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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 22, 2014 - 08:49pm PT
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Yep, those are right up there with knot tying.
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pc
climber
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Apr 22, 2014 - 08:56pm PT
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Silly Ron. They don't wear crampons,they need to stand on each others shoulders as in that Hillary Step photo above...
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Ham and Eggs
Mountain climber
Aoraki/Mt Cook Village
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Apr 22, 2014 - 09:06pm PT
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He was widely criticized for this decision in 2012, and not just by clients who were forced to abandon their dreams of climbing the world’s highest mountain without receiving a refund for the forty-three thousand euros they had paid him in advance. Many of the other expedition leaders also thought Brice was wildly overreacting.
The reputation of Himex took a major hit.
Now that statement, is over-reacting.
HIMEX did not take a major hit. Adventure Consultants - one, of the few, other truly senior guide companies on the mountain did not criticize Russ's decision.
Russ probably could have flicked a bit of coin back to his clients though.
HIMEX has helped 2 Sherpa living in my village, gain NZ citizenry. It meant they could live an okay-living without having to guide/porter during the Everest season. It was a joy to help both learn to drive. One is near qualified as a Chef at a 4-star hotel. The other is a trekking guide. Their kids go to the humble primary school. Their wives holding jobs, they enjoy, at the hotel.
HIMEX would rather be guiding from Tibet. Russ was the first to guide the North Ridge. Alas, unreliable permit issues from the CMA has challenged his ability to promise clients guaranteed adventures from the North each year.
HIMEX was, at the least, one of the first companies to ensure Sherpa and Sherpani were kitted-out with genuine quality gear - and not just someone else's run-down seconds.
HIMEX has seen demand drop. Their is a lot of competition from companies offering cheaper prices.
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Scott Patterson
Mountain climber
Craig
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Apr 22, 2014 - 09:10pm PT
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Problem is, Amadablam is not far off the same sh#t show, by the standard route anyway. Fixed the whole way and crawling with guided parties last I heard.
True. There are other crowded mountains with fixed lines too. The media just doesn't give them as much attention.
Keep in mind that the same thing that just happened on Everest could easily happen on Ama Dablam. The standard route goes right under that giant hanging serac that you see in many of the photos. It has already collapsed several times (some of which resulted in fatalities) and will again.
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 23, 2014 - 11:19am PT
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Why do or would non-climbers give a rats ass about conga lines on Everest?
It is every living entities primal desire to attain the highest.
Everest represents one of those highest points ........
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 23, 2014 - 11:56am PT
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It's Over !!! No climbing Everest from the southside this year. No Sherpas, no summits.
Everest 2014: Season Near End from Nepal
Alan Arnette
IMG Everest International Mountain Guides, IMG, who has the largest team climbing from the south side of Everest has ended their season. While there has been no official comment from the other large teams including Asian Trekking, Himex and Altitude Junkies, the IMG decision most likely ends all attempts from the south.
Climbing is still occurring on the North side of Everest and other Himalayan mountains.
IMG fields a very large team of Sherpa who are key in fixing the line to the summit. Without their support, other teams would struggle to find the manpower, although it would still be possible with excellent cooperation. However, time is running out to attempt a summit.
This is the IMG statement:
IMG leaders Greg Vernovage and Ang Jangbu Sherpa have been forced to end the expedition due to the perilous conditions resulting from the April 18 Icefall avalanche. After several days of intense meetings at Base Camp and in Kathmandu among climbers, sherpas, and representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, no agreement was reached on restarting the 2014 Everest climbing season. The Icefall route is currently unsafe for climbing without repairs by the Icefall doctors, who will not be able to resume their work this season. We have explored every option and can find no way to safely continue the expedition.
The IMG team will be starting down valley in the next few days, with some trekking and some hitching rides by helicopter. They are joined by climbers from other expedition teams that had also been waiting at Base Camp and have also been forced to end their climbs.
