Everest 2013: Teams Move Up As Summit Push Begins

The news of the death of Alexey Bolotov has moved through Everest Base Camp like a wave. The 50-year old Russian climber was well known amongst many of the team leaders and guides, and the loss of such a skilled alpinist has certainly muted the excitement over the summit push that is about to begin. The details of Alexey's passing remain sketchy at this time, although Alan Arnette has compiled what little information we know and shared it at Outside Online. It should come as no surprise that Alexey's climbing partner, Denis Urubko, is devastated by this loss and will now cancel his expedition. There will be no new routes opened on Everest this year.

While many climbers will press on with a heavy heart, there is still work to be done and most of the teams have now turned their attention to the task at hand. The upper slopes of the mountain are reportedly still being buffeted by high winds, but they are expected to dissipate today. That will mark the beginning of this weather window, which numerous teams now seem to be in position to take advantage of. There were a few brave teams that moved up to the South Col yesterday with the hopes of topping out today, but there has been little word on whether or not that happened. The real push will begin tomorrow and continue through the weekend and I know expect that there will be dozens who will summit in the next few days.

One of the teams that is leading the way is IMG. They have three distinct squads heading up the mountain at the moment with the first of those teams arriving at Camp 4 today. They'll try to reach their tents by noon, rest well into the night and then start the summit push around midnight local time. If the weather holds, they'll reach the summit sometime early tomorrow. The other two IMG teams will roate up to Camp 3 today, then C4 tomorrow before following a similar plan.

The Peak Freaks have their climbers in perfect position to pull of their plan. They'll move up to C3 today where they'll rest tomorrow before proceeding to C4 on Saturday. They are now planning on topping out early Sunday morning when the winds are expected to be at their lightest. Similarly, the Adventure Consultants will depart BC today to start their push, which will put them on track to summit early next week.

The climbers on the RMI team are remaining patient and plan to stay in Base Camp, waiting out this round of summits. They have been content to rest, eat, prep their gear and play horseshoes while they await their turn. The very experienced RMI guides are counting on another weather window opening after this one which will allow them to make their summit bid while also avoiding the massive crowds that are sure to come on this climb. The Himex team seems content to wait with them.

Over on the North Side of the mountain the plans are starting to take shape as well. Phil Crampton, team leader for the Altitude Junkies, tells us that a number of teams there have braved the high winds and have moved higher in anticipation of reaching the summit as early as tomorrow. His group has elected to sit tight for now and wait for a better window before climbing up the slopes. Their weather data tells them the winds will be at the weakest around May 21 (next Tuesday) so they are now planning to top out then. That means they'll move up to Camp 2 on Saturday and then proceed from there.

That's about all for today. I'm sure we'll have news of successful summits later but for now, everyone is still jockeying for position. Not long now though. Keep your fingers crossed that these climbers get up and down safely.

Everest 2013: Rope Fixing Resumes, Summit In Sight

It is quite literally the calm before the storm on Everest today. Most of the teams are now back in Base Camp where they are resting their bodies and preparing for the big summit push ahead. Right now, everyone is watching the forecast to see just when the first significant weather window will open while they wait for the Sherpas to finish fixing the lines to summit .

Speaking of which, after taking several days off themselves, the rope-fixing team has returned to the upper slopes of the mountain today to resume their work. The plan is to get the ropes in place from Camp 4 to the Balcony today, then wrap up the work as quickly as possible tomorrow. That means that we should see the first summits of the season as the Sherpas get the lines in place all the way to the top.

They won't have long to linger up there however as the weatherman says that another system of strong winds is moving into the area tomorrow night, which will force the Sherpas back down the mountain and make some of the more eager Western climbers wait for a more ideal time to make a move. There is a chance that a very narrow window will open on Sunday or Monday, but the vast majority of the climbers will wait until late next week before they start their final climbs.

