Recently in Everest Closed May 1-10 Category

*A Note from the Co-producer*

The Chinese team carried the Olympic Torch to the summit of Mount Everest this morning at 9:18. The climbing and communication ban on the Nepal side of Everest were immediately lifted. The State-run Chinese television released video from the summit on Everest and celebrated the completion of the most technically difficult leg of the around-the-world torch relay. The climber carrying the torch the final steps to the summit was a Tibetan woman from the Tibetan Mountaineering School.

Our blogger, Doug Pierson, has been writing dispatches to post once the ban was lifted, and we hope that you will take a minute to catch up with their team. After a rest at Camp Two yesterday, they began setting ropes along the route to Camp Three today. They’ll continue sleeping at Camp Two and working above the camp for a few more days before a planned return to Base Camp on May 11. Now that the climbing ban is lifted, they’ll be able to make a push to Camp Three and stay there to continue their acclimatization.

Callie Taintor Wiser
Co-producer, Storm Over Everest

Anyone who thinks that they truly understand what suffering is all about, outside those who have survived Prisoner of War status, and perhaps the ravages of certain forms of cancer -- I highly encourage those people to experience all that the push from Base Camp to Camp Two has to offer.  

Oh. My. God.

You know, I've been through what I consider to be some fairly exhausting and physically challenging events.  So far, today ranks up at the top.  I didn't just hit the wall -- I hit it, the wall laughed at me, fell over on me, and then laughed again.  Remember that scene in "300" where Leonidas and the Spartans lured the Immortals into night combat by a wall of Xerxes' dead?  There's one poor sap standing out in front of his team and then the Spartans push all those bodies right on top of him?  Yeah.  That was me today.

It started off uneventfully enough.  Lhakpa, Francisco and I headed into the Icefall at 5:15 AM, our goal being Camp Two.  "This is going to be a big push, you know," Willie told us the night before.  We had heard all the horror stories, but this was our 11th time in the Icefall, so how hard could it really be?  The Base Camp to Camp Two push is rated as one of the hardest of the effort-driven movements of this climb by Everest vets, especially on the first try, when your body isn't entirely acclimatized for it.

Some of the same familiar sights came into view after the universally hated wave section at the beginning of the Icefall.  I swear that some evil guy who sets the route makes this section harder and harder as climbers become acclimatized for camps higher and higher.  Ice bloc in one hour, Popcorn Field soon after that. Boy, has the Icefall moved in just a few short days.  In some areas the trail has shifted dramatically and in others ladders now span massive gaps.  There have been several collapses, keeping the Icefall pathway trail a hazardous place to be.

Even today, once past Camp One we learned of yet another collapse that happened in an area we had passed through 20 minutes earlier -- the Soccer Field which has collapsed so much this year that the only thing that it looks like you can play there is ping pong.  When there is a collapse, the Icefall Doctors scramble into action and Sherpas backlog on either side of the block.  

Finally reaching the upper ladders after three hours, we also reached the sun.  Ahh, nourishing sun. Warm, welcoming. What initially was something we greeted with excitement quickly eroded into frustration as all strength was sapped away.  No wind, no clouds.  Another perfect summit day for the Chinese. But 10,000 feet down the Western Cwm, it was baking us.  Layer after layer came off, but the damage was done. Our speed slowed to that of turtles as we rounded Camp One and dialed in on Camp Two.  

Willie, started teasing us about "Base Camp Legs" -- a term given to slowness encountered on the trail after several complacent days at Base Camp where you basically have to get the rust back out. Willie, we noticed, didn't have Base Camp Legs of any shape or form.  He had slept in, had breakfast and in preparation for a potential shot at the uncontested World Record Base to Summit Speed Ascent had caught up to us at the top of the Icefall in well under two hours. The guy's a machine.

As we plodded along to Camp Two, we drank every drop of water we had and essentially made a gut check of it.  Camp Two is so incredibly deceptive because when you first lay eyes on it, you think "we're there!"  Then 45 minutes later, when the camp still seems the same distance away, again you think, "we're there!"  On this painful iteration it took us closer to three hours to make Camp Two -- extremely frustrating given that just one week earlier it had only taken an hour and 45 minutes.  But, that wasn't a Base Camp to Camp Two push, so we understood the difference as we collapsed into crumpled heaps outside our cook tent -- completely at Indra's mercy as he knowingly smiled and gave us juice.

The rest of the day was basically a blur, truth be told.  Some food, lots of time spent sleeping in tents, some talk about the Chinese and what is taking them so long?  Another plane was seen flying around the summit today, but then in the afternoon the Nepal army passed word that the 11th is now on their radar, causing a flurry of discussion about exactly what is going on just across the mountain range behind us.  Especially after witnessing today's weather.  Some teams are starting to wonder if it's too late, or even worth it at all.  But we are staying, no doubt about it.  I just wish these guys would get their act together.

