Everest 2018: Climbers Say Hello to Kathmandu.

Right on time, climbers and trekkers from around the world are arriving in Kathmandu. Some have already flown to Lukla to begin their trek to Everest Base Camp.

I say this every year – if you ever get the chance to trek in Nepal, or the Khumbu especially, jump on the chance. I promise you it will change your life. My first visit was in 1997 for a trek to Everest Base Camp (EBC) via the Goyko Lakes. I was captivated by the people of Nepal, the Sherpa culture, the villages, teahouses, monasteries, monks, yaks, the pizza 🙂  … well you see what I mean. I returned home with new sense of the world and how we might possibly could get along. Thankfully I have returned to Nepal 13 times since then.

International Mount Guides, aka IMG, has checked in from Kathmandu with their usual large team. Between their Sherpa lead team and the Western guided team, I expect IMG to have over 30 clients. They usually have the largest team but recently, Seven Summits Treks who has been aggressive with offering low cost climbs (as low as $20K compared to IMG’s $45K) has easily hosted over 60, or even 100 clients in a single season.

IMG will acclimatize on Lobuche East at ‎6,119 m (20,075 ft) to eliminate one rotation through the Icefall. They still have their members sleep at Camps 1, 2 and 3 with at least two rotations before going for the summit. Himalayan Experience aka Himex does something similar.

IMG’s 2018 team hearing a welcome by Greg Vernovage

Another variation on acclimatizing before climbs is shown by Tim Mosedale who takes his climbers on a three-week trek instead of arriving at EBC then going through the Icefall or using Lobuche. Still, Tim has his climbers do a couple of rotations.

Guy Cotter of Adventure Consultants is guiding one private client who is said to be attempting Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse this season. While this has been done, it is quite rare. Kenton Cool was the last to get all three in a single season in 2013.

The teams climbing from the Tibet side usually arrive in Kathmandu, or Lhasa, in early April. Since they drive to base camp, it is shorter but they still spend a few nights along the way for acclimatization.

EverestER is already up and running. This valuable medical service is staffed by volunteers and offers medical services for foreigners for $100 for the season. All Sherpas, porters and locals are treated free of charge. They posted last week that they have already treated 50 patients and had one helicopter evacuation for HAPE.

Expect Another Big Year and Deaths

In 2017 there were 648 summits, 237 from Tibet and 411 from Nepal including 11 climbers who didn’t use supplemental oxygen. There were 6 deaths. I expect about the same number on both sides this year. Some climbers will be using their 2014 permits. Nepal extended those for five years to 2019 after a Sherpa strike closed that side of the mountain. But the 2015 permits that were extended for two years after the earthquake closed Everest have now expired. Expiring permits were one factor in the 2017 season with 166 people using permit extensions.

If the weather holds, there could be over 200 summits from the Tibet side and over 400 from the Nepal side. Sadly I believe 6 to 8 people will die on Everest this spring, mostly on the Nepal side from inexperienced climbers climbing with unqualified guides. This has been the pattern the past few years. Also, I expect to see record frostbite and helicopter “rescues” since the helicopter services are now controlled by Nepali guide companies and they make a significant profit from the insurance coverage of climbers and trekkers.

Everest 2018: Final Preparations and More Rules.

As we approach mid-March, some families around the world are shifting their minds to Everest. Soon they will make that drive to the airport to send their loved-one away for two months knowing they are going on an adventure of their life. For the climbers, this is all about the dream. For the ones left behind, they only have one dream – to hug them once again.

By now, all the gear is bought, the training is complete and all that is left is to leave nothing left unsaid. For the climbers, once they sit down in that airplane seat, the journey begins. Hopefully all the work over the last year, all the climbs over the past decade have lead to this point. They are well prepared and empowered with positive support.

Icefall

The Icefall Doctors are almost to Everest Base Camp on the Nepal side per this article in the Himalayan. This is normal and there have been requests from the large commercial operators to get the route in by 1 April to allow the upper camps to be established and reduce the crowds on the route by spreading the climbers out.

I like that the article list the Sherpas names, who will make $3,000 each for the two month season. Climbers pay $600 each to use the route. This fee is usually part of their overall expedition price.

• Ang Kami Sherpa of Chaurikharka – 66 year-old Leader
• Ang Sarki Sherpa
• Ngim Dorjee Sherpa
• Mingma Chhiri Sherpa
• Yangda Sherpa
• Mingma Temba Sherpa
• Nima Wangchu Sherpa
• Dawa Jangbu,
• Ngawang Thangten Sherpa – kitchen staff
• Mingma Dorjee Sherpa – kitchen staff

Route Evolution

The route thru the Khumbu Icefall has changed over the decades based on ice conditions and objective dangers. Of course the ice serac release in 2014 that took 16 lives was the most recent, and deadly, Icefall tragedy. That year the route followed the 1952 Swiss attempt hugging the left shoulder. While the ice was more stable (glaciers move less at their edges) it was directly underneath tons of hanging ice seracs.

