Posted: Apr 25, 2006 09:28 am EDT
On both sides of Everest, teams are proceeding up to higher camps, in some cases, they hope to spend about five days at altitude in order to return to BC ready for a summit push. On the south side, many climbers have now hit camp 2; on the north side, most teams are moving up to ABC and Russell's sherpas have taken advantage of the good weather to fix rope high on the mountain, reportedly to 8300m.

As for Nepal’s political situation, the King has finally acceded to restore the parliament he dissolved back in 2002. The Parties are satisfied and thus have called off the general strike. But the deal is not enough for the Maoists. Just when it seemed Nepal was going to have some peace, the rebels announced blockades.

In the News

Nepal: Strike off, parliament back…

King Gyanendra restored the House of Representatives (dissolved in May 2002) through a royal proclamation on Monday evening. The Seven Party Alliance (SPA) called off a 19-day-old nationwide general strike with immediate effect, and unanimously nominated Nepali Congress president Koirala (also former Prime Minster) to head the new government. Read more in a previous story published today on MountEverest.net.

…But Maoists don’t agree

Now that the people of Nepal thought that at last there would be some peace in their country, Maoist leader Prachanda has raised his voice to spoil the party.

In a press release published today, the Communist Party of Nepal (that is, the Maoists) states the royal proclamation failed to address the demands raised by the people. In addition, it accuses the Seven Parties of committing a ‘historic mistake’, calls people to go on with the protests and, worst of all, announces blockades around Kathmandu and district headquarters until elections of the constituent assembly are announced.

Everest West

West ridge team: C3 under siege

“Team A continued their push to Camp 3, the ridge and a view into the Western Cwm,” reported the team. “They reached their high point just before lunch and managed to forge fixed lines to within spitting distance of C3 – about 7,100m. If the weather holds, C3 will fall tomorrow.”

Everest North

Brazilians: Reaching out the death zone

Vitor and Rodrigo planned to climb up to the North Col today. They hope to spend two nights there. Then they will go further up to C2 for another night and on the following morning climb until they reach 8000m, the death zone. They will then turn around and climb all the way back to ABC to recover. The Brazilian pair is climbing without supplementary O2.

Scott on Everest: Works on the route to N. Col

“Altitude acclimatization is a funny thing,” reported Scott, member of Adventure Peaks’ team.

“I attempted a climb to the North Col on Saturday. It took about 3 hours to reach the headwall at 6,550m after crossing a pretty dodgy glacier (the route across it is peppered deep holes into underlying glaciers - however the ice bridges appear strong). At the foot of the headwall I already felt absolutely exhausted and still had a 500m climb up fixed lines and steep ice to reach the North Col. By 6,850m I was finished - things didn't feel right - I turned back. I'm glad I did as by the time I reached the ABC tents my co-ordination wasn't good. That said I was disappointed not to reach the North Col on schedule.”

"Anyway, on Sunday I set out again towards the headwall. Despite the events of the previous day, this time I felt good at the bottom of the headwall and successfully reached the top."

"The headwall is a very steep ice wall and has been roped with two fixed lines from bottom to top - though you still wouldn't want to fall since there can be several climbers on a rope at one time. The top of the route currently has a couple of gapping crevasses, one spanned by three long ladders strapped together at around 7,000m.”

N. Irish / English: Making (British) friends – Andy out

“Some of us headed off down to BC this morning,” reported the team. “This was a long walk of 22km in total but was really enjoyable as we met one of the Swedish guys who are planning to ski off the summit. I gave him some advice: ‘Don’t do it’ and ‘sharpen your edges’.”

The team also met members from EverestMax and the Army west ridge expeditions. “Everest has been great for making friends and all the boys and girls from the British Isles have been fantastic, I suppose we are all in it together and everyone is looking out for one another.”

“Luckily for Andy his adventure up Everest is now complete and he won't have to venture that way again. He damaged a rib from coughing so much, so I’m sure he is happy to get back to his loved ones.”

Bill and Anne (DCXP / Project-Himalaya): In Tibet

“We made it out of Katmandu even with a curfew on,” reported members Bill and Anne yesterday. “The only people in the streets were military police and soldiers. Once again we hopped on board the same Russian Mi8 helicopter for the 30-minute flight to Kodari. A relatively painless crossing of the Freedom Bridge into China and off we went to Nyalam for the night.”

Team leader Scott Woolums reported today from Nyalam: “We are heading to Tingri today and plan to arrive in base camp on the 26th, right on schedule,” he said.

Everest South

John Turner: Ready for a second trip up

”Phu Nuru and Dawa are still down in Phortse participating in a week long Puja in memory of Phinjo, led by 20 monks from the Tengboche Monastery,” John reported. When the Sherpas return to BC, the three of them, plus team member Jean Francois, will go up again.

"We will be starting our second acclimatizing rotation on Friday: Camp 1, Camp 2 and a night at Camp 3,” he said. “We will probably be on the upper mountain for five or six days. If this rotation is successful we will be waiting for a summit window.”

South Africans: C2 today – snowing again

As planned, the team left Base Camp at 5 am. The tragedy which had occurred three days ago hit home as they passed the spot where the three Sherpas had died. They reached Camp 1 at noon yesterday after a 7 hour trip from BC. In the evening it began to snow again, quite heavily, so they were unsure whether they would be able to go ahead with the scheduled climb to Camp II (6500 m) today.

Philippines National team: Climbers up

Leo Oracion and Pastor Emata crossed the Khumbu ice fall at five in the morning Nepal time today, in order to reach C1 and C2. They’ve reported on avalanches still sweeping the mountain.

Adventure Consultants: C2

AC’s team Canada has reported from C2. Weather was nice in the morning, but it started snowing by afternoon.

Links to teams on Everest North:
Russian Climb | UK Army 's West ridge expedition | Ecuadorians w/o Limits (Spanish) | Tomas Olsson's Blog | Swedish Everest NFace Sky-ski team | Everestmax | Brazilians Vitor and Rodrigo w/o O2 (Portuguese) | Pepe Andrés Blanco (Spanish) | Mark Inglis' Legs on Everest | News on Andalucia Everest (Spanish)| Bill Driggs & Anne Parmenter's Aspen Aerogels team | Northern Ireland-England | Terres de l’Ebre (Catalan) | Comarques Gironines | Adventure Peaks| Scott on Everest| Everest Peace Project| DCXP | Project Himalaya | S. Woolums' Adventures Int’l | Abramov’s 7 Summits Club | Harry Kikstra’s 7 Summits | Thomas Weber’s SightOnEverest | World Wide Vikings | Lorenzo Gariano’s blog| Turkish Everest expedition | News on Bahrainis - The Gulf Times | Dr. Ken Stalter’s Climb for Child Leukemia | Malaysian Treverest website | Spanish Castilla-La Mancha expedition

Links to teams on Everest South:
Polish-Russian Traverse (Polish) | Martyna Wojciechowska (Polish) | Khoo Swee Chiow | Malaysia/Singapore EverestFriendship | Paul and Fiona Adler | South Africans | Schools around the world | John Turner | Will Cross | India’s BSF | Romeo Garduce’s GMA 7 expedition blog | National Philippines FPMEE team | News on the Philippine National team in Studio23 TV | Mallorca a Dalt de Tot | Alpine Ascents | Jagged Globe | Dr. Botha | Mark Squirrel | Adventure Consultants | IMG | Mountain Link| BaseCampMD

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