Cleaning the Mountain (updated)
It looks like the Everest season has finally ended with a big cold slap in the face to many teams on both sides. The weather deteriorated for the few teams making a push this week so much so, some classified it as the worse ever. Another death was reported earlier this week of a Japanese climber on the north, still no details. But another death was also mentioned and again now. Details are vague at . Duncan Chessell told the Australian news: “They were the worst conditions I have ever encountered by a factor of at least 10 on the summit, ” Mr Chessell said today. “There was a fresh dump of snow and winds were howling. They were at least 30-40 knots on the summit and it was minus 26C, which is not great for humans at 8848m above sea level. “We almost called it off, but we all made it up and down safely.” On their way up the mountain Mr Chessell’s group was asked to help a Japanese climber who had summitted on Monday. But by the time they reached him, the man was already dead. “Also, another climber, I think from the US, or at least a US team, which was on the summit about the same time as us, died on descent and we were not able to help him on our descent,” Mr Chessell said. By now almost everyone is at Base Camp or back in Kathmandu. This week, the Sherpas were still finishing up work by bringing everything down from the high camps. This is literally back breaking work. In many cases they will bring double or triple loads from the North Col or C2 back to Base Camp. Think of all the supplies they brought up to support the climbs, all that has to be taken back down. IMG notes the huge clean-up effort: Our IMG sherpas put in a big day yesterday and all the gear is down, and everyone is safe and sound. We still have some packing chores and cleanup to do: burnable rubbish is heading for the incinerator in Namche, bottles and cans to Kathmandu for recycling, empty O2 cylinders back to the USA for refilling, human waste down to Gorak Shep for burial. The climbers have all left, and the first wave has already reached Kathmandu. Our team leaders will do the final briefing with the Ministry back in Kathmandu, and we will file for getting the garbage deposit back. However, Summit Climb reported a disturbing item that on the north, one or more teams actually abandoned their camps above the North Col leaving tents, still standing. The only rational that they were too tired to be bothered. This is what creates the problem. The Nepalese have a trash deposit that discourages such behavior as well as on-mountain liaison officers to monitor teams. Also, the Nepalese and the large commercial operators have done a nice job of instilling a sense of responsibility in the overall environment. Clearly, work remains to be done on the North. The Summit Climb post gives some details on the north: We made it down to camp 2, which was completely abandoned. All of our tents and equipment had been removed by our sherpas working busily down below. Camp 2 again looked like an enourmous car park after a car boot , completely trashed. In several instances we saw teams that had left their entire camp behind, including standing tents. I’ll have to say that some of our members were a bit astounded when they started calculating the value of some of this equipment that had been left up there because it was too difficult to carry down. I contacted Jamie McGuiness from Project Himalaya since many of you were asking. He and two members summited. If you know Jamie, you will smile that he is one of the only people who would wait out a storm at a high camp to get a great picture! Eric and Barry summited, no problems at all with two really competent sherpas, Kaji and Nima Guriman. Three is a crowd in tents at C2 and C3 so two pairs was tidy. Fernando had torn breathing muscles and a terrible cough – he didn’t summit. I wanted to summit on the fine day to take lots of pictures with my NEW 5D mark ii and so waited 3 nights at North Col and 2 nights at C2 watching Wx forecasts but could see the Wx wasn’t going to be right. Duncan’s team summited in real wind… others in total whiteout… It seems the helicopter situation at Everest it totally out of control. Well respected high-altitude Physician Dr. Peter Hackett sent me this email about my post on recent accidents. He was at Base Camp this season. Alan- I know you want to publish accurate information, so here’s a correction. The HRA doctors at base camp did NOT suggest a rescue from Camp 2 for Phil Crampton’s member. In fact, we were very much against it. We felt it unnecessary and it set a very bad precedent. Our take was that he could have made it down through the icefall without much difficulty, and in retrospect that was correct. In addition, helicopter requests from base camp were totally out of control, many were unnecessary. Peter Hackett and Steve Halvorson, HRA base camp doctors See http://www.everestER for more details of all these rescues. Note that the information he is referencing is from the Altitude Junkies’ dispatch. Thanks to EverestEr for the clarification and for all their work. I will do an update upon more information on the reported death. If true then that would be 1 on Lhotse, and 4 on the north for 2010. update: Finally, it would appear the search for the camera from Mallory & Irvine’s 1924 expediton remains unfound; or does it? We really we don’t know. Given the recent heavy snows, several teams who said they would look for it have reported it unlikely
Wave 4 Recap (updated)
