Everest 2005: Live GEO and altitude tracking on both sides!
May 18, 2005 17: 57 EST
Previously published Apr 27, 2005 16: 44 EST
Last week we ran a story on the new Contact GEO technology - Nigel Clark (Alpine Ascent client) has been using it - on Everest's South Side.
Now check out Duncan Chessell (currently guiding for Himex) on the North Ridge! Duncan has emerged as the "king of dispatches" on Everest lately, with live positions, altitude tracking, live pics and several videos from the mountain. He's the one who reports on the status of the ropes - and other meaty stuff from Everest's North Side.
Compare weather forecasts to live reports and pics
Currently at 7,050 meters, the team plans to spend two nights there to acclimatize, before going up to Camp 2 at 7500m. "If we can stay at 7,500m for one night this will be all the acclimatization we need before our summit push. If possible, we will climb to 7900m during the day and return to BC around April 29th," writes Duncan in his latest report.
On his tracking site, you will also find weather forecasts for the different altitude levels, and you can compare them with his on-site reports: "A fresh dump of snow yesterday cooled the camp down, somewhat ahead of calmer winds over the next few days. A full moon last night with the fresh snow made the whole basin look like daylight..."
And to top it all off, you'll find a live image, or video even, of that exact spot! Make sure to check in on Duncan's reports every day and follow his moves on the mountain - no webmasters, no manual plotting - it's just Duncan over satellite phone straight to the web. That's the magic of Contact 3.0 technology - made by explorers, for explorers. Enjoy.
It has been a long-time dream of many mountaineers: Live positioning in the Himalaya. With the launch of GEO for this year's Antarctica expeditions, CONTACT 3.0 is now ready to bring up-to-date positioning to Mount Everest.
Contact GEO is very simple to use when climbing. Your altitude is retrieved by a GPS, or an altitude meter. Just add it in the CONTACT 3.0 position field, and push 'send'. Your position is now instantly uploaded to the web and automatically plotted on a map over Everest (or other mountains) to be viewed by anyone visiting the expedition website.
While the input is easy, the automated plot is the crux. Expedition positions have been plotted on maps before, but they're usually done manually by webmasters during late-night shifts. Instead, GEO is done by the explorer from a 160 gr. (6 oz) iPAQ PDA, straight to the web.
The Everest map is created from classic Everest pictures by the legendary Bradford Washburn. The maps are treated and projected on 3D models of the mountain by Swiss scientists. Finally, CONTACT 3.0 brings it all together with instant positioning systems.
Today's Contact Everest GEO position, and live image from 7050 "Snowy and cold ABC - weather due to improve 27-29th April" courtesy of Duncan Chessell/dcxp.
|
|
Feature Stories |
|
Latest News |
more news |
 |
Everest Supercouloir: "What is a summit compared to a friend's lif
Full Story
|
 |
Mystery Chopper's Utopia summit - VIDEO
Full Story
|
 |
Annapurna South: "It was such a great climb"
Full Story
|
 |
ExWeb Special report: The Ropes and Summit Push on Everest...
Full Story
|
 |
Real men
Full Story
|
 |
Christian Kuntner - a mountaineering legend is gone
Full Story
|
 |
14 x 8000: Ed Viesturs joins the world's most exclusive...
Full Story
|
 |
ExWeb Special: Ed Viesturs "I still have peaks that I want...
Full Story
|
|
|
| Andrew Lock on Annapurna tragedy: "I wanted to keep on climbing" Jun 6, 2005 | | Gabriel Filippi and Sean Egan's soul, together on the summit of Everest Jun 6, 2005 | | "Supermom" Monica Kalozdi update: Everest Summit and hard descent Jun 5, 2005 | | Robert Milne dies during summit push Everest South Jun 5, 2005 | | Grania Willis summits Everest this morning Jun 5, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week-In-Review Jun 5, 2005 | | Himex summit - Update from climber Jun 4, 2005 | | No Mountain top too high, my Love Jun 4, 2005 | | Jagged Globe team summits again! Jun 4, 2005 | | More summits for DCXP/Project Himalaya this morning Jun 4, 2005 |
| | End of season... Jun 4, 2005 | | Ranulph Fiennes turns back on Everest Jun 3, 2005 |
|
|
