An article on Heiko....

Below a write up by Heiko on his Everest climb based on interview questions he got at work for an article on him.

Heiko's answers to the interview questions condensed in a write up:

At 11:30 am on May 29, 1953 Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary stood on the 29,035 ft summit of Mt. Everest, finally succeeding in a more than 30 yearlong quest for the highest point on earth.  The first ascent of the world’s highest mountain still remains one of the defining moments of human exploration.

Today, some 58 years later Mt. Everest still captures the imaginations of many and has not lost any of the appeal.  The mountain is often described as “the 3^rd pole” or “one of the ends of the earth” with at elevation of 29,035 ft equal to the cruising altitude of an airliner.  Statistics show that of the roughly 11,000 people who have attempted to climb the mountain since the historic first ascent, 2,972 have been successful, representing an average rate of 29%.  While the accessibility to the peak has certainly improved over the years, objective dangers have largely remained the same, a fact that is illustrated by an average of 5 fatalities per season totaling about 207 fatalities (about 2 %).  Two major ascent routes are currently in use, one from the north in Tibet and the other from the South in Nepal. I chose the route of the 1953 ascent (the southern approach) from Nepal which remains the more popular today.

The dream to climb Mt. Everest developed naturally over the more than 18 years I spent climbing in different parts of the world.  During that time I climbed in North and South America, Alaska, and the European Alps on mountains including Aconcagua (Argentina), Denali (Alaska), Sajama (Bolivia) and Orizaba (Mexico).  I have always preferred - and still do - alpine over rock climbing, and have found great satisfaction with being out in the mountains during the winter months.  The alpine environment is quite challenging, the climbs often involve long approaches in snow or inclement weather. One needs to be comfortable with winter camping and possess one of the most important requirements for an alpine climber: short memory, so that some of the hard and arduous hours can be easily forgotten over just a cup of hot tea at the end of a long day…

            Climbing Mt. Everest is an enormous commitment, both physically, and financially.  The inherent dangers are obvious, and the fact that no season on Everest passes without fatalities is something one needs to consider very seriously.  The average expedition takes about two months, a major time commitment for both the actual expedition and also the required amount of training.  In preparation for the Everest expedition, I spent about two years with serious conditioning, two or more hours / day, for an average of six days per week.  That included several long practice climbs in Colorado, and a trip to Bolivia where I climbed Sajama (20,500 ft) and several other peaks in the region.

            An expedition to the world’s biggest mountain is a complex undertaking, and there are challenges on many levels.  The trail from Lukla to Everest base camp is about 40 miles long, a rough path that leads up to 17,500 ft and to the base of the Khumbu ice fall.  Besides the obvious physical requirements, the debilitating effects of the increasing altitude, and dealing with food and water related illnesses present major issues.  Once base camp is reached, more than four weeks are spent with acclimatization during which climbing proceeds in several stages up to an elevation of about 24,000 ft.  Continuing inclement weather, wind and snow can make for a difficult time even at base camp.  Staying healthy is critical and the enduring misery of being uncomfortable over many weeks is mentally challenging and requires some major perseverance.  With ever changing conditions, the actual climbing can be hard and demanding.  We often climbed anywhere between 5 – 8 hrs in steep and sometimes exposed terrain.   Above 28,000 ft, the oxygen level is about 1/3 of that at sea level.  Even with the use of supplemental oxygen there is only limited time during which body and mind continue to deteriorate. The final climb from camp four (26,000 ft) to the summit (29,035 ft) and back down to the relative safety of camp two (22,000 ft) took more than 22 hrs and was most certainly one of the hardest things I have ever done.

There are many factors that can effect the chances for a summit bid.  Windows with favorable conditions are short, and things like wind, weather and snow conditions are outside of our control.  As a result, a large percentage of the climbers are actual on the mountain for the second, sometimes third or even more times, hoping to be able to beat the odds this time around.  For having succeeded with the first attempt I consider myself extremely fortunate, and also very lucky that I was able to return from the mountain without a lasting condition or debilitating injury. 

Having stood on top of Mt. Everest certainly does not mean that I will now stop climbing altogether.  There are many more mountains that are of interest for a variety of reasons and there are plenty of other destinations that are equally unique.  For example, traveling to the Antarctica is also something I have always been interested in.

