The mountaineers of the Chinese expedition on the north side of Mount Everest must train themselves in patience. The clients of the operator Yarla Shampo are currently staying in the Advanced Base Camp (ABC) at 6,500 meters, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, who is in contact with members of the team, informs me. In the course of further acclimatization, he said, a night on the North Col and an ascent up to 7,500 meters is planned – if conditions permit. Currently, the avalanche danger seems to be too great. According to Mingma, the mountaineers who secure the route to the summit with fixed ropes and who already reached an altitude of 8,300 meters, have descended to the ABC.
Surveyors back to Chinese Base Camp
The 30 Chinese surveyors who had reached the Advanced Base Camp on Thursday returned to the Chinese Base Camp at 5,150 meters “because high wind and too much snow”, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa writes to me. This is also confirmed by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
The team is to re-measure the altitude of Chomolungma, as the Tibetans call the mountain. During the last Chinese survey in 2005, a height of 8,844 meters was determined. US scientists had measured an altitude of 8,850 meters in 1999 using GPS data. In Nepal, Mount Everest is officially still 8,848 meters high. This value was determined by Indian surveyors in 1954 and later confirmed twice: in 1975 by a Chinese team and in 1992 by surveyors from China and Italy.
Due to the corona pandemic, Mount Everest is completely closed on the south side in Nepal this spring. On the north side, the ban applies only to foreign climbers. The members of the expedition, which received permission from the Chinese-Tibetan authorities to climb Everest, therefore has the highest mountain on earth to themselves. An exclusive pleasure.
