Everest daily wrap up: Season's first summit bid begins today!
May 10, 2004 18: 10 EST
Teams looking for a weather window are beginning to come back up from the 'Green Zone' while late May summit teams are starting to head down. RAF Ted Atkins plans to make the summit this Thursday. And the Russian Central North Face team has reached 7800m.
Everest Weather
The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday reports moderate winds at the summit which might provide a "mini-window" for a well timed push.
A westerly jet over Northern Pakistan-Kashmir-Tibet is moving towards Everest. Winds at the summit are west 25-30 m/s at times up to 30-35 m/s. At lower altitude winds will be mild. There does look to be enough moisture to cause a few isolated showers today, Tuesday and part of Thursday. Thursday night through Saturday morning does look to have the greatest chance for heavy snow showers.
Everest North:
Russian Central North Face Yesterday the group led by Petr Kuznetsov settled their second camp at 7550m. There were 4 pitches made yesterday and five ropes were fixed today; the expedition has now reached 7800 meters. “We’ve got 4-5 pitches left up to the beginning of the rocky bastion (7900m). Tomorrow the guys plan to engage in fixing these ropes, and then will descend to have a rest.”
Italian Everest/K2 has reached Camp 2 at 7700m.
Russian Adventure Team has made it up to 7500m just below Camp 2.
Flying Dutchmen, Rex made a push above 8000m but turned back shortly thereafter because of high winds, cold, and the beginnings of frostbite. Wilco and Rex slept at 7800m and are now back in ABC. Ron may not be feeling well and remains in ABC.
Greek North Side team is anxious to make their summit attempt. They went up to ABC today but do not expect to find a decent window until after May 15th – 17th. They report that ropes have been fixed up to 8300m and all camps are set.
Everest South:
RAF Ted Atkins will start his final climb today, from BC to Camp 2 on the first day. On Tuesday he will advance to Camp 3, resting again until the next day when he will advance to Camp 4 and finally set off on the last leg to reach the summit at approximately 9pm on Wednesday, climbing through the night until the following day when he hopes to reach the summit. Check out the story at BaseCampMD to see Ted’s homemade oxygen system.
Tom McMillan and Nawang Sherpa are back at BC, waiting for weather to stabilize so they can make their summit bid. "To do so right now would be much too dangerous because of the high winds, resulting in poor visibility with blowing snow, and extreme wind chill factors. As the teams keep an eye on the changing weather on Everest, you can do the same at AdventureWeather.com.
As for the local scene there at Everest Base Camp, Tom reports that Dr. Luanne Freer, one of the volunteer doctors running the Himalayan Rescue Association clinic there, will be heading back to the US (Montana) next week. You can find more info about this wonderful group of people at basecampmd.com."
Mexican/Canadians report bad weather. The team will head into Dingboche for "The Green Zone" for some R&R, Everest style.
Alpine Ascents is in Pheriche (4459m). “We are now entering phase three of our expedition. This is the fun stage where we relax and stuff ourselves. We go on the Seefood diet, that’s anything we see, we eat.”
Adventure Consultants is in Camp 3. See separate story.
Jagged Globe are returning to BC, acclimatization is complete.
Mountain Madness is heading down to camp 2 after a successful night at camp 3. Sarah Henley interview Mingma Sherpa.
Russian Central North Face | Italian Everest/K2 | Dutch Everest | Hellas Everest | RAF Ted Atkins | Team McMillan with Nawang Sherpa | Mexican/Canadian | Alpine Ascents | Adventure Consultants | Jagged Globe | Mountain Madness
Image of Italian C2 with Cho Oyu in the background courtesy of montagna.org.
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