Preparing for demanding expeditions to remote locations such as Mt. Everest require long time commitments, discipline, and a life style that prepares body and mind equally well. Over the years I have found that this has definitely effected how I approach life in general and it has helped me to keep a positive 

An interesting link on the realities of Everest

Several people have asked about the reality of climbing Everest. I think this article (link below) is very well done.

http://godheadv.blogspot.com/2010/04/abandoned-on-everest.html

Several updates (now that the memory has recovered)

Heiko has provided several updates to fill in the gaps between May 15th and May 22nd. These have been updated on the blog in sequential order. The links to these updates are provided below starting with the update from the 15th.

Waiting for a window (May 15) : http://heikoeverest.blogspot.com/2011/07/waiting-for-window.html
More waiting (May 16): http://heikoeverest.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-waiting.html
Crampon point and the Icefall (May 17): http://heikoeverest.blogspot.com/2011/05/crampon-point-and-icefall.html
Camp 1 (May 18): http://heikoeverest.blogspot.com/2011/05/crampon-point-and-icefall.html
Camp 2/Western Cwm (May 19): http://heikoeverest.blogspot.com/2011/05/camp-2western-cwm.html
Camp 3/Lhotse Face (May 20): http://heikoeverest.blogspot.com/2011/05/camp-3lhotse-face.html
Camp 4/South Col and Summit!!!! (May 20): http://heikoeverest.blogspot.com/2011/05/camp-4south-col.html
Back at Camp 2/Western Cwm (May 20): http://heikoeverest.blogspot.com/2011/05/camp-2western-cwm-return.html

Everest Summiters Club

When we got back to Kathmandu, we were presented with an official press release that stated our names and the date and time of reaching the Everest summit. This will be used to later issue an official certificate from the Nepalese government.  In addition, the papers are also useful for visiting the famous Rum Doodle bar in the Tamale district of Kathmandu.  This bar is famous for having all signatures from all people ever reaching the Summit of Everest on the wall, starting with the first two, Hillary and Tenzing in 1953.  In addition, upon presenting the necessary papers, we got to sign the wall, and get included in the Everest Summiter Club, and the food there will be free for every visit.  A very nice gesture and a nice memory on this
otherwise, pretty harsh trip. Speaking of that, we learned that just after we left, two more climbers have unfortunately died up on the mountain. This just further brings it home how difficult the season has been with the low number of summits, five fatalities thus far and plenty of other incidents. 

More exploration of Kathmandu.

As you can imagine, I just can't leave anything out...  I went today to the famous place on the river in Kathmandu where the dead are burned in funeral ceremonies.  The place on the river is next to the more than 2500 year old palace.  The dead are placed on piles of logs on small terraces next to the river bed.  There are several burnings going on at all times, and an acrid smoke hangs over the river. The fires burn for several hours at the time, and the final remains are then simply pushed into the river to clear the terrace for the next one. Small ceremonies are carried out by the families, and it all looks a little bit like a scene out of the apocalypse...  At any rate, this is also a sacred place, and I had the pleasure of getting a bit closer with some of the holy men...

Some impressions from the summit climb

Things are kind of hectic now but here are some pictures from the summit attempt. More to come later......

Above: The big three (from the left, Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse) Just one day before our summit bid I went on another training climb up to Pulmori, upper camp 1 (around 19,000 ft).  From there, one has a great view on the whole Everest group.  At the time I did not yet know that we had to leave just a few hours later to take advantage of the potential summit window on May 21.


Below:Camp 2 and camp 3 in the upper Lhotse face (elevation 24,023 ft).  This is a precarious place, carved out into the steep Lhotse face.  From there the decision is made to either proceed on to the South Cool, or descendf back down to camp 2 and base camp.

Below: Camp 4 (South Col) where we rest for several hours after arriving from camp 3, using supplemental oxygen at a low flow rate (about 0.5 - 1.0 l/min).  On May 20 in the afternoon, the winds were still strong at 40-50 mi/hr.  The conditions improved in the evening, and we left around 10 pm for the summit.

Below:Pasang, my climbing sherpa at the summit, time; May 21, about 7:45 am.

Below: At the 29,035 ft summit.  We spent less than 10 min there due to the impending weather change.  From there we descended back down from the highly treacherous upper mountain to camp 4 then continued on via the Geneva Spur and the Yellow Band back down the Lhotse face and to camp 2.  We were off the face around 7 pm on May 21, and back in camp 2 just before 8 pm.    

