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Everest and Himalaya daily wrap-up: Teams set for higher camps
Apr 15, 2005 11: 16 EST
Taking advantage of good weather conditions, the teams are flying – at least, those that have completed the acclimatization process. The Jagged Globe Sherpas have snatched the pole position on Everest’s North Side, reaching the North Col before the route was properly fixed (read more about the CTMA/Himex agreement in a separate ExWeb story published yesterday). Climbers on the South Side currently have their sights set on Camp 2.
Everest Weather
Jet stream moving south
The jet stream that has been responsible for the gale-force winds over Everest lately should be weakening and slowly moving southwards next week. Finally some relief! At 9000 m (29,528 ft) the wind is still 35-45 m/s (78-101 mph), but should be dropping down to 20 m/s (45 mph) on Tuesday.
Currently, there are isolated showers in the Everest area. But next week, a trough moving down from Tibet will bring unsettled weather and more frequent showers.
Everest North
Jagged Globe Everest north team
“Everyone is well and happy in ABC today,” reported Dave Hamilton. “The skies are clear and blue, but it is still pretty windy. The winds tend to die down for a couple of hours before starting up again. The Sherpas have spent a lot of time over the last couple of days making ABC comfortable. Today the North Col (c. 7,000m) was reached for the first time, with the deep crevasse that barred the way bridged by a makeshift Chinese ladder. This will be replaced by a more substantial ladder before the bulk of climbers make their first climbs to the North Col. Our Sherpas have been up to the North Col and we have marked out tent sites up there. Our tents will go up to the North Col tomorrow (Saturday), whilst the bulk of the team returns to BC to rest.”
Esplugues al Everest
“After yesterday’s exhausting journey, today we have started our trek back to Lukla,” reported the Catalan team. “However, we have taken it easy, enjoying the views and stopping to chat with other teams, such as the Valencia expedition. They are climbing Everest via the south side, so we set a bet: Let’s see if we can manage to meet on the summit!”
“Our acclimatization process is complete, and we are happy to say that none of us had any serious problem with altitude.”
Jean Pavilliard and Monica
Jean and Monica spent the day in Rongbuk monastery, and came back to BC by night fall, using an alternative means of transport.
“Rather then walking to base camp in the dark, we hired a local horse cart to cover the 10 km. from the Rongbuk monastery. Jean took the rein for the second half of the journey so the local horseman could lead his pony over the dark, rough road.”
Seven Summits Club
A few days ago, we wrote that Abramov's team always knows how to stand out in a crowd. If only we knew…Read the last update and a summary of the latest events by team co-leader Harry Kikstra in a previous ExWeb story published yesterday.
Abramov is still in KTM, taking care of Alexander. Menawhile, the team safely arrived in BC this morning.
Northern Irish
“We are now at base camp 5200mts. Tents and food are very good. We will stay here for 4 or 5 days to acclimatize before climbing higher. Both of us are keeping well.”
Sigrid Hammer and Aud Jovall
Sigrid called home from Advance Base Camp at 6400 meters. It’s very windy and the weather is foul. They attempted to reach 7100 meters, but had to turn back to recover and regain strength. Otherwise the girls are ok and sticking to their plan to attempt the summit in two or three week’s time.
Everest South
Kanatek
“The power just went off in our tent which reminds me never to leave home without a flashlight,” reported Harold from BC. “Today was a rest day. Tomorrow we will ascend the Khumbu Ice Fall once again and go all the way to Camp 1. We will spend the night there and then go on, halfway to Camp 2, before returning to Base Camp.”
“Base Camp has expanded now to accommodate 24 different expeditions and 500-700 people. It’s a small, temporary town in one of the world’s most inhospitable environments.”
“Today, Sean talked to a Lama who conducts pujas, or blessings, and asked him how to keep healthy. He said: Eat well, keep fit and say your prayers.”
Alpine Ascents
“The weather has been fantastic,” reported Vern Tejas. “We spent a chunk of our morning in rigging class. Everyone went over their crevasse extrication equipment and made sure that it was functional.”
Adventure Consultants
“It came as a surprise to folks this morning when our first tent night ended with hot towels and tea in bed! The superb Sherpa staff has continued to spoil us. After breakfast the trekkers – leaving tomorrow - felt very fortunate to witness the Puja ceremony conducted for the AC expedition climbers.”
