Everest 2012: Speed Attempt Still Underway

In my earlier post on this past weekend's activities on Everest I mentioned that the season was almost over. There does appear to be at least one climb underway and it is an attempt at the speed record from the North Side of the mountain.

Ecuadorian climber Patricio Tisalema waited until the slopes were clear before making his bid and now, according to ExWeb, he is well into the climb. An updated was posted last evening that said Patricio had reached 8500 meters (27,887 feet) in just 15 hours of climbing, but since that time there has been no update on his progress.

We'll have to wait for updates to see if he actually topped out and made it back to BC in record time, but 15 hours to 8500 meters is a great effort. If everything went as planned, he should be on the descent by now, so hopefully we'll get another update later in the day.