The next year it moved more towards the center and last year was even closer to Nuptse. Obviously there are hanging seracs off Nuptse so it becomes a judgement call as to where to put the route. Ang Kami Sherpa, the leader of the Icefall Doctors has been fixing the route for 20 years. A couple of years ago, long time Everest climbers and observers, Pete Athens and David Brasheres provided consulting to the Doctors on route placement based on high resolution aerial photographs.

This year, 2018, the Docs have a slight benefit in that Alex Txikon’s team put the route in for their ill-fated winter attempt. It’s not known which route they selected i.e. left, center, right but most certainly it was more to the right than left.

Khumbu Icefall routes

38th anniversary of the first Everest winter ascent.

February 17, 1980 – First winter ascent by Andrzej Zawada’s team from Poland: Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki.

This was also the first winter summit of any of the world’s fourteen 8000 metre peaks.

Completed in 1980 by a team of phenomenally rugged Polish climbers, this ascent was led by … Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki reached the summit on February 17.

Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy celebrate winning Mount Everest in Winter.

One might say that winter expeditions into the Himalayas were invented by Polish people, mainly by Andrzej Zawada, becouse he is considered as the originator of the idea.

It’s important to remind that first 7 of all eight-thousanders mountains were reached by Poles who became famous and British mountaineers called them “ICE WARRIORS”.

These first 7 peaks were reached by Polish climbers between the years of 1980 – 1988. That is why those times are also called “The Golden Decade” of Polish Himalaism.

You can see..

Krzysztof Wielicki – detailed diary of First winter ascent of Mount Everest, Please click the links below :

– Polish winter expedition 1980: Everest – part 1

– Polish winter expedition 1980: Everest – part 2

– Polish winter expedition 1980: Everest – part 3

– Polish winter expedition 1980: Everest – part 4

* more on –   37th anniversary of the first Everest winter ascent.

** I invite you to relationships with expeditions Polish mountaineers.

38 rocznica zimowego wejścia na Mt. Everest: droga do sukcesu.

February 17, 1980 – First winter ascent by Andrzej Zawada’s team from Poland: Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki.

This was also the first winter summit of any of the world’s fourteen 8000 metre peaks.

Completed in 1980 by a team of phenomenally rugged Polish climbers, this ascent was led by … Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki reached the summit on February 17.

Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy celebrate winning Mount Everest in Winter.

You can see ..  – National Polish Winter K2 Expedition 2017/18.
–  Krzysztof Wielicki: Historia zdobycia K-2.

38 rocznica zimowego wejścia na Mt. Everest: droga do sukcesu.

38 lat temu 17 lutego 1980 r na szczycie Mount Everest stanęli pierwsi ludzie w zimie – Krzysztof Wielicki i Leszek Cichy. Obydwaj Polacy staneli na wierzchołku najwyższej góry świata o godzinie 14.30

Należy przypomnieć iż na drodze do tego sukcesu były takie wydarzenia jak wyprawa zimowa z 1973r, która dokonała pierwszego wejścia zimowego na Noszak (7492 m) – najwyższy szczyt Hindukuszu Afgańskiego. Szczyt zdobyli wtedy : Tadeusz Piotrowski i Andrzej Zawada.

Zawada był pomysłodawcą i głównym orędownikiem wypraw zimowych i to za jego sprawą udało się zorganizować m.in wyprawę na Everest. Nie zraziły go pierwsze niepowodzenia w zdobyciu ośmiotysięcznika zimą co miało miejsce podczas nieudanej wyprawy na Lhotse (8501 m) w 1974r. Osiągnął wtedy wraz z Zygmuntem A. Hainrichem wysokość 8250m, a to skłoniło go do pozytywnego myślenia, że zdobycie ośmiotysięcznika w zimie jest możliwe. Wyprawa mimo , że nieudana miała też inne walory, zdobyto nowe doświadczenia i rozpoznawano teren, co miło zaowocować w przyszłości.

Zawada przez dłuższy czas nie mógł przekonać do swego pomysłu władz Nepalu, które uznawały jedynie dwa sezony: wiosenny i jesienny. Dlatego gdy władze wydały pozwolenie na organizowanie polskiej wyprawy narodowej, która miała zdobywać Everest drogą przez południowy filar na wiosnę 1980r to nie spowodowało to zaniechania przez Zawadę starań o wyprawę zimową. Długotrwałe starania (ich początki to 1977r) oraz wsparcie ze strony polskiej dyplomacji w Kathmanu nie od razu dały pozytywny skutek, Nepalczycy długo zwlekali, aż wreszcie w listopadzie 1979r wydali zgodę i polska wyprawa narodowa dostała jako pierwsza zezwolenie na zdobywanie Everestu w sezonie zimowym.

Mount Everest od południowego zachodu (fot. Krzysztof Wielicki)