One climber who is anxious to get going is Kenton Cool, a veteran of Everest who is looking to bag his 11th summit of the mountain. Yesterday Kenton announced that he will be attempting an unprecedented triple-header by climbing not only Everest, but also Lhotse and Nuptse too. With that in mind, the British mountaineer set out this morning on his attempt to hit the summit of each of the three mountains in one go, without returning to Base Camp. If all goes as planned, he'll be away from BC for ten straight days. Cool says he knows he'll need luck on his side, as the weather will be the ultimate decision maker on whether or not he can actually pull this off. No other climber has ever summited all three of those mountains in the same season. And while Nuptse isn't a member of the 8000-meter club at 7861 meters (25,790 ft) in height, it does present some technical challenges that its neighbors do not.
As expected, David Tait has put himself into position to be amongst the first to summit Everest this season. His most recent twitter update indicates that he is now in Camp 4 and waiting to proceed up. I think it is evident that he intends to follow along behind the Sherpa team fixing the ropes to the summit and will probably be on top shortly after they complete their work. That will allow him to get up and down efficiently and well ahead of the crowds that are sure to be there next week.

Denis Urubko and Alexi Bolotov have completed their final acclimatization round having gone up as high as 8000 meters (26,246 ft). They're now back down in the village of Deboche, where they are resting and getting ready for their attempt along a new route on the Southwest Face. Alexi has reportedly been quite sick on this last rotation, but he is improving now and should be ready to go. He and Denis will climb without oxygen and in alpine style along this new route.

The Peak Freaks team is arriving back in Base Camp today following a little R 'n R down in the Khumbu Valley. With their acclimatization rotations over, they've been resting and getting healthy for their summit push. Now that that push is looming, they're heading back up to get ready for the next phase of their expedition.

For the first time all season the entire IMG team is in BC together too. The company has three individual squads on the mountain this spring and they've all been passing one another on the trail as they rotate up to the various high camps at different times. Now, with their rotations wrapped up, they're all getting to know each other a bit better while they wait for the summit push to begin.

Jumping over to the North Side of the mountain it seems the story is very similar to that on the South. After days of high winds, the conditions are finally improving there as well and it now looks like the Sherpa teams, which are all part of the China-Tibet Mountaineering Association, will finish fixing their lines to the summit either today or tomorrow as well. That means that the climbers who have been stalled out in Base Camp for most of the past week can get on the move once again too. Edita Nichols, who is climbing with the Altitude Junkies, reports that their Sherpas are carrying loads up to Camp 3 today in preparation for the team's arrival at that point. While they've all enjoyed a little down time in BC, it is definitely time to go back to work.

The 7 Summits Club is reporting that the weather forecast isn't great however, with hurricane winds predicated on the summit for most of next week. My guess is that means the teams on the North Side will head up for a little acclimatization at Advanced Base Camp, then retreat once again as they wait for a proper weather window. It's going to be extremely busy on both sides of the mountain come late next week.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for word on the first summits of the season. They will likely come later today.

Everest 2013: High Winds Keep Summit Out Of Reach

Yesterday was a busy day on Everest where multiple teams were moving up and down the mountain in an effort to complete their acclimatization rotations prior to the first round of summit bids, which typically come by mid-May. Early in the day there was hope that the Sherpas could possibly complete their rope fixing efforts and even stand on the summit for the first time this year. But unfortunately the high winds that the weatherman has been warning us about arrived as predicted, shutting down those efforts for now. Those winds are expected to continue to buffet the upper slopes for the next few days, which means the summit will remain out of reach until at least the end of the week. The plan now is to resume rope fixing on Thursday (May 9) and have the lines installed to the summit on Friday (May 10). After that, the climbers will enter a "wait and see" period during which time they'll watch the forecasts closely for an opportunity to go up at last.

