Everest & Himalaya wrap-up: Climbers on summit push halted by high winds in C2 on Everest and Shisha; Austrians going up on Dhaula

Posted: May 12, 2010 09:34 pm EDT

Everest south side teams are walking up from Khumbu to resume their positions in BC - hoping for summits but expecting high winds.

Those who chose to take a chance are currently battling a gale in C2. A similar situation is developing on Shisha Pangma. Pushes are also underway on Dhaulagiri.

Everest south side

Forecasts show a possible small weather window on the 16th and 17th, Altitude Junkies leader Phil Crampton just posted. We were not satisfied with the safety margin it offered us (with high winds predicted for another week). Our group has collectively decided to stay put taking regular day treks in anticipation of the jet stream leaving the proximity of the mountain after the 20th.

A few groups have braved the conditions and following data from another weather forecast, have tried to position themselves for a summit bid, Crampton then added. As I write this dispatch we are told all groups are grounded at camp two in 100km/h winds and it looks as if they will have to hunker down for a few days waiting for lower wind speeds happen.

Anne-Mari, Pasang Wongchu and Dorjee Sherpa along with Pasang Disco Sherpa are presently all at camp two, Phil noted. Dorjee wanted to break down the tents at the camp to save them from destruction and Anne-Mari wanted to keep a close eye on her Finnish rival at camp two, who is also aiming to be the first Finnish female to summit Everest.

(Ed note: the other Finnish female is Carina Räihästä, climbing with Peak Freaks.)

S. side teams whereabouts

Australian Patrick Hollingworth planned on leaving BC today for C2, aiming for a summit bid on Sunday.

Albert Bosh and the Colombians delayed their summit bid and hope to leave BC tomorrow shooting for a May 17th summit.

SummitClimb planned to start tomorrow with all intentions of attempting the summit on the night of the 15th to the 16th, they stated adding, "subject to good weather.

Simone Moro and Denis Urubko planned to climb to the South Col and then decide, depending on their physical condition.

RMI leader Dave Hahn scheduled rest days for his team until next week. Adventures Global and Dream Guides team members checked in from BC today.

Everest north side

Also the north side SummitClimb group reported high winds from BC yesterday. A 30-member Chinese-Tibetan left BC today though aiming to fix the ropes to the summit in the next few days, the outfit reported.

Meanwhile Alex Abramov threw a lamb-barbecue for all 15 expeditions in BC to celebrate the Russian Victory Day. About 50 people gathered inside the new, huge BC tent dubbed The Space Station.

Shisha Pangma

Teams on Shisha north side are also having stronger winds than expected. Edurne hopes to set off from BC tomorrow, aiming for a Monday summit. Expedition Doctor Pablo reported yesterday on two German climbers who launched a summit push and were stuck in C2.

Dhaulagiri

Austrians Stephan Keck and Paul Gürtler planned to start their summit push on Dhaula Monday and, all going well, could set up C3 today and attempt to reach the top tomorrow. The two climbers use no Sherpa support or O2, and hope to ski down from the summit. The Chinese team is joining us until C3; the Swiss team will set off in 4-5 days, Stephan reported.

The Swiss team (outfitted by Kari Kobler) have completed their acclimatization process.

Cho Oyu

High winds are reported also from Cho Oyu. SummitClimb reported earlier that lots of the smaller teams were leaving the mountain due to bad weather and also because the route had not been established above camp 3.

There are 6 or 7 expeditions left on the mountain, Max explained today. We're trying to do negotiations to fix the route because it looks like we are going to have to do it ourselves.

Links to 2010 teams:

Everest south side

No Guts Know Glory

Ta Loeffler

Altitude Junkies

Anne-Mari Hyryläinen (AJ) - SkyClimbers

Albert Bosh

Colombian expedition

Chad Kellogg speed attempt

Mountain Trip

Peak Freaks

Alpine Ascents

Paul & Denise Fejtek (MT)

Patrick Hollingworth

Adventure Consultants

IMG

RMI

Elia Sailaky - finding life

Adventures Global

Malta team

Eco Everest

SummitClimb

Mountain Madness

Expedition Hanesbrand

Jagged-Globe

Dream Guides

Kari Kobler

HiMex

Adrian Ballinger - Alpenglow

Everest-Lhotse

Simone Moro

Finnish expedition

Cleo Weidlich

Everest north side

Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner

Silvio mondinelli

Alfredo Garcia - La Rioja expedition

Hungarians - Dreher 24

Jordan Romero

Project-Himalaya

7-Summits Club

Adventure Dynamics

Duncan Chessell

Adventure Peaks

Bill Fisher

Bill Burke