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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 20, 2014 - 04:25pm PT
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Good insights Crunch. I too have wondered about that.
I do love Shipton's writing however, and have always had a particularly keen interest in his reconnaissance of the Rongshar Valley and those yeti footprints. Some people think he staged it all as a big joke.
He did mistakenly say on that trip that the Menlung Pass where the photo came from was so heavily crevassed it was not possible to cross it yet people from Rolwaling just to the south were crossing it yearly to buy Tibetan salt in Rongshar. They did so in boots made of untanned leather on the bottom and wool cloth on the top and stuffed with grass.
Interestingly, the Menlung Pass has been the site of several Sherpa sightings of yeti also, though not in recent years. My own theory is that the yeti were Tibetan blue bear that used to cross back and forth but have now been eliminated by the People's Liberation Army border patrol who are known for their poaching.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 20, 2014 - 05:42pm PT
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Shipton's legacy can't be judged on whether or not the establishment institutions of climbing adopted his style, but how we as climbers, mountaineers and adventurers conduct ourselves, and from that conduct, are able to provide informed opinion and even judgement on the current events and the plight of the people currently supporting the guided expeditions.
Shipton had "tramped" around that entire area for a couple of decades. While he may have been "an amateur" he had knowledge about the range, the people and an idea of what was logistically possible. From that standpoint he was invaluable to the Alpine Club especially in the reconnaissance, which was already a much more huge endeavor than his previous expeditions with Tilman and others.
The inspiration, to me, was that he moved through those mountains with a minimum impact, and he even got to climb a number of peaks. But we know in our climber's hearts that it is all about the journey.
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Crazy Bat
Sport climber
Birmingham, AL & Seweanee, TN
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Apr 20, 2014 - 11:10pm PT
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I have a friend in base camp now. His tent was about 20 feet from where the helicopters landed. He reports that they just had a sherpa meeting and all of the sherpa (from his team I think) are leaving the mountain. I've read some of the old books and this seemed, in the past, to be a common way of negotiating for the sherpa. Am I right about this?
I think his climb is off, even if they return.
Has anyone heard any updates on re establishing the route to evacuate those above camp 1?
It must be truly difficult for the sherpa and sherpani. My heart goes out to them. I would truly understand if they all left the mountain this year.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 21, 2014 - 12:58am PT
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Too bad for the hikers including the lovebirds. I feel that the accident brought home to the sherpas the fact that they were being exploited by people, so devoid of skills, that they had little respect for them. Money can't buy you everything, certainly not respect.
Sherpas have always been an integral part of climbing in the Himalayas. Initially most of there work was load carrying for expeditions with bonafide climbers at the helm. There was mutual respect between Tensing Norgay and Hillary. Things have changed and summiting to the top of the world has become big business. MONEY is the key ingredient now. Sherpas make a comparatively good living in a very poor country but they are now asked to do virtually everything to get people who really shouldn't be there to the top. It had to rankle that they cater to people who's primary assets are the size of their checkbooks.
If the hiker/clients made an effort to be climbers perhaps there would be mutual respect.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Apr 21, 2014 - 01:05am PT
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It's time for this insane crapfest to end.
I suspect the sherpa will return. I hope they don't.
Just put a goddamn pressurized gondola to the top and call it good. Most of these these folks couldn't/wouldn't climb Mt Shasta on their own.
That is not an exaggeration sadly.
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John M
climber
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Apr 21, 2014 - 01:10am PT
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If the hiker/clients made an effort to be climbers perhaps there would be mutual respect.
I agree that there would likely be more respect, but also less climbers and thus less jobs for Sherpas. The way I am reading it is they are becoming more aware of their power and just how much money the government pulls in that doesn't trickle down to them, plus how much everyone else in the business makes.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 21, 2014 - 01:25am PT
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The New York Times has an article on this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/world/asia/after-everest-disaster-sherpas-contemplate-strike.html?hp&_r=0
and the following report has been filed by Peake Freakes
Sunday, 20 April 2014
Tension Growing on Everest
The press releases are starting to filter out now with various versions and perspectives of what's going on here so I felt it's important to make this statement now.
As we suggested in a previous post the Sherpa guides are heating up, emotions are running wild and demands from the government to share the wealth with the Sherpa people are on the table.
