Olsson and Granheim summited Everest today at noon. They are currently sky-skiing down the Norton Couloir. File image of Tomas skiing down a steep section on Muztagh Ata courtesy of Olsson's website (click to enlarge).
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Everest climb+ski: Vikings Olsson and Granheim SUMMIT – skiing down the Norton Couloir!
Posted: May 16, 2006 04:04 am EDT
“Tomas just called from the summit of Everest,” the pair’s home team has just reported. “He and Tormod were about to put on their skis and attempt a sky-ski descent down the Norton Couloir!
Here is an English transcript of his Swedish voice report (listen to the original dispatch in Swedish on the team’s website):
Climbing in snowstorm conditions
”Hello, this is Tomas Olsson! I am on the top of Mount Everest, together with Tormod Granheim, Jamabo Sherpa and Sering Fandepote. It has been an incredibly tough climbing night. There has been snowstorm all the way. We begun to climb at approximately ten at night and reached the top at noon. Hopefully, we will be strong enough to do a ski descent down the North Face of Mount Everest. I will report again later.”
Further news is expected in a couple of hours.
After sky-skiing from the summit of Cho Oyu in 2004, Swede Tomas Olson and Norwegian Tormod Granheim are aiming for the first complete descent on skis of the North side of Everest.
On September 30, 2004, Tormod summited Cho Oyu after a 13 hour push and descended on skis. It was a tough ride - the route was very steep and the snow had a layer of crust that Tormod continuously broke through. The altitude was also a problem, "I'd take a few turns and then would stop to take a few breaths." The ride went down to 6400 meters and took around three hours.
October 2, Tomas Olsson summited Cho Oyu in a 10 hour push - and became the first Swede to ski down a 8000er. "There was about 8 inches of fresh snow on the summit and the first turns down felt awesome. The skiing went remarkably well in spite of some altitude headache. After the new snow came a couple of steep passages lower on the mountain, and some route finding between crevasses."
To prepare for the challenge, Olsson and Granheim had been training hard all winter in Chamonix, French Alps. Fredrik Schenholm has joined the expedition as a photographer.
Tomas Olsson and Tormod Granheim both live in Chamonix, France, where they have skied many of the classic lines. In fall 2003 the duo rehearsed for the 2004 project by skiing from the summit of two 7000+ mountains, Muztagh Ata (7546m) & Kuksay Peak (7186m) in China.
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