Posted: Apr 06, 2009 01:39 am EDT
(MountEverest.net) More South side Everest teams are checking in from Kathmandu, Lukla and the Khumbu valley. Arrivals in BC - where the Icefall Doctors are already at work - are expected from today.

Expeditions hoping to climb Everest and Cho Oyu from Tibet are still waiting for Chinese Authorities to grant access and permits.

Climbs are progressing on Annapurna and Manaslu, and there is also news on Korean Oh Eun-sun, currently approaching Kangchenjunga – but reportedly aiming for three more 8000ers this year.

Summit Climb Everest’s North side: No green light from Tibet yet

Arnold Coster, leader of Summit Climb Everest North side’s expedition reported last Friday – from Namche Bazaar. “It is still not sure when we will receive the Tibet permit, so instead of waiting in noisy, dusty Kathmandu, we decided to go into the mountains to start our acclimatization,” Arnold said. “We will climb as high as possible, so we can skip days on the drive into Tibet. We are having contact with Tibet every day and they are positive we will get a permit and visa. It's just a little bit delayed.”

Everest’s First Ascent team: RMI Guides, Hahn and Viesturs

Rainier Mountain Guides have launched an American all-star expedition aiming for Everest: The “First Ascent team” led by Peter Whittaker also features Ed Viesturs (14x8000ers w/o 02), Everest multi-summiteer Dave Hahn, Melissa Arnot and Seth Waterfall. Accompanying the climbers is a filming crew headed by Gerry Moffatt, with Jake Norton as photographer.

IMG: Icefall Docs at work

“The Icefall Doctors have started their work on the Khumbu Icefall,” IMG’s Eric Simonson reported from Lobuche. “We expect that the icefall route will be set in a week or so. Meanwhile, our team plans to make it to Everest Base camp on Monday, March 6th (today).”

The Stranges going for Everest:

Johnny Strange, 17, hopes to become the youngest American to climb Mount Everest, and the youngest 7Summiteer worldwide. Climbing with his father Brian Strange, Johnny scaled Mt Vinson (Antarctica) at age 12, followed by the summits of Elbrus, Aconcagua, Denali and Kilimanjaro.

The Stranges are joining Scott Woolums' expedition.

Apa Sherpa’s spiritual mission on Everest

Apa Sherpa, member in Asian Trekking-outfitted Eco Everest expedition and attempting to reach Everest’s summit for the 19th time, is carrying a special item in his backpack: a Tendrel Nyesel Bumpa (a sacred vase containing over 400 blessed ingredients), provided by Tengbochhe Rinpoche. Similar vases will be placed, whenever possible, on the summits of Lhotse, Manaslu and Makalu, as well as the head of several Himalayas valleys.

The blessed items are intended to “to restore the sacredness of the Himalayan beyul and spiritually empower the people to cope with the negative impact of rapid environmental and social changes,” according to a press release by Asian Trekking.

Asian Trekking as well as Peak Freaks' were scheduled to fly to Lukla today. Other Everest expeditions have checked in through the weekend from Namche, Dingboche, Periche and Lobuche.

Annapurna: Valery and Victor climbing to 5,600 m; Nives and Romano at 5,600 m; Revol & co at 6,100m; Libor C1 set at 5,020 m

“We are in the Base Camp at 3950 m,” Valery Babanov reported on Saturday. “Trekking to BC was tough due to excess of snow. On some steep grassy slopes we had to fix 200 meters of rope for the 30 porters we had hired in Lete village.”

After Saturday’s puja, Valery and Victor set off yesterday on a first acclimatization trip up Annapurna’s north side classic route. The plan was to sleep at 5,000 meters yesterday, and proceed up to 5,600m today. They reported good weather conditions.

”Nives and Romano are on the face, in their tent pitched at 5,600m, somewhere in a labyrinth of seracs,” their home team reported yesterday. The couple had already spent Saturday’s night at 5,000 meters, on a first trip up the mountain, before returning to BC today.

Meanwhile Minarik, Kopold & Revol are acclimatizing up the Bonington route. Elisabeth reported on warm weather and heavy snow at 6,100 meters yesterday.

Libor Uher’s Czech team has also set up C1 at 5,020 m. The expedition doc had some health problems after arriving in camp though, and thus descended back to BC and further down to 3200 m.

