Leif Whittaker and First Ascent guide Dave Hahn describe the severe weather that nearly jeopardized their summit attempt and the window of opportunity that afforded their success. See Leif’s summit and some amazing scenery from the top of the world in this video recap.
Leif Whittaker with First Ascent guides Seth Waterfall and Dave Hahn on the Summit of Mt. Everest
The 2010 Everest climbing season has been a record-setting success for Eddie Bauer. In one 3-day window, three different climbing teams outfitted in Eddie Bauer First Ascent gear reached the Everest summit.
On May 22, Apa Sherpa, climbing leader for the Eco Everest Expedition 2010, broke his own world record by reaching the highest point on Earth for the 20th time.
On May 23, First Ascent guide Melissa Arnot, accompanied by Dave Morton, became the first American woman to summit Everest three times. This achievement was pre-confirmed by Liz Hawley, pending a further database search.
On May 24, Leif Whittaker retraced American and family history when he topped out 47 years after his father, Jim, became the first American to do so, back on May 1, 1963. Also with Leif was First Ascent guide and expedition leader Dave Hahn, who made his 12th summit—more than any non-Sherpa in history. Other members of the summit team were First Ascent guide Seth Waterfall, photographer Michael Brown, RMI guide Casey Grom and climber Scott Jones.
Congratulations to all the teams!
RMI has reported that First Ascent guide Dave Hahn and Leif Whittaker have arrived safely back at Base Camp and reunited with the team. The group is packing up camp and will begin their trek to Lukla shortly.
RMI has just reported that First Ascent guide Seth Waterfall, Michael Brown, Casey Grom and Scott Jones have returned to Base Camp after a night at Camp II. First Ascent guide Dave Hahn and Leif Whittaker spent the night at Camp IV after summiting, are currently at Camp II, and will arrive at Base Camp tomorrow.
By Melissa Arnot:
Often the hardest part of a climbing expedition is never what you expect it to be. That was certainly true for David and me. After two months of climbing towards the summit of Mount Everest, on May 23 David and I were able to reach the top. That is only where the adventure began for us. While descending from 29,035 feet to the South Col at 26,000 feet, a fellow guide of ours alerted us to a rescue in progress at about 27,000 feet. We made our way down and attempted to assist by offering oxygen and equipment to a climber who was slowly making his way down Read More…
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Transcription: Michael Brown
Well we’re back to the South Col. I wasn’t able to get a satellite signal on the ridge, perhaps because it’s the border with China and Nepal. It went down like this, we left Camp IV about 4:00, I mean 11:00, 4 hours later at 3:00 a.m. we arrived at the Balcony. At that stage I think…at the same time it was cold, it was about 18 below 0 Fahrenheit last night and I think the most common complaint was that people had cold feet. So we got back to the tents and everybody’s checking their feet for whether they’re black or not but they’re not actually. I don’t have any frostbite, it doesn’t like Leif has any and nobody else has any either so that was good. But we continued on, the route is very steep this year, goes over some very challenging rock bands, which made it kind of exciting. And then just as it came to the south summit, sort of a snow squall came through but it was still pretty good visibility. And got to the summit, got all kinds of pictures of each other and banners and things like that so that was good to be up there. But it was plenty old and windy so we started down. Now we’re back at the South Col and we’re feeling good. So I’ll try another dispatch and get rid of this cough. Thank you.
RMI has just reported that Leif Whittaker has stepped onto the summit of Mt. Everest. It was the culmination of a lifelong dream, and the fulfillment of a family legacy. Forty-seven years ago, on May 1, 1963, Leif’s father, Jim, became the first American to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain.
Leif departed Seattle on March 24 to begin a journey retracing his father’s historic footsteps and establishing his own in the storied Khumbu Valley of the high Himalaya. Accompanied by First Ascent guides Dave Hahn and Seth Waterfall, photographer Michael Brown and a team of Sherpa, Whittaker radioed from the summit. Dave accomplished his own significant milestone today, becoming the first non-Sherpa in history to summit Everest 12 times.
Congratulations to the entire First Ascent team! Stay tuned for reflections from Leif on what it feels like to climb the mountain that he has grown up hearing about and dreaming about and now has met face to face.
RMI reports that Leif Whittaker, Dave Hahn and the rest of the First Ascent team are in great shape on the South Summit where they are changing oxygen bottles. First Ascent guide Seth Waterfall went ahead to keep from getting too cold so he’s now on the Hilary Step. Stay tuned in the next couple of hours as we’ll hopefully hear from them again from the summit!
RMI has just reported that Leif Whittaker, Dave Hahn and team are presently at the Balcony where they are changing oxygen bottles under calm winds and clear skies. We’ll keep you updated as we receive more information throughout the evening.
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