One of the teams that is close to finishing up their rotations is the IMG squad. They have three distinct teams on the mountain once again this year and the final group is headed to Camp 3 today. After spending a night there, they'll all begin the descent back to BC, where they'll be standing by for the summit push to come. In the team's latest dispatch they reveal that the Sherpas are hoping to install two sets of ropes on the Hillary Step this year in an effort to cut down on the traffic jams that occur there. The Step is one of the more technical portions of the climb and is always a place where snarls occur as climbers go both up and down this tricky section. Any efforts that can be made to help alleviate those problems will be most appreciated for sure.

RMI team leader Dave Hahn is reporting that his group has come down with a nasty cough – something that is all too common on Everest this time of year. That cough is keeping everyone from feeling their best, so rather than go up the slopes for another round of acclimatization, he has made the choice to keep the team in Base Camp and let them rest up. The climbers' health is trumping acclimatization efforts for now and they're going to need to be in tip-top form come next week.
In his latest blog post, David Tait continues to share his very personal experience with climbing Everest once again this year. If you want to get the true sense of what is happening there, I definitely recommend you read his journal entries. He does an excellent job of conveying both the highs and lows of climbing the world's tallest mountain, sharing details of just how miserable and wonderful it can be. As I have suspected, David is hoping to nab an early summit so as to avoid the crowds. In his blog post he confirms that the plan is to install the final ropes by the 10th and he hopes to summit on the May 13, which would be next Monday. If the narrow weather window opens as predicted, he'll be ready to start moving up on Friday. That will likely put him amongst the first westerners to go to the summit this year.

Chad Kellogg has also posted an excellent account of his past few days on the mountain. He and his teammate Rory Stark have been shuttling gear to their high camps and have now gone up the South Col all the way to the Yellow Band as part of their acclimatization efforts. He reports that all is going well and that on the way up to Camp 4, he and Rory bumped into Denis Urubko and Alexi Bolotov who were headed up to spend some time at 8000 meters (26,246 ft) before they start their alpine style climb up a new route on the Southwest Ridge. Chat also shares his thoughts on why he is on Everest to attempt a speed climb once again as he learns how to fine-tune his body for further project he has in mind down the line. Very interesting stuff all around.

It should be noted that Chad also indicated that while descending from Camp 3 he not only witnessed the body of the Sherpa that passed away over the weekend, but saw a couple of other injured climbers. One of them was a Sherpa who was struck in the head by a falling rock on the South Col. As Chad and Rory neared Camp 2, they saw a helicopter making several runs to collect the injured and help evacuate them from the mountain. The pilot of that helicopter was none other than Simone Moro, the same Italian climber who was assaulted by the Sherpa mob in Camp 2 last week. While his teammates went home, Simone has stayed behind to lend a hand in just these kinds of situations.

Jumping over to the North Side the teams are in a similar holding pattern at the moment. High winds have confined them to Base Camp as well, but as the Altitude Junkies report, that has given everyone a chance to get healthy ahead of their planned summit attempts. A number of members of the team had picked up a nasty bug or cough, but now all are on the mend and anxious to get going. The winds are not expected to subside for a few more days however, so they have to be patient a bit longer. The Sherpas are in ABC though and will be shuttling gear up to Camp 4 a 8300 meters (27,230 ft) over the next couple of days.

That's all for today. Hopefully the weather pattern will improve in the next few days and the climbers can truly start to plan for the final summit pushes soon.

Everest 2013: Camp 4 Established And More Sad News From The Mountain

It was a very windy weekend on the world's tallest peak. Those strong, sustained winds kept many of the climbers in place for the past few days, although the hardworking Sherpas were still on the move carrying supplies to the high camps. Camp 4 has now been established at 7920 meters (26,000 ft) just below the proverbial "death zone" and if reports are to be believed, the lines to the summit will be in place today. If that work is completed as expected, it may be just in time. The forecast calls for an increase in wind speed over the next few days, which will no doubt drive everyone off the mountian and back into Base Camp where they'll await their eventual summit bids or one last rotation before they start their final ascents.

