| Everest 2007, A "Normal" Year Article |
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| Page Type: Article Activities: Mountaineering | Page By: Alan Arnette Created/Edited: Jun 4, 2007 / Jul 6, 2007 Object ID: 298659 Hits: 5319  Loading... Page Score: 90.13% - 40 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Add Heading HereWith a few climbers still looking to make the summit from both sides in early June, let's take a look back at this season. All in all it was a "normal" year on Everest, whatever that means!
The season started early - late March - with the arrival of the huge IMG team closely followed by the Xtreme Everest Medical expedition into Nepal. Over on the north it seemed that Hollywood had moved to Tibet for April and May.
Dispatch after dispatch spoke of their "film crew" and some climbers were worried about their bad hair days. But one climber stood out - David Tait. The British climber was on a mission to raise money for his charity by attempting the never before accomplished double traverse. He began posting his thoughts, fears and observation in a rarely seen candid manner.
Another climber also gathered quite a following - TA Loeffler from Newfoundland. TA's dispatches spoke of excitement, traditions, religion, hormones, diarrhea and vomiting. Sadly her early dispatches proved prescient and she had to retire early after illness stole her strength.
As more teams settled into the two Base Camps, the Chinese took center stage on the north. There to practice taking the Olympic torch to the summit, they amassed a huge team of climbers, staff and Army. They even established a cell phone repeater that many on the north enjoyed ... until they took to back home with them!
The South side appeared to take an early lead in making progress up the Hill by getting the Icefall route in a little earlier than usual and C1 and C2 established by the hard working Sherpas. But as has become the norm recently, The HimEx Sherpas stormed the north while fixing lines and stood on top of Everest on April 30 for the second year in a row.
Close behind this team of 5 were two very brave Kazakhs climbers, Maxut Zhumayev & Vassily Pivtsov. They had pushed their acclimatizion process and were now ready to go for the summit. On a cold push, they spent almost 48 hours with little food and water and made it but many wondered if they would make it back down. Well they did with a little help from friends (and strangers). They pushed their envelope and won, but it was huge risk that could have cost them their lives.
The season progressed and the weather cooperated as much as it ever does on Everest. In fact it was hot, so hot that one climber on the north compared it to Hell ... how does he know? Greg Child, on assignment for the Discovery Channel noted the dramatic change in the North Col from his last visit 12 years ago - a potential recipient of climate change. Anyway, the Icefall began to creak and moan as did the powerful expedition company owners who complained about the poor condition of the route. It was fixed.
Sadly, the first death of the season occurred on April 26 when Dawa Sherpa of Thame died while working on the Lhotse Face. Similar to 2006 when three Sherpas died in the Icefall, these hard working souls were taking the full brunt of Chomolungma.
By early May, teams on the south had establish C3 on the Lhotse face and many had performed their duty by spending the "required" night there. Now all they had to do was return to BC, relax and wait for a four day weather window. During the Pujas, several Lamas had set May 21-23 as auspicious days suitable for a summit.
So some climbers were all dressed up with no where to go. Well, not exactly. Down valley is the way! And so it was. Off they went back down to the tea houses for a hard roof over their head, a bed off the ground, different food and, most importantly, oxygen rich air. It seemed like almost every team this year took this approach on both sides thus establishing a permanent change in the Everest acclimatizion formula.
The Chinese took the lead on May 9th with 17 climbers on the summit ... and the torch. Supposedly they actually lit it - well, it was cold up there.
May 16th became the most spoken date on both sides as to the mysterious weather window. Speculation grew as to who would go up and would there be crowding, especially on the difficult Second Step and the Hillary Step. But the major operators put their heads together and some said go and some said wait.
Sensing a good day on May 15th, David Tait and Phurba Sherpa stood on top of the world and immediately departed for the other side. The traverse was underway. On the same day, the Philippine Women summitted and headed down making the first traverse by a female climber. Adventure Peaks enjoyed the conditions with their team on the summit. It was crowded and more were to arrive.
Once again Mountain Madness lead the way on the South. Identical to 2006, Willie Benegas and his Sherpa team lead the way with 11 climbers on the roof. The Super Sherpas were next with Apa Sherpa making his incredible 17th summit (17!) plus his team.
However Everest summits seem to always bring Everest deaths. This year it struck on the north when a 62 year-old Japanese climber died just after summiting. Next was the report of two South Koreans who died after a fall on the southwest wall. The rumor of a Czech climber was sadly confirmed. There were now five confirmed deaths this season.
Perhaps as part of this bad karma, David Tait said enough was enough and he was not Superman thus ending his double traverse ambitions. In a rare moment of candid humility shown by climbers, David went on to say that Pherba deserved to stand on the summit if they returned.
After a short break of one day, the action picked up with IMG stealing the night with over 30 climbers on the summit. Adventure Consultants and Alpine Ascents' large teams followed over the next couple of days. The summits continued to mount on the north with the Indian Army, and the impressive 100% success rate by 7 Summits Club and 26 climbers. HimEx did their usual end of the season summit push and put many climbers on top, including a Rock Star for the Discovery Channel TV series.
Not to be left out, many smaller teams and independents enjoyed success this season. The Hampshire Scouts, Lungetivity, DCXP, Pat Hickey, Project Himalaya, Dr. Tim, ICE8000, Paul Adler and more. Yes, it was crowded this year! Probably close to 500 total summits but it became impossible to track each one accurately on both sides.
Still Everest cannot leave drama and tragedy alone for long. Upon their descent, IMG's leaders found a Nepalese climber in trouble and saved her life by getting her to the Xtreme Everest Doctors at C3 on the south. During the rescue they witnessed the fall on Lhotse by Nepalese climber, Pemba Doma - the first Nepalese woman to summit on the north and the first woman to summit from both sides. Now the death toll was six.
Just when it was time to catch our breath, Gavin Bate began his traverse attempt. But something went wrong and he wisely pulled up to return to ABC. Altitude was the culprit and he was strong, experience and smart enough to do the right thing.
So the summits continue into this late May and Everest remains ... well Everest.
Another year of summits and another year of deaths. Plus another year of rescues. Happily, we have not had the ugly David Sharp style incident but still there were too many reports of climbers being stranded, abandoned and in trouble. The safety net of so many climbers and increased awareness that there is a moral side to climbing prevented more deaths.
A popular debate today is how to make Everest safer. I think this misses the point. Everest is not safe, never has been, never will be. It is like saying how to making smoking safer. Climbers make their own choice to climb. No one forces them. Are there people who climb who shouldn't? Absolutely. Should other climbers try to help when there is a problem? Absolutely - that is the unwritten code.
This year there were many examples of climbers pulling the plug on their own climb. They showed excellent judgment and maturity. There were also some reports of operators who pulled the plug on their own climbers. Finally there were several examples of climbers helping climbers. In my mind this is how it should be.
The danger in all this is that operators accept climbers who lack the basic skills to climb an Everest. Also, climbers who put themselves in this deadly environment betting that "someone" will bail them out if they get in trouble. Sadly, these are the chain smokers of the climbing world.
It is way too easy to let the misguided actions of a few take away from the achievements of the many. Everest 2007 was a great season. A record number of summits and an environment the way it should be. We had new climbers achieve their dream. We had veterans add another notch in their harness. And Everest was Everest ...
Congratulations to all, regardless of your result. You did your best, you took the risk.
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