Back at base camp after summit

May 23

Just got back to base camp after the 22 hour epic to the summit.  It was by sure the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  We were also very lucky to have very reasonable conditions for some hours, but had to climb most of the night in some wind and snow.  Luckily I was able to push through and summited in day light.  We were on the summit for less than 10 min when the weather turned on us.  Only a few people where on the mountain (less than 40), we got to the summit just by ourself. 

I don't remember all of it at the moment, but have the pictures (and rocks ) to prove it....  Also, after safely returning to camp 2 I had some temporary vision problems, for a few hours my eyes were on fire, most likely due to some of the cold air exposure during the night hours.  That’s why I spent yesterday at camp 2 to get  most of my eye sight back, and came down to base camp this morning.

The plan is to leave tomorrow for Lukla, if all goes well.

I also now understand why people take a few weeks before they can talk about this. I think I need some time off myself from all the drama, the awful injuries, and the sight of dead people.  Just over night, four people were luckily pulled off the mountain still alive, but with awful frost bites to feet and hands, and had to be flown out to Kathmandu via helicopter this morning. 

I definitely need to remind myself how lucky I have been to be able to pull this off...

Back at Camp 2/Western Cwm

May 22, 6 am, Camp 2/Western Cwm

It was obvious now that I needed to wait some more time to have my vision improved to the point that I could continue the descent to camp 1 and the icefall.  I had some breakfast later that morning, then spent most of the day rehydrating and resting.  By late afternoon, my vision had improved enough to consider descending to base camp early next morning.

Camp 4/South Col and Summit!!!

May 20, 10 pm, Camp 4/South Col

What happened over the next roughly 30 hrs is even today a bit of a mystery to me.  Many of the details following below I added at a later time – about four weeks after returning back to the US.  This part would otherwise have been pretty short had I based it only on the things I recalled immediately following that day... 

The afternoon of May 20 slowly passed and, much to our distress, the winds continued to pick up.  Around 6 pm it was blowing with more than 50 mi/hr, we continued to sit tight, hoping for the winds to die down later that night.  The forecast was calling for just that, but a week earlier, under similar circumstances, it had turned out just the other way.  And in the deteriorating conditions, our first group had run into some major issues that resulted in frost bites, and temporary blindness - all of which could have easily turned out far worse.  So, we continued to wait nervously over the next few hours while slowly getting into our down suits, checking the oxygen equipment, and gathering up our gear.  Around 9:30 pm the conditions had improved some, and the winds were down to about 30 mi/hr.  With that, it was good enough to go, and around 10 pm we were ready to leave the Col for the summit.

The route started with a gradual incline across the Col and quickly got steeper.  Blowing snow limited the visibility, and I just followed the head lamps in front and then high above me while we were slowly climbing straight up the Triangular Face, towards the Balcony.  I am not sure how long it took to get there, I’d guess it was about 3 ½ hrs.  The last section is pretty steep, not unlike parts of the Lhotse Face.  The Balcony is also somewhat of a critical psychological mark.  Many climbers have turned around here, especially when looking at the towering ridge to the left that leads upwards into the darkness and towards the South Summit.  At the Balcony we intended to exchange our partly used oxygen bottle for a fresh one.  This will allow for a greater safety margin, and on the way down we then change back to the partly empty one we leave behind.  That was the plan, anyway…  When we got to the Balcony, we could not get a regulator to fit to the new oxygen cylinder, none of the spare ones worked either or the seals were sufficient due to the frozen O-rings.  Suddenly, the whole climb was again hanging on a thread.  An intense exchange with base camp followed on if, and how to proceed from here.  Without moving, it was suddenly getting very cold.  Pasang and me finally decided to swap our tanks, since he climbed with a lower rate of 2 L/min vs. me with 3 L/min. With this, we were allowed to proceed with the notion that we had to find some additional oxygen at or around the South Summit.  Speed was now critical, and over the next couple of hours we climbed steady and quiet upwards on the steep, exposed ridge towards the South Summit.  I don’t have much of a recollection of those hours, I remember the snow blowing from the right across the ridge, and that I climbed slow, but comfortable, with a detached sense of reality.   At some point we got to the rocks below the South Summit, sometimes referred to as “the Castle” where I stopped, trying to find a way around this sheer vertical rock section.  I remember looking back at Pasang while pointing at the ridge in front of me.  He was shaking his head, and just pointed straight up the face.  This section, probably rated around 5.2 is located above 27,500 ft and is a pretty taxing obstacle under those conditions.  I somehow managed to struggle up over the rocks and we slowly, but steady continued towards the South Summit.  Around that time, several sherpas passed us on their way down.  Pasang immediately took action and managed to get an extra oxygen bottle, only partly used, in exchange for mine.  I was incredibly relieved; we were set to go on.  Daylight had come up in the meantime, and shortly thereafter I climbed the last steep section of the ridge up onto the South Summit.  The view was breath taking, but looking down onto the knife edge ridge that leads over to the Hillary Step, it was rather intimidating.  We slowly climbed down onto the ridge.  I tried not to look over to the left where an orange sleeping bag containing the body of a Japanese climber who died a few days ago, was located.  I knew pretty much at this point that I was probably going to make it to the Summit, less than an hour from here.  Climbing up the Hillary Step was actually less difficult than I had anticipated, but the last few hundred meters to the top still seemed to take forever.