The weekend was productive in the sense that many of the Sherpa teams were busy carrying gear up to both C3 and 4. Several of the larger teams are now full stocked for their summit bids with all of the gear, supplies and bottled oxygen they'll need for their approach. One of those teams is the IMG squad, who carried loads up the mountain the past two days despite the windy conditions. But they've collapsed their tents at Camp 3 to prevent them from being shredded in the winds.

The team is also reporting sad news as well as one of their Sherpas passed away over the weekend. DaRita Sherpa, from the village of Phortse, spent the night at Camp 3 on Saturday and reportedly was up and preparing to descend the mountain yesterday. All seemed fine when he suddenly reported that he was feeling dizzy. He decided to rest in his tent for a time, but while he was lying down he suddenly stopped breathing. His teammates attempted CPR, but to no avail and DaRita died on the spot. His body was carried down to Camp 2 and retrieved by a helicopter to take back to his family in Phortse. Condolences to his team, friends and family.
The RMI team is preparing to start their last acclimatization rotation with the team heading back up the mountain today. They'll spend some time up in Camp 3 and may even sleep there with their oxygen masks on. That is a good way for the climbers to get use to wearing the masks and serves as a test to make sure the equipment is working properly before heading higher. They'll probably pass the Adventure Consultants on the way up, as that team climbed to C3 yesterday before going back down to C2 for the night. They'll now start descending back to BC for a rest today. Meanwhile, the Peak Freaks are still down the Khumbu Valley enjoying some richer air in the village of Pheriche. Their rotations are completely done and now they just wait for the rope fixing to be finished and a good weather window to open.

One man who is back in BC but isn't necessarily happy about it is Davit Tait. The British climber already has five successful summits to his name and is hoping to add one more to his resume this year. He was up in Camp 2 over the weekend and was desperately hoping to be able to follow the Sherpas fixing the ropes all the way to the summit, no doubt to avoid the impending traffic jams that will soon come. But with the wind speed picking up it would be impossible for him to go to the summit so his team leader, Russell Brice of Himex, called him back down. Discretion is the better part of valor after all.

The independent team of Denis Urubko and Alexei Bolotov are preparing to make their attempt at a new route along the Southwest Ridge. Russian Climb reports that the duo are now up near 8000 meters (26,246 ft) and keeping an eye on the weather. Alexei is reportedly sick however, so we'll have to wait to see if his ailment will endanger the expedition. The two men are climbing in alpine style and without bottled oxygen, which of course requires them to be in top form.

On the North Side of the mountain the high winds are making it nearly unbearable to be high up the mountain. The Altitude Junkies report that their Sherpa team has returned to BC following a two week stay at Advanced Base Camp or higher. The Sherpas say that ABC is so bad due to high winds at the moment that couldn't stay any longer. The forecasts aren't food for the next several days either, but the team is keeping its fingers crossed that the shift in the jet stream will come soon, giving them a chance to go back up. Edita Nichols, who is climbing as part of this team, says they hope to see a lull in the winds sometime around May 8-10. She and the rest of the team are eyeing a May 12 date for the start of their next push up the mountain.

Sadly there is news of fatalities from this side of Everest as well. The 7 Summits Club reports that one of their team – Sergey Ponomarev – died yesterday, presumably of a heart attack, while hiking the trail up to ABC. Ponomarev was in ABC prior to his death and decided to climb higher to meet some of his teammates who were descending from the summit of the 7600 meter (24,934 ft) Changtse. While on the trail he suddenly felt ill and fell over on the spot. All attempts to resuscitate him failed. Again, condolences to friends and family.

It looks as if the rope fixing on the South Side will wrap up as expected today or tomorrow, but these high winds have everyone concerned at the moment. Since the forecast won't improve until later in the week, final rotations could be delayed for a bit. Still, we are on track to have the first summits of the season mid to late next week. That is, provided the weather decides to cooperate. For now, we'll just have to wait and watch, just like the climbers themselves.

