Climbing News: Everest Fall Push, Manaslu Summits and Deaths and more
The fall 2012 climbing season is winding down after a difficult season. Between high winds, heavy snow and avalanches; there were only a few summits on the world’s largest peaks and, sadly, many deaths. There is action on Everest again this Fall so the season is not quite over. Here goes the round up: Everest Fall 2012 Only a few teams attempt Everest in the fall due to shortening, cold days and the quickly approaching winter snows. But we have two teams up there right now, both on the south side. 30 year-old Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki is doing something almost unheard of in modern times. He is doing a solo climb, without supplemental oxygen of the West Ridge on Everest in the Fall. Any of those characteristics would be impressive; all of them are amazing beyond imagination. He has been diligent in keeping us informed through Facebook, Twitter, and his website. Today he is at Camp 2 fighting high winds planning to climb the wall of the West Shoulder of Everest and onto the West Ridge proper. From there he hopes to establish two more camps before the summit. He has been optimistic reporting the low snow we saw in the spring continues giving him hope he can make it. This is his fourth attempt on Everest with the last in the Fall of 2011. He has solo climbs of McKinley (2004), Aconcagua, Elbrus, Kilimanjaro all in 2005 and Carstensz Pyramid in 2006. Plus these 8000m climbs: Cho Oyu (2007), Manaslu (2008), and Dhaulagiri (2009). You can read more about Kuriki at this link. This is his latest video posted on YouTube: A Korean team (no link available) is also attempting Everest via the traditional South Col route and another effort is by the Polish Mountaineering community on Lhotse. By the way, the world oldest Everest summiter Min Bahadur Sherchan at 76 years 340 days, wants to return in the spring of 2013 at the age of 81! Makalu and Dhaulagiri Makalu at 27,825′ (8481m) is not nearly as popular as Everest, Cho Oyu or even Manaslu due to being more remote and a significantly more difficult climb. And this year proved that to be true with no summits on the world’s fifth highest mountain. One interesting if not downright strange, story came from well known journalists now climber, Billi Bierling climbing with a team lead by respected Swiss outfitter Kobler and Partner International. Billi reported that .. our five Sherpas ascended further to establish what they thought would be our camp 4. The problem was that none of our Sherpas had been to Makalu before and even though they had looked at pictures of the route, they completely missed the way. This is quite rare for a commercial operation. A few teams unsuccessfully attempted it this year, all stopped ultimately by high winds. Over on Dhaulagiri, there were similar results with a few teams halting the climbs due to unstable conditions. Manaslu Final Update Such a sad season on the world’s 8th highest peak. The death toll is now 12 from the September 23 avalanche. One more died in the hospital this week. The avalanche was caused by a large serac releasing above Camp 3 at 7,400m. This triggered a slab avalanche which hit Camp 3 directly and impacted Camp 2 with a severe wind blast. It appears that many of the 12 killed were in their tents, most sleeping, at Camp 3 around 4:45AM Sunday September 23, 2012 Nepal time. The avalanche debris was spread from 7,400m to 6,300m. Rescue efforts started immediately with teams climbing up from Camps 1 and 2. Russell Brice reports on his recent blog post that he became a defacto rescue co-coordinator and called Kathmandu for helicopter assistance. A B3 high altitude helicopter from Simrik Air arrived at 9:45 and began evacuation of the injured climbers. There were 18 total flights that day with 14 evacuations. 31 people were caught in the avalanche. 8 bodies were recovered and 3 are listed as missing and presumed dead. The severity of the avalanche was driven by heavy snow the previous week, some reports put the snow depth at 6 feet of fresh powder. Almost all the teams left feeling it was not a good year to climb Manaslu. But a few teams remained on the mountain after the avalanche and their efforts payed off with summits from Himex (20) and Altitude Junkies (15) and a couple others. One of the most impressive summits however was by Benedikt Böhm who climbed alone to the summit and skied back without supplemental O’s. EpicTv has a nice story on his achievement. My deepest condolences for the families of the victims, their teammates and friends. This short video is by Himalayan Ascent of the recuse and recovery efforts: Annapurna Update This week, another avalanche took the lives of two world-class climbers on the north face of Annapurna in Nepal. Uzbekistan climbers Iljas Tukhvatullin or Ivan Lobanov were hit by the avalanche between camps 1 and 2 around mid afternoon. Heavy snow had been reported over the previous week. Reports from the site, Russian Climb, speculated the cause of the avalanche was an earthquake given the “whole icy slope fell.” Annapurna at 26,545′ (8091m ) is known for deadly avalanches. Another team attempting the summit from Russia has now called their expedition as weather has worsened across the Himalaya. Canada’s Mt. Alberta: An Amazing Climb, photos and Video Joshua Lavigne and Jason Kruk , both Canadian climbers, took a new route direct up the North Face of Mt Alberta (3619m) in September. This is the video but visit the EpicTV site for some astonishing still shots. winter Season Climbs The next big climbs in the Himalayan include Ama Dablam. Around the rest of the world, teams are preparing for Mt. Vinson in Antarctica and Aconcagua in Argentina, Carstensz Pyramid in New Guinea and of course hundreds of others around the globe. Let’s hope those climbing Carstensz Pyramid have better luck than a New Zealand