Now that there are more Sherpa operators today on Everest, they've come to learn just how much the government of Nepal makes in revenues from Everest expeditions and they are asking for a share. This is their time and under very unfortunate circumstances.
There were three meetings yesterday with Sherpa guides and expedition leaders. Their 13 demands are mostly thought to be reasonable and a few we feel may need more thought. Western leaders including ourselves have been asked to help present the Sherpas demands to the government with and for them. In any case things are getting very complicated and there is a lot of tension here and it's growing. Safety of our members is always our number one priority.
Peak Freaks is in support of the Sherpa people any which way it goes. They are our family, our brothers and sisters and the muscle on Everest. We follow their lead, we are guests here.
Tim and Becky Rippel
http://www.explorersweb.com/offsite/?source=http%3A%2F%2Fpeakfreaks8000.blogspot.com%2F2014%2F04%2Ftension-growing-on-everest.html&lang=en
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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Apr 21, 2014 - 01:32am PT
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All this Everest history and talk about Shipton, I think one factor that is being overlooked is that when Nepal finally opened up the south side of Everest for climbing in the early 50's almost immediately, the Swiss, with Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay, came within 1000 feet of the summit in 1952. The British came next in 1953(and brought along Tenzing Norgay and his experience from the year before) and we all know how that ended up.
That says to me that it was the mountain and not tactics which decided how it would be first climbed.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 21, 2014 - 01:36am PT
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I think the deciding factor was weather. The Swiss tried to climb it in the fall which is much more difficult whereas the British got the spring climbing seasons where the chances are much better. The Sherpas really loved the Swiss for their egalitarianism and then Hillary who continued it as he was a New Zealander and not part of the British colonial tradition.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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Apr 21, 2014 - 01:40am PT
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Jan,
I was referring to the fact that all the previous attempts were on the North side which has turned out to be much more difficult(requiring a ladder). If the Nepalese side had been open before 1950, the history of Mount Everest could potentially have been much different.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 21, 2014 - 01:44am PT
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Sorry I misunderstood you. Since Lambert and Hillary both climbed the southern route I assumed that's what you meant. Yes, I agree that if the Nepal side had been open, we would have seen a summit much sooner.
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Ham and Eggs
Mountain climber
Aoraki/Mt Cook Village
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Apr 21, 2014 - 04:12am PT
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Nepal's SPCC dictated the ice fall route this year, as they have for the past many
Westerner's, be they Uli, Dennis or some funds manager from Ohio, have no control over the SPCC's route selection
For years, the major Kiwi owned guide companies have been pushing for better ice fall route selection, a higher standard of route fixer and more route fixers so to better manage the work load
Unhappy with the conditions/route last year, Himalayan Experience pulled it's XPD very early into the season
The long serving guide companies, Alex Lowe foundation, AAC and Juniper Foundation, guys from the North Face, Benegas brothers and the likes of Petzl and ENSA have been striving hard for a better deal for Sherpa and Sherpani
But here's an issue. If locals want to truly take control of the mountain, they need to raise the skill and experience which takes many years to develop. Climbing just Everest and a couple other somewhat sanguine routes doesn't offer a lot of opportunity for improving one's true skillet
Yes the Sherpa and Sherpani haul hard, break trail and set ropes. Clients however remain dependant on Western Guides though with a wealth of experience across varying conditions
The Yak route is moderate difficulty with high objective hazards down low, and real exposure risks up high
Sherpa and Sherpani would do well to get out onto other mountains in a lead role, build their skills and experience, and then be perhaps in that position ready to truly run the Everest gong show themselves
Respect to the Sherpa and Sherpani on the mountain and condolences to the friends and families of those lost. A couple from the region are dear friends. Western friends guiding on the mountain this year speak a lot of sadness and determination to ensure that the families of the dead are directly supported.
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Crazy Bat
Sport climber
Birmingham, AL & Seweanee, TN
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Apr 21, 2014 - 08:24am PT
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My friend's team has decided to call their climb out of respect for the lost souls. He makes it sound like the ice fall is particularly active this year. Anyone else heard anything like that. Could Everest be suffering from global warming?
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crankster
Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2014 - 09:38am PT
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With this much $$ involved + the allure of the highest mountain in the world, it's hard to imagine that the show won't go on to some degree.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 21, 2014 - 10:14am PT
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Once again, Alan Arnette summarizes the current situation best:
The serac collapse into the Khumbu Icefall last Friday has not only taken at least 16 lives, it has changed Everest climbing forever.
