25th June:

August Everest Climb and Ski Descent

An Indo-Tibetan Border Police expedition team, which was to scale Mount Everest and ski down later this year from the Chinese side, has now decided to climb the peak from the Nepalese side citing "technical reasons".

"The April-May expedition to Mount Everest from the Chinese side had to be postponed due to technical reasons.

"We have rescheduled the exercise to August and our men will conquer the tallest peak from the Nepal side," Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Vikram Srivastava, told reporters without elaborating.

Official sources, however, said China has neither allowed nor denied permission for the expedition. "But the team could not be kept waiting and hence the Nepal side was chosen, "according to the sources.

The paramilitary team was preparing to scale Mount Everest during April and May and set a world record by skiing down the summit from the Chinese side in a maiden such effort.

The team will now climb the 8,848-metre-high Mount Everest in August and attempt to ski down from the Nepalese side. Team members will be equipped with helmet-mounted cameras to record the experience.

Source: PTI

23rd June:

Nepal urged to reduce Mount Everest climbing fee

A leading mountaineering official on Tuesday urged Nepal to reduce climbing fees for Mount Everest and other mountains during the peak climbing season, to lure climbers back from Tibet where mountaineering is cheaper.

Tourists are returning to Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries with largely aid-and tourism-dependent economy, after the Himalayan republic emerged from a long civil war in 2006.

Climbing is one of the most popular tourist pastimes but Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations, an umbrella body of 26 alpine groups, said overcharging was driving climbers across the border to Tibet.

"The royalty rates must be reduced if we have to compete in mountaineering," said Sherpa, who also runs a big hiking agency.

"If the cost of climbing is not competitive, climbers will naturally go to places where they can spend less and we will lose our business."

Tibet is Nepal's main competitor in mountaineering as five of the world's tallest mountains straddle their border, he said.

Nepal charges $25,000 per person to climb the 8,850- metre Mount Everest and $500 for a smaller peak.

Climbers in Nepal must also pay for transporting supplies, equipment and sherpa guides, making climbing pricier than in Tibet from where Mount Everest can also be scaled. Prices in Tibet were not immediately available.

Nepal, which is in political limbo after the former Maoist rebels quit the government in May, earned $230.6 million in 2007 from tourism -- 4 percent of its GDP.

Tourist arrivals grew 4 percent last year from 526,000 in 2007, according to the Nepal Tourism Board, the highest number since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest in 1953 and effectively launched the country's tourism industry.

The government has set itself the ambitious target of doubling visitor numbers by 2011.

Source: Reuters India

12th June:

Mount Everest is shrinking

Mount Everest grows about two inches in height a year due to plate tectonic shift. An infrared beacon at the summit verifies this fact.

Due to global warming, Everest's snow cover and glaciers are shrinking. Eventually the entire mountain will shrink.

Apa Sherpa, a Nepali who has scaled Everest a record nineteen times, is leading the cause to preserve Everest.

Apa Sherpa led a clean up expedition to remove the garbage left by the three thousand plus people who have climbed Everest. The 13,000 pounds of garbage removed included air cylinders, rope, waste, tents, and a helicopter.

The garbage was uncovered by the low snow fall on Everest due to global warming.

 The lack of snow also makes climbing Everest more difficult because crampons do not work well on bare rock.

Garbage left by climbers has decreased since 1993 due to Nepal's "garbage deposit for mountaineering" laws.

Apa Sherpa is leading a world wide campaign to preserve Everest and the Himalayas from the effects of global warming and adventurers.

Apa's expedition was a part of the 'Climate Change for Life Campaign' led by World Wildlife Federation.

Edmund Hillary's conquest of Everest was an achievement. The herd of thrill seekers and egoists who scale Everest now is a bit tawdry.

The fee and license to be allowed to attempt Everest is $70,000. The cost for a single person to attempt an expert guided conquest of Everest ranges from $40,000 to $50,000.

If the climbing of Everest were stopped it would be a very hard hit to the economy of the region but it may be that global warming will do this anyway.

Source: Examiner.com

28th May:

Sherpas fail in bid for 24-hour Everest record

Bad weather forced three Nepalese sherpa brothers to abandon their bid to set a world record by spending 24 hours on the summit of Mount Everest.

Pemba Dorje Sherpa, 30, and his two younger brothers reached the summit on May 19 but were forced down after only two hours, Pemba told AFP after returning to Kathmandu on Wednesday.

‘Foul weather forced us to abandon the mission. There was too much snowfall on the peak and it was very windy,’ he said.

