Everest going Dutch
Apr 19, 2004 20: 05 EST
Published Apr 13, 04
Everest is on the list of one of the most extreme places on earth, yet during the spring season there can be hundreds of climbers on the mountain. If you want the mountain to yourself, then try going in the fall and on the north side like this year’s Dutch Chomolungma Expedition.
Everest off season North side expeditions are rare and because of that, quite impressive; added dangers and unstable conditions to boot. Remember last year’s Fall Everest north face Snowboarding expedition? No one was paying very much attention when three young men headed up the slopes of Everest in the fall of 2003; no one except ExplorersWeb. The high tech expedition dispatched video, photography, and audio daily with Contact 2.0 and they also pioneered the Contact power package. Though unsuccessful with their summit bid, they did make a very big impression on the adventure community, eventually. Today Jimmy Chin is one of National Geographics emerging explorers and Stephen Koch is on the cover of Outside Magazine.
The upcoming Dutch team, with logistics provided by Universal Summit, will be on mountain from August 13th to October 15th. Team members Werner de Jong, Marc Streefkerk and Mark Thijssen will climb to camp 4 (8300m) without oxygen and decide there to climb to the top with or without oxygen. This would be the first time for any Dutch team to summit Everest from the north and in the fall, if done without oxygen it would be a second success.
On Everest right now is a Dutch team that hopes to send a man off from the summit on a paraglider. Hans van der Meulen ascended Gasherbrum II in 1988, K 2 in 1995, Cho Oyu in 1998 and Everest (without bottled oxygen) in 2002. Wilco van Rooijen did an unsupported expedition to the South Pole in 2000/2001 and with Hans the North Pole in a supported expedition in 1997. Wilco also ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1998.
This fall a Dutch team will attempt the north side of Everest. This would be the first time a Dutch team summits from the north and in the fall.
This spring Dutch climbers Wilco van Rooijen, Rex Snelder and Ron Doorakkers are going to make an oxygenless attempt on the Everest’s North side where Wilco hopes to paraglide off from the summit. He has previously reached both the North and South Poles and turned back on Everest in 2002.
Stephen Koch attempted to snowboard Everest and he chose the hard way; down one of the world’s most famous direct lines, the Hornbein Couloir. Jimmy Chin climbed with Stephen and then skied down. Eric Hendersen followed part of the route and handled communications. The team also chose their two sherpas, Lakpa Dorje Sherpa and Kami Sherpa for companions on the climb: The expedition used Contact 2.0 software to provide Web updates; Off season, in the Monsoon, no fixed ropes, no camps and no O2.
Image of Stephen Koch climbing an ice formation at Everest North ABC courtesy Stephen Koch.
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| 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 |
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