On what could have been the final push for 2010, many climbers summited from the south including a record 12th summit for Dave Hahn who was guiding Leif Whittaker. The weather cooperated for the teams however it was extremely cold at 18 below zero F. Once on the summit, the winds started to pick up so climbers hustled down as quickly as possible. In addition to Hahn and Whittaker, mind climbing under the First Ascent/RMI banner, the rest of team made it to the top including Michael Brown topping out for his 5th time. They commented once back at Base Camp they thoroughly checked themselves for frostbite and thankfully found none. In a bit of drama, Robert Hill with No Guts Know Glory, named due to Robert’s Crohn’s Disease, stopped at the South Col after spending two days at the South Col waiting for improved weather. His site Manager did an excellent job of keeping everyone informed throughout the climb and posted this emotional statement from Robert at the South Summit: 8:45 AM Everest: Rob Hill has finished his Seven Summits dream! “I’ve gone as high as I ever will,” said a elated sounding Rob from the South Summit. “John and I have been sitting here for the past 30 minutes talking about all that we’ve done, all that IDEAS has managed to accomplish and all that this 7Summit campaign has done for people fighting inflammatory bowel diseases and living with an ostomy. Even though my Everest summit sits several hundred meters below the true summit, I can hold my head high with pride. I will come home safe to my family and loved ones. I don’t have the energy to continue. The hours I spent in the South Col drained me of everything, I’ve given it my all, my and I am happy to be here with my good friends and climbing partners. Darrell is within spitting distance of the summit now along with our three Sherpas. John and I will sit here and bask in his glory as he, too, finishes his 7Summits dream today. With Robert safe, his guide John Furneaux and climber Darrell Ainscough made a “quick” run from the South Summit to the true summit. There were other teams on the South including the young new married Colorado couple Brandon and Kristine Chalk. They stopped an attempt the previous night due to blizzard conditions, stay at the Col and summited last night. Congratulations to them on their perseverance. They were climbing under a Henry Todd permit. There was finally some information on the speed attempt by Chad Kellogg posted, not on their main site but as an answer on his sponsor’s Facebook page. It simply read: Here’s the update: Chad is back at basecamp after being on track for the speed ascent, climbing to his high point in ~12hrs. Just below the Balcony, 40+ mph winds and stormy conditions turned him around for a ~7hr descent back to basecamp. Chad is resting for a couple days before making a second summit bid, though this climb will not be intended for setting a speed record. We wish Chad a strong climb and a solid weather window! On the north side, Summit Club had 16 people attempting the summit but no word from them. Duncan Chessell and Jamie McGuiness were also on their summit bids but no word from them either. I will update this page once I receive any information. Finally, the First Ascent site posted a teaser saying that Melissa Arnot and Dave Morton assisted in a rescue in the Icefall. There was a report of a Sherpa who was hit by a falling serac and broke an arm or leg but he was evacuated to Base camp. I have heard of other rescues as well but thus far no details. To be clear, there has been one reported death, Sergei Duganov, on the south side this year, actually on Lhotse, another, Laszlo Varkonyi, on the north near the North Col and a third of a north climber, Tom Jørgensen, suffering from HACE who died a few days alter in a Tibetan village. It looks like the weather is slowly deteriorating however there may still be a few small teams to summit from both sides. Once the camps are clear on the South, the Icefall Doctors will remove the ladders thus ending the season; this usually happens no later than June 1st. There is no such restriction on the North and summits can go as long as the weather holds. update: Summit Climb reports 5 members and 4 Sherpas summited on the 25th in windy conditions. Duncan Chessell also reported summits of 8 climbers. he did not mention the Sherpas. They had already returned to the camp 3/2 levels. Congratulation to all these climbers. On a personal note: It’s been great covering another Everest season. Congratulations to all the climbers, regardless of their results. There are a few more updates and my annual summary later this week and then I am going to start some climbing of my own. Thanks for all the comments and emails throughout this Everest season. And thanks everyone for your support of my Alzheimer’s efforts and a special thanks to those who made previous donations to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund and also during this season. You are making a difference (you can make a donation anytime). It goes 100% to research, none to me. Climb On! Alan
Summit Wave 4 (update 3)
