About a rock
Yesterday news began to spread that a few rocks on the Everest south side Hillary Step had been knocked off by last year’s earthquake. We decided not to run the story, as we simply couldn’t tell from the pictures if there was a real difference from when we climbed the section 20 years ago.
The spot is not very technical contrary to popular reports, and the alteration would not have added much change to the ascent anyway.
Checking with Nepalese staff and Sherpa multi-summiteers in BC, today Italian Montagna reports the demolition of Hillary step rumor is not very reliable, “from the photographs available it simply seems that the change of appearance is due to more snow than usual, which has reshaped the shape of the crest and the slope.”
