May 18 was a busy day on Mount Everest. According to ExplorersWeb, an estimated 135 climbers reached the summit of Everest, 29,029 feet. Several more teams moved for the summit today, hoping to reach the top and return safely to Camp 4 (South Col, 26,000 feet) before expected high winds torment the upper mountain. Two climbers died last week on Everest from illness or exhaustion. Climbing on Lhotse, near Everest, also saw significant activity and tragedy.
Rakesh Bishnoi, from India, made the summit of Lhotse but died on the descent. He had abandoned an attempt on Everest before moving on to Lhotse. The Himalayan Times reported his death, as well as the death of Romanian cameraman Zsolt Vago, who died on the couloir leading to the summit of Lhotse.
Once again, many climbers came to Mt. Everest’s south side this year to attempt the iconic mountain. Nepal’s Department of Tourism granted 468 permits to foreigners this year (86 women and 382 men) among 47 international teams. There have been approximately 200 summits this season, and the number will grow over the next two weeks.
High Winds on Mount Everest Stall Summit Attempts
Madison Mountaineering, an elite guiding company led by Garrett Madison, has moved to Advanced Base Camp (Camp 2) on their summit push. They have taken an additional day of rest to wait out high winds that have begun to punish the upper mountain. “The chief weather forecaster for Everest called this morning to warn everyone about a sudden weather change expected this afternoon,” SummitClimb reported today.
“Everyone is encouraged to evacuate the upper mountain and come down to the lower camps as a large windstorm is forecast to slam Everest in a few hours.” Madison will likely keep his team at Camp 2 for another day or two before advancing to Camps 3 and 4.
The SummitClimb expedition took another approach and headed for the summit, hoping to beat the coming high winds. They were successful, with three clients and three Sherpa guides reaching the summit early this morning. They returned to Camp 4 (26,000 feet) and plan to descend to Camp 3 or Camp 2 today.
Pioneer Adventure reported through ExplorersWeb that Chhonzin Angmo, assisted by Dadu Sherpa and Om Gurung, became the first blind woman to summit Everest. This marks an incredible accomplishment. I summited Everest in 2001 alongside Erik Weinmeyer when he became the first blind climber to climb the world’s highest peak. Well done.
Marc De Keyser of Weather4Expeditions reported that winds will remain a problem on the upper mountain for several days. “From May 20, the jet stream winds are expected to increase past the limit [of what would be safe for climbers] above 7,000m,” De Keyser said.
American mountaineer and endurance athlete Tyler Andrews has made one attempt to break the speed record from Everest Base Camp to the summit. However, weather issues and equipment failure forced him to abandon his pursuit at Camp 3. He commented on the attempt.
"Round 1. It was a great day up to camp 3 (7,200m/ 23,622 feet), and then we had some gear issues that cost more than an hour to resolve before continuing. At that point, we started to see heavy winds on the summit, which moved in earlier than forecast, so we decided to flip, come down, wait, and give it another go as soon as the weather looks good.”
Like the other climbers still waiting for their shot, Andrews must watch the weather and maintain patience as the mountain determines when teams can advance. The coming days and weeks will prove dramatic on Mount Everest and the 8,000-meter peaks during this exciting climbing season in the Himalayas.
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