update #3: South summits. First from RMI: Seth Waterfall is on the summit of Mount Everest. He has the summit all to himself. It is a bit chilly but he has plenty of oxygen and is feeling good! The rest of the team is at the Hilary step continuing up. Then Dave Hahn and Leif Whittaker. Thus far another 12 summits. Their announcement: Dave, Leif, Seth, Casey, Michael, Scott, Tendi, Tshering Dorjee, Dawa Jamba, Da Gyldjen, Nima Tenji, Pasang Temba. On top of the world. All are doing well. Robert Hill and his team reached the South Summit and made this declaration: Rob Hill has finished his Seven Summits dream! “I’ve gone as high as I ever will,” said a elated sounding Rob from the South Summit. “John and I have been sitting here for the past 30 minutes talking about all that we’ve done, all that IDEAS has managed to accomplish and all that this 7Summit campaign has done for people fighting inflammatory bowel diseases and living with an ostomy. Even though my Everest summit sits several hundred meters below the true summit, I can hold my head high with pride. I will come home safe to my family and loved ones. I don’t have the energy to continue. The hours I spent in the South Col drained me of everything, I’ve given it my all, my and I am happy to be here with my good friends and climbing partners. Darrell is within spitting distance of the summit now along with our three Sherpas. John and I will sit here and bask in his glory as he, too, finishes his 7Summits dream today. No word on the north at this point. Summit Climb, Duncan Chessell and, I think, Jamie McGuinness’s teams are all enroute. Congratulations to all and a tip of the hat to Leif Whittaker. update #2: Summit Climb reported bids by 10 members with 6 Sherpas currently underway. RMI and Dave Hahn, Leif Whittaker are all together and above the Balcony. They report clear skies and calm winds. update #1: With fickle weather, teams debated if tonight was the night or not. But a few teams have left the South Col reporting acceptable winds. first out was Robert Hill’s group who left around 8 PM. A few hours later, the RMI team departed. I like Mark Tucker from RMI’s thoughts as they left the South Col: We have not been purposely holding out till the bitter end, I promise. You all deserve the final summit push. So lets bring it to you today and tonight. We sure hope that the old adage,” good things come to those who wait”, comes true. But Dave Hahn saw it differently: Hello, this is Dave and here we are at the South Col. The mountain showed this is not going to be easy for us. We were hoping we’d just waltz up in a perfectly forecasted weather window. Instead, the Himalaya showed a mind of its own. Sent a little unexpected snowstorm in on us. We’re sitting that out; it’s not the worst. Still, we certainly wanted better for our climb. Life’s not so bad for us here at the South Col, it’s just the tension of not knowing whether we’re gonna get to make good on our 2-month climb and ring the bell at the top. But if we get half a chance, we are gonna do that. So we’re keeping ourselves ready right now and keeping our spirits up. That’s the Everest game, that’s how we play it. But then they made their final call and they are off as well: Hi, it’s Michael Brown at the South Col of Mt. Everest. I’m here with First Ascent Guide Seth Waterfall. Next tent over has Leif Whittaker and Expedition Leader, Dave Hahn. And the next tent is guide Casey Grom and climber Scott Jones. It’s a little after 9:30, and about 11 o’clock we’re going to have our crampons on and we’re going to start walking uphill. We got a forecast yesterday that indicated there’d be a lot of wind; but, according to a forecast we’ve been trusting all along, the wind shouldn’t be too bad today. We’re going to go for it in about an hour and a half. We’ll try to stay in touch. Everybody here is pretty damn excited. So here we go. No word from the few north teams. Look for more updates as they get near the summit around dawn Nepal time. start of original post With hundreds of climbers summitting over the past few days, only a few teams are left on both sides of Everest. Sunday night was the most difficult of the season with high winds at times but steady snow through the night and day. Whiteout conditions were reported as well with a foot of new snow at the North Col. At the South Col, RMI, Dave Hahn and Leif Whittaker and Robert Hill’s No Guts Know Glory teams lead by Canada West Mountain School’s John Furneaux are all looking to go up tonight. Robert Hil reported some theft of oxygen bottles at the South Col but was able to replace them from teams who had already summitted. This is certainly bad but an occasional occurrence and happens more on the north than the south. Robert said about tonight’s push: During the day, the weather has cleared up enough to make a summit attempt a realistic option. Winds at the South Col remain light and the snowfall has stopped accumulating on the ground. The team plans to leave C4 at around 7:30 PM Everest time. Two other well-established climbing expeditions will also leave the South Col at the same time. Rob, Darrell, John, Mingma, Dawa and Teng Dorje Sherpas will need all the help they can to compress the newly snowed trail. “It’s going to be hard climbing tonight,” said John Furneaux, who reached the summit of Everest in 2008. “With fresh snow on the ground and few climbers
Summit Wave 2 (update 6)
update #6: As we are in mid afternoon, online Nepal time, it appears the south side had a lot of success with over 50 new summits. The north remains very, very unclear with limited reporting. IMG reported 100% success with 15 climbers plus 15 Sherpas summiting and are back down now. Patagonia Brothers puts 8 Argentinians and 5 Sherpa on the top of the world. The Australian Everest placed 3 there as well. In a bit of a mystery, Mountain Trip’s home team said they received a phone call that went dead then a brief audio blog implying a summit and now their logistics company out of Nepal has confirmed seven summits from the team (Scott Woolums, Bill Allen, Cynthia Lou Abbott, Paul Fejtek, Denise Fejtek, Ania Lichota, Vivian James Rigney). On the north, Bill Burk turned back at the 2nd Step. His wife posted this on their site: I got a phone call tonight from Bill at 7:50 PM. He was back at