And then we were there, for a few minutes the summit was just ours, nobody around but us.  We quickly took some pictures; I took a short few steps over to the other side for a look down onto the Nordeast Ridge.  I remember feeling calm, and strangely detached from the whole scene, almost as if I was watching it unfolding in front of me as an outside observer.  After just a few minutes, Pasang urged me to get going again; we had indeed a long way back down to safety.  All in all, we spent less than ten minutes at the summit; the winds were still going with about 30 mi/h, and a temperature of about -40 degree.

Still high on adrenaline I slowly made my way back towards the South Summit.  At the Hillary step, one climber was on his way up about half way, and not moving much.  Pasang insisted that I continue down, and climb around the other climber by moving out and over the exposed rock section of the step.  I turned around briefly to figure out my next moves, but all I saw at this moment was camp 2 straight down, about 8,000 ft away.  Immediately facing back up I grabbed onto the rope with both hands to collect myself, then struggled with a few awkward moves across the rocks to the bottom of the step.  It turned out later that, without noticing, I had broken a rib here in the process.  I spent a few more minutes breathing hard and getting myself together for crossing the knife ridge back over to the South Summit, nevertheless I still managed to pick up three rocks from the bottom of the step and stuffed them into the pockets of my down suit.  In the meantime, more clouds were moving in again, now partly obscuring the long way back down on the ridge towards the balcony.  The last few hundred meters off the Triangular Face and across the Col back to our camp were agonizing slow.  I don’t quite remember the time we got back to our camp on the South Col, it must have been around noon.  The weather slowly continued to deteriorate, the winds were picking up again, and it started to snow.  We had been very lucky to make it back in time to the relative safety of the South Col.  We spent about 1-2 hrs at the Col, managed to drink some tea and tried to eat a few bites.  Since leaving the Col yesterday night, I had used only about ¾ L of tea and 3 energy gels.  The worsening weather did not leave us much time for rest and shortly thereafter we had our packs ready and started on the descent to camp 2.  Rappelling and down climbing the Lhotse face was a major effort, I was totally spent and could hardly keep moving downhill on my tired legs.  It was already getting dark when we finally got off the face, around 7 pm in the evening.  Four sherpas had come up from camp 2 and met us with some drinks, took our back packs and accompanied us down the remaining way to camp 2.  We arrived back at camp 2 at about 8 pm.  After some tea and hot soup, the tensions of the last more than 20 hrs started to ease.  I know realized how my whole body was sore, utterly exhausted, and I was not quite sure if I could get up in the morning and start the final descent back to base camp.  To make matters worse, a few hours later my eyes started burning and felt as if on fire.  First, I couldn’t open my eyes at all, later I noticed that I had hardly any vision at all.  For most of the night I kept sitting up and on my hands in order to prevent touching my eyes.  Things improved marginally in the early morning hours, but I could only see shadows and was in no condition to continue the descent.    

Summit!!!!!!

Heiko reached the summit shortly after 6.30 AM Nepal time!!!!!


