“Yes its official. We got it from the Government of Nepal,” Daniel Mazur writes to me. The head of the expedition operator Summit Climb had announced on Facebook on 11 August: “Everest shocking news! No previous mountaineering experience required for Everest in 2027?!” I then had asked Dan whether the planned new rule – at…
He survived – seven days without food, without bottled oxygen, without help. According to Nepalese media reports, early this morning local time, staff from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) discovered Dawa Sherpa, also known as Hillary Sherpa, who had been missing until then, near the so-called Crampon Point in the Khumbu Icefall—the spot near…
Calm is returning to Mount Everest. The Icefall Doctors are bringing the aluminum ladders they used to span large crevasses along the route through the Khumbu Icefall back to the depots in the village of Gorak Shep. Staff from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee are sorting through the trash at base camp, which is to…
Just yesterday, I wrote that, miraculously, there had been no fatalities during the current rush to the summit of Mount Everest. Now, the Nepalese website The Tourism Times reports that at least two Indian climbers have died during their descent -apparently from high altitude sickness. Both had reportedly reached the highest point on earth at…
How many people can Mount Everest handle? This question comes up a lot these days, as one success story after another comes in from the world’s highest mountain. Yesterday alone, U.S. mountaineering blogger Alan Arnette – who keeps track of all the commercial teams on Everest like no one else – counted 270 summits. According…
He did it again. According to the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks, Polish ski mountaineer Bartek Ziemski reached the summit of Mount Everest at 8,849 meters today without bottled oxygen and skied down from there to base camp. The 30-year-old had already made the first ascent of the fourth-highest mountain this spring season on…
I still remember well the reaction of Everest legend Apa Sherpa. When I predicted in 2013 – on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest – that it was only a matter of time before Apa’s then-record of 21 summit successes on the world’s highest mountain would be broken, the…
In the coming days, the normal route to the summit of Mount Everest will become crowded. Most commercial teams have set out to take advantage of the window of good weather expected in the coming days. It is inevitable that traffic jams will occur at key points along the route. After all, the Nepalese Tourism…
The normal route on the Nepalese south side of Mount Everest is secured with ropes up to the South Col at an altitude of just under 8,000 meters. The ten Nepalese climbers responsible for this reached the final camp site on the route to the 8,849-meter-high summit yesterday, Friday, at 7:15 p.m. local time. Today,…
“The gateway to the Roof of the World is open,” the Nepalese expedition operator 14 Peaks Expedition announced jubilantly in a Facebook post. Other commercial teams on Mount Everest have also confirmed that the route through the Khumbu Icefall up to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters is finally clear. Breakthrough achieved on Sunday In a…
The spring climbing season on Nepal’s highest mountains is slowly but surely gathering pace. According to its own figures, the Nepalese Tourism Departmend issued a total of 114 climbing permits for foreign expedition members in March. Among them were the first 18 permits for Mount Everest. There is great anticipation regarding how many people will…
Mount Everest is now to be cleared of garbage at higher elevations as well. The Nepalese Ministry of Tourism has approved a proposal from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC). Starting this season, the proposal requires climbers to carry down two kilograms of garbage – a quarter of the amount mandated for years -from areas…
When I close my eyes and think back to the North Face of Mount Everest 20 years ago, I see the so-called Supercouloir in front of me. The Japanese Couloir in the lower section and the Hornbein Couloir further up run through the wall like a straight line. An aesthetic line, a route that seems…
On the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest, several members of the team led by American ski mountaineer Jim Morrison have apparently reached the summit at 8,849 meters today. This was reported by the Nepalese internet portal “The Tourism Times,” citing sources close to the expedition. The mountaineers climbed through the Hornbein Couloir, it said….
It shouldn’t surprise me anymore, because it’s nothing new. And yet I am always astonished at how quickly and comprehensively the media avalanche rolls in as soon as Mount Everest comes into play. That wouldn’t be so tragic if those involved in the information industry would take the trouble to check the facts before blasting…
