Himalaya Spring 2018: A Pair of Sherpas Eye New Summit Records on Everest.

The 2018 Himalayan climbing season is still ramping up, but we’re starting to learn about some important stories that we’ll be watching closely in the weeks to come. Yesterday I shared a report that a Chinese double-amputee will attempt to climb from the South Side this spring, and today we have news that two Sherpas are aiming for impressive summit records for both male and female climbers on Everest.

The Himalayan Times is reporting that both Kami Rita Sherpa and Lhakpa Sherpa will both attempt to break their own records for most ever summits on the world’s highest peak. Both are departing for Base Camp soon with the hopes of reaching the top at some point this spring. If they are successful, it will be the 22nd time on top of the mountain for Kami Rita and the 9th time for Lhakpa.

For Kami Rita, this would break a tie that he currently holds with Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa, but even if successful he says he won’t be done yet. He tells The Times that he wants to climb Everest 25 times before his career is done. He is 48 years old and made his first summit at the age of 24. He also has successful expeditions to K2, Cho You, Lhotse, and Annapurna on his resume too.

For her part, Lhakpa stands alone amongst women climbers with 8 summits to her name already. But this year she hopes to extend that streak to 9. She first climbed Everest back in 2000. The mother-of-three is expected to arrive in Kathmandu (she lives in the U.S.) on April 6 and will begin making her way to EBC shortly there after. She hopes to climb the mountain at least 10 times across her career as well.

Most climbers are lucky to ever get one shot at climbing Everest, and those that do usually don’t want to go through it again. Obviously it is a job for these two Sherpas, but they also have to want to continue climbing to go back so many times. They clearly have a passion for Everest, and we’ll see them back on the mountain again this spring. Hopefully they’ll both reach the summit once again.

Autor : Kraig Becker

* source: – Himalaya Spring 2018: A Pair of Sherpas Eye New Summit Records on Everest

* Related Links :

– Tenzing Norgay – The most famous Sherpa. /Version polish and english/

–  Edmund Hillary- Everest legend /Version polish and english/

– Everest Climbing Legend Missing On Baruntse.

– Apa Sherpa’s new Everest record: summit number 18.

** see also: – Trekking – posts on my site :

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : GOKYO, KALA PATTAR and EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK (19 days).

– Everest Base Camp – CLASSIC treks. / Version polish and english /

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : EVEREST HIGH VALLEY – Travel Guide. /Version english/

Everest 2018: Route to Camp 1 in Early.

The fixed ropes are a pacing factor for all Everest expeditions so the progress is watched closely.  With the Icefall Doctors doing the hard work, team after team are making the journey either on foot in Nepal or by Toyota 4Runner in Tibet to their respective base camps.

It is extremely early in the season, but thus far no significant problems are being reported either with flights into Lukla or crossing the border into China from Nepal. However, the Kathmandu and lower Khumbu region seems to be experiencing unusually heavy rainfall.

Can you Hear me now?

There will be joy once they arrive at Everest Base Camp (EBC) on the Nepal side because it appears EverestLink is up and running. This means everyone will have access to wifi at a reasonable price of US$50 for 500 MB. I have not heard what the current price is but considering where you are, having instant access to high speed internet is pretty amazing. By the way, the signal does not go above base camp so satellite phones are still the most reliable way of communicating back home while up high.

Route Fixing

The Icefall Doctors have the route open to Camp 1 today. This is excellent in that it will allow teams to start early on their acclimatization rotations, and to get the camps established. This should help with any potential crowds as it will spread out the activity. There are 20 crevasse crossings using ladder in the Icefall and follows a more central route.

There is a change in who is fixing the ropes above Camp 2 this year. Madison Mountaineering noted on their blog that they “secured an exclusive contract to fix the ropes from Camp 2 to the summit thus … By controlling the rope fixing we can control our climbing schedule better than before.” Previously the ropes were fixed by Sherpas selected from many teams and was consider an honor.

For Sange

I really like this post from David Snow. David was instrumental in helping young Dawa Sange Sherpa after he suffered extreme frostbite near the summit of Everest last year. Sange was guiding a Pakistani client, Col Abdul Jabbar Bhatti on the Nepal side of Everest on 21st May 2017. Bhatti refused to turn back claiming he had spent too much money turn back even thought it was after 4:00 pm. The client went home happy, and welcome as a hero, and Sange, through the amazing generosity of many, eventually found his way to Vail, Colorado where some of the best doctors in the world had to amputate all of his fingers due to the damage. I recently saw Sange and he was in amazing spirits but going through a very difficult physical recovery. You can read more on this post I did last year on Sange.