*A Note from the Co-producer*

The Chinese summit team has reportedly been held at Advanced Base Camp on the North Side of Everest due to weather, but weather reports indicate a possible break in heavy winds May 3-6. Meanwhile, Chinese fighter jets have been flying over the mountain on the lookout for potential protesters breaking the set rules during the weather window, and the state-run China Central Television has begun live broadcasts from base camp in anticipation of a successful summit attempt.

The Chinese climbers reportedly left base camp with a number of torches, though the torches were specially designed to function at altitude.

Callie Taintor Wiser
Co-producer, Storm Over Everest

*A Note from the Co-producer*

An Olympic Torch specially designed to handle the low oxygen levels at altitude has reportedly arrived in the Chinese camp on the North Side of Mount Everest. The reporters following the torch are still en route to the camp and are being kept under close watch by Chinese officials. On the Nepal side of the mountain, Nepalese officials ejected a group of BBC reporters from Base Camp. The BBC reports that the official who asked the reporters to leave said, “We are doing this for our friend China.”

Callie Taintor Wiser

*A Note from the Co-producer*

As noted previously, the Chinese announced earlier this week that there was a change to the scheduled coverage of the Olympic Torch Relay by the international media. The change would have compressed the reporters’ trip from Beijing to the base of the North Side of Mount Everest to three days. Reporters complained to Chinese authorities that such rapid elevation gain would endanger their health as proper acclimatization would not be possible. The Chinese relented but the confusing chain of events following the announcement of yet another new schedule seems to have excluded many of the journalists originally invited by the Chinese to cover the event.

Callie Taintor Wiser

Co-producer, Storm Over Everest

*A Note from the Co-producer*

As mentioned yesterday, Nepalese officials made clear that climbers found with protesting paraphernalia would be removed from the mountain with their permits revoked.  The military made good on that threat in the case of one American climber found to have a pro-Tibet banner on the mountain.

Security has been tightened below Everest Base Camp as well.  Though military police have regular checkpoints throughout the region, these checkpoints are not typically used to search trekkers.  However a number of these checkpoints have become active search centers since Doug and his team made their way up to Base Camp late last month.

Callie Taintor Wiser
Co-producer, Storm Over Everest

*A Note from the Co-producer*

The Nepalese government announced yesterday that military personnel now based at Everest Base Camp would be actively discouraging anti-Chinese activities in the area and were authorized to use force if necessary. Anyone found with anti-Chinese paraphernalia will have their permit revoked and be removed from the mountain.

Today, China announced that the Chinese and international journalists scheduled to report on the torch relay will now be held in Beijing until the torch itself leaves the base camp on the North Side of Mount Everest. The original plan was for reporters to leave Beijing today to travel to Lhasa and then on to base camp in time to cover the torch leaving base camp on its multi-day journey up to the summit. Instead, reporters will remain in Beijing until the torch leaves, then will make the trip to Base Camp in only three days in order to be present when the torch arrives back the planned summit. Chinese officials cite safety and reporters’ comfort for the reporters as reasons for the change, but news reports suggest that the move has been made to keep reporters from having free time in Lhasa, which has been closed to foreigners since riots broke out there on March 14. Compressing the trip from Beijing (roughly 177 feet above sea level) to the North Side base camp (16,400 feet) into three days could potentially cause altitude sickness for the reporters themselves. In comparison, our blogger’s team took nine days from Kathmandu (roughly 4,500 feet) to the base of Everest on the South Side (17, 575 feet.)

Callie Taintor Wiser
Co-producer, Storm Over Everest

A Note from the Co-producer

Thanks for checking in on Doug’s adventures and challenges on Mount Everest.  Just three days ago, Doug wrote me an e-mail to let me know that there were rumors circulating that the Nepalese Army or police were en route to Everest Base Camp.  The rumors were that someone had been posting political statements regarding the Chinese Olympic Torch relay and that the government was going to confiscate satellite communication devices.  He promised that he would be writing, but he might have to wait until a later date to send his posts.   

News has since reached the climbing world that indeed an information blackout has begun to be enforced by the Nepalese Army. One climbing news site mentions a general clamp down on the information sent from Base Camp at the request of the Chinese government as well as a close monitoring of the climbing progress.  It seems that communication will be severely restricted until the Chinese summit Mount Everest from the north carrying the Olympic Torch.

In any event, as soon as I know more, I will update.  While waiting for further word from Doug, I’ll take the opportunity to post some general entries he’s sent introducing some of his fellow teammates and climbers. 