A meeting was held with government officials in Kathmandu on Wednesday resulting in an agreement to send a high level official to base camp to discuss the situation. The Nepal government has said they would put a team of officials at EBC this year but reports are the officials never appeared at base camp furthering distrust with the Sherpa community.
Also, the Ministry agreed to allow helicopters to ferry supplies to Camp 1 for 2014 and perhaps beyond.
Climbers are posting their personal status and in general have mixed emotions of support for the Sherpas while watching their own dreams fade away.
I’m told there is not unity within the Sherpa community and this is driven by a few young, very vocal climbing Sherpas who are using the media very well. The primary reasons for the Sherpa’ discontent range from increased pay and life insurance for all Sherpa, support for families of climbing Sherpa killed on Everest to having an equal position along side commercial guides to showing respect for the victims of last week’s serac fall.
The clock is ticking for teams to properly acclimatize due to no climbing this week. By this time in April, most climbers would have spent several nights at Camp 2, 21,500′, and be preparing to spend that important night at Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face.
Usually, the first summits are by the Sherpa rope fixing team in early May. But they would have had the ropes, anchors and supplies already positioned by this time at Camp 2 and nothing has been carried there as of today.
I will update this post as more reliable information becomes available.
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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Apr 23, 2014 - 12:40pm PT
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The same principle applies to our own Mt. Rainier at a more local scale.
Every 2 or 3 years I take a group up. Why do people want to climb it (we're not talking about Liberty or Ptarmigan Ridge here).
Because it transforms them. How that happens varies.
Rainier, like Everest, is a magnificent mountain. It's actually 3 times larger than Everest in terms of sheer bulk - and its roughly the same height base to top. The experience of attaining its summit can be a transformative one, I've observed.
But Rainier costs $45 to climb. Everest is a bit pricier, I've heard. That famously attracts some jet setting puffer fish, but I'd wager that a lion's share of its climbers are looking for a similar transformative experience. They seek a strenuous life fully lived, and for whatever reason Everest becomes that for them.
I wouldn't pony up the cash to climb Everest, but I certainly don't look down on those who want to experience it by attaining its summit.
If someone paid your way to climb it, would you?
I sure as hell would.
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William Finley
Social climber
Anchorage
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Apr 23, 2014 - 03:18pm PT
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If I were to head over there, it would be for one of the lesser peaks with no crowds, in order to have a true adventure. First on my list....Ama Dablam.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Apr 23, 2014 - 04:37pm PT
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One of those turning back is Ed Marzec, 67, a retired lawyer from Los Angeles and self-proclaimed “tough guy” nuff said
Marzec said he hoped the horrific disaster would at least lead to better working conditions for the local guides.
Classic - bemoan the treatment Sherpas get, but be part of the problem. The climbers have the leverage to improve the Sherpa's treatment.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/sherpas-climbers-leave-everest-after-tragedy-n87816
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 23, 2014 - 05:10pm PT
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Alpine Ascents, IMG, Peak Freakes, and RMI have all cancelled their expeditions and Peak Freakes has announced they will no longer run expeditions to Everest,
Ama Dablam, or Pumori because of the avalanche danger which has been increasing yearly due to global warming. They say more and more avalanches are coming down every day now as they pack up.
Meanwhile they also report that a high level delegation of government officials, commercial expedition leaders, and heads of climbing agencies, along with military and police, are flying up to base camp in two helicopters tomorrow to try to persuade the Sherpas to go up anyway.
Some Sherpas are threatning others if they break the strike and the potential for some dead Sherpas or government officials is high. It would be a true shame if the Sherpas finally get the pay and benefits they deserve, just as the main industry is coming to a close.
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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Apr 23, 2014 - 05:15pm PT
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Way to find a scapegoat you know f*#k all about to blame for this natural tragedy, then excoriate him for issuing a sentiment we all agree with. Lawyer: check. LA: Check. Old: Check.
Love me some innernutz!
