The Everest Rescues and another Death (update 3)
With the summits mostly ended, climbers are making their way back down to Base Camp. As they recover from their summit push, there stories are emerging of rescues. Once again, we are seeing tangible proof that the climbing community is a tight one; especially in times of need. We are also seeing that pure accidents happen in spite of every precaution and mountaineering is dangerous and altitude s everyone the same; regardless of experience. While impressive and motivating to non-climbers, one of the downsides of having a 13, 16 and 22 year old summits this year is that it could portray Everest as an easy walk-up that requires little to no experience. The press coverage touts Bonita Norris as a “Novice climber becomes youngest British woman to reach Everest summit” and how 13 year-old Jordan Romero summited Everest with little experience. Even his own site said “Jordan not only climbed Mt. Everest, but he climbed with unbelievable strength and skill.” With all due respect to these talented young climbers, their experience is not representative of many climbers through the years. It is a dangerous message for those who do not know better. If you climb enough, you know that if everything goes perfectly, you were lucky; full stop. With this, the real stories are starting to surface. As the Altitude Junkie team were climbing on May 23rd, they were making good progress. Then one of their climbers started to act strange, it was apparent he was in trouble. British climber Mike Herbert had HACE. This is a condition when the brain leaks fluid into skull; putting pressure on the brain itself and eventually will cause death. The only cure is to descend rapidly and immediately. Phil Crampton and his Sherpa team took charge to do just that. But he had help. Phil’s short but instructive dispatch describes the details: I have highlighted the individuals and teams involved: Mike, who is a seasoned Himalayan climber and an Everest veteran developed a case of HACE at 8,700 meters and was helped down the mountain by the following people who we are so grateful to for their assistance. Both of our Sherpas, Sirdar Dorjee Sherpa, Lhapka Tsheri Sherpa and myself assisted Mike from the rock steps just below the South Summit all the way to the South Col. We were assisted by Willie and Damien Benegas along with their team doctor Roman and their Sherpa, Lhapka Nuru, who assisted Mike from the rock steps to the Balcony. From the Balcony our Sherpas and I were assisted by Lhapka Rita, the Sirdar from Alpine Ascents who ascended from the South Col, Pasang Gumba Sherpa who was descending from the Mountain Trip expedition and Pasang Yula also descending from the Benegas Brothers expedition assisted to the South Col. Mike showed a huge improvement and traveled on his own power from the South Col to camp three but again found himself needing help from camp three down. Dorjee and Lhapka Tsheri Sherpa along with some mental coaching from Bill Allen of Mountain Trip got Mike back to camp two after an epic two day descent. Our Sherpas Temba Bhote, Cheddar, Pasang Nima, Pasang Wangchu and Pasang Dawa all ascended from camp two to assist. On the advice of the doctors from the Himalayan Rescue Association we helicoptered Mike out from camp two so he could medical attention immediately. His condition is good at present. I would also like to thank both Vern Tejas from Alpine Ascents and Dave Hahn from RMI for keeping contact on our radio frequency throughout the descent monitoring the rescue. Melissa Arnot on the First Ascent blog tells that during her descent she and her partner, Dave Morton, were at camp 2 when told of a climber who had fallen into a crevasse in the Khumbu Icefall. A rescue was being mounted. Instead of spending the traditional night to recover at C2, they hurried down to give what aid they could. The climber was rescued. We gathered some rescue gear and medical equipment and headed down to the Icefall below Camp I, where we were told we would find a female climber who had been involved in an ice bridge collapse and fell about 30 meters. We arrived around 5 p.m., 12 hours after leaving Camp IV. The other climbers who had come to help were already in the process of stabilizing the women and getting ready to move her uphill, where she would spend the night until a rescue could be completed in the morning. We are now hearing the real story about that young British climber Bonita Norris’ accident as she descended from her summit. It was deadly serious and could have resulted in death if, once again, the climbing community had not pitched in, Bonita herself describes in detail on her blog that she slipped and hit or twisted her head and neck thus causing her pain when she walked. She was literally drug down to the South Col. 20 minutes later though, my neck and shoulders had siezed up to such a point that i took one last step and a shooting pain went up my spine- it was so painful i yelped and Lakpa stopped. He saw i was crying- but this time with pain. It was then i realised something was wrong- i must have pulled a muscle in my neck, maybe whiplash. I didnt know what it was, but moving was excruciating. We were in trouble. Finally, about an hour below the balcony, another group of sherpas arrived, from here on i dont remember much- apart from the pain of being dragged across ice and rock as the attempted to get me back to camp 4 as quickly as possible. My neck was blinding with pain, but i remember having covnersations with the sherps and thinking i felt OK bar the neck- i knew if i just let them do the job we would all be home safe. Yet another harrowing tale told by
Wave 2 Recap (updated)
updated with more team summits. more than 108 for both sides now! It was another long day on Everest for an estimated 200 climbers, check split evenly on both sides. The weather at the high camps was reported to be so warm that climbers were in T-Shirts and complaining about their down suits. The ever-present wind was nonexistent. At that point their biggest concerns were getting ahead of the crowds to avoid the bottlenecks on the way up, and down. However the weather forecast had a nasty kick up in the winds for Sunday afternoon. And there were summits! Starting with Adventure Peaks on the north and Peak Freaks on the south, the reports came in slowly over the next 18 hours. You can visit their websites for all the names since there are over 50 named on them but we had summits from (total number of names listed including members, guides/ Sherpas): Adventure Peaks (5+/6+) Altitude Junkies ( Anne-Marie and Jussie plus more) Australian Everest (3/3) Extreme Everest (6) IMG (15/15) Patagonian Brothers (8/5) Peak Freaks (6/8) Melissa Arnot, Dave Morton Mountain