Dramatic Increase for Everest North Permits
In a dramatic increase, physician the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) has notified operators that they will increase the permit costs for climbers, Sherpa and cooks. The net impact is that a permit to climb Everest from the north is now more expensive than from the south for most climbers. This according to Phil Crampton of Altitude Junkies. The north side of Everest has long been the ‘bargain’ side primarily based on a lower cost permit from the Chinese then Nepal’s permit of $10,000 per climber. This is turn had attracted the lowest budget operators, and independent climbers. But this had a downside with an annual list of deaths, near deaths and rescues on that side. As I outlined in this post, the death rate is 2:1 on the north side compared to the south. The north has always been more complicated than the better supported south but was supported by a few high quality operators for many years. However in 2008 when the Chinese effectively closed Everest so they could have unobstructed access to take the Olympic torch to the summit, most operators threw in the towel and shifted operations to the south. But the low price continued to attract climbers and slowly the north side has been gaining attention. Now this is up in the air once again. A few years ago the CTMA issued rules for the ratio of western climbers to Sherpas, a minimum number of Tibetan support staff and other regulations designed to drive business to Tibet and away from Nepal. The net impact however was for operators to move to Nepal given the availability of skilled support climbers. The past few years, the CTMA has struggled to get the fixed lines set to the summit before late April, a few weeks later than on the south side. So this increase in permit costs, if applied to training of the Tibetan climbers, might be a wise move to bring parity. But if it goes into other hands, it will continue to drive the decline of the north. The CTMA has operated a climbing school in Lhasa for many years trying to develop a quality set of climbers to support expeditions on Everest. The CTMA has been slowly equalizing both sides so this is just the latest move. After 13 year-old Jordan Romero summited in 2010, they raised the minimum age to 18, 2 years older than Nepal and set a maximum age of 60 but would consider exceptions on the upper limit. Now they have addressed price. Phil reports the increases as follows: The permit price per foreign climber has increased by 30%. The permit price per Nepal Sherpa has increased by 67%. The permit price per Nepal Cook has increased by 125%. Phil, after moving from the north to south a few years ago, is returning to the north in 2012. He said he is looking forward to a less crowded mountain. He is charging $40,000 per climber, about the same as most reputable operators on the south including a personal Sherpa, full oxygen and base camp facilities – the works. Once again, Everest has drama. 2012 will be here soon! Climb On! Alan
Everest Facts for KiDs
Do you know what kind of rock makes up Mt. Everest, when was the first north side summit or how much rope is used to set the fixed rope on the south side each season? Well, Everest is full of interesting history, details and trivia. As part of my Everest for KiDs slide show, have added a page with a few facts that kids, and adults, may find interesting. If you know others I should add send me an email.
China Sets Everest Age Limits
With the controversial summit from the Tibet side by 13 year old Jordan Romero, China seems to feel enough is enough. Starting this fall, 2010, climbers must be between 18 and 60 to be issued a permit. This was announced by the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) who manages mountaineering in Tibet. In a report they said
Devloping an Everest Climbing Plan
With the Everest season in full swing, many people ask what it takes to climb the highest mountain in the world.
It comes down to a few areas: skills, experience, fitness and commitment.
Yuichiro Miura: Everest at Age 80!
One never to give up, the former record holder for the oldest Everest summit, Japanese Yuichiro Miura, is now targeting another summit at age 80 – in 2013. This according to a report today from AFP. He wants to climb the north this time after previously completing two successful south-side climbs. Late last week he lost his record to Nepalese Min Bahadur Sherchan who produced birth certificates to verify his claim that he was the oldest person to top out Everest with his summit last year. He was 76 at the time. Miura-san is most famous for being the man who skied down Everest. The 1970 documentary, “The Man Who Skied Down Everest” is well worth the time. It reveals what climbing Everest was like before the crowds and commercial expeditions. He did not ski Everest proper, he actually skied the Lhotse face. Using a parachute as drag, he skied 6,600 feet in 2 minutes and 20 seconds then falling another 1320 feet when he stopped just below the bergschrund at the base of the base of the face. You have to rent the film. Sadly, 8 Sherpas died during his expedition for which Miura-san was devastated. I met Miura-san in the Khumbu Icefall in 2003. He was coming down from his successful summit at age 70. He was resting along with several Sherpas eating something. I mustered the courage to speak to this living legend asking him what was his secret to climbing at such an admirable age. He looked down at his lap where he had several small containers. He picked one up, holding it in his gloved fingers and gently looked at me. With a wry smile, he revealed his secret: “Bee’s honey.” Then laughed with the strength of a 30 year-old! An amazing individual, Miura-san. He tells AFP that he will start training for Everest with successive climbs of 5000, 6000 and 7000 meter peaks. Gokouun o inorimasu. Miura-san, Gokouun o inorimasu