns that occur and the temperate differences during the season – there have been days where we literally had flowing rivers in the basecamp – climate change? 3. What would you do differently on your next attempt? That remains my secret so far – I’m afraid with all I’ve learned just anybody could complete my project hahahaha And he added: For me Alpinism is about exploration – being curios and to enhance the personal map of the world – that’s what I came for and I’m really happy that I can live mountaineering based on my personal values the way I do – I’m just really grateful for the beautiful experiences I’ve made You can see his route on this excellent map from 3D Reality Maps. I am very pleased that young climbers like Jost are pushing the envelope. using their imagination and showing good judgment of when to turn back. He exemplifies the characteristics that will keep alpinist challenged for the next generation. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
Update on Coronavirus Impact on 2020 Spring Everest Season
Follow Virtual Everest 2020 – Support the Climbing Sherpas starting April 2, 2020 I’ve been speaking with foreign and Nepali operators, plus Nepali officials, about the impact of the Coronavirus on the Everest season. Bottom line is that there are already cancellations but it appears as of this writing the Tibet side will remain open. Officials tell me they expect the number of climbers to be cut in half on both sides. Nepal issued 382 permits in 2019, but for 2020 less than 250 are now expected. And only 50 on the Tibet side. This does not include support which is about the same as the number of permits issued. Many Chinese climbers plus those from Japan and Korea have already canceled their climbs on the Nepal side. I’m told several operators are switching from Tibet to the Nepal side and a few are considering canceling altogether. Meanwhile, other operators are doing business as usual. This update from IMG’s Greg Vernovage: We received an update overnight from Ang Jangbu in Kathmandu about the first Expedition Operators Association (EOA) meeting of the season. The local representatives of over 25 expedition teams gathered to review the details for rope fixing in preparation for the upcoming Everest/Lhotse season. Currently the plan will involve 8 dedicated rope fixing Sherpa from Camp 2 to the Summit, in addition to the “Icefall Doctors” (employed by SPCC) who will be working on the route from EBC to Camp 2. The tentative plan is for the rope fixing team to reach the South Col by the end of April and fix to the summit during the first week of May, weather and conditions permitting. There are many factors that go into the fixing of Mount Everest, and we will be looking forward to getting updates as the season moves forward. The EOA has ordered the rope fixing gear and will be organizing the helicopter flight to Camp 2 with the gear, under permit from the Department of Tourism (DoT). Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering tells me they are planning for a normal season as does Furtenbach Adventures and Alpenglow. These companies primarily cater to US, South America, and European clients and say they haven’t had any cancellations. The Docs at EverestEr are concerned about the impact and “differentiating between the common Khumbu cough and Coronavirus.” A report in the Himalayan Times said China planned to close the Tibet side, but in speaking with major operators, they said there might be a one-week delay but are currently told China will keep their side open. Of course, that could change. There were 876 total summits by all climbers and support on all routes in 2019, and I expect about half that for 2020. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
Everest and K2 Winter Climbs Update
The winter Everest summit team is taking the normal spring schedule for their summit bid as they have good weather at the moment but it is deteriorating slightly. The Polish K2 team is resting at base camp. See this post for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth. Both expeditions need to summit no later than the spring equinox on March 20, 2018, at 0:15 PKT for K2 and 18:00 NPT for Everest to meet a winter summit definition. Big Picture OK, now that the Everest team is on their summit push and the K2 team may start soon, it all comes down to weather. Many websites and media reports are using computer generated forecasts from Mountain Forecast and Meteoexploration but how accurate are these online resources? In my experience as a climber, the daily weather forecasts can vary widely from what really happens on the mountain. One phenomenon is the