The Somber Part of Cleaning Everest
Climbers are making great progress with their acclimatization rotations on both sides of Everest. The Sherpas are now starting to fix the ropes to camp 3 high on the Lhotse Face – a great sign. On the north, Adventure Peaks is looking to move to the North Col For some teams, the next climb through the Icefall will result in the almost mandatory night at camp 3. This is quite early at this point. As always, the weather will have the last say. It seems to happen like this every season, great weather through late April when everyone gets excited about an early summit, then the snows start and the mountain is shut down in early May.
Basecamp Life
Life is getting into a rhythm at Everest Base Camp. Report after report note the cold nights and warm days. They will wish for the cold once they get into the heat of the Western Cwm! Over on the north Bill Burke reports heavy snow overnight, not unusual for the north side. He also said that ABC has not been established on the north. We may see the first summits from the south this year. Also, an update on Jordan Romero.
Teams Through Namache Bazaar
Many teams are now passing through Namche Bazaar, the informal capital of the Khumbu. Teams spend three days there because it is about 12,500′ and some people begin to feel the altitude for the first time.
Interview with Ellen Miller – the Quiet Climber
Ellen Miller is a quiet climber. She is so quiet that many people would never know the achievements of this accomplished athlete and mountaineer. For example, she is the only woman to summit Everest from both sides within the span of one year. I first met Ellen in 2002 on the expedition where she summited from the Nepal side. She was a quiet and confident person with a natural bent towards giving encouragement to others. She was clearly the strongest climber on our team. I remember on summit night as we all left the South Col together, watching her and Ang Dorge Sherpa disappear up the Triangular Face at an amazing pace. They were one of the first to summit that night. Ellen, a long time Vail resident, is no stranger to mountains. She has summited Cho Oyu, Mustagh-Ata, Denali, Ama Dablam, Aconcagua, and Kilimanjaro in addition to the volcanoes of Ecuador and all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000 foot peaks. This past spring, Ellen accomplished another first: she summited the world’s 4th highest mountain, Lhotse Peak (27,939′) and became the only woman to summit Everest from both sides plus Lhotse. True to her quiet manner, she was mostly ignored by the cameras. You see, the Discovery Channel was there filming Everest: Beyond the Limit Season 3 with Russell Brice’s Himalayan Experience team. If you look carefully you will find her in a few scenes smiling in the background of others. By the way, Ellen had a hip replacement in the previous year. She and Nima Tsering Sherpa, were only two of only a few to summit Lhotse. In addition to climbing, Ellen was a very successful adventure racer. She was named Colorado Sportswoman of the Year 2002. She competed on the Fila Skyrunning Team and qualified for events in Europe and Tibet and also competed internationally as a professional adventure racer. She is a certified endurance coach and the founder of Mountain Divas. Today she is the Outdoor Fitness Coach in Vail, Colorado, where she champions many causes and hold several fund raisers every year to raise money for the literacy cause in Nepal. She raises money for Room to Read, Mountain to Mountain, Central Asia Institute, and small schools in the Khumbu Region of Nepal. You can watch Ellen explain the Room to Read program at this link. I wanted to ask Ellen her views on Everest routes and Lhotse as we get closer to the spring 2010 climbing season. Q: How did you find the technical difficulty of the rock and 2nd Steps on the North vs. The Hillary Step and Summit Ridge on the South? A: I am fortunate to live in Vail, Colorado, where we have a wide variety of vertical ice for training, thus I found the rock on the Second Step a bit more challenging with my crampons. During 2002, I thought that the Hillary Step was straightforward snow/ice scrambling. I enjoy rock climbing but rarely do it with crampons and a pack, wearing a down-suit! For Lhotse, I trained more on rock with crampons. Q: Your thoughts on the Khumbu Icefall since you have now dealt with it many times on your Everest and Lhotse climbs? A: While the icefall is incredibly beautiful, and can be fun climbing, I like getting through it as quickly as possible, due to objective danger. Q: Which did you prefer, the higher camps on the north or the lower ones on the south for acclimatization? A: I preferred the beauty of the higher camps on the North, however it was easier to function logistically at the South side larger camps. Q: Obviously