Live image over Contact 4.0 of HiMex team members celebrating David Tait's summit news in BC, courtesy of Lance Fox (click to enlarge).
Koreans Mi Sun Go (left) and Kim Jae Soo summited Makalu from its normal route on May 1st. Images courtesy of Windhorse Trekking (click to enlarge).
Fingers crossed! (Left to right) Mikel Zabalza, Juan Vallejo and Alberto Iñurrategi set off earlier today on a full summit push up Makalu's West Pillar, alpine style. Image courtesy of eITB blogs (click to enlarge).
Everest kids in C2: (l-r) Johnny Strange, Erica Dohring and John Collinson. Image courtesy of First Ascent expedition's website (click to enlarge).
Edurne, Asier and Alex leaving Kangchenjunga BC towards C3, in their final acclimatization stage. Image courtesy of Edurne Pasaban's home team (click to enlarge).
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Himalaya wrap-up: Everest summit reports, push on Makalu West Pillar
Posted: May 06, 2009 02:43 pm EST
(MountEverest.net) Summit news broke early on Everest this season. As usual the first top went to Sherpas working on the route; although British David Tait (on O2) followed close behind.
The Basque team on Makalu has set off on an alpine style summit push up the West Pillar, while summits are reported to ExWeb from the normal route.
Edurne Pasaban is on her last rotation trip on Kang, where also Nives and Romano are heading up, two days after reaching BC.
Makalu: Koreans summit - West Pillar summit push on!
Kim Jae Soo, lady climber Mi Sun Go and two other mates in Korea’s Kolon Sport expedition summited Makalu on May 1st, Korean route operator told Windhorse Trekking’s Ang Karma. The climbers topped-out via Makalu’s normal route. No details have been released on the use of supplementary O2.
Meanwhile Alberto Iñurrategi, Mikel Zabalza and Juan Vallejo departed BC early this morning for a single push up Makalu west pillar. The team hopes to climb the imposing ridge in 4-5 days, without previously set camps, Sherpa or fixed rope.
Everest South side: Sherpas and Tait on top!
A group of Sherpas fixing the route from the South Col achieved the first summits of the season – followed by Brit David Tait.
“I am pleased to say that i summited Mount Everest for the third time yesterday the 5th May at 12.43 pm local time,” Tait posted over Contact 4.0. “I was privileged to climb with Phurba Tashi once again, and also witness the "famous five" group of Sherpas fix the miles of rope to the summit. In following them doing their spectacular work I believe I became the first Westerner to summit this season.”
”Although my intention at the outset was to attempt to summit without supplemental oxygen, I decided quite late on that I had further use for both my fingers and toes. Over the preceding weeks I had three "shocks", where both my finger and toes had gone totally wooden at high altitude - I decided I still wanted to tickle my kids.”
Check Tait's website for details and images.
Summit waves pending weather
“The [summit] news reached us just as we were finding out that the weather was supposed to change,” Billie Bierling reported. “We might have to wait for our summit push for about two weeks as high winds are expected to hit the roof of the world.”
“Some other teams are heading up the mountain now yet we may not see our first groups ascend for several days if not a week or more,” Lance Fox, also climbing with HiMex, added.
“The long term forecast suggests that there may be a window around May 12th,” John Golden wrote. “We all need to be patient. But it is hard to not get excited thinking about an early May summit.”
Kids on Everest
Among the climbers currently preparing for a summit push on Everest’s south side are three 17 year old American kids on their first 8000+ meters experience: Johnny Strange, guided by Scott Woolums; John Collinson, guided by Damian Benegas (Mountain Madness), and Erica Dohring, guided by Dave Hahn (First Ascent).
Everest North side: Avalanche at the North Col
A huge avalanche swept parts of Everest’s north side route Tuesday morning,” Montagna.org reported. “Cristina Piolini, currently on her way down from C2, stated the avalanche triggered right below the North Col, at the top of the fixed ropes. No one has been reported injured, but the route will have to be fixed again.”
Kangchenjunga: Ladies on their marks
”Earlier this week we reached Camp 2 (6650 m) and spent a night there,” Kinga Baranowska told ExplorersWeb. “On Wednesday (today) we will set off for C2 again, then hoping to reach C3 at 7,200m.” The Polish lady climber is member in Oscar Cadiach and Alberto Zerain’s team.
“Otherwise we are all doing fine,” Kinga added. “Yesterday we visited Nives and Romano in BC – they arrived two days ago.”
According to their home team, Meroi and Benet hoped to venture up the route as soon as possible, in order to scout the face and acclimatize.
Meanwhile Edurne’s team has departed BC towards C2, planning to proceed to C3 on the following day for a two night-long stay at 7,200m after which they will have completed their acclimatization process before the summit push.
Nanda Devi: Poles in BC
Marcin Miotk’s Polish team reached Nanda Devi’s base on Monday. “We’ve set up BC at 4,300 m and ABC at 5,000 m,” the team reported.
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
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
Lance Fox's dispatches
Gavin Bate's Adventure Alternatives
Dutch Everest team- Bernice Notenboom's blog
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
John Golden's dispatches
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
Atunas Taiwanese 7summits & Everest Expedition
Everest North side:
Czech Hornbein Couloir expedition - Libor Uher's website
Jarle Traa
Kanagawa University Alpine Club
Kobler&Partner
Lee Farmer
Serbian Everest expedition
Manuel Pizarro - news
Gabriel Filippi's posts
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 - EiTB blogs
Nives Meroi & Romano Benet
Kinga Baranowska
Annapurna:
Martin Minarik
Elisabeth Revol's blog
Valeri Babanov
Lhotse:
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner - news
Ralf's Amical Alpin
Hirotaka Takeuchi's blog
David Göttler's website
Xavi Arias' blog
News on Mondinelli on Montagna.org
Manaslu:
Joao Garcia's expedition blog
Windhorse Trekking - News on KOrean Dynamic Busan
Andalusian female team - news
Lina Quesada
Carlos Pauner
Nick Rice's dispatches
Mario Merelli
Radek Jaros
Dhaulagiri
Piotr Morawski - news
Peter Hamor
Polish Tatra Rescuers team
News on Mehdi Etemadfar -MountainZone.ir
Luis Stitzinger - news
Nobukazu Kuriki - English blog
Cho Oyu
Al Filo Spanish team's website
Belgian expedition's website
Lesser Himalayan peaks:
Polish Nanda Devi East expedition
Moran's British Nanda Devi East expedition
Puryear and Gottlieb on Lunag Ri
Ben Clark - Baruntse updates
News on Russian Pumori and E-Gongga teams on RussianClimb
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