First 2010 Everest Summits!

Eric Simonson’s IMG Blog is noting the first summits of 2010 on Everest. As expected it came on the south side from the Sherpa team fixing lines to the top.

Sherpas from AAI and Himex were also on the team and I will report their names as soon as I receive them.

Congratulations to all these strong climbers! This is the post:

IMG deputy leader Ang Jangbu Sherpa reports that the following IMG sherpas reached the summit of Mount Everest between 11:25-11:30 AM on Wednesday, ask May 5, here 2010 (local time):

1) Nima Karma Sherpa (Phortse)

2) Phu Tshering (Phortse)

3) Phinjo Dorje (Pangboche)

They fixed rope from South Col to Balcony yesterday and finished fixing all the way to the summit today along with three sherpas from two other teams: HIMEX and AAI.  Congrats to all nine of these guys, great work.

The door is now OPEN for other teams!

Jangbu

There was speculation that Simone Moro might jump the line due to wanting an early summit in preparation for a Lhotse climb. However, Simone’s member became ill causing Simone to rethink his plan. Now he and his partner Denis Urubko are evaluating new routes on Lhotse or other climbs.

To follow up on a story I posted earlier this week on TA Loeffler, she has recovered sufficiently and is now at camp 2 reporting in that she is feeling strong. Well done TA!

Meanwhile aspirations for a new route on the north is in the works from the senior climber with 7 Summits Club. This from an email I received this morning:

May 9 Russia celebrates Victory Day, the  most significant holiday for our country. Nickolay Cherny, who last year turned 71 years old, is currently in camp ABC at 6500. He work as a guide of the  7 Summits Club Everest  International Expedition under the leadership of Alexander Abramov. Whole team of climbers is preparing for the second acclimatization climb to the altitude of 7700 meters. At that time, Alexander Abramov and Nickolay Cherny are going to take a new route to the North Peak  of Mount Everest, named also Changtsze,  7550 meters, via the Southern Ridge from the North Col.

Continuing on the north, Adventure Peaks, amongst other teams, reports on heavy snow on that side. They noted a meter (3.3 feet) of snow at the north col limiting further climbs up the Northeast Ridge for the moment. Summit Climb commented that high winds destroyed some tents at the Col as well.

In a bit of current trivia, Billi Bierling with Himex made had an interesting post after a conversation with the Icefall Doctors today about their approach to fixing this year’s route

“This year we started looking for the route on 23 March and it took us about one week to find the right way and fix it with ropes and ladders,” the 57-year old said. When he saw the surprised look on my face, he continued: “I have been working in the icefall for 35 years and I know it like the back of my hand.”

The Doctors’ camp is right next to the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) and it is marked with one of the many ladders that we come across in the icefall. “This year the icefall is not too bad. We only needed around 50 ladders and the longest one consists of three ladders that are tied together,” Ang Nima explained. In some years, the crevasses in the icefall are so big that the doctors have to tie five ladders together to cross them.

Don’t look for an immediate rush to the summit on the south side. The forecast calls for high winds over the next few days so we will probably see summits starting around the 10th for a few climbers but the major rush will probably take place late next week.

Remember that many climbers are down valley in the villages and some just completed their climbs to camp 3 on the south so they need to rest up a bit before the summit bid. Then it takes a minimum of four days from base camp to reach the summit for the majority of climbers.

Climb On!

Alan