It’s like an annual ritual. It is eagerly awaited how early in the spring season the rope-fixing teams reach the highest point of Mount Everest at 8,849 meters. A few days later, the commercial teams usually begin their run to the summit – always with the proviso that the weather cooperates.
So far this spring, the conditions on the highest mountain on earth have been rather difficult. But from this Saturday onwards, the weather is expected to be comparatively calm for the summit zone of Everest, with hardly any precipitation and relatively little wind.
Plan for Everest south side: first summit day between 8 and 10 May
On the Nepalese south side of the mountain, this season the operator 8K Expeditions is responsible for securing the route to the summit with ropes – not only on Everest, but also on the neighboring 8,516-meter-high Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world. The ropes are currently fixed up to an altitude of 7,400 meters, as Pemba Sherpa, the owner of the Nepalese expedition company, confirms to me.
According to Pemba, the plan looks like this: Over the next two to three days, the Nepalese climbers of the rope-fixing team are to climb to Camp 4 on Everest South Col at around 8,000 meters. They should then reach the summit between 8 and 10 May. This is within the time frame of the previous year, when the rope-fixing team of the operator Seven Summit Treks completed its work to the highest point on 10 May.
Everest north side: fixed ropes currently up to 7,900 meters
The first Everest summit success in spring 2024 was on the Tibetan north side: On 7 May, the Chinese-Tibetan rope-fixing team had reached the summit. The route via the North Col and the Northeast Ridge is currently secured with ropes up to an altitude of 7,900 meters, Mingma Sherpa, director and expedition leader of the Nepalese operator Climbalaya, writes to me from the base camp on the north side. However, he does not know when the rope-fixing team will continue to climb, says Mingma.
According to reports, in addition to a very large Chinese team, five smaller expedition teams from foreign operators are attempting Everest from the north this spring. The US mountain blogger Alan Arnette, who keeps track of the crowds on Everest like no other, estimates the number of clients and staff on the north side of the mountain at around 300 in total. On the south side, there could be around 1,000 who climb via the normal route. The Nepalese Ministry of Tourism has issued 427 climbing permits for Everest this spring (as of April 25). In addition, there are one to two climbing Sherpas per client. So it should be full again. On the route and at the summit.