David is returning to Everest this year and had this to say on his blog:

In 1953 Bourdillon and Evans (left) came within 300’ of being the first to summit Mt. Everest. 3 days later their climbing partners Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay finished the job.

Last year a few of our guides Pasang and Tashi (right) got us 300’ from the top before the mountain had other ideas.

In a few weeks we’re heading back to see if we can finish what we started. I have a few items to collect at the South Summit for Sange Sherpa and a few things I still need to place at the top. We’ve got another great expedition team as well as 19 friends to make the trek to base camp with us.

Dhaulagiri

Another peak I’m watching closely this spring is the world’s seventh tallest, Dhaulagiri. Not only is one of my climbing partners here in Colorado, Ryan Kushner, there but also the inspiring 79 year-old Spanish climber Carlos Soria Fontan. He has the age record for several 8000ers and only two left: Dhaulagiri and Shishapangma.

.. more on : – http://www.alanarnette.com/blog

Autor : Alan Arnette

* source: – Everest 2018: Route to Camp 1 in Early

** see also: – Trekking – posts on my site :

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : GOKYO, KALA PATTAR and EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK (19 days).

– Everest Base Camp – CLASSIC treks. / Version polish and english /

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : EVEREST HIGH VALLEY – Travel Guide. /Version english/

Himalaya Spring 2018: Double Amputee to Attempt Everest, Teams in the Khumbu.

The spring climbing season is slowly but surely getting underway in the Himalaya. Droves of climbers are now arriving in Kathmandu and preparing to head out to various mountains across Nepal and Tibet. And while there isn’t a whole lot of news to share just yet, things are ramping up nicely and reports on the season ahead are beginning to trickle in.

Take for example this story from The Himalayan Times about a double-amputee climber from China who is preparing for his fifth attempt on Everest this year. 69-year old Xia Boyu will attempt the world’s highest peak from the South Side in Nepal, after the Supreme Court of that county struck down controversial new rules regarding disabled climbers. That has freed up Xia to make his attempt this spring.

The Chinese man first attempted Everest way back in 1975 when his team reached a point 250 meters (820 feet) below the summit where poor weather halted their climb. They were stuck there for three nights before they could head down. When they did, Xia loaned his sleeping bag to a teammate who has taken ill and needed assistance, but in doing so he contracted frostbite in his legs that resulted in the double amputation. Since then, he has attempted Everest on three other occasions, with his expeditions in 2014 and 2015 being cancelled due to the collapse of the icefall and the earthquake. In 2016, he reached 100 meters (328 feet) beneath the summit before poor weather once again turned him back.

Meanwhile, the article also indicates that another double amputee that we’ve been following closely – Hari Budha Magar – will now make his attempt on Everest in the spring of 2019 instead. Magar had been set to climb this season, but Nepal’s new rules through off his schedule, so he’s now forced to wait until next year instead.

Elsewhere, other expedition teams are now en route to Everest Base Camp, including the Adventure Consultants who made their flight to Lukla today and will now begin the trek to EBC. They should probably reach Everest sometime next week, although they’ll get occasional views on the trail while en route. Similarly, IMG has two groups in the Khumbu who are currently acclimatizing in the Khumbu Valley but should reach Base Camp in a few days too, while 79-year old Carlos Soria is on his way to Dhaulagiri in search of his 13th 8000-meter peak.

As you can see, things are about to get very interesting. We’ll likely see more teams arriving in the days ahead, and we’re just on the verge of the season kicking into high gear. Plenty more news and updates to follow soon. Stay tuned.

Autor : Kraig Becker

* source:  –  Himalaya Spring 2018: Double Amputee to Attempt Everest, Teams in the Khumbu

** see also: – Trekking – posts on my site :

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : GOKYO, KALA PATTAR and EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK (19 days).

– Everest Base Camp – CLASSIC treks. / Version polish and english /

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : EVEREST HIGH VALLEY – Travel Guide. /Version english/

Everest 2018: Climbers to Watch.

While every climber is special to their friends and family, a few stand out each year try to do something special. Teams are all over Nepal today, with many in the Khumbu, others still in Kathmandu. The flights to Lukla are full and thus far going smoothly.

Every year, Everest attracts highly driven individuals seeking to summit for their own personal reason. I try to follow the most unique ones so let me introduce a few in this post.

Horia Colibasanu on Everest

Horia Colibășanu – New Route?