Keith Woodhouse
“We’re resting at BC until Monday when we will move up to ABC for a prolonged acclimatization period. I want to have several sorties up to 7000 meters by the middle of next week. I have modified my camel back water holder so that I can wear it under my down jacket as it just freezes within minutes if placed in my rucksack. I also modified my neoprene face mask so that I can drink through it without having to remove it. We’re practicing doing all the key activities with mitts on, which is real eye-opener and dammed hard.”
“For me this the hard part of the expedition, just under halfway with no end in sight and missing life in the UK like never before.”
Singapore Mountaineers w/o O2
The team returned to base Camp after a successful acclimatization climb to Camp 2 on Tuesday. Now they are resting for a few days in BC.
The team found the location of Camp 2 spectacular, surrounded on three sides by high mountains. "This is still new to me," said Kim Boon. "Everything here is huge. And it's a long way to the top."
Singapore NUS Centennial expedition
“Returning to the warmth of the sun and the thicker air at EBC was a treat for us after battling three days of high winds going up to Camp 2 in our acclimatization climb,” reported the team today. “For sea level visitors like us, the lower elevation greatly aids the body’s recovery.”
“Pemba Sherpa, our chief cook since the Cho Oyu expedition has not failed to continually keep our food clean and delicious. Soups, noodles, spaghetti or rice with vegetables and meat are the usual fare in our daily meals. Once in a while, we reward ourselves with local delights such as "bak kua" and "lap cheong" with fried rice. We do, however, avoid hot food with chilies as it could give us a sore throat. Those of us who love chilies find this a great sacrifice. We do have a couple of jars of chili sauce which will no doubt be consumed quickly after our summit.”
IMG
“The climb is on for the summit team, reports Eric Simonson. “Guide Mike Hamill has made a safe trip up to Camp 1 with Jose Rionda, Jeff Strite, Wayne Morris, Rex Pemberton, Ed Diffendal, Panuru Sherpa and Dasona Sherpa. They completed their first full climb up through the Icefall, slept at Camp 1, then made a day trip up to ABC at Camp 2 before returning to Camp 1 for another night's sleep, then back down to Base Camp to rest. The rest of the team is on a rotation to do the same thing one day later.”
“Meanwhile, the climbing sherpas are making round trips each day from Base Camp to ABC and back, each time ferrying loads of gear and O2 cylinders that will be finally carried to the high camps and beyond to support the climbers up high. That's the way it works on Everest.”
Mountain Madness
"Hello!” greeted Christine yesterday. “Our climbing team is enjoying a beautiful sunny rest day. Willie and Dean climbed to Camp 1 today to drop off a load and will be back before lunch. This afternoon we are having a general meeting with all the expeditions regarding icefall safety. Tomorrow our entire climbing team will move up to Camp 1 for our first overnight stay on the mountain. Our plan is to touch Camp 2 on the 16th and descend to base camp on the 17th.”
Everest traverse
Luis Benitez reports on the team leader’s meeting:
“Each year at the beginning of the season, those of us present call a meeting of all expedition leaders to talk about current issues on the mountain, who is doing what and why, and who to stay away from! We share our stories of the winter, and revisit the bond that we share, and the hopes of things to come. I am constantly awed and humbled to be included in their ranks, and share a history with almost all of them.”
“I find all too often that mountaineering books and articles are a dime a dozen these days: Someone that went and climbed something once, and decided their life-changing experience warranted writing a book. Chances are if you look closely at a lot of these books, one of the few gathered here led the authors on their journey. The difference is that we come back, again and again. For us it’s not about the paycheck, or the fame, (HA). For us, the journey truly is, as important as the destination. Being an old Outward Bound instructor, I constantly refer to quotes and an apt one comes to mind:”
”Go my children, burn your books. Buy yourselves stout shoes. Get away to the mountains, the deserts, the deepest recesses of the earth. In this way and no other will you gain a true knowledge of things, and of their properties.” (Peter Severinus 1571 AD)
Valencia Expedition
Jorge is totally recovered from a sore throat. He is finally able to speak and eat again, and he's taking full advantage of it. He chatted nonstop all the way to Periche. Not even the altitude was enough to keep him quiet.
Exploradus
MC writes about the overwhelming stress of doing nothing but being fed and spoiled by the team’s Sherpa staff.
