Posted: May 24, 2007 04:15 am EST
(MountEverest.net/Madrid) Teams are reporting on high winds and a storm forecasted for tomorrow. Some expeditions, such as Jamie’s Project-Himalaya, (on the north side) have aborted their pushes, hoping for a second chance by June 2nd. They are back in a rapidly shrinking ABC, as teams pack up and go home. However, there are still many climbers up on the mountain, and summits added to the record-breaking list even today. Further climbers are topping-out from the south side, since the winds were fierce last night, but dropped as morning approached. Among today’s summiteers are MM’s Willie Benegas and Tendi, and Ice8000’s Kenton Cool and Rob Casserley – the four of them have topped-out Everest twice within a week. A number of Sherpas may have equaled the double summit feat as well in latter days.

Everest north side

Mike and Ronnie: South Africans on top

Ronnie Muhl, Mike Patterson, and their climbing Sherpas, summited Everest yesterday, according to South African IOL. The SA team was outfitted by Arun Treks. Fellow South African Andy van der Velde had summited last week.

Project-Himalaya: Window closing – going down

Project-Himalaya member Gavin Attwood reported the weather window has closed and they are turning around with a plan to try again for a June 2nd summit. “The wind has picked up considerably and frostbite is a real possibility,” he said. “A storm is coming in and due to hit on the 25th.”

“On Tuesday teams above were already reporting winds up high and therefore an increased chance of frostbite. Our weather window was closing 24 hours sooner than we expected. The other consideration was that if we did make a summit attempt and had any drama on the way down we would have to deal with that drama in the teeth of a storm 'Into Thin Air' style. In the face of all this we did decide to come back down to ABC, and further to BC on the following day.”

Lungevity team: It was windy up there

Justin and Brian, back in BC and packing up, have recalled winds of 130 mph at the final camp before they left for the summit yesterday.

Everest south side

Mountain Madness: Willie on the summit again

Willie, Tendi and Brian (Smith) are safely back on the South Col after summiting earlier today. “The team left for their summit push at 9:00 p.m. yesterday,” reported MM home team. “They made it to the South Summit at around 1:00 a.m. and realized they were moving too fast to have daylight on the summit without an extended wait. They found a bit of shelter in a feature in the snow and tried to wait it out for some daylight but soon became too cold and needed to get moving again to warm up. At this point the winds had died down and they could not waste a good window of weather for continuing the ascent. All three of them arrived at the summit at exactly 2:50 a.m. in calm, but dark conditions. After a brief stay on the summit, they began their descent and arrived back at the South Col at 6:00 a.m. They will rest for a few hours and then clean up camp before continuing down to Camp II.”

London School of Business (Ice8000): More double summits

“All our team, plus Rob and Kenton, with Ben and Tori and Sherpas, summited,” reported Ice8000’s BC crew earlier today. “They are all now back at the South Col, Kenton is at Camp 2. All are fine and will be returning to base camp tomorrow or the next day.”

“Rob Casserley and Kenton Cool summited Everest twice almost within a week.”

Updated 7:30 a.m. - Caudwell Xtreme Everest: Docs on top

“The Caudwell Xtreme Everest team of doctors – led by Dr Mike Grocott from Britain – have summited Everest from the South, via the South East Ridge,” reports a press release.

“Dr Mike Grocott, Dr Sundeep Dhillon (Climbing Leader), Dr Daniel Martin, Mr Chris Imray and Dr Nigel Hart from Britain summitted yesterday (May 23) and Dr Jeremy Windsor from Britain and Dr Roger McMorrow and Dr Mick O’Dwyer from Ireland summitted today (May 24). Dr Paul Gunning from Britain also reached 8,400 metres (27,600 feet) today but turned back.”

“The scientists and doctors are investigating hypoxia – a deficiency of oxygen in the blood - to help future patients in intensive care and have set a world record by taking arterial blood samples near the summit of the world’s highest mountain. The samples were taken on the Balcony at 8,400 metres rather than the summit for safety reasons, due to low temperatures and high winds. In addition, the Caudwell Xtreme Everest team constructed the world’s highest laboratory at 8,000 metres (26,246 feet) on the mountain’s South Col.”

Updated 7:30 a.m. David Ratcliffe: Summit and two rescues

“It apparently took longer than expected for David Ratcliffe to get to the South Col, and so he summitted on Monday, May 21,” his wife Annika told ExplorersWeb. “He then got caught up in the awful tragedy of Pemba's death, trying to help out her husband, Raj, who understandably was very distressed.”

Back down, and on the trek back to Namche, David also had to help Nuri, a lady climber who had summited together with him, as she suffered an epileptic fit.

Paul Adler: Almost there

Paul Adler and Attila have just reported to have gone through all the difficult passes in the Khumbu Icefall and they are expected in BC at any moment. After summiting yesterday, Paul got snowblinded and extremely exhausted. He also mentioned having some problems with his O2 system. Nevertheless, he managed to reach C2 for the night, and proceeded further down today.

Exploradus: Jim attempting Nuptse today

Exploradus team leader Jim Williams, who accompanied his client Robie Vaughn up to C2 and checked his progress up to the summit and back, is now free to do some climbing on his own –up on Nuptse. Together with his old climbing friend Lily Leonard, Jim established Camp 3 on the afternoon of May 21. They planned on fixing lines Tuesday toward the North Ridge and hoped to attempt to summit and return to Camp 3 today, according to Jim’s BC crew.

Alpine Ascents: Down the Icefall today

After summiting, AA team has spent the night in C2. Today they need to go through the Icefall one last time.


Links to teams on Everest North:

David Tait's dispatches | Gavin Bate's updates | Philippine expedition's blog | Nives Meroi's website | Anker's Altitude Everest | Colombian Colseguros team (Spanish) | Cato's news on Nettavisen | De Jong's Dutch team - blog | Win Holf's diary | Jomolangma 2007 (French) | Lungevity team's blog| News on Adrian Crane's Team Karma | Scottish Scouts | Phill Michael's Freestyle Everest | Project-Himalaya - latest dispatch | DCXP - dispatches | South African expedition | Jon Miller's podcasts | Jean-Noel Urban's updates (French) | Rod Baber's blog | Manny Pizarro's Learning without limits updates | Serbian Extreme Everest team | Hamars til Topps (Norwegian) | Adventure Peaks' news | Kari Kobler's team (German) | Marjolein De Bruycker | HiMex | Abramov's 7Summits-club


Links to teams on Everest South:

Caudwell Xtreme Everest's blogs | Meagan McGrath's travelogue | Mostafa Salame | Paul Adler's updates | Mike Haugen's Coleman Everest | Everest Denali 7 Summits' dispatches | Tim Warren's dispatches | Al Hancock's dispatches | Exploradus team's dispatches | Stefano Biffi's blog (Italian) | SuperSherpas | Sky High - Scouts on Everest - news | London Bussines School's Everest team | Everest Pixel Dream cleaning expedition | Alpine Ascents' cybercasts| Adventure Consultants | IMG - Everest 2007 | William Burke | Werner Berger | Finding Life expedition - blog | Ta Loeffer | Summit Climb - news | Mountain Madness | Jeanne Stawiecki's website | Ice 8000 - news | BaseCampMD | Asian Trekking

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