Our Expeditions!
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Everest Team Leaving For Summit Bid!
Posted on May 16th, 2012 9 comments
Kurt Wedberg, Fred Simmons, and Kancha Nuru Sherpa at the base of the Lhotse Face at approximately 22,000'+ during an acclimatization climb earlier in the expedition.
After all the planning, preparation, acclimatization climbs, and getting rested and strong at Base Camp we are leaving for our summit attempt! We spent the last couple days doing our final preparations as we have watched the weather show signs of improvement.
This season on Mt Everest has been characterized by higher and more consistent winds than normal. We have watched the upper reaches of Mt Everest get blasted by 120+mph winds for most of this spring. The summit of Mt Everest is high enough to be in jet stream force winds (it’s at an altitude where commercial airliners normally fly!), but to see the winds consistently blast the summit week after week with no abatement is unusual. Each season in May the jet stream moves north of the Himalayas and raises in altitude as the weather pattern changes when the summer monsoon season begins to build to the south over India. Sometimes the jet stream lifts off of the summit for as short as a couple days and other times it stops tickling the top of Everest for as long as a week or more. Currently the weather is showing signs of this activity starting to occur. We are receiving forecasts of a “medium” confidence level that are confirming what we’re seeing.
Our high camps are now in place and an advance team is heading up to the South Col where our highest camp is located at 7955m/26,100′. This team’s job will be to carry up and anchor fixed rope into the steeper parts of the route to offer us protection while we climb. With all our logistics in place and seeing what we want in the weather pattern the time is right for our summit attempt. Here is our projected schedule:
May 15: Climb from Base Camp to Camp 2 (6495m/21,309′)
May 16: Rest at C2
May 17: Climb from C2 to C3 (7406m/24,300′)
May 18: Climb from C3 to C4 (7955m/26,100′)
May 19: Summit Day, return to C4
May 20: Descend from C4 to C2
May 21: Descend from C2 to Base CampClimbing with us will be our faithful companion Kancha Nuru Sherpa. Kancha is from the town of Phortse in the Solo Khumbu region of Nepal. Many strong Sherpa’s have hailed from Phortse and they are fiercely proud of their reputation. Kancha speaks good English having grown up walking to the neighboring village of Khumjung where Sir Edmund Hillary helped establish a school for the Sherpa community in 1961. Following in the footsteps of the legendary Tigers Of The Snow including Tenzing Norgay who climbed with Hillary on the first ascent in 1953, Nawang Gombu who climbed with the first American Jim Whittaker in 1963 and became the first person to summit Everest twice, and many others Kancha first reached the summit of Mt Everest with Kurt Wedberg on May 21, 2008. He has gone on to reach the summit each year since then. It will be a pleasure to climb with Kancha once again on this summit attempt.
Our first goal on this climb is safety. We plan to climb as safely as possible and return from this trip healthy. Assuming we can stay within an acceptable margin of safety our second goal is to reach the summit of Mt Everest. While we can’t eliminate danger we plan to do everything we can to minimize the risk.
Thank you to everybody for your continued prayers and support for our climb. We have appreciated all the comments and well wishes thus far and we can definitely feel your support from half way around the world. We will do our best to keep you updated on our progress along our journey and look forward to connecting with you all upon our return!
May 13, 8pm: The moon has been waning lately revealing a stunning blanket of stars overhead. Our dining tent at Base Camp is lit beautifully in the foreground. The West Shoulder of Everest is seen reaching into the night sky. Seeing views such as this is a real blessing and makes us realize how fortunate we are to be where we are.
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Everest Team Poised and Ready for Summit Attempt!
Posted on May 13th, 2012 8 comments
May 12, 6pm: Mt Everest in evening light from Camp 1 on Pumo Ri, which sits across the valley from Everest.