Short mention on IMG's website below.


http://www.mountainguides.com/everest-south11.shtml

Camp 3/Lhotse Face

May 20, 5 am, Camp 3/Lhotse Face

A cold and very uncomfortable night had finally passed, there is not much sleep at this altitude.  Nevertheless I felt somewhat recovered and ready to push on the South Col.  Adrenalin was running high now, it was clear that from here on out there would be no second attempt in case we had to turn back.

In addition, we are now using oxygen for the climb up to the South Col which is located at an altitude of about 26,000 ft.  It was the first time for me to use supplemental oxygen and I was curious on what difference it would really make.  In general, we climb with one oxygen tank (weight about 18 lbs) that holds oxygen at 3,000 psi pressure.  While climbing, we use a flow rate of 3 L/min, thus one cylinder provides about 10 hrs of oxygen at this rate.  Right after getting back onto the face – we still had to climb the upper third of the Lhotse face before getting on the traverse to the Yellow Band – I was completely out of breath, even more than the day before.  I first thought that I may not had recovered enough, so I continued to struggle through this for almost an hour, I finally started pulling the oxygen mask off to be able to catch my breath.  From behind, Pasang must have noticed that I kept fighting just to take another step upwards, constantly gasping for air.  I continued fighting my way up towards the Yellow Band for about another hour, until we found a relatively safe spot to stop for few minutes.  As it turned out, I had a frozen regulator and hadn’t gotten any oxygen at all since we left camp.  Luckily we got it working again after removing some ice from the regulator cap, and started back up.  Although the difference was noticeable, it is only a small change overall, just enough to keep moving at a slow, but constant pace.  Getting through the Yellow Band and up the Geneva Spur was just as much work as the day before on the Lhotse Face, and around 10:30 am, about 5 hrs after leaving camp 3, we finally got to the South Col.  The weather was still clear, but the wind increased ever so slightly over the next few hours.  When I checked my oxygen supply, it turned out that I had still 2,100 lb pressure on the tank, it should have been about 1,500 lb or less if the system would have functioned properly.  

Across the Col, the Triangular Face and the upper slopes of Mt. Everest were coming in and out of the clouds, the view was intimidating.   Exhausted, but also quite excited to have made it to the mysterious South Col – and the 8,000 m mark – I tried to get some rest, hopefully the winds would die down and we would get a shot at the summit later tonight.

Update: Heiko is at the South Col

Heiko is at the South Col. He will make his summit bid this evening US time (nighttime in Nepal).

IMG (link below) has a generalized update on the weather and the climb up from camp 3.

http://www.mountainguides.com/everest-south11.shtml

Camp 2/Western Cwm

May 19, 3:30 am, Camp 2/Western Cwm

The climb up to camp 3 is a major piece of work.  The Lhotse Face is a lot steeper than it looks from a distance and, once on it there are very few spots for a break.  In fact, the whole camp 3, located about 2/3 up the face is a rather precarious place with a few tent platforms carved out of the slope.  It is exposed and with little space, the sherpas don’t like this camp at all and will only spend a night there when absolutely necessary.  Climbing the face is hard work, the elevation difference between camp 2 and camp 3 is a good 2,000 ft.  The IMG camp site is located above the main camp sites on the face, it takes almost another hour to get there after passing through the lower camp.  Two large sections on the face are huge, near vertical ice bulges, and climbing up there took nearly all of the strength I could come up with that morning.  In addition, fatigue, continuing exhaustion and the lack of sleep are now more debilitating, hence two climbers of our group turned around here before reaching the camp located at just over 24,000 ft.  While climbing through the last section up to our camp I briefly thought of Rick who went down right here in the steep, icy section and never got back up again…  The climb that morning took a good 5 hrs and, although a bit faster, I thought that it was just as hard as it had been the first time a few weeks ago.  Hoping now for the all crucial “go ahead” to the South Col in the morning, I settled in for the day and tried my best to rest, eat a few bites, and to regain some strength.  

Update on Heiko

He's at camp 2. The summit bid has been postponed by one day so he will spend an extra rest day at camp 2 before moving to camp 3. 

IMG has general comments on the weather in the link below.


Thanks,


Yemi


http://www.mountainguides.com/everest-south11.shtml

Camp 1

May 18, 4:30 am, Camp 1

Everything looked still good in the morning so, a few quick bites (I wouldn’t call it “breakfast…”), some hot tea at 5 am and we were on our way up to camp 2.  Camp 2 is located in the upper part of the Western Cwm.  Everyone tries to avoid the hike up there during the mid-day hours since the heat generated by the sun reflecting off the glacier can be unbearable.  The early morning hike worked out fine, Pasang and me made it up to camp 2 in just under two hours.  We then settled in for the day, had some food and were hoping for a “go” early next morning in order to continue up the Lhotse Face to camp 3.