‘Had we stayed there ignoring the weather conditions, we would not have returned alive.’ After their failed May 19 attempt, the brothers again pushed for the summit on May 23 but were forced to turn back.

The record stay at the top of Everest is held by the late Nepalese mountaineer Babu Chhiri, who in 1999 spent at least 21 hours at the summit without extra oxygen.

Pemba, who holds the record for the fastest ascent of Everest, at eight hours and 10 minutes, said that he would attempt to break Chhiri's record in the next climbing season.

Source: AFP

26th May:

Glaciers on the Everest are retreating

The Nepalese "Super Sherpa" who conquered Mount Everest for a record 19th time said on Monday he wanted to climb the world's highest peak again in his campaign to raise environmental awareness.

Apa Sherpa, 49, returned to Kathmandu after reaching the summit on May 21 when he broke his own record for the number of successful attempts on the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) mountain.

The expedition he led was designed to highlight the damage that global warming has done to Everest and also to pick up rubbish discarded by previous climbers.

"I have no plans of announcing a retirement," Apa told reporters at Kathmandu airport as well-wishers greeted him with Buddhist scarves.

"I am willing to climb to clean up Everest the next year as well. I saw that the glaciers on the Everest are retreating. It made me worried.

When on the summit last week, Apa furled a banner that read: "Stop Climate Change, Let the Himalayas Live!"

Apa said his expedition team has collected five tonnes of litter as part of their efforts to return the mountain to a pristine condition.

"We have only one Everest so we should all work together in keeping the mountain environment clean," he said.

The trash included parts of a crashed helicopter, old ropes and tents, ladders, metal cans and climbing gear.

"There is still lots of garbage up there and I want to bring it down," he said.

Apa, who bagged his first Everest summit in 1990, started his mountaineering career as a porter in his early teens.

Source: The Himalayan Times

21st May:

Fiennes climbs to Everest summit

Veteran British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has reached the summit of Mount Everest, succeeding after two previous attempts ended in failure.

He is the first man to cross both the polar ice-caps and climb 8,850 metres (29,035ft) to the world's highest peak.

Sir Ranulph, 65, who had kept this latest attempt at climbing the mountain low key, said from the top he was pleased but "felt dreadful".

"This is the closest you can get to the moon by walking."

The explorer began his latest attempt at climbing Everest three weeks ago.

He becomes the oldest Briton and the first British pensioner to scale the world's highest mountain.

The adventurer told the BBC: "We came to the summit as dawn broke. It was very, very cold."

He said he had been narrowly beaten by a group of 12 Indian army soldiers to the summit but that there was a "lot of chatter" once they arrived.

Sir Ranulph turned back from the summit on his first attempt in 2005 after having a heart attack.

Exhaustion forced him to turn back when he tried to climb it again last year.

His efforts this time are raising money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity - his wife, mother and sister all died from the disease within 18 months.

The BBC's Andrew North joined Sir Ranulph during the first two days of the climb and said it was obvious that a "bull-headed determination" drove him on.

The adventurer spoke to our correspondent by radio from the summit.

"He did say he was really pleased to have got there. He also said he felt dreadful, exhausted from the climb and was looking forward to getting down," said Mr North.

"You could tell he was very relieved," he said, adding that the pace of his climb was "remarkably fast" having reached the summit from the highest camp in just nine hours.

During his career Sir Ranulph has led more than 30 expeditions.

The explorer is perhaps best known for a three-year transglobe expedition - the first successful circumnavigation of the world on its polar axis - which was completed in 1982.

He also travelled to the North Pole unaided, along with Dr Mike Stroud, as well as a 97-day trek across Antarctica.

Sir Ranulph had a triple heart bypass in 2003 after suffering from a heart attack.

Only four months later, he and Dr Stroud ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.

Source: BBC

20th May:

Oldest American man to climb Mt. Everest

A Spokane man has made history. 66-year-old Dawes Eddy reached the summit of Mt. Everest and is now the oldest man in the United States to make that accomplishment.

Eddy's website reads, "When you turn 65 do you want to be over the hill or still able to climb the hill?" Eddy is still climbing at 66 years-old. He was one of 15 others on the 2009 international mountain guides team to reach Mount Everest's summit today.

Eddy started climbing mountains in 1985 and has summited more than 25 peaks, some of them multiple times.

His wife, Mary Kay Eddy started crying when she talked about her husband's historic accomplishment. "It's really exciting. I'm just so proud of him. I knew he could do it but to have it actually happen is wonderful.

Mary Kay Eddy tracked her husband's whole trip at home so she would know where he was supposed to be the whole climb. She says he may be 66 in age but he definitely still thinks he's 18. She's talked to him a few times on the climb up Everest and says he's had a great trip. "He always tells me he feels great, everything is great. He's never even taken aspirin for altitude sickness or a headache. He's in his element, I think. He was built to do this."