While there are about 17 named routes on Everest, there are still many routes that have not been attempted. Horia Colibășanu wants to put a new route up this spring season.

This Romanian climber has a solid CV being the first Romanian to reach the summits of K2, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri and Annapurna. He summited Everest last year with out supplemental oxygen. He will be joined on Everest this season by Slovak mountaineer Peter Hámor who has summited all 14 8000ers. You can follow their climb on Horia’s  blog and Facebook.

There are no details on his plans but he is currently in Nepal and planning on acclimatizing in the Khumbu. I will keep updating his story.

Kami Rita Sherpa – 22^nd Summit?

Kami Rita Sherpa on K2 in2014 by Alan Arnette

Kami Rita Sherpa, 48 from Thame, is aiming to summit Everest on the 29th of May, the 65th anniversary of the first summit by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa. He will climb from the Nepal side.

I know Kami Rita well as were were on K2 together in 2014 and summited within minutes of each other. This is a different Kami (Kami Tshering (Ang Chhiring) Sherpa – Pangboche)  than I summited Everest with but he was also on K2 with us.

Anyway, Kami Rita is well known throughout the climbing community as one of the strongest, steadiest and nicest persons you would ever meet. In addition to his 21 summits of Everest, he has 8 Cho Oyu summits, 1 Lhotse, 1 Manaslu and 1 K2 for a total of 32 summits of 8000 meter peaks. If he summits this year, and it is a 99.999% probability, he will break the record currently held by retried Sherpa guides Apa Sherpa from Thame and Phurba Tashi from Khumjung each with 22 summits. Kami Rita had worked for Alpine Ascents for many years but shifted to 7 Summits Treks for this year and possibly a couple more. He says he wants to reach 25 Everest summits before retiring himself.

Lhakpa Sherpa – Female Record

Owning the female summit record is not enough for Lhakpa Sherpa who lives in West Hartford CN, US, she wants to destroy it! Lhakpa is going for her ninth time with a summit this year. She began her dream of Everest as a 15 year-old porter helping others make the top, but soon she realized she had the natural ability to climb at altitude. She says she doesn’t train because she works all day washing dishes at Whole Food to support her two daughters according to her hometown newspaper.

There have been 539 female ascents of Everest by 483 different women. Only 7 have summited without Os. 36 women have multiple summits with Lhakpa at the top of the list with eight followed by Melissa Arnot at six, Anshu Jamsenpa at five, Lydia Bradey at four and several others with three or two summits.

Chinese Xia Boyu – Double Amputee

This 70 year-old has a dream and not much will stop him – even politics. The Nepal Ministry tried to ban double amputees but their Supreme Court overruled the mandate thus supporting those with disabilities. The case was brought by Hari Budha Magar who lost both his legs above the knee to a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2010 while serving in the British Gurkha Regiment. The politics delayed his attempt this year so he will try in 2019.

However,  69-year-old Xia Boyu is going ahead with his plans. This will be the his fifth attempt on Everest. His story is one of determination. On his 1975 attempt bad weather stopped him just above the South Summit. He and his teammates spent three nights at 8,600 meters in sub zero temperatures. Xia left his tent to help a teammate and lost both legs to frostbite according to this story on ExplorersWeb in 2007.

His story continues when he developed lymph node cancer but still gave Everest another attempt in 2014 and 2015 but almost no one summited those years due to the Sherpa strike and earthquake.  His fourth attempting 2016 again ended close to the summit but weather was the culprit again.

Don Bowie – Speed Record

After Kilian Jornet’s double summit at a very fast time, Don Bowie wants to give it a go. He posts on his blog, that he will attempt the summit from the Chinese Base Camp on the Tibet side for a no-oxygen speed record for climbing Everest. He went on to say that he feels confident based on his current fitness level and past performance at high altitude. While speed records are dubious, especially when starting and ending at different points, he is targeting Jornet’s 26 hour time from basecamp to summit time. In addition, he has targeted the most commonly accepted Everest speed climb record set by Hans Kammerlander in 1996 of 16:45 from Advanced Base Camp to the summit. Note: I have not been able to confirm if he found sponsors for this climb so it may not happen.

Best of luck to all.

.. more on : – http://www.alanarnette.com/blog

Autor : Alan Arnette

* source: –  Everest 2018: Climbers to Watch

** see also: – Trekking – posts on my site :

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : GOKYO, KALA PATTAR and EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK (19 days).

– Everest Base Camp – CLASSIC treks. / Version polish and english /

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : EVEREST HIGH VALLEY – Travel Guide. /Version english/