Lhotse: Hiro, Gerlinde & Co ready to go

Ralf Dujmovits, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Hirotaka Takeuchi and David Göttler are in Kathmandu, ready to set off for Lhotse.

Manaslu: Merelli reaches BC, Joao’s team in C1, Pauner on the way

Mario Merelli & team arrived in Manaslu’s BC on Saturday. Setting up the tents took a lot of hard work shovelling loads of snow, according to Mario’s home team. “There are only two other expeditions in place,” Mario reported. “A Sherpa told us conditions up to C2 are great, in spite of loads of snow.”

Joao Garcia and Jean-Luc Fohal hoped to spend the weekend acclimatizing in C1, where the team had left a cache.

Meanwhile, Carlos Pauner’s Spanish team just checked in from Sama Gaon.

Nick Nielsen: From Greenland to Cho Oyu – authorities permitting

Nick Nielsen, a climber from Greenland, is currently in Kathmandu hoping to get a climbing permit for Cho Oyu.

Korean Oh Eun-sun aiming for 4x8000ers in one year

Korean lady climber Oh Eun-sun hopes to climb all 14x8000ers in a record time. Oh claims nine 8000+ meter summits achieved(*) and hopes to bag four more this year, according to Korean Chosun paper. Moreover, the paper stated she would be attempting all four peaks without supplementary O2.

Oh is currently on her way to Kangchenjunga. Edurne Pasaban told ExplorersWeb that Eun-sun, who climbs with a strong Sherpa support, might attempt Lhotse afterwards.

(*) Editors Note: The number of 8000ers summited by Oh Eun-sun varies depending source.

Links to 2009 Himalaya expeditions:

Lhotse-Everest traverse
Mountain.kz - expedition's official website
RussianClimb
Mount.kz

Everest South side:
Everest traverse - Bill Burke's blog
Alex Gavan
Jarle Traa
Richard Hidalgo's blog
Singapore's women on Everest updates
Airborne Ranger Club of Finland
Croatian female Everest expedition
Scott Woolums' Adventures International
Altitude Junkies
Manuel Pizarro - news
Lance Fox's dispatches
Jason Maehl
Peak Freaks - Everest updates
RMI Guides/First Ascent - Everest dispatches
Johnny & Brian Strange's dispatches
Asian Trekking - news
Yuri and Laura
Nic Cunningham's updates
Billi Bierling - Everest diary
David Tait's dispatches
Adrian Ballinger
Alec Turner's dispatches
Eugene Constant's blog
Megan Delanty's blog
Chris Dovell's blog
Norwegians Hjertnes, Jacobsen and Rambøl
Gilad Stern
Robert kojetin
German Thomas "Tomsky"
SummitClimb - News
Laserer Alpin
Iberic Everest expedition
Nancy Norris
Abramov's 7Summits-club
Adventure Consultants
Alpine Ascents
IMG
Mountain Madness
Jagged-Globe
Kenton Cool's dream Guides
Kari Kobler

Everest North side:
Czech Hornbein Couloir expedition - Libor Uher's website
Nobukazu Kuriki - English blog
Kanagawa University Alpine Club
Kobler&Partner
Lee Farmer


Kangchenjunga:
Edurne Pasaban
Jon Gangdal
Kinga Baranowska

Makalu:
Zangrilli's blog
Zangrilli's guiding blog
Roland Hunter's expedition blog
News on Vallejo, Iñurrategi, Zabalza - Euskadi Kirola

Annapurna:
Martin Minarik
Elisabeth Revol's blog
Valeri Babanov
Nives Meroi & Romano Benet
Libor Uher's website

Lhotse:
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner - news
Ralf's Amical Alpin
Hirotaka Takeuchi's blog
David Göttler's website
Xavi Arias' blog

Manaslu:
Joao Garcia's expedition blog
Jean Luc Fohal's website
Piotr Morawski - news
Andalusian female team - news
Lina Quesada
Carlos Pauner
Nick Rice's dispatches
Mario Merelli
Radek Jaros

Dhaulagiri
News on Mehdi Etemadfar -MountainZone.ir

Shisha Pangma
Andrew Lock's Shisha+Everest dispatches

 EMAIL   PRINT   SHARE   TEXT