A significant number of climbers summited Everest today from Camp 4. Others are hurrying to get their summits in before the season wraps up, likely on Sunday.
No news from an exhausted Segovia
We hope to hear today from Marcelo Segovia, who is climbing without supplemental oxygen and had to wait two days in Camp 4 for the winds to drop. He planned to leave for the summit last night, but his latest post on social media, below, published this morning at 8:45 am, is far from reassuring.
The Instagram story’s Spanish text reads, “I want to thank everyone for caring and supporting me. Due to weather conditions outside, I am utterly exhausted at Camp 4.”
It is unclear if he posted himself from Camp 4 or relayed the message to his home team. We also do not know the Ecuadorian climber’s whereabouts or how he is doing.
Today’s post by Marcelo Segovia says he is exhausted at Camp 4.
Guides with many summits
Garrett Madison of the U.S. summited Everest for the 15th time today while leading his team. Dawa Tenji Sherpa bagged his third Triple Crown (Everest, Nuptse, and Lhotse in one season) while guiding Jay Whiting of the UK.
Local papers today praised Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa for “making history” by summiting Everest for the fourth time in 15 days. Not sure about the history part, but it’s an impressive accomplishment. Working for 8K Expeditions, the 29-year-old Tashi Gyalzen was part of the rope-fixing team that summited on May 9. He then guided clients to the top again on May 14, 19, and 23.
More traffic jams
Most of the main Nepalese outfitters are reporting summits, in some cases by large groups, so Everest’s summit ridge was surely busy this morning.
The truncated summit dates have created familiar images of huge lines of climbers jammed at the Hillary Step or in sections where there is only a single rope, so long waits occur. Local climbers such as Halung Dorchi, who posted the unsurprising but appalling video below, wonder if a larger number of climbers this year caused the crowds. In fact, there are about the same number of climbers as in 2024, but there have been fewer summit days this season.
No further deaths have occurred on the mountain so far. However, there has been a significant number of rescues, mainly of climbers exhausted during the descent, affected by Acute Mountain Sickness or suffering from frostbite. Most rescues involve helicopters flying up to Camp 2 or even higher. Outfitters are not keen to report on these rescues, so there is little confirmed information.
A rescue helicopter with a climber at the end of a long line approaches Everest Base Camp. Frame of a video by Everest ER Base Camp Clinic
Speed climbers next
Over the next few hours, attention will focus on Tyler Andrews and Karl Egloff, who will leave Base Camp six hours apart (Egloff is scheduled to leave as this story goes up) in the hope of making the FKT (Fastest Known Time) on Everest without supplemental oxygen.
There is no news from wingsuit pilot Tim Howell’s attempt to jump from a point at 8,300m on the Lhotse ridge. It would be the highest wingsuit leap ever, and according to Howell, the highest one possible.
