Everest 2013: Moving Up

This season is turning out to be somewhat normal, well at least with respect to weather.

April was bit windier and snowy than usual but now as we approach mid May, advice the jet stream is cooperating by moving away from the summit and teasing climbers with forecasts of calm winds perfect for a climb to the top of the world. The only rub seems to be the temperatures are a bit cold, but it is the top of the world!

The teams who summited yesterday are all back down at Camp 2 after threading the needle. Again, congratulations.

As for the other ‘400’ people, their turn is coming. It is estimated over 100 climbers will push from Camp 4 on Sunday May 19th for summits early Monday morning, but you know by now, plans are fluid. Many of those may leave a day earlier or later depending on how they feel, their perspective on crowds and, of course, the weather.

Moving Up

The route between EBC and Camp 2 is pretty crowded right now. IMG had two teams move to Camp 2 looking to summit in a few days. Alpenglow’s two person team also is pushing higher looking to summit Everest, then Lhotse with a ski descent.

Tim Rippel, Peak Freaks, mentions the Nepal Ministry of tourism’s Liaison officers seems to be collecting schedules from the teams:

Teams are starting to find their spot in the big picture for a summit bid. A Minister from the tourism office came around today trying to get an idea of who is going when. Everyone seems to spacing out pretty good but we had this conversation last year season as well as we do every year. You will never really know till you go.

But many teams will still try to keep their plans a secret to minimize crowds and prying eyes. The small group from Berg Adventures is pushing for the next wave of summits. According to Wally Berg:

It’s just before 7 pm on May 13th. I just talked things over with the team and the weather is continue to change and is heading to the right direction. The plan now is that tomorrow morning the team will walk out of camp II, heading for the Lhotse Face, and after two to three hours walk, they will get on the steep fixed lines, ascend the Lhotse Face to our Camp III and spend the night there.

On May 15th, the team will move to the South Col, already you are over 8000 meters when you arrive at the South Col. It is a windy place, and in some ways it is also very, very beautiful. Our summit day is scheduled for the evening of May 15th – 16th.

Yesterday, the Altitude Junkies team on the North left for the North Col but were hit by high winds forcing them to re back to ABC. Phil Crampton posted:

The group has just returned to advanced base camp after spending the night at the North Col. We had hoped to complete a second rotation to the Col some time ago but we kept finding excuses with the weather. We combined this rotation with a possible early summit attempt but as our weather forecast had predicted, the winds were too strong to venture safely above the North Col without the chance of frostbite injuries. The team will now rest for a few days here at ABC and then we hope to summit sometime from the 20th onwards when the forecast predicts the high winds to drop.

 There have been many eyes on the radar maps showing the swirling winds off India. The Indian Pune team had this comment about the cyclone in the Bay of Bengal:

While the cyclone roaring on southern part of Bay of Bengal is expected to move towards north and then to the east, meteorologist at IMD forecasted no impact on the weather above world’s highest mountain. At the same time the westerly disturbances are expected to wane. Above all the wind on the mountain is forecasted to be favorable for climbing. Considering the inputs Giripremi’s team will stick to their plans as scheduled.

Asian Trekking provides logistics for a wide range of climbers from different nations. This update shows the various names and schedule for later this week:

We are ready for summit. First team will attempt 18th May and second Team will attempt 20th May. 

First team : Allan Jonhson,Horacio Galanti, Horacio Cunietti, Udo Ebner, Andrzej Wojda, Barnabas Borbely, Anita Devi, Sushen Mahato, Dr Nima Namgyal. Horacio Galanti, Allan Johnson are at C1, Andrzej Wojda, Anita Devi, Sushen Mahato, Horacio Cunietti will leave tonight for Camp 2.Udo Ebner , Barnabas and Dr. Nima Namgyal will leave tomorrow night for Camp 2 and all members will sleep at Camp 3 on 16 May, Camp 4 on 17 May,summit push on same night and 18th morning summit.

Second team : Carlos Canellas, Carlos Santalena, Rodrigo Ranieri, Joel Kriger, Douglas Scarborough, Arunima Sinha, Ramlal, Kanta Devi and Lovvraj Dharamshaktu.

Got to love Dave Hahn, RMI, as he watches team after team leave EBC for their summit bid. Once again he shows patience:

There are many teams leaving from Base Camp today and heading to higher camps.  This will put them in position for their summit bids later this week.  We are sitting tight at Base Camp for a bit longer as the weather forecasts are showing some heavy snow arriving soon.  We are continuing to watch the weather patterns and predictions and will move up hill when the timing looks good for us.

An update on Denis Urubko and Alexey Bolotov attempting a new route on the Southwest face:

Denis and Alex will start tomorrow. They are planning 8 days ascent and 2 days descent. But they take food only for 6 days.

Not sure what to make of this!

Trash Day

Keeping Everest clean is a top priority of the Nepal expeditions. Asian Trekking has been running a ‘trash for cash’ program for many years that pays Sherpas to bring down trash and used oxygen bottle from the upper mountain. They are continuing this year and are collecting some relics according to this message from Dawa Steven Sherpa:

 “This year we have already collected more than 700kgs of garbage including a rotor blade and landing gear of Italian army helicopter that crashed in camp 2 in 1973”.

Each team on the south must pay at USD$12,000 trash deposit to ensure they remove all their trash from the mountain and cooperate with the disposal of waste during the climb. IMG made this comment after their 2012 season:

Per the rules of our permit, all burnable garbage goes to the incinerator in Namche, all cans and bottles go to Kathmandu for recycle, all human waste goes to the designated burial site (in the soil) down towards Lobuche, and all empty O2 cylinders go back to Kathmandu for re-export. Only after we have fulfilled all these conditions will we get our $12,000 garbage deposit back.

The South side is in pretty good shape but the North has a long way to go.

Success or Failure?

Bob Kerr with Adventure Peaks shared his thoughts on success and failure on Everest with these closing thoughts:

It is hard to know what will happen high up on the mountain but it is important to keep the mind sharp and focussed. The use of supplementary oxygen will help with this. So what is success and failure on Everest for me?

I view success as returning home safely from the expedition with all of my digits intact. Failure, in this case is not a favourable option and, would mean not returning home. Reaching the summit is a bonus but one that I am striving for.

In a few weeks time I should hopefully be beginning the journey homewards but at the moment I just need to deal with the nervous anticipation and hope that everything goes well such that I achieve my Third Life goal. Keep following the adventure.

Melissa Arnot is also thinking about success and failure. It is the Blog of the Day. She posted this as she leaves for the summit tonight per her plan:

I have no illusions that a summit is guaranteed. I know what lies ahead is hard work and some luck. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been there before. Mount Everest doesn’t care. She decides on a minute-to-minute basis, and past experience only counts for so much.

I have never liked the term ‘failure’ with respect to climbing mountains. For me a failure is when you try something hard and don’t learn anything from the experience. Best of luck to all the climbers.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

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