occurrence of micro bands. This is where only a narrow section of altitude is hit with strong winds while the other levels are calm. I got hit on Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face in 2011 by one of these. Camp 2 and the South Col reported somewhat lite weather, while we were inside our tent, holding it up with our hands to keep it from blowing away. The storm lasted for 12 hours then disappeared as quickly as it arrived. In previous years of covering Everest, I asked Michael Fagin of everestweather.com his opinion of these types of forecasts. Michael has provide professional weather forecasts for Everest expeditions for over a decade. Q: Some forecasts are posted on the web, the so called grid forecasts. What are these and who accurate are they? These grid forecasts take what the weather conditions will be for an exact latitude longitude coordinate. So the grid forecast will give you the exact wind speed for the coordinates for Everest. I have found that the problem with these forecasts is if the forecast is off say 200 miles or so that this can make for an extremely inaccurate forecast. For example. Let us say that the grid forecasts says Everest summit winds will be 30 knots and the grid forecasts 70 knot winds several hundred miles to the north of Everest. It is not uncommon for the actual forecast to be off by several hundred miles and the real time winds can easily be at 70 knots over Everest. So the forecast of 30 knot wind over Everest vs. real time winds of 70 knots is a big problem. Thus, it is important to get some weather professional analyzing the forecast models and explaining to expedition groups what can happen Today, I asked Chris Tomer who also provides forecast for climbers through Tomer Weather Solutions what he sees for Everest right now: The big drop in summit wind is still there SAT AM and again SUN AM. But it’s bookended by strong jet stream wind FRI and MON. The summit air temp of -35F on SAT AM. I noted in a recent interview with K2 expedition leader Krzysztof Wielicki, that he is getting several forecasts. I assume one of those is from a professional service and has human interpretation. The same for Txikon and crew. Winter K2 – Resting The entire Polish team is back at base camp resting. Denis Urubko posted a nice video of he and Adam climbing the Black Pyramid and in some of the upper Camps. Note melting water, this becomes one of the most critical parts of climbing a big mountain and takes a long time at these altitudes. You can follow them directly on their website, Facebook, and SPOT tracker Winter Everest – Summit Bid Underway – At C2 Alex Txikon, Muhammad Ali Sadpara and team are now at Camp 2, 6500m/21,325′, targeting a weekend summit date. They took a rest day today 22 Feb and will move up the Lhotse Face to Camp 3 on the 23 where they will spend the night. Next is to the South Col to sleep for a few hours then go for the summit, hoping to top out around dawn on Sunday, 25 February. Of course this schedule can change due to weather, snow conditions, health, etc. High winds are expected back on the summit on Sunday night. It is clear that Alex will not be using supplemental oxygen, that is the point of this winter attempt. I understand the Sherpas will be on O’s to serve as a safety net. It’s unclear if Sadpara will use O’s. You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Traditional Elevations and Times Between Everest South Col Camps Base Camp: 17,500’/5334m C1: 19,500’/5943m – 3-6 hours, 1.62 miles C2: 21,000’/6400m – 2-3 hours, 1.74 miles C3:23,500’/7162m – 3-7 hours, 1.64 miles Yellow Band – 1-3 hours Geneva Spur – 1-2 hours South Col: 26,300’/8016m – 1 hour or less Balcony: 3 – 6 hours South Summit : 28500′ – 8690m – 3 to 5 hours Hillary Step – 1 hour or less Summit: 29,035′ / 8850m – 1 hour or less Return to South Col: 3 -7 hours Return to C2: 3 hours Return to Base Camp: 4 hours Winter? Some people have asked about the dates I showed on yesterday’s table of winter summits as reported by the Himalaya Database with winter summits before the official start of winter, December 21, the winter solstice. I contacted Richard Salisbury, who runs the database part of the Himalayan Database and he said: The original start of the winter season set forth by the Nepal Ministry of Tourism was December 1. Autumn-permitted teams were supposed to end their climbs by mid-November (there was a two-week gap where no climbing was permitted). Winter-permitted teams were not allowed to go above BC before December 1 (although they could arrive at BC before that date). We have continued to use December 1 as the start of winter season. Choosing between