“My personal favorite occupation is to hide in my tent getting really hot and then walk around base camp in just a pair of shorts to add some color to the landscape of yaks and rocks. Of course, the wind picks up and the temperature drops about 40 degrees and I have to run back to the safety of my tent. Other people’s favorites in no particular order: Hiding in tents reading books or listening to music and then showing up at lunch bragging about how much work they did to benefit the group, playing with icicles, planning your life in fifteen minute segments between running to the bathroom due to the amount of Diamox that we’re taking or due to the unidentifiable dish at the latest meal.”
“I know what you’re thinking: ‘Climbing Everest is easy, I could do that’. And seriously, for $65k, you probably could.”
“Sarcasm aside, we’re going to enter the icefall tomorrow for the first time and then move up to Camp I in two days, so while the arrogance is funny, we’ll probably be giving you a completely different take on our expedition in two days.”
Mallorca Expedition
The four-member team has been in BC since Wednesday. Yesterday they celebrated the Puja ceremony and checked all the gear to be carried by the Sherpas up to C1 and C2. The team is climbing the icefall tomorrow, aiming to reach Camp 2 and return back to BC in the same day.
Cho Oyu
Ed Viesturs
“Hi everyone, it's Ed Viesturs on April 14, it's about 5pm and we've just returned after battling the wind once again. Today we waited until 11 a.m. thinking that the wind would die, as it did, slightly, and then we climbed back up to our deposit. Of course as we got up there the wind increased, quite dramatically. But we had one obstacle we wanted to climb up and over: A small ice cliff, where there was some old fixed rope which we didn't trust. Thus Jimmy Chin led while we belayed him up and over the ice and we got that mental barrier behind us. We climbed several hundred feet higher than yesterday, deposited our gear yet again and then fought our way tooth and nail down to camp.”
Dhaulagiri
Iñaki Ochoa and Pete Guggemos
The pair is in Nepal, trekking up the Khali Gandaki valley up to Dhaulagiri BC, where the Italian team and Ecuadorian Vallejo are already waiting for them.
It was not easy to reach the mountains though. Lack of flights and Maoists road blocks turned the journey into an almost impossible mission. Read more on their adventurous trip from Kathmandu in a separate ExWeb story.
Annapurna
Annapurna North: Mario Merelli
The Italians are still alone on Annapurna, no other team has shown up yet. On Tuesday they went up again to Camp 2 and, from that point, fixed the way up to Camp 3, located at 6200-6300 m. “We had to fix a lot of rope to overcome the numerous sections of vertical ice on the way. Up to now we’ve fixed almost 1000 meters of rope!”
“After reaching C3, we decided that we are finally climbing via the normal route, and not the Dutch one as we first planned, or the Polish. Watching the wall’s conditions, the normal route seems the least dangerous of the three.”
Adventure Consultants
Singapore Mountaineers w/o O2
Singapore NUS Centennial expedition´s reports
Alpine Ascents Cybercasts
Jim Williams’ Exploradus dispatches
Dirk Stephan and Keith Woodhouse’s reports
Jean Pavilliard and Monica Kalodzi’s dispatches
International Mountain Guides dispatches
Mountain Madness dispatches
Climbing for a Cure’s dispatches
Esplugues al Everest (Catalan)
Jagged Globe dispatches
7 Summits/Harry Kikstra’s dispatches
Ed Viesturs' dispatches
Shaunna Burke and Ben Webster’s dispatches
Czech Expedition - Hornbein Couloir (English on the right side of page)
Gavin Bate’s – Adventure Alternative
Norway for Everest’s dispatches
Valencia expedition’s website (Spanish)
Canadian Kanatek expedition’s website
Sigrid Hammer’s website
Everest Vitesse 2005 (Italian)
Inaki Ochoa (Spanish)
Ivan Vallejo (Spanish)
Leipzig expedition´s news (German)
Silvio ‘Gnaro’ Mondinelli (Italian)
Mario Merelli (Italian)
Carlos Pauner’s website (Spanish)
Mallorca Expedition’s news (multilingual)
O’Brien brothers/HDF expedition’s website
Japanese Team Honda’s website (Japanese)
Gabriel Filippi’s reports through Peak Freak
Live image over Contact 3.0 of AA climbers training their skill near BC courtesy of Alpine Ascents
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2004
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