Everest 2017: Free vs. Paid Weather Forecasts
We all know that weather can make or break an Everest summit, or the entire season. With so many climbers this year, a period of bad weather could result in nightmarish crowds. Similarly, a long period of good weather will allow the crowds to spread out resulting in a positive experience for most. As I […]
Everest 2017: Climbing the North Side with Jon Gupta, an Interview
A lot of attention is given to the Nepal side of Everest. It has more people, the risks are promoted heavily by those guiding from the north and of course, it was the side that saw the first summit back in 1953. And the north side has it’s share of fans, some perhaps even rabid […]
Everest 2017: Weekend Update April 2
Kathmandu has become flooded with climbers in addition to the normal spring trekkers. The hotels are full, the restaurants noisy and an overall feeling of anticipation in the air. Everest 2017 is well underway and it appears Nepal’s tourism industry has recovered from earthquakes, strikes and embargos. Each weekend during the season I will try […]
Everest 2017: Interview with Jim Davidson
Those who have followed me most likely already know Jim Davidson. Jim is well known as a professional speaking and his own survival struggle experience on Mt Rainier in 1992 that he chronicled in the New York Times best-selling book, The Ledge. I did a review and a Q&A with Jim back in 2011 when the […]
Everest 2017: My First Thought of Climbing Everest, and Your’s?
Climbing Everest is a strange phenomenon. You spend more money than a really nice car costs, you train for a year, then you leave your family for two months with no guarantee that you will summit, and about five people die each year. So why do this? And don’t give the “because it’s there” answer! 🙂 I […]
Everest 2017: Climbers on the Move
Everest 2017 is officially underway. If you were on a flight from Kathmandu to Lukla over the past few days, you would have seen lean men and women with a backpack slung over their shoulder boarding the plane. If you could have looked in their minds, you would have seen visions of the summit of […]
Everest 2017: The Climb to the Summit Not Discussed
I occasionally read the Southeast Ridge route to the summit of Everest is called the “yellow brick road” or “paved” or something else suggesting that it is sidewalk-esq, easy, with no challenge and attainable by all. I suspect those who say, write and repeat those descriptions have never been close to Everest. And if they have summited, perhaps their […]
Everest 2017: Adventure Consultant’s Guy Cotter on ‘Fixing Everest’
As the guiding universe explodes with seemingly anybody and everybody jumping in, there are a handful of global companies that simply take care of business year in, year out and Adventure Consultants is one of the best. For close to two decades, Guy Cotter has been running the company with a strong philosophy of keeping it small and […]
Everest 2017: Weather Watch
Sherpas are already at Everest Base Camp on the Nepal side establishing camps. The Icefall Doctors have also arrived and will start building the route thru the Khumbu Icefall soon. But the big question is what kind of mountain conditions and weather will be in store for the 2017 season? This is perhaps more critical than in any […]
Everest 2017: Will Required use of GPS Make Everest Safer? – False Report
Update: The Himalayan Times’ Rajan Pokhrel says the report is false and the chief of Nepal’s tourism department, Durga Dutta Dhakal, was incorrect. News reports are indicating that Nepal will test using GPS trackers attached to Everest climbers to expedite rescue and prove summits. Will this work? Will it make any difference? Let’s take a look. Popularized […]