weather changes each year, but did you find the north colder when you summited? A: Weather is, and can be capricious on both sides of Everest, so I can’t say that I preferred one side over the other due to weather conditions. I found the temps to be tolerable during my seasons on Everest. On Lhotse however, one climbs completely in shadow (in the couloir) until the summit, thus I found Lhotse a colder on summit day. Q: Both sides can be crowded but was one side more manageable with the crowds? A: Yes, both sides can be very crowded, however, this past spring when I was on the South side of Everest (for Lhotse) I felt like most of the teams made an effort to manage themselves with care. I appreciate when climbers are AWARE (of others on the route) so that they make an effort to keep moving, or to let people pass. It’s frustrating to be stopped at bottlenecks when every moment is precious. Q: Climbing Lhotse is 80% the same route of an Everest South climb. How was the final summit climb to Lhotse in terms of technical difficulty? A: After C3 and the Yellow Band, Lhotse climbers “hang a right turn” and head up hiking on steep snow to a tiny C4 beneath the Lhotse couloir. Summit day on Lhotse is steep, and more technical and very narrow in places with a technical rock pitch to the summit. The terrain last season was mixed rock/snow/ice. Rock fall in the couloir was my biggest concern. (and indeed it should have been from what we experienced). The view of the Southeast Ridge of Everest from Lhotse is magnificent. Lhotse was my favorite 8000M peak thus far because I got to climb with just one other person, my Sherpa-friend Nima Tsering of Phortse. (Nima reached the summit of Everest in 2009 while fixing the ropes to the summit before climbing Lhotse with me!) It was fun, and such an honor to climb with him. It was his third summit of Everest and first of Lhotse. Q: What type of training did you do for Lhotse to get 8000m ready? I focused on technical rock and ice. I am an outdoor fitness coach, so my lifestyle is conducive to mountaineering. As a coach, I am fascinated with the science of physiology and adaptation to altitude. Although a “masters” (old!!!) athlete now, I still compete in ski-mountaineering, running and uphill races, and spend
Interview with Eugene Constant: Turning Back from Everest
Not everyone who attempts Everest, ed succeeds. And I should know! Last spring French climber Eugene Constant made an attempt with Russel Brice’s Himex team – complete with the Tigress Production cameras rolling for season three of Everest: Beyond the Limit. Climbing Everest was his dream. He had trained for years, here even managed a delay of one full year after the Chinese pulled his team’s permit due to the Olympics conflict in 2008. He was determined to do his and to raise money for his cause. However, Eugene called a halt to his climb. Often we focus on the summiters so I thought a visit with Eugene would represent a refreshing view from the other side of an Everest climb. Q: Can you summarize how it felt to be on an Everest expedition? First, I’d like to thank you Alan for the excellent work you perform each year on media coverage of Everest expeditions. It allows climbers to receive encouragement from supporters around the world. This support is very nice when you are at base camp. Otherwise I am quite unable to summarize my feelings to be on Everest expedition. A dream came true for me last year. Living a thrilling adventure far away from French life with very interesting people was wonderful. Although I have not reached the summit, the weeks at high altitude was one of the greatest times of my life. Q: Please tell us a little about your team and climbing with Himex? I made contact in 2007 with Himex and after the cancellation of the expedition in 2008; our group has expanded in 2009. We were more than 25 climbers and a large number of nationalities, but we all had roughly the same goal: to climb Mount Everest! I met interesting people during this trip and I gained new friends for life. I think of Megan Delehanty and Ellen Miller, Alec Turner, Lance Fox, Moises Nava and Norwegians Tomas and Tomy. I miss them very much. Regarding Himex, I was delighted with my choice. The organization was perfect. Russell Brice is a serious man but he is also sensitive and understanding. Climbers enjoyed a great material comfort but also mentally, they are put in the possible conditions for a successful summit with the high level of security. The Himex Sherpa work is simply enormous and they did it with joy and devotion. Phurba Tashi, for example, is really impressive. Q: You acclimatized on nearby Lobuche peak instead of the standard rotations through the Icefall. Other than the danger of the Icefall, do you think it was a good strategy? In autumn 2008, when Himex, in agreement with its