Emotions and relations are tense today at Everest Base Camp with Sherpas presenting the Ministry of Tourism a set of 13 demands ranging from improved insurance to improved pay as part of the millions the government earns from permits each year.
Teams are currently on hold waiting for the Ministry to respond to the demands, They gave a date of 7 days or April 28, 2014 or they will stop climbing. Already, climbing has been halted for a period of mourning. Plus bad weather stopped all further efforts to search for bodies in the icefall. Some Sherpas, but not all, returned to their homes which are normally less than a days walk from base camp.
If enough of the largest commercial teams cancel their season, the smaller teams will be encouraged to leave as well. In 2012, Russell Brice, Himex, canceled his season on May 1 after his Sherpas expressed significant concern about passing underneath the same area that released last Friday. He has 43 clients and Sherpa climbing on Everest and Lhotse this year.
UPDATE: late Monday in Nepal, Alpine Ascents (AAI) announced they were ending their Everest 2104 season. AAI had a large part in supporting the logistics team supporting Joby Ogwyn wingsuit attempt plus had Sherpas killed in the serac collapse. They had 12 clients, 2 guides plus and employed more than 20 Sherpa.
Climbing on the north side of Everest continues with teams already at Advanced Base Camp but the Chinese are refusing entry and permits for climbers not already in Tibet or on their target mountain. This has been ongoing for several weeks. In essence this will leave south side climbers without the option to switch to the north side unless Beijing changes it’s mind. – end update.
Wingsuit Jump Canceled
NBC Universal, Peacock Productions announced late Sunday night that the wingsuit jump off Everest’s summit has been canceled out of respect for the victims of the serace collapse.
Donations
The Ministry of Tourism had previously announced an immediate payment of $400 to cover burial expenses for each family of the Sherpa victims. For 2014, life insurance for each Sherpa was increased to US $10,000 from $4,000. The Nepal government collected US $3,107,700 for the Everest 2104 season.
Multiple funds have been established to accept donations supporting the Sherpa families.
The American Alpine Club has established a fund to help the Sherpa families.
The Juniper Fund is accepting donations
The Khumbu Climbing Center is accepting donations
Himalayan Trust in New Zealand
Sherpa Education Fund
Sherpa Demands
The demands from the Sherpas are wide ranging and include:
• Increment of immediate relief announced for avalanche victims
• Provide Rs 10 million (US$103,590) each to families of deceased
• Set up a memorial park in the name of the deceased in Kathmandu
• Cover all expenses for treatment of the injured
• Provide Rs 10 million (US$103,590) to critically hurt who cannot rejoin mountaineering activities
• Set up mountaineering relief fund with 30 per cent of royalty collected from issuing permits to different mountains (est $1M for 2014)
• Double the insurance amount to the mountaineering workers
• Provide additional chopper rescue to mountaineering support staff if insurance fails to cover the cost
• Provide perks and salaries, except summit bonus, through concerned agencies to Sherpas if they want to call off climbing this season
• Manage chopper to bring logistics and equipment from different camps if mountaineers decide to abandon climbing this season
• Don’t take action against SPCC icefall doctors if they refuse to fix ropes and ladders on the route this season
• Let the expedition members to call off this season’s climbing if they wish so
A Difficult Trade-off
The environment at Everest Base Camp remains very somber now with a further umbrella of uncertainty. Some Sherpa are willing to continue accepting the risks as are some foreigners; others have already left base camp never intending to climb again.
Tourism is the lifeblood for Nepal but everyone from climbers to yak herders wants a safe and clean environment. Simply stopping climbing on Everest or any of the dangerous Himalayan mountains would have a severe impact on Nepal.
Clearly, the loss of life is unacceptable and I know of no climber who would ever callously risk the life of a Sherpa, guide or teammate for a summit.
Alternatives
Alternatives to preventing a similar event such as an ice serac collapse range from none to few and each have implications with complicated consequences.
The nature of an ice serac prevents it from being “removed” by blasting as is done in ski resorts due to the remote location, uncertain terrain, unpredictable results of a blast not to mention Everest, and many other mountain in the Himalaya, are consider sacred and blasting would probably not be acceptable.