Crampon point and the icefall...

May 17, 1:45 am, Base Camp

After a few hours of rest, no sleep of course… we had some breakfast at 2 am, then loaded up our packs and headed out the “door”, up the hill towards crampon point, about a good half hour from camp. Getting out this early and into the cold, I usually need some time to “get in the mood”… or rather to get my body to accept the miserable situation and to function properly. When we arrived at crampon point I realized that I had left my filled water bottle at in the dining tent, and had only my second (empty one) in my pack. For a moment I was contemplating getting by without it, but then realized that, just in case we were really going up higher, I would be without it for the next couple of days…, not a good idea. When I mentioned it to Pasang, he just told me to stay put, then went back by himself and picked up my water bottle, of course much faster than I could have done it... While I was waiting at the bottom of the icefall – and getting colder by the minute - I kept thinking on what may be ahead in those next couple of days. I was definitely ready to just get this over with, one way or the other…
The climb through the icefall went without incident. Again the route had changed due to some recent collapses; the icefall was becoming less stable now with the approaching summer. About 4 ½ hrs later we walked into camp, this time we did not continue on to camp 2, but rather stayed in camp 1 for the remainder of the day.

More waiting.......

May 16, 8:15 am, Base Camp

It started out as just another day at base camp. After resting up yesterday, I decided to go on another short outing – back up to Pulmori, upper camp 1. More than a month ago, this was my first hike after we got into base camp following the acclimatizing climb at Lobuche peak. I remember well the miserable weather that day, and that it took almost 2 ½ hrs one way from base camp up to the ~19,000 ft high camp. I was sucking

air, and wondered how one can seriously ever climb any higher. The hike today however, went rather well. I got up in just a little over an hour, the view across was clear, and I was able to finally get some nice pictures of the big three: Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse. Mt. Everest’s summit was clearly visible, with just a small snow plume coming of the summit. Looking up there though, it seemed rather inconceivable that I would ever be able to get there… Back in camp, the rest of the day was rather uneventful, and after dinner I was already contemplating another hike for the next day, just to keep it up a bit, for the time being. It was now close to 8 pm, and within the next hour things were about to change significantly…

The latest weather forecast now seemed to favor conditions for a summit window around May 20, which was 3-4 days earlier than originally thought. With that, things got busy with checking gear, gathering up food for the next several days, and preparing for an early; 3 am start to go back up through the ice fall towards the upper part of the mountain. Although nobody spoke the words, we all knew that this would be it, our one and only shot for a summit attempt 3-4 days from now, as there is not much time left in this season…

Summit attempt begins.....

Update from Heiko below:

The weather has changed once again and a window has opened for a summit attempt. Heiko headed out from base camp at 3 AM Everest time and is on his way to camp 1. Potential summit window will be between May 19 - 21.

Thanks

Yemi

Waiting for a window....

May 15, 7:30 pm, Base Camp

After the hike down to Gorakshep yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to stay at camp today. The weather was pretty reasonable, some sun on and off, and no snow… Higher up, though, things are not yet looking good, and it appears that we will have to sit it out in base camp for a while longer – another 2-3 days is the current estimate. Of course, a look at the calendar shows that the clock is ticking. And a bit nervously, I started to wonder if we will still get some reasonable weather before things have to come to an end for the season…

Postponed Summit window

May 14, 2011

Our planned summit departure of May 18^th has been cancelled due to the current weather situation.  This will continue to be a major issue for the next couple of days.  As you may imagine, for those up on the mountain that have to retreat back to base camp, this is a major defeat.  So, to understand the tricky logistics for a summit attempt, here is a short explanation that hopefully will clear up some questions.

