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