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 […]
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 […]
Everest is Buzzing with Activity for Next Window
Excitement is building once again for more summits as team after team left Base Camp for camp 2 on the south and ABC on the north. Their enthusiasm, however, was tempered by talk of monsoons in India; more on that in a moment. There were talks of additional summits for Tuesday, May 18th, but nothing […]
A Good Start to a Busy Week
There were at least 40 summits on Monday morning, May 16th from the south side. It is still not clear if there were any from the north. The winds did pick up late Monday bringing a stop to this brief window. There were no reports of serious problems with any of the climbers at this […]
Helicopter Rescues in Everest’s Western Cwm?
With several teams targeting Sunday, May 16th as a summit window, the question of rescues often comes to mind; especially if the weather looks marginal as this one does. Followers of Everest know that rescues are difficult and sometimes impossible above base camp or 17,500′. In his book, Into Thin Air, Jon Krakurer details the daring rescue of climbers at the top of the Icefall at 19,800′. Now a new service from Fishtail Air is underway that designers are confident can rescue climbers deep in the Western Cwm, well above 19,500′. While an experiment this season, it has already proven to save lives on other high peaks.
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.
North Side Update from an Expert: Jamie McGuinness
It is about a month before teams from all around the world pack their duffel bags for the flights to Kathmandu. Thus far the south looks like business as usual with about 16 teams already announced. To put this in perspective, in 2007, case when we saw a record number of Everest summits, there were […]