The basic, conservative approach is to leave base camp, and then proceed to camp 1, then to camp 2.  It is possible to go from base camp to 2 in one day however this would be a long day.  The next step is ascending the Lhotse face to camp 3, a brutal and hard day.  Camp 3 is a major stepping stone, and if everything looks good, we then continue to the South Col (camp 4).  From camp 4 the real summit attempt will be launched, the round trip from the south col to the summit and back can take anytime from 16 to more than 20 hrs.  Most critical is the situation at camp 3 and 4.  If the situation does not allow to continue, retreat from camp 3 and 4 is especially devastating and can mean the end of attempting the summit due to the exhaustion, and then a  number of days are required (4-5) before a new attempt can even be considered.  So, in short, to be in position for a summit attempt from camp 3 or 4, we need a head start of at least 3-4 days from base camp.  This is what makes the summit climb so tricky.

At any rate, there is good news.  Today, 5 of our climbers were able to get through to the summit. Unfortunately the next ones all had to retreat all the way back to base camp.  So, patience is important now and also to continue to stay healthy and acclimatized. 

I took a stroll down to Gorakshep in the afternoon, to by some Coke and a few other things I'll take back up to base camp.  I'll hope for the best the next few days, all else looks fine at this time.

I'll be in touch.

Some reflection

May 13, 2011

A few words about what is now about to happen over the next 6-10 days, from my point of view. The plan is to rest and spend the next few days here at base camp until the weather is stable enough for a summit attempt. As I mentioned earlier, the weather has been very unpredictable over the last couple of weeks. There seem to be little stability at the current time, and the storm three days ago that came in out of nowhere appears part of a strange pattern. Furthermore, today the summit winds turned out to be in excess of 55 mi/hr, despite the fact that the current forecast had predicted near ideal summit conditions. As result, all summit attempts going on today had to be abandoned, with one climber getting as far as to the to the South Summit.

On the way down from camp 2 through the ice fall we came across a blue bundled-up sleeping bag, the tragic ending of yet another ill-attempted trial to set an “age record” for climbing Mt. Everest. I do not know the exact age of the climber that was attempting to do this just that he was a citizen of Nepal. Just a few hours ago we learned that another Japanese climber had died high up on Everest, near the South Summit. All we know is that he was very experienced with several 8,000 m peaks to his credit, and that cerebral edema may have been a factor in this tragedy. 

For me personally, at this time I have seen just about all I ever wanted to see about climbing Mt. Everest, and I want you to understand my intentions for these last 10-14 days out here. First of all, and without a question, I am going to try hard to reach the summit. I feel well prepared, and I think that the summit is well within my possibilities. Nevertheless, I will not go to some “place of no return” to reach this goal, and there will only be one attempt, hopefully under some favorable conditions. And finally, independent of the outcome of the summit attempt, I have no intentions to return to Everest at any time in the future. After all, there is life after Everest, and I am very much looking forward to it…

Camp 3 and Lhotse face

May 10 - 11

After the excitement of the previous day and half we were now going to add some more by continuing our climb up the mountain to camp three. The Lhotse face is enormous, and far steeper than any picture can show. Many sections are in excess of 60 degree inclines, some are near vertical and consist of shiny, rock solid ice bulges. I will have to admit that the about 6 hr climb up to camp three was most likely one of the hardest things I have ever done.

Camp three is a rather precarious place, and most of the tents there had been damaged or rendered unusable by the storm of the previous night. There is little space here to walk around, and tragic accidents have happened here in the past. We nevertheless were able to settle in for the afternoon, spent time drinking tea, and even got down some food. Unfortunately it started to snow again in the afternoon, and the night was a bit unruly but fine otherwise. 

The view up here is just astonishing. The Geneva Spur appears right next to us, and the South Col is clearly in sight. The camp is located over 24,000 ft, and this is as high we will be climbing in preparation for the summit attempt. In the morning we descended back down to camp two, mostly using a mixture of rappelling techniques. I spent the day resting there, and early on May 11 we returned back down to camp one, and the ice fall back down to base camp.

Mother Nature

May 8 – 9

The next day was a scheduled rest day, since we were supposed to advance to camp three located in the upper part of the Lhotse face. This is considered a crucial part for the preparation for the actual summit climb. We are climbing to an elevation of more than 24,000 ft up the steep Lhotse face, spending the night there, and returning back down to camp two next morning. Everything looked fine in the afternoon, and I was preparing for what could easily be one of my hardest climbs ever. 

As is happens here rather often, Mt. Everest did have some other plans for that night… Later in the evening, and out of nowhere, the winds suddenly picked up and got stronger with every passing minute. At the time, I had settled in for the night in camp 2, preparing for our planned departure at 3 am. By midnight the winds outside had increased to a ferocious storm with hurricane force, and the “luxury” of having a 3-person tent for myself for the night now turned into a potentially serious situation. After the winds collapsed the tent twice on top of me, it was time to prepare for the worst. Over the next 1 ½ hrs, using every short break in the wind, I slowly got dressed in over boots, down suit, face mask, helmet with head lamp, and heavy gloves in order to be prepared for some sudden exposure to the ferocious elements at the current 21,000 ft elevation of camp 2. The inside of my tent looked like a war zone, and things were flying in all directions while I was trying to hold the tent up with my back. Although I felt well prepared at the time, things got more sketchy every passing hour. I finally grabbed my rope knife in order to be ready to cut through the tent fabric if necessary. 

Suddenly, around 3:30 am Pasang’s face showed up at the tent entrance: “We are not going up today! I have climbing rope, will tie the tent to large boulders…”. Over the next 20 mins or so he indeed managed to tie the tent back to the ground, removing some of the worst danger of being blown off the ground. Not only did he secure my own tent, together with some of the other sherpas he cleverly ran a web of rope across some other tents, including the cooking and the dining tent. 

It turned out next day, that this had greatly minimized the damage to our (the IMG) camp, while other parties had suffered extensive damage to tents and equipment. Needless to say this was a rather exciting night, and the next day was spent with damage assessment and badly needed rest…

Icefall and Camp 2

May 7

Early in the morning (around 3:30 am) we left again for climbing through the ice fall to camp one. It is interesting to see how much the ice fall changes in only a few days. Arriving at a section called “football field” we usually stop there for a few minutes for some food and something to drink. Although this section is by no means flat as the name suggests, it is less steep and located at a relative safe distance from Everest’s west shoulder and the threatening avalanches. 

There are only a few crevasses that we cross on straight ladders, and between are sections considered as relative “safe zones”. Pasang, a few feet ahead, had already dropped his back pack, and I was just in the middle of the last ladder when the whole area experienced a jolt, and everything moved by at least ½ of a foot leaving the ladder I was on with slightly bent rungs. Immediately, Pasang got back up grabbing his pack saying: “Not safe here today, we’ll need to move faster”. The sherpas are very sensitive to everything that happens in the ice fall. No place on Everest has more people killed than the ice fall, and by far the most of them are sherpas. 

We arrived at camp one without further issues, passing below some precariously hanging gigantic ice blocks. After finally getting some tea and a few hours of rest we left around 1:30 pm for camp 2, another 2,000 ft up the Western Cwm. In the meantime, it started snowing again, but in our case this was a welcome change in the weather, as we were able to avoid the excruciating heat that at this time of the day would have made the hike up to camp two nearly unbearable.

More on base camp……

May 3 – 5

Rest days at base camp. Three days have now passed, and tomorrow morning at 3 am we’ll be back out for one more outing even higher up on the mountain. This endeavor will take 6 days with 5 nights up on the mountain; the highest will be camp 3, high up on the Lhotse Face. For me, this will not only be the highest elevation I ever reached, but at the same time also the highest place I will spend a night at. IMG’s camp 3 is the highest one up the face, almost at an elevation of 7,400 m. If all goes well, we should be back at base camp on May 12. 

The pictures include some of IMG’s section at Everest base camp. We have it here actually quite comfortable, within reason of course… The Sherpa cook tent is close to our dining tent, and our cooks make a great effort to feed us with food that we will eat at this elevation. We all have individual tents that are quite comfortable, and also allow for some privacy for this long time out on the mountain. Placing every tent, including the “blue tent” (toilet tent) level on the glacier here requires an enormous amount of work since there is really no level space available. In addition, even though base camp looks as if it is built on stones and gravel, there is glacier ice underneath, and at night one can hear the (and sometimes feel) the glacier moving. While the day time temperatures are quite reasonable, and sometimes above freezing, the nights can be pretty cold. I am comfortable here using a 0 F sleeping bag, and only wear a set of capilene (long) base layer, top and bottom. We do sleep with a cap or a hat on to avoid losing heat, a pair of thin gloves, and a buff to prevent breathing in the cold, dry air at night that will quickly irritate the upper airways. 

So much for this time, I’ll be in touch when I get back to base camp in a couple of days.