The last time we checked in we had just returned from spending a few nights up high. Since returning to Base Camp we have spent this time preparing ourselves physically and mentally for an attempt at reaching the summit. For the last several days we have been hydrating, eating a lot of food, and taking a few day hikes to keep our legs fresh. One of our hikes was to Kala Patar, which is a popular destination for trekkers because it offers a nice view of Mt Everest. Another hike we have done is to the last town below Everest Base Camp, Gorak Shep..While up high we were faced with very challenging route conditions. A dry winter had left very little snow on the ground. As a result the route has a lot of hard ice showing. We have also seen sections of the Lhotse Face get bombarded by rockfall. We needed this portion of the route be moved. We also needed some snow to fall to harden up the loose sections of the route so the rockfall would stop. Thankfully over the past few days we have had some good snowfall. The rockfall has stopped and there is now much more snow covering many of the previously icy sections of the route..Expeditions are all about teamwork. In addition to needing route conditions to improve we have also needed to establish Camps 3 & 4 plus a route to the summit. Over the past few days we have had a team of Sherpa’s take care of establishing Camp 3 at 7406m/24,300′ and Camp 4 at the South Col at 7955m/26,100′..Establishing the route to the summit mainly entails anchoring fixed rope on steep sections to protect climbers from bad fall potential. With increasing winds at high elevations “fixing” a route to the summit is currently on hold. We have a team in place and ready to go once weather improves. In the meantime we are taking care of final preparations before we embark on our summit attempt. We have packed several days worth of food, reviewed our oxygen equipment, and taken care of any fine tuning of equipment that has needed to get done..We plan to post a update once we know our exact time table. It is anybody’s guess now as to when we embark but we are hoping it will be sometime within he next week..Below are a few pictures from the last few days. As always you can view a sampling of photos taken since the start of our expedition at the SMI Photo Gallery site here:
May 11, 7am: Spindrift being reflected off of morning sun on Mt Everest's West Shoulder as winds increased up high.
Fred trimming his beard in preparation for our summit attempt to allow for a better fit of his oxygen mask.Our Base Camp as seen through a 400mm lens from Pumo Ri Camp 1.
Our Base Camp as seen through a 400mm lens from Pumo Ri Camp 1.
Fred enjoying some Internet time in a tea house at Gorak Shep.
Lhotse (8516m/27,939'), the 4th highest mountain in the world, in evening light from Pumo Ri Camp 1.
Mt Everest from Kala Patar.
Fred with the Angel wrapped in prayer flags atop Kala Patar.
Kurt on top of Kala Patar with Everest and Nuptse behind.
Fred wrapped up in prayer flags on top of Kala Patar.
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Everest Team Safely Returns From Acclimatizing Up High
Posted on May 6th, 2012 18 comments
Kancha Nuru Sherpa, Kurt Wedberg, and Fred Simmons near the base of the Lhotse Face during an acclimatization day hike on May 1.
Camp 2 and the Lhotse Face at night. Look closely and three headlamps are visible at Camp 3.
It is snowing in Base Camp today May 5 as we write this. After spending several days sleeping up high we are safely back to rest and recuperate. We started off on schedule on April 28 and moved straight up to Camp 2 at 6495m/21,309′. Our plan was to rest a day, then take a couple day hikes, followed by a move up to Camp 3 at 7406m/24,300′ to sleep.
We acclimatized well at C2 and after three nights we were ready to move up to C3. We nixed that plan when we got to the base of the Lhotse Face, which is the next portion of our route. It turns out the Everest region is very dry right now. It hasn’t received much snow from the past winter. Normally the face would be solid firm snow but instead it is hard ice. Additionally, rock faces above that are usually frozen and covered in snow are now exposed with loose rock. Rocks are coming down the slick icy Lhotse Face at high speeds. We didn’t think it safe to ascend it in these conditions so we didn’t. Concerns were shared among several guides who were at C2. A bunch of us got together for a meeting to discuss route conditions and options. We decided a few people who were still fresh would explore a different way up to C3. The good news is a route was found to the lower end of C3 and a small party anchored fixed line into that area. We spent one more night at C2 then returned to Base Camp.