Callie Taintor Wiser
Co-producer, Storm Over Everest

Greetings from Base Camp — the last few days have been filled with movement to Gorak Shep, acclimatization hikes to Kala Patthar and finally movement to our Base Camp site itself.

Since the last dispatch, our team headed further north from Lobuche, traveling further along the Khumbu glacier moraine and toward where our Everest climb begins. The rumors swirling about Nepalese Army checkpoints in Gorak Shep, confiscation of satellite equipment, etc. proved to be false, but all the teams (thirty teams were originally granted permits to climb) are talking about it and some of the more experienced guides here are discussing it privately, wondering what it all means. Climbing permits have been issued, and while there is a blackout summit window where the Chinese have their chance to get the Olympic Torch to the top, at present it doesn’t seem to affect us.

All along this leg of the trek we have a solid view of the Khumbu Icefall and even views at times of mountains that lie in Tibet. We are surrounded by the mighty peaks of Pumori, Lingtren, Khumbutse and Nuptse, and just out of view to the east are Everest and Lhotse. It’s really quite spectacular when the clouds and snow aren’t blocking out our views.

While the last two days were filled with crappy weather, today has been absolutely beautiful. No wind, only late clouds that roll in during the afternoon. At some points Everest comes into view, and you can’t help but stare up and realize that though you are currently sitting at 17,000 feet, there are still another 12,000 feet to go. If anything, it makes us more excited about what is to come.

Rolling into Base Camp, it takes us close to 30 minutes just to find our site.

This place is a mini-city and it takes wandering, asking, and moraine scrambling to figure out where we are going. At one point I bumped into Tim, the Canadian team lead we met at the monastery tea house, and we caught up quickly before again losing Willie in the jumble of rocks. Finally vectoring in to the correct site at the far end of Base Camp, we were introduced to our cook staff and the other two climbing Sherpas — Tendi and Lama Jambu. All appear capable and have the same smiling demeanor as Lhakpa. We are pointed to our tents — home for the next six weeks — and begin an unpacking job that sounds easier than it really is. Grab a bag, walk ten feet. Stop. Gasp for 30 seconds until you catch your breath. Walk ten feet. Stop. Gasp again. Repeat. Even rooting around in your tent takes some degree of effort and then everything stops when you hear a mammoth avalanche off the flanks of Pumori, immediately to the west.

There are easily 300 people here, if not more. This doesn’t include the trekking groups, which we hear are due to arrive in a few days and will easily swell those numbers. The campsite is on the Khumbu glacier itself, just at the base of the Khumbu Icefall to the east. To our north is a steep talus slope constantly pushing rock fall, and to the south the Khumbu glacier flows away along the path we followed to get here.

Willie runs around as a “Man With a Mission,” making sure everything is set up properly. This includes several sat phone calls back to Kathmandu. Francisco shows the entire group that he’s quite an engine mechanic by somehow getting the 16-year-old generator working, and Joe wires the electrical box with in/out currents to juice community tents and recharge batteries. Both turn out to be life saving accomplishments once the sun passed out of view and our camp area frosted over faster than you could say, “who turned off the heat?”

The cook staff whips up a ridiculously lavish meal for us, including spaghetti, coleslaw, hamburgers (we think Yakburgers) and fruit dessert. Then we huddle around a space heater and watch “Balls of Fury” before calling it a night.

So the trip is still a go. I made it clear to Willie, our trip leader, that I’m all in favor of going for it. As long as we are safe, it’s fine by me. He feels the same way.

The other piece of good news is that we — may — look to climbing on Nuptse in order to acclimatize if the Nepalese don’t start coming around. Willie told me that the International Climbing Community (or whatever. I’ll just affectionately call them the ICC for this blog and create a new acronym because if there’s one thing the world needs, it’s another acronym) is in heated discussions with the Nepalese government, going as far as to threaten a trip to World Court. Hey, I’m all about that class action suit. It’s not like they didn’t wait until the 11th hour to send out their decree — and what a doozy it is, by the way. No one beyond Base Camp until after 10 May? That’s just flat out ridiculous. So there’s some optimism that the Nepalese sanctions might be relaxed in order to make this an easier pill to swallow. But hey, how flat-out awesome would it be if we were able to hit Nuptse in addition to Everest? Schwing schwing! I’m actually pretty jazzed about that option.

Lastly, Willie mentioned that if for some reason this doesn’t go the way we expect, long shots don’t pan out and the trip is canceled, we’ll be worked into a later date climb where it wouldn’t be all lost. So now I can breathe again about that, because thinking about waving bye-bye to all that moola was a pretty scary thing.

So he did mention that I’ll have to do a good job in hiding my laptop though, because he thinks that there’s some restriction on sending dispatches back. So I’ll have to be creative about it to say the least — just prepare for some blackouts if for some reason there is a decree and we have to abide by it.