Mary Kay hopes to see her husband by the end of the week. She did lead on that she hopes this is his last climb.

Source: WorldNow

16th May:

The Worlds Highest Tweet

British mountaineer Gavin Bate is hoping to send the highest tweet in the world in the next week or so. At present he is climbing on Mount Everest and is raising money for his charity Moving Mountains.

Woolworths have sponsored Gavin for the “Worlds Highest Tweet” that will take place on the summit of Mount Everest.

Gavin says “After a few calls to the satellite phone a donation figure was agreed and I am delighted and looking forward to delivering the worlds highest tweet for them in the coming days”.

Matthew Jacques, Head of Brand Woolworths.co.uk told Gavin……. “Woolworths.co.uk has been using Twitter to keep people informed about its return as on online brand in the summer. When we saw the opportunity to help yourself, the charity and break the record for the Worlds Highest Tweet it really inspired us, we had a whip round in the office and are now proud to be onboard. We are going to get some suggestions from our twitter followers about what the worlds highest tweet could say, no doubt Pick ‘n’ Mix will figure in there somewhere!”

Source: myeverestchallenge.com

8th May:

Everest Sherpa Missing Presumed Dead

An avalanche on Mount Everest left a Sherpa guide missing and presumed dead, while two Austrian climbers with him were rescued, an official said on Friday.

The avalanche hit the climbers just above base camp on Thursday, Nepal Mountaineering Association official Ang Tshering said.

Two Austrian climbers were buried in the snow but rescued. The third climber - a Nepalese Sherpa guide, Lakpa Norbu - was missing and presumed dead, he said.

Mr Tshering said there is no hope of finding the guide alive, but other climbers in the area were continuing to dig through ice and snow, looking for the body. He did not know the names of the Austrians.

The Khumbu Icefall area just above base camp where the avalanche struck is one of the riskiest areas on the ascent to the 8,850-metre summit of the world's highest mountain.

An ice collapse in the area last month had blocked the route of scores of climbers, and destroyed a path set with aluminium ladders and ropes to move over the crevasses and shaky ice.

The spring climbing season is the most popular time to scale mountains in Nepal where a few days window of calm weather in May usually allows mountaineers to hastily make their way to the summits and then retreat to safer altitudes.

A total of 65 teams have been given permission by Nepal's government to climb various mountains during the season. Of them, 25 teams are attempting Mount Everest.

Source: Singapore Press

4th May:

Everest girls almost wiped out by avalanche

A team of female Croatian mountain climbers hoping to be the first Croatian women ever to climb mount Everest narrowly avoided tragedy on Saturday as an avalanche fell across their path.

The four strong team of Jana Mijailovic, Ena Vrbek, Josipa Levar and Vedrana Simicevic were almost struck by the avalanche at 9.17am as they climbed the Khumbu Icefall area of mount Everest, according to daily ‘Novi list’.

The huge amounts of snow and ice totally destroyed the pathway, their ropes and ladders so they needed to find a new way to their base. Luckily all ended well and that even confirmed expedition head Darko Berljak to the Croatian Mountaineering Association.

One of the climbers taking part in the ‘Everest 2009' climb, Vedrana Simicevic, who is also a Novi list journalist, reported that the experience was scary but they are all right now. Simicevic told all worried family members they do not have a reason to panic.

All together eleven Croatian female Alpinists and their guide Darko Berljak began their expedition on 24 March.

If they succeed, they will be the first Croatian women to have reached the summit of Mt. Everest.

Source: Croatian Times

25th April:

Sir Ranulph Fiennes: unfinished business on Everest

Is it going to be a case of third time lucky? That is the question facing one of Britain's most indomitable explorers this month. At 65, he may be a pensioner, have a weak heart and have suffered from prostate cancer. But this is a man who doesn't do ''giving up''. It is of course, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

Last month he took a flight to Kathmandu, Nepal, en route for a destination that will surprise none of his friends and very few of those who have followed his endeavours with interest. He is off to attempt Mount Everest again.

Officially, he is there to make a documentary about the mountain.

According to a spokesman for the explorer, "Ran is doing a film for a television company about people climbing Everest." But for someone who tried four times over a 15-year period to reach the North Pole unsupported, this sounds at best unlikely. Are we to suppose that a man who has made impossible challenges of trial and endurance his life's work – from circumnavigating the globe along the Greenwich Meridian to crossing the Antarctic land mass – is to sit around in base camp making a television programