Mount Everest Archive - Adventure Mountain

11. October 202415. October 2024

100 years after disappearing on Mount Everest: Remains of Andrew Irvine discovered

“I lifted up the sock and there’s a red label that has A.C. IRVINE stitched into it. We were all literally running in circles dropping F-bombs.” This is how the US climber and filmmaker Jimmy Chin described to the magazine “National Geographic” the moment when he and his team discovered remains of Andrew Irvine on the Central Rongbuk Glacier at the foot of the North face of Mount Everest .

They found an old boot with a foot in it and the sock in question, which bore witness to who had once worn it. At the beginning of June 1924, the British mountaineers George Herbert Leigh Mallory, then 37 years old, and Andrew Comyn Irvine, 22 years old, had set off on a summit attempt on the then unclimbed Mount Everest. According to their expedition colleague Noell Odell, they were last seen on 8 June on the Northeast Ridge, after which their trail was lost. To this day, the mystery of how close they came to the highest point on earth at 8,849 meters is unsolved.

3. October 20243. October 2024

40 years ago: “White Limbo” on Mount Everest

Everest North Face in the last daylight (Great Couloir in the shadwo)

It has never been repeated to this day. That says it all about the “White Limbo” route through the North Face of Mount Everest, which the Australians Tim Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer used to reach the summit at 8,849 meters on 3 October 1984 – 40 years ago today. They were climbing without bottled oxygen. The American Everest chronicler Walt Unsworth (1928-2017) once described the Australian expedition as “one of the greatest climbs ever done on the mountain”.

In addition to Macartney-Snape and Mortimer, Geoffrey Bartram, Andrew Henderson and Lincoln Hall were part of the Australian team that set out to open up a new route through the North Face without breathing masks. They named it White Limbo – after a song by the former rock band Australian Crawl from 1983.

16. June 202416. June 2024

Seasonal balance on Mount Everest: The cash cow with the most milk

Big business as usual. That’s how you could summarize the past spring season on Mount Everest. It got off to a slow start at first because the Icefall Doctors took longer than planned to complete their work in the Khumbu Icefall on the Nepalese south side of the mountain. Fewer snow bridges, huge crevasses – climate change is also making itself felt on the world’s highest mountain.

Once the route through the icefall and a little later up to the summit was secured mit fixed ropes, the commercial climbing machine, which had been well-oiled for years, started up as usual: On the good weather days, long queues formed at the key points, and at times, as many climbers crowded together at the summit as at an open-air concert by Madonna.

8. June 20248. June 2024

100 years ago: Mallory and Irvine go missing on Everest

Noell Odell is collecting fossils on the Tibetan north flank of Mount Everest when the weather suddenly clears. “The entire summit ridge and the last ridge of Everest became visible,” the British mountaineer later wrote about this moment in the midday hours on 8 June 1924.

“My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouetted on a small snow-crest beneath a rock-step in the ridge; the black spot moved. Another black spot became apparent and moved up the snow to join the other on the crest. The first then approached the great rock-step and shortly emerged at the top; the second did likewise. Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud once more.” Odell is apparently the last person to see his expedition colleagues George Mallory and Andrew Irvine on their summit attempt. They never return. At the time, Mallory is 37 and Irvine 22 years old.

27. May 202428. May 2024

Norrdine Nouar after Everest attempt: “I can no longer put up with the circus”

Norrdine Nouar at Everest Base Camp — Norrdine Nouar back at Everest Base Camp

Norrdine Nouar listened to his body. On the evening of 22 May, the German mountaineer, who wanted to climb Mount Everest without bottled oxygen and without a Sherpa companion, set off from the South Col at around 7,900 meters. His goal: the highest point on earth at 8,849 meters.

However, the 36-year-old turned back at an altitude of around 8,100 meters. “I realized pretty quickly that I might manage to reach the summit, but that I would never come back,” Norrdine writes to me.

24. May 202424. May 2024

Piotr Krzyzowski: Double ascent of Lhotse and Everest without bottled oxygen

Among the hundreds of Everest summit successes that have been reported in recent days, one stands out: Piotr Krzyzowski from Poland climbed the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse on 21 May without bottled oxygen and without a Sherpa companion.

Instead of returning to base camp, as he had actually planned before the start of the expedition, Krzyzowski climbed from the Lhotse flank to Everest South Col and then on towards the summit at 8,849 meters. On 23 May, Piotr stood on the highest point on earth, barely 48 hours after his summit success on Lhotse. Such a double ascent of these two eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen had previously only been achieved by a handful of mountaineers.

23. May 202428. May 2024

First summit successes by foreign climbers on the north side of Everest in five years – another death on the south side

“We had the mountain to ourselves. With perfect conditions,” Lukas Furtenbach enthuses on Instagram. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and not many people will experience an empty Everest ever again. I am aware how magical this is. Have I deserved it? I am not sure. But I am so thankful for the best Everest summit I ever had.”

For the 46-year-old head of the expedition operator Furtenbach Adventures, it was the fourth Everest summit success after 2016, 2019 and 2022, the second (after 2019) via the Tibetan north side. The Austrian led a small team over the Northeast Ridge to the highest point at 8,849 meters early this morning local time. The group had only entered Tibet from Nepal eleven days ago after the Chinese-Tibetan authorities had taken a long time to issue climbing permits.

22. May 202423. May 2024

Mount Everest: Two missing climbers – Kami Rita Sherpa’s 30th summit success

Nepalese side of Mount Everest (seen from Kala Patthar in 2002)

The many success stories from Mount Everest are intermingled with the sad news of two missing climbers on the highest mountain on earth. The newspaper “Himalayan Times” reports that a British and a Nepalese mountaineer fell yesterday, Tuesday, while descending from the summit at the height of the former Hillary Step (8,790 meters). There has been no trace of them since then. The chances of finding them alive are dwindling by the minute.

If the two are declared dead, it would be the third and fourth deaths on Mount Everest this season. Last week, two Mongolian climbers passed away on the descent. In addition, a Romanian climber who wanted to climb the neighboring eight-thousander Lhotse without bottled oxygen also died yesterday in Camp 3 at around 7,300 meters.

20. May 202421. May 2024

Mount Everest: Further summit successes, tragedy, accusations

Last weekend brought what commercial mountaineering on Mount Everest stands for above all else: plenty of success stories. According to US mountain blogger Alan Arnette (who always keeps track of the numerous commercial expedition teams), at least 130 people reached the highest point on earth at 8,849 meters on Sunday alone.

17. May 202417. May 2024

Mount Everest: Body of missing Mongolian climber found

Concern turned into sad certainty. A four-man Nepalese search team from the operator 8K Expeditions found the body of the Mongolian mountaineer Usukhjargal Tsedendamba in the summit zone of Mount Everest at 8,550 meters. This was reported by the Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times”.

The 53-year-old and his 31-year-old compatriot Purevsuren Lkhagvajav have been missing since last weekend. “The fate of the other climber Purevsuren is still unknown,” said Lakpa Sherpa from 8K Expeditions. Realistically, the chances of finding the Mongolian alive are close to zero. The search operation in the summit area of Mount Everest had to be temporarily interrupted due to strong winds.

14. May 202414. May 2024

Two Mongolian climbers missing on Mount Everest

Two climbers from Mongolia are missing in the summit zone of Mount Everest. As the Nepalese newspaper My Republica reports, citing the Ministry of Tourism, members of other teams last saw the two on Monday morning local time as they were climbing towards the summit. Since then, there has been no sign of life from them. A rescue operation has been launched, it said.

12. May 202412. May 2024

Mount Everest: Kami Rita Sherpa summits for the 29th, Kenton Cool for the 18th time

The first summit wave on Mount Everest is rolling. After a team of ten Nepalese climbers – as reported – fixed the ropes to the summit on Friday evening local time, the first commercial teams with their clients also reached the highest point on earth at 8,849 meters today. The Nepalese operator Seven Summit Treks announced the summit success of a 20-member team, seven clients and 13 Nepalese companions.

Among the latter was Kami Rita Sherpa. This was his 29th time on the summit of Everest. No one has scaled the highest mountain on earth more often than the 54-year-old from the village of Thame in the Khumbu region.

10. May 202414. May 2024

Also first summit success of the season on the Nepalese side of Everest

The first summit wave of the spring season can now also roll in on the Nepalese south side of Mount Everest. The Nepalese operator Seven Summit Treks reported that the ten-man rope-fixing team led by Dendi Sherpa reached the summit at 8,849 meters this evening. The route to the highest point has been secured with ropes and is now open, it said.

7. May 202410. May 2024

Mount Everest: First summit success of the season reported from the Tibetan north side

Tibetan north side of Mount Everest (in 2005)

First the rope-fixing team, then the others. This is how commercial mountaineering on eight-thousanders usually works. Mount Everest is no exception. Today, the first summit success of the spring was reported from the highest mountain on earth.

In the morning local time, the Tibet Himalaya Expedition team, which fixed the ropes on the Tibetan north side of the mountain, reached the highest point at 8,849 meters. This was confirmed to me by Mingma Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Climbalaya, and Lukas Furtenbach, head of the Austrian company Furtenbach Adventures.

3. May 20243. May 2024

Difficult conditions on Mount Everest – permits for the north side have arrived

View of Mount Everest (l.) and Lhotse (from Namche) — View of Mount Everest (l.) and Lhotse (from Namche in 2019)

“At altitudes between 6800 m and 7600 m, there are many places with open blue ice,” warned Valeriy Babanov on Instagram a few days ago. “Therefore, fit and sharpen your crampons well. To avoid misunderstandings on long ice slopes. As you remember, luck always favors the strong and prepared!” Babanov is one of the strong.

The Russian has twice been awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of mountaineering”: in 2002 for his solo ascent of the North Face of the six-thousander Meru in the Indian Himalayas, and in 2004 (together with Yuri Koschelenko) for the first ascent of the 7,804-meter-high Nuptse Shar I – in the vicinity of Mount Everest. Now aged 59, Babanov wants to scale the highest mountain on earth without bottled oxygen. If he succeeds, he would be the oldest person on Everest without a breathing mask. So far, the Italian Abele Blanc is in the record lists having achieved this feat. When he summited in 2010, Blanc was 55 years and 264 days old.

Babanov wanted to set off today from Everest Base Camp towards the South Col at just below 8,000 meters – “for the final acclimatization”, as he wrote in his Instagram story.