SubscribeApa Sherpa Accomplishes 20th Summit of Everest in First Ascent
Apa Sherpa, the only man in history to summit Everest 19 times, has now broken his own record with his 20th ascent. Apa reached the summit fully outfitted in First Ascent.
Puja Ceremony Marks Start of Climb for Arnot
By Melissa Arnot:
Today is an important day. It is the day following the Nepali New Year (it is now 2065 in Nepal). We are told by Tshering Dorje (our head climbing Sherpa, who is also a monk) that today is a good day for a blessing ceremony, or Puja. The staff is busy preparing cakes, butter, rice and sampa flour for the blessing. Around 10:00 in the morning, when the sun is high in the sky and everyone has cleaned behind their ears we are ready to start the ceremony Read More…
Team Hahn Accelerates Summit Bid Plan
Everest Dispatch #73
May 21, 2009
ABC
By Dave Hahn
We had something of a celebration dinner in BC last night. As Peter, Ed, Jake and Gerry made it all the way down from the South Col to regale us with summit stories.
After all that, it was strange as anything to get up by myself early this morning – and to eat breakfast alone. I have become accustomed to nearly constant companionship in the past few months.
I walked out of basecamp and into a cloud at 4am. This didn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling – despite the fact that the cloud had kept overnight temperatures mild, and visibility was fuzzy at best. I like my glaciers frozen solid, and the lower Khumbu icefall was soggy this morning. The high humidity had me dripping sweat and the soggy-ness had me worried that snow bridges would collapse under my crampons. Read More…
Expedition Teams Respond To West Ridge Avalanche
Everest Dispatch #46
May 8, 2009
Basecamp
By Dave Hahn
I believed I’d imagined Kent Harvey’s call to me at ten minutes to four in the morning. I didn’t have any alarm set; it was a rest day coming on and I was sound asleep in my tent. So fully unconscious that Kent called me several times and when I finally responded, I had no idea where I was or what was going on. It was dark, and as he suggested that something had happened that I might want to be concerned with, I finished rubbing my eyes and zipped open my door. The beauty of the scene seemed unreal and impossible. The moon had set, and the sun wasn’t close to being up, but there was starlight on the Khumbu Icefall, Nuptse and the great bulk of Everest’s West Shoulder. Kent was saying that he’d just seen a fairly large avalanche come down the Shoulder-sending a cloud of debris across the Icefall-and he was concerned that climbers may have been caught. Read More…
Summit Push To Begin May 8th For Viesturs, Whittaker & Arnot
Everest Dispatch #42
May 4, 2009
Basecamp
By Melissa Arnot
The chatter of Sherpa staff waking up and getting going is the first thing I hear, then the sun hits the tent and it is time to get up. Basecamp is a busy place, but I always think of it as the place that is ruled by the rise and set of the sun. As soon as the sun hits, it is too hot to stay in the tent and once the sun recedes, it is too cold to stay out. Read More…
Behind The Scenes: Keeping Up With The Climbers
Everest Dispatch #38
April 30, 2009
By Jake Norton, Expedition Photographer
It sounds pretty romantic, and lots of people envy my job. And, I must admit, I’m pretty happy with what I do for a living, and count my blessings every day. But working as an expedition photographer is not always a piece of cake. This goes for me shooting stills, as well as Gerry Moffatt, Kent Harvey, and John Griber shooting our video footage. While I cannot speak exactly for them, I can give an idea of what my days on the hill are like.
Being a photographer on an expedition does not really put you into a special category. There are no chairlifts or trams waiting for us; we must climb the mountain just like anyone else Read More…
First Ascent Team Updates on Everest Progress
Everest Dispatch #36
April 28, 2009
Basecamp……….17,530 ft.
By Dave Hahn
The first day and night down after an Everest climbing rotation are great for enjoying the novelty of comfort and easy living again. But it isn’t really until the second night back down that I normally get full and renewing sleep. And looking at Kent, Seth and Erica over coffee this morning, I’m guessing it was similar for them. We all seemed back to our normal selves again today, ready to make plans and preparations for climbing again Read More…
Basecamp Grows as Team Hahn Test Upper Mountain
Everest Dispatch #33
April 25, 2009
Advanced Basecamp …. 21,200 ft.
N27′58.811′ E086′54.160′
By Dave Hahn
Advanced Basecamp sits along a rocky moraine overlaying dense glacial ice.
The rock comes from Everest’ immense and steep Southwest Face and a few million avalanches. Once at the base of the Face it is plowed into a neat ridge by the motion of the Khumbu Glacier. I suppose though, that the ridge is only neat in geological terms. Yesterday as we walked the 30 minutes from the tent at its lower end, to our tents near the moraine’s upper end, we were treated to views of old sneakers, pots, pans, shredded tents and crushed stoves mixed in with the rock and ice. Fifty seven years worth of Advanced Basecamps in the same slow moving place have made this spot one of the worst on the mountain in terms of ecological damage Read More…
Dave Hahn’s Team Reaches Camp 2, 21,202 ft.
Everest Dispatch #32
April 24, 2009
Camp 1…. 19,867 ft.
N27′59.246′ E086′52.688′
Camp 2 (aka ABC)…. 21,202 ft.
N27′58.811′ E086′54.160′
By Dave Hahn
A couple of days ago we hit an important benchmark, and had a successful day for the team. It was just as we did the previous morning we set out, only this time we actually left Basecamp. Everybody else did too… I’ve never seen quite so many in the Khumbu Icefall. Since it was effectively “closed” yesterday, the traffic of two days was wedged into one Read More…
Melissa Arnot’s Ankle Recovers For Trip To Camp 2
Everest Dispatch #31
April 23, 2009
Everest Basecamp…..17,530 ft.
By Melissa Arnot
It always amazes me how much of a temperature extreme you can experience in the mountains. The last few days have been really good for me, as I left Basecamp and made my way to Camp 2. At 5 a.m. this morning, I woke up at 21,000 ft. to the sound of wind whipping at the tent door and a light frost coating the inside of the tent from my nighttime breath. As I sluggishly pulled my boots on and fidgeted with the frozen ends of my crampon straps, I shivered a little Read More…