Trip (7/12) 7 Summits Club (10) 7 Summits club reported going up but no word from them yet. The winds did pick up as predicted per this update from Adventure Peaks: We’ve just had some broken communication with Stu – unfortunately the radios between C3 and ABC give broken communication so we could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation. Things are not great in C3 and they have decided to stay the night there – this includes Stu, Nigel, Brendan, Steven +1 — . There are 8 sherpas at C3 to assist Stu to assist everyone down tomorrow. The weather up there right now looks terrible and Matt Dickinson confirmed that conditions were extremely challenging. Having said that, the forecast for tomorrow looks good so hopefully the gusts will die down over the next few hours. Their next update confirmed the entire team was down to ABC (north). For those following 68 year-old Bill Burke, he turned around per this from his wife Sharon: 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. Great effort Bill! 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. I have updated the location chart with all these numbers. We have well over 300 summits from both sides as of Sunday night Nepal time. A new post will cover the summit bids starting Sunday night, wave 3. Congratulations to all! Climb On! Alan
Focus on Everest
Teams are all over Everest today, no some climbing; other stuck. High winds on both sides made progress difficult and sometimes impossible for some teams as they continue to push hard to avoid the impending weather. It is snowing at Base Camp on the south and the winds are pummeling the north side; stopping some teams only as high as the North Col. This from 7 Summits Club: The first group of expedition 7 Summits Club is blocked at the North Col (7000 m) by strong winds. For the second day, no one could go up. Sherpas, who were unable to carry loads to the upper camps, are also sitting in the tents. The second group remains in the camp ABC. Waiting on Everest, tedious, anxious – it is a heavy need. The main thing is not to get sick, save a form. Wind is expected to become moderate already the next night. However, in the coming days are expected with snowfalls. Would it be a good window for climb ? But a report just in shows Jordan Romeo’s SPOT tracker as having them at camp 2. Gabriel Filippi is proobably there as well based on his last dispatch: Violent gusts are beating at the summit right now. Still, I am going to attempt a climb to camp 2 (7900m) since the winds are calmer under 8500m. I am leaving in a few minutes, and if i can move in these conditions, Lhakpa will come to meet me later. It is pure pleasure to work with him again: he was with me on the summit in 2005. Always positive and ready, his superhuman strenght and his energy motivate me to the core. On the south, some teams are moving up as shown by this from Adventure Consultants: As I write this the Adventure Consultants’ Team are settling in for the night at Camp Three. When the team arrived early this afternoon they were experiencing gusts of up to 40 knots – not to be taken lightly at 7350m! However, Mike and Ang Dorjee have informed me that the winds are dropping and our forecasts support this continuing trend. Cyclone Laila, in the Bay of Bengal, is already threatening to add some excitement to the mix but current reports still suggest a dependable decrease in summit winds tomorrow night. But the winds did stop some teams. This in from Paul Fejtek with Mountain Trip: Unfortunately, the wind-swept snow blowing high above, and a new weather forecast received this morning, factored in to a decision by Scott to turn us around. He said during his last 5 Everest expeditions he has never seen wind this strong. We were disappointed to be sure to lose a day but feeling much more secure that our tents won’t blow away here at Camp 2 rather than up at Camp 3. However, the looming concern on everybody’s mind is the rapidly approaching end of the summit window. Every year near the end of May the monsoon arrives effectively shutting down the mountain. Last year this occurred on May 25th. Our new plan, assuming no more weather delays should put us at the South Col with a shot at the summit on May 23rd. I thought that some teams may wait out the threat of the cyclone and look for a very late summit in late May or early June; however this may not be the case as even Himex is moving quickly after skipping the first window: Russell opted for a bigger weather window and after having given his famous ’30 percent’ speech, the members, guides and Sherpas were off to Camp 2 in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. You might now wonder, what the famous ’30 percent’ speech is. Well, it is Russell’s ‘lecture’ to remind his members that once they get to the summit, they are only half way up. “You need to preserve some of your energy as you will still need 30 percent of your strength for the descent. Getting to the top is only halfway,” he always emphasises. Even Apa Sherpa is moving quicker than planned and in now on his way to the South Col. It seems everyone is taking this weather seriously with a huge number focusing on Friday night for their push with Saturday morning summits. It is clear the high routes are full of climbers right now – a true conga line if there ever was one on Everest. Perhaps 100 to 200 climbers (members and Sherpas) all attached to the fixed ropes between camps. And they are almost all on supplemental oxygen for the first time this season. For most of these climbers, they will be experiencing the use of supplemental oxygen for the first time ever. Climbers of other 8000m mountains like Cho Oyu, would have valuable experience but most will struggle the first few hours to get comfortable with the system. These days almost all the climbers use supplemental oxygen. The primary benefit is to help the body feel warmer, not make them feel like they are at sea-level. At a flow of 2lpm, an average rate for most climbers, it will only make a 3,000′ difference. In other words, using O’s at 28,000, the body still feels like it is at 25,000′. Climbers will sleep on Os during the summit push starting at C3 and climb with it to the South Col (similar camps on the north). Many of this week’s dispatches spoke of reviewing the oxygen systems. There are three basic parts: bottle, regulator and mask. While the bottles come in different sizes, most weigh around 6lbs each; larger ones up to 15lbs. They last about 6 hours at 2 lpm flow; 15 hours for larger sizes. The average summit bid usually takes between 12 to 16 hours thus the need for two to three bottles. But if you use a high flow or take longer, then more bottles may be required. Also, obviously, if a climber use oxygen going up, they