Simply not passing underneath the so-called “objective danger” is another alternative but the reality is that the route through the Khumbu Icefall adjacent to Everest’s West Shoulder is the safest route to access Everest from the Nepal side.
Reducing the number of passes is probably the best solution to reduce exposure and this could be accomplished by acclimatizing on other Himalayan peaks so as not to reduce the money spent in Nepal and work for the porters and Sherpas. Many teams already utilize this strategy including IMG, Peak Freaks, and Himex. However, even this scenario requires multiple passes in high risk areas, something unavoidable when climbing any 8000m mountain.
Reducing the number of trips for Sherpas is a good strategy. One way to eliminate some trips would be to simplify the camps above base camp, reducing the amount of oxygen used thus the number of cylinders required, or by asking each climber to carry their own stove and fuel. This would increase the risk for the climbers but also require them to be more self sufficient, experienced and prepared.
Using helicopters to ferry climbers and supplies directly to the Western CWM thus avoiding the icefall altogether has been discussed but it would be dangerous as helicopters are generally stripped down to a minimum weight when flying at those altitudes so it would require multiple flights, each with it’s own risks, as well as an enormous expense. Remember these are altitude above 20,000′/6000m, higher than the summit of Denali, or Mont Blanc.
Of course by reducing the number of climbers, the number of Sherpas would also be reduced thus lowering the number of people exposed to objective dangers.
Finally, reducing the number of Sherpa supporting the climbers would reduce the total of Sherpas exposed to the dangers. Since 2000, the number of Sherpas summiting Everest compared to foreigners has risen to 2.3 Sherpa to client, almost twice what it was in the 1990s.
In almost every scenario the number of Sherpas required to work on Everest each season would be reduced, thus lowering their income and increasing some risks in general.
An unintended consequence of making the Nepal side more expensive or with less support would be to encourage people to climb from the Tibet side. The Nepal side is more popular with 4416 summits than the Tibet with 2455 summits and overall 262 people (161 westerners and 101 Sherpas) have died on Everest from 1924 to 2014, 154 on the Nepal side and 108 from Tibet. There has been a measurable increase in the number of deaths of both clients and Sherpa on the Nepal side since 2009.
Formula
The current formula for commercial guiding on Everest and other popular mountains around the world is based on a high level of support, advanced oxygen and other technologies, sophisticated weather forecasting, known routes and professional guides.
This formula has opened mountains to people otherwise unqualified to attempt them independently. It has created an economic model where customers get what they want, and well paying jobs are created for the local population when compared to the nearby alternatives.
All this said, the risk are real, and tragic with long term devastation to families of the fallen. No job anywhere of any type is worth a person’s life.
The only true solution to preventing deaths of Sherpas, clients, and guides is to stop climbing. Increasing pay and insurance, while justified, will not save lives.
I want to express again my own personal sorrow at the loss of life and express my deepest sympathies for the families.
Alan
Memories are Everything
http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2014/04/21/everest-2014-tragedy-overwhelms-everest/
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Apr 21, 2014 - 10:26am PT
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Jan Thanks for posting that.
I guess my thoughts tend to be a bit simpler when it comes to the Khumbu side of the mountain
With this much $$ involved + the allure of the highest mountain in the world, it's hard to imagine that the show won't go on to some degree.
No doubt. Even if not this season it will eventually.
Incredibly potent mix of motivations. I felt that lure for years. Its sad that the most popular route is guarded by an insane amount of seracs. I can't think of any other mountain where folks willingly put themselves in such a situation so commonly.
It's the "everest" highest mountain allure. It makes otherwise intelligent mountaineers willing to go up a route they would never consider on any other mountain. Partly because it's Everest and partly because somehow it just became "normal" there.
It's about as normal as pointing a loaded gun at your head....
Like your mom used to say.. "Just cause everyone's doing it..."
This fact is pretty simple. If you have this many people exposed to that much risk on a regular basis then these things WILL occur from time to time.
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Apr 21, 2014 - 10:27am PT
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Jan, thanks for posting up the excellent summary.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Apr 21, 2014 - 10:33am PT
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Most of the "clients" are clueless about the objective hazards of the icefall.
If the application process required them to survive a round of russian roulette they might have a better idea,..
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Apr 21, 2014 - 11:39am PT
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When did climbers start being deterred by objective hazards?
Each climber accepts some objective hazard in pursuit of a climbing goal. The difference is only a matter of degree.
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