Himalaya 2013: More Teams Prep For Altitude

While the teams on Everest move up and down the slopes acclimatizing, the Sherpas are busy continuing their rope fixing. Yesterday they reached Camp 4 on both Everest and Lhotse, and it is now believed that they'll reach the summit by Sunday or Monday at the latest. Elsewhere across the region, climbers are going about their business on other mountains as well as they play the waiting game, continue to prepare their bodies for the thin air and keep one eye on the weather.

Over on Kangchenjunga, the incomparable Carlos Soria is working on his 12th eight thousand meter peak. The 74-year old Soria is currently in Base Camp on the mountain, which is the third tallest in the world at 8586 meters (28,169 ft). He has already acclimatized up to Camp 1 however, which is located 6600 meters (21,653 ft). He'll head back up the mountain this weekend as he prepares for a summit push in a few weeks time. If successful here, he'll have just Dhaulagiri and the always difficult Annapurna to add to his resume.

Speaking of Dhaulagiri, Polish climber Pawel Michalski is in a holding pattern while he waits for the weather to improve. He reports high winds high on the slopes are preventing any kind of summit push at the moment. The forecast calls for improved conditions after the weekend, so perhaps he'll have a crack at the top sometime early next week.

Kinga Baranowska and Rafal Fronia have moved up to Camp 2 on Makalu as they continue their acclimatization efforts. the weather forecast on that peak calls for unstable conditions in the days ahead and temperatures have been cold recently. But the weather isn't bad enough to keep the climbers off the mountain and they're taking any opportunity they can in order to get their rotations in.

Don Bowie is also on Makalu and doing his best to get ready for the eventual summit push as well. In his latest dispatch he shares the second part of his journey into Base Camp. He notes that the mountain looms over the climbers in BC, giving them both a beautiful and terrifying view of the summit. A place that he knows he'll eventually be trying to reach.

On Lhotse the climbers looking to scale that peak should be heading up to Camp 3 this weekend as part of their rotation. With the ropes now fixed to C4, the anticipation of what is to come must be palpable. Once the Sherpas are finished running the lines to the summit of Everest, they'll turn their attention to Lhotse as well. It should take just another couple of days to wrap up that work, and then the summit pushes can begin there as well.

Back on Everest itself, we have word today that Denis Urubko has rejoined his teammate Alexei Bolotov in Base Camp after spending some time resting down in the Khumbu Valley. The two men intend to go back up to 7000 meters (22,965 ft) to acclimatize a bit longer. After that, they intend to launch their alpine style, no oxygen attempt along a new route on the Southwest Face.

Good luck to everyone climbing this weekend. Stay safe!

Everest 2013: The Fallout Continues

The recent violent attacks between a mob of angry Sherpas and three high profile mountaineers – Ueli Steck, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith – continues to cast a large shadow over Everest. Even though the two sides of the dispute have shaken hands and attempted to bury the hatchet, the stories about what actually happened on the mountain continue to trickle in and they aren't pretty. The showdown at Camp 2 this past weekend was an ugly one to say the least and while it seems both sides did some things that helped to escalate the conflict, the brutal attacks from the Sherpas was unjustified and terrifying. Yesterday, Garrett Madsen of Alpine Ascents gave us an account of the situation from the perspective of the Sherpas, which helped to shed some light on things, but as more information is revealed, it seems that the Lhotse Face was kettle that was just waiting to boil over.

While I had hoped to put this story behind us today, it seems that there is still more to be told. For instance, I'd encourage you to read Chad Kellogg's account of the situation as it actually begins a few days before the fight broke out. It seems Chad and his climbing partner joined the effort to fix the ropes up the Lhotse Face, taking a route that was used last year in an effort to avoid falling debris on the mountain. The two men spent the better part of the day placing ropes on the mountain, with the support of some of the Sherpa. Late in the day however they reached an enormous crevasse. One that was too large to cross and so all of their work was in vain. Chad and his companion told the Sherpas that the route wasn't good, and the Sherpas simply dropped all of their rope and went back down the mountain, not in a good mood. That left the two Western climbers to pick up the gear before returning to Camp 2.