I've put much needed cash in the pockets of porters, yak drivers, llama herders, and horse wranglers on various climbing trips. I was happy to have their help, and they were happy to provide it.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 23, 2014 - 05:19pm PT
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Meanwhile they also report that a high level delegation of government officials, commercial expedition leaders, and heads of climbing agencies, along with military and police, are flying up to base camp in two helicopters tomorrow to try to persuade the Sherpas to go up anyway.
Now that the bureaucrats'/oligarchs' income is threatened they're gonna do something.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 23, 2014 - 05:40pm PT
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Exactly. They made an agreement with the Sherpas last year to station laison officers and police at base camp to keep order, but being low land Nepalis who don't like to leave Kathmandu, they never showed. Now suddenly when big money is at stake and not just Sherpa lives, they can make it.
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PSP also PP
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Apr 23, 2014 - 06:47pm PT
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Sounds like real mountaineering ; the mountain isn't in condition to climb so you go do something else.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Apr 23, 2014 - 06:59pm PT
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But EBC would take some acclimatization first.
Meanwhile they also report that a high level delegation of government officials, commercial expedition leaders, and heads of climbing agencies, along with military and police, are flying up to base camp in two helicopters tomorrow to try to persuade the Sherpas to go up anyway.
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labrat
Trad climber
Auburn, CA
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Apr 23, 2014 - 07:30pm PT
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"Some Sherpas are threatning others if they break the strike and the potential for some dead Sherpas or government officials is high."
It's beginning to sound a bit like last year. Why does violence keep becoming a factor for this supposedly peaceful people?
Wonder what will happen if expeditions get shut down for multiple years? The climbing Sherpas way of life may be forever changed.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Apr 23, 2014 - 07:31pm PT
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I'm sure the officials flying into Base Camp will each have more than one kind of headache to deal with! I'll bet oxygen will be provided for them however.
Meanwhile, in a society with no specific laws to cover a situation and a nonexistant or unfair court system, the only ways to make people behave are to appeal to religion, to not shaming their relatives or community, or when opinion is not unanimous, to threaten violence against those who do not act in the interests of the group.
What exactly the Sherpas' best interests are at this point in time remains unclear. Surely wringing as many concessions out of the Nepalese government as possible is in their interests and long overdue. I don't think going up again in dangerous avalanche conditions is, particularly given their beliefs about the dead, and the resident goddess being very angry about something.
Pressuring the Nepalese government to continue to work on Everest if the loads can be flown by helicopter from Base Camp to Camp 2 is in their interest and would keep the business going for everybody. Real climbers are agreed that there is no more challenge to climbing Everest in the current style, so why not just be honest about the business aspects as long as the Sherpas share in the benefits?
Professional climbers can then risk only their own lives doing alpine ascents on other peaks, and Nepal and the Sherpas can open up more easy 20,000 foot trekking peaks.
Anyway, that's the best I can come up with at the moment.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 23, 2014 - 07:39pm PT
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If the government retards would get out of the way I am sure the Sherpas
would work it out. But that isn't likely so it will be a cluster for a while.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Apr 23, 2014 - 08:06pm PT
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Getting the remaining three deceased out of the snow would be a good start for the Nepalese Government towards soothing the Sherpas.
It's avalanche compacted snow. So they'll need the same type of equipment the President reviewed in Washington State yesterday. Bulldizers, clamshells and the like. It will have to be capable of operating at high altitude.
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labrat
Trad climber
Auburn, CA
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Apr 23, 2014 - 08:26pm PT
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"So they'll need the same type of equipment the President reviewed in Washington State yesterday. Bulldizers, clamshells and the like. It will have to be capable of operating at high altitude."
John.........Seriously? Maybe you should look at the pictures of the icefall and a map of where base camp is located?
SOOTMSTSOSTE!
(SeriouslyOneOfTheMostStupidThingsSaidOnSuperTopoEver!)
Best Regards
Erik
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