Our four nights we spent in total at C2 were productive. We got noticeably stronger each day and stayed healthy the entire time living at 6495m/21,309′ and above. In spite of falling short of reaching C3 we feel that after our time up high followed by a few days rest at Base Camp we will be ready to make a summit attempt. Before trying for the summit though we also need a big change in the weather pattern. The upper reaches of Mt. Everest have been pummeled by 120+ mph winds for several weeks now. With conditions like this a summit bid isn’t realistic. We also need some fresh snowfall; preferably 1′-2′. This would offer some anchoring of the slopes containing loose rocks. Fortunately our forecast over the next dew days is calling for just that; decreased winds and snowfall through May 10. Let’s hope the weather forecast is correct!
Up until this point our expedition has gone according to plans almost as smooth as clockwork. This is the first time we have encountered any amount of resistance from the mountain. In mountaineering there are things you can control and others you can’t. Our strategy now is to take care of the things we can control and set ourselves up for success should Mt. Everest present an opportunity to climb it. We are back at Base Camp resting, hydrating, recuperating, getting strong after spending time up high, staying healthy, and are preparing ourselves physically and mentally for a summit attempt. In spite of the conditions we recently encountered we are optimistic we will have an opportunity make a summit attempt soon! Thanks to everybody for your continued prayers and support. Your comments on the blog are awesome too! We will try to update you as soon as conditions on the mountain shake out over the coming days and we have our next plans in place.
Here are a few pictures from the last few days:
April 28, 6am: Looking back from the lower Khumbu Icefall at the early morning light on Pumo Ri (7165m/23,507') rising high above Everest Base Camp still in shade below.
April 28: Fred crossing a crevasse at the top of the Khumbu Icefall en route to Camp 2.
Camp 2 with the Lhotse Face behind.
May 1: Kurt and Fred near the base of the Lhotse Face. The people in between their heads behind was as close as they were willing to get to the face without being exposed to rock fall from above.
Climbers starting up the Lhotse Face in spite of constant rockfall. The source of the rockfall is from the Geneva Spur out of the photo to the left. Rocks small and large were raining down at a rate of 2+ per minute. These climbers were yelling "rock" while they slowly ascended completely exposed to the barrage.
Mt Everest guides discussing route conditions and options on the Lhotse Face. We all agreed exposing our clients, Sherpa's, and guides to the current conditions is unacceptable. Seated far left Max, Damian Benegos, Dave Hahn. Far right Eric, Adrian, Kurt Wedberg. (note: some full and last names left out upon request).
This cut away photo of the Lhotse Face attempts to show the old and new routes to Camp 3. The new route starts at the lower right of the photo and ends on the upper left. The location of the route exposed to rockfall starts on the lower left of the picture where the large horizontal crevasse ends on the right.
Some of our crack group of Sherpa's. There are no stronger people on the planet at extreme high altitude. Some of them will assist in carrying loads to our high camps and some will climb along side our team members on our summit attempts. From left to right: Pasang, Pemba, Cheten Dorjee, Phinjo Dorjee, Nima Nuru, Kancha Nuru (Phortse), Dasona, Phura Ongel, Kancha Nuru (Pangboche).
A helicopter hovering above Camp 2. Since the 1996 disaster on Everest it hasn't been until now that a helicopter can reliably reach this camp. The helicopter took two test flights with separate pilots taking turns at the controls. The following day they flew to 7600m/24,934'!!!
May 2, 7:30am: Fred crossing over a deep crevasse on a ladder in the Khumbu Icefall on our descent back to Base Camp.
May 4, 9pm: Headlamps light up team member's tents in this moonlight photo from Base Camp. Nuptse is to the right of the moon, and the West Shoulder of Everest is to the left. From Base Camp the West Shoulder obscures our view of Everest's summit.
May 5: The entire Mt Everest massif is shrouded in clouds as a storm brings much needed snow to the upper flanks of the mountain. This should help improve climbing conditions up high.