When the did reach C2, Chad says that there was already tension amongst the Sherpas there. They felt like they had wasted an entire day following a route that was useless and that it was the fault of the foreigners for doing so. He also discovered that fixing the lines is a point of national pride for the Sherpas, and they didn't like anyone else doing it for them. That grumbling would continue into the next day and would eventually boil over more violently on Ueli, Simone and Jon.

After the incident occurred, Chad also spoke to a number of the other climbers who were in Camp 2 when the fight went down and got a first hand account of the brutality there. One of those climbers took a rock to the head himself for attempting to protect Ueli, who was immediately struck in the head with a rock as soon as he stepped out of his tent. Chad also says that Simone was told that if he came out of the tent on his knees to apologize that things would be better, but when he did he was also attacked on the spot. A second attempt to ask for forgiveness on his knees, resulted in the Italian climber being kicked under his jaw. One Sherpa even tried to stab Simone with a pen knife, but the blade struck the padded portion of his backpack, thankfully not doing any damage.

Reading this harrowing account of the attack is scary and it helps to understand why Ueli has now said he is finished climbing in Nepal and possibly the Himalaya in general. He and Jon should be heading home today, but it is unclear whether or not Simone is also heading home. Considering just how talented and dedicated these two men are as alpinists, it would be a shame if they didn't return to the region in the future.

Meanwhile, as more and more of these stories trickle out, it becomes clear that Melissa Arnot played a large role in helping to diffuse the situation. Ueli himself says that he owes her his life, as she served as a buffer between him and the angry mob. Thankfully the Sherpas refused to hit a woman, and Melissa is a well respected climber who knows a number of the Sherpas personally. She has made the choice to not speak publicly about the incident and now simply wants to concentrate on climbing. Something I think we can all appreciate and understand.

To that end, it is important to note that most of the teams have now gone back to work and are on their latest rotations up the mountain. Several took a few days off to let the emotions settle, but are now once again on the move as they prepare for eventual summit bids. The ropes have been fixed above Camp 3 and the Sherpas have even started progress towards Camp 4 on both Everest and Lhotse. The latest updates indicate high winds have moved onto the upper slopes however and for now the rope fixing efforts have come to an end. They hope to resume tomorrow or the next day, with the hopes of reaching the summit sometime next week.

Teams that are currently acclimatizing in Camp 3 include IMG, Peak Freaks and RMI. Each of them reports that their teams are doing fine and climbing well. Everything is going according to schedule and after spending a day or two at altitude, they'll probably head back down to BC to wait for the rope fixing to be finished and the weather window to open.

David Tait is heading up to Camp 3 tomorrow after spending two days at C2. He's climbing with Himex but with his experience he tends to climb on his own schedule. When the rest of the team returns to Base Camp to rest up, David intends to stay at altitude, wait for the rope fixing to finish, then make a quick dash to the summit ahead of the big crowds. He's done this in the past to much success and it is clear that he wants to be amongst the first to top out once again this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't follow the Sherpas fixing the lines and isn't on top shortly after they complete their work. I guess we'll find out next week.

Finally, a brief update on Denis Urubko and Alexei Bolotov. The two climbers are still hoping to complete their new route along the Southwest Ridge, but after the recent incident between the independent climbers and the Sherpas, they have moved down the mountain for some rest. Alex is apparently in BC while Denis has gone down to the village of Deboche. Both men are friends with Simone and Ueli, so no doubt they've taken word of the attack very seriously. With any luck, they'll be headed back up the mountain soon.

That's all for now. Hopefully more to report tomorrow.