Camp 3 after reaching the “Second Step” and turning around. He said it was dark, windy, cold, and his legs got very weak and wobbly. He said it was the same feeling he had in 2007 when he turned around. He knew he couldn’t make it to the summit and then back down. He will be posting when he gets down to a lower level and gets some energy back. I’m so proud of what he has accomplished and now I want him to get back home. and Adventure Peaks reports 11 summits and: No news for definate in the last few hours, we are still waiting for Stu to give an update. It is understood however (not confirmed) that a number of team members turned round between 8600-8700m. All these are without doubt below the first step and probably in the high camp at 8300m. Geordie was the last person who may have made the summit before the turn around time. We await news. Dave Pritt There has been no information posted on Chad Kellogg who was doing a speed ascent. He was scheduled to be back at the south Base Camp at 10PM on the 23rd, 7 hours from this post time. Please visit various team’s websites for all the names and congratulations to all! There are still many more teams on both sides looking to start their summit bids on Sunday night. update #5: My thoughts only: With the large number of climbers, it may take longer than you would expect for them to go from the South Summit to the top. They have to negotiate the Hillary Step and now there are climbers coming down. There should be two ropes, an up and down rope to aid in moving people along but it can still be a bottleneck. Similar situation on the north with the 2nd Step. If you have not head from your team, this is probably what is going on. Winds were expected to pick up later today but still expected to be manageable albeit a bit uncomfortable for some. Posted at 9:30AM Nepal time update #4: Summits beginning: These teams are already there or very close: IMG, Patagonian Brothers (Damien and Willie Benegas), Peak Freaks on south and Adventure Peaks on north. Good weather, calm winds and clear skies. Views should be incredible! Check your team’s website for current list of names. Congratulations to all! update #3: IMG reports climbers above the South Summit and others near. Adventure Peaks is at the 2nd Step on the North commenting on great weather. Summits should happen between 7-8 Nepal time (see sidebar). update #2: South teams that left earlier should be approaching the Balcony in early morning, Sunday May 23rd. Usually this is where oxygen bottles are swapped out for fresh ones. Over on the north, with the good weather (albeit some wind), teams are taking advantage of it. It looks like there could be some bottlenecks on the north according to this update from 7 Summits Club: In the camp 3 at the altitude of 8300 meters there are about 100 climbers. In such situation, a turn on fix ropes could be a major obstacle for success. Therefore, our first group decided to go to climb before everyone else – in 9:30 p.m., before getting dark. It looks as a new word in tactics of Everest climb. According to our calculations, our group should reach the top of Everest in the 4-30 – 5-00 a.m. local time. The second group came to the camp 7700 meters, everything is OK. First group: guide Noel Hanna (Ireland), Andrey Filkov, Vadim Nadvodnyuk, Mikhail Turovsky (all – Russia), Steve Berry (UK) , James Wilde (USA). update #1: Many teams have left for their summit bid including the IMG and Peak Freak climbers. Melissa Arnot has changed her mind and will climb with supplemental oxygen after a long climb to the South Col. Winds are reported manageable. There are around 100 climbers on the south side headed up today. Probably a similar amount on the north. Bill Burke is headed up tonight on the north for those following the 68 year-old who summited from the south last year. start of original post With excellent conditions and a successful summit wave the previous day, new teams are now leaving the high camps once again on Saturday evening, May 22nd to the top of the world. On the north, there are a large number of climbers heading higher including Adventure Peaks and 7 Summits Club are at Camp 3 for a few hours. There were 100 climbers reported at the North Col a day ago. On the south, several teams are at the South Col. AAI will spend 24 hours there and go for the top Sunday night. They report lite winds and mild temps as well. Altitude Junkies, Peak Freaks, IMG, Mountain Trip and the Patagonia Brother’s team plan on going up today, Saturday. Also Melissa Arnot, climbing without supplemental oxygen is there with her teammate Dave
Climbing for a Cause
As we spend the last day of April monitoring the climbers on both sides of Everest, I thought it would be good to look at their motivations. Climbing historians know of the famous 1923 George Mallory quote, “Because it’s there” but others have more personal reasons. The primary action on both sides right now is working on their acclimatization through rotations to from low to high camps.
Avalanche Update and Icefall Incident (updated)
UPDATE: In a statement by climber David Klein on expeditions.hu, he and his partner Laszlo Várkonyi were involved in the avalanche and Laszlo is still missing. Original story: I received an email overnight from Duncan Chessell of Chessell Adventures. He is leading an expedition along with Adventure Dynamics on the north. Jamie McGuinness of Project Himalaya, passed through Duncan a first hand account of yesterday’s accident on the North Col. Over on the south, the Icefall continues to be tricky with a small incident that did not hurt any climbers but created a period of anxiety.