customers, has chosen to climb Nepalese side, Russell Brice proposed limiting the trips through the Icefall. This choice, which I immediately agreed is clearly a very good decision. The ascent of Lobuche Peak helps a lot because you can take a breath outside Base Camp. You go down into the valley. It is also a very nice climb, which starts at 4900m, with an intermediate camp at 5200m and a beautiful ridge at 6100m. The view from the top is breathtaking: Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho-Oyu in 360 °. We climbed the peak twice. We slept at top during the second trip with a bonus sunset and sunrise forever in my memory. I also had the pleasure of climbing the summit with my mother. I’m sure you can imagine the emotion that was ours at the top. Q: 2009 was a tough year for Icefall conditions. What was it like seeing all the avalanches from base camp? First of all, the Icefall was always a problem for me and it was one of the reasons for which I had initially chosen to climb Everest by the north route, which contains fewer dangers. I cannot compare with previous years if a lot of avalanches fell on Icefall, I just had the memory of an avalanche from West Shoulder had breaking on camp I a few years ago. Our various journeys on Lobuche peak and our base camp that looks at Pumori allowed us not to be face to face with Icefall, not to undergo it. When I climbed it for the first time, I was not more worried than before! Maybe, it was a mistake. Q: You made the hard decision not to go through the Icefall after the avalanche that killed a Sherpa. What was your thought process on that decision? In fact, I made the decision not to get through Icefall anymore before the avalanche, which killed this unfortunate Sherpa. During my acclimatization climb towards the camp III at 7400m, heading for camp I, I had a difficult day. I was not feeling very well, weakened by a strong cough in previous week; I have to leave the rest of my team about 2/3 up the Icefall. The third part was a long and suffering walk and I am indebted to Shiraf who stayed with me. I had accepted the dangers of Icefall: cracks and seracs. But this year, the route drawn by icefall doctors crossed very near the west shoulder which held an enormous cliff of seracs ready to collapse at any time. During 2 long hours, I was under this one without possibility of accelerating and taking away me from this danger. Deprived, I became aware that I could not take this risk any more. I had promised to my wife and my children to return. I just finished my climb towards camp III and went down. The serac was always there but I knew it would collapse soon! Q: I know your family is your priority. How did they feel about your decision? We didn’t speak a lot about it. Nevertheless, I read their reassurance in their eyes when I returned. Mountains took my first guide, a cousin and my friend. I did not want to make my wife, a widow and my children, orphans. I owe it to be with them to help them
Everest: Beyond the Limit online
If you missed Everest:Beyond the Limit Season 3 (2009) you can watch all 5 episodes online for free http://tinyurl.com/yeyav9o Update: it seems it is not available online in Europe.
Discovery Channel: Everest Season 3 Details
According to the production company, Tigress Productions, shop Season 3 will air on the Discovery Channel in the US on Sunday, 27th December and Wednesday, 30th December. The first three episodes are being shown on the 27th at 8, 9 & 10 pm EST followed by episodes 4 & 5 at 9 & 10 pm on the 30th. Episode One covers early trips through the ice fall, David Tait’s summit with the rope fixing team and the ice fall avalanche that killed the Sherpa. Episode Two concentrates on John Golden’s summit attempt with IMG Episode Three covers the main IMG team summit on May 20 Episode Four is the first Himex summits on May 21 Episode Five is the second Himex summits on May 23 As many already know, film crews followed two teams on the south in the spring of 2009. International Mountain Guides (Eric Simonson) and Himalayan Experience aka Himex (Russel Brice) allowed film crews to film every move including summit night. Sherpas and climbers were outfitted with helmet cameras to follow climbers through the Khumbu Icefall, Hillary step and on to the summit. I don’t think there are any “characters” like we have seen in previous seasons but I am sure there will be some surprises. The main event appears to be the UK’s David Tait’s surprise summit with Sherpas fixing ropes before the main onslaught. Also the unstable Khumbu Icefall which took the life of Sherpa Lhakpa Nuru. I also expect to see a lot of NASA Astronaut Scott Parazynski who became the first person to fly in the space shuttle and summit Everest. Should be an interesting series. This is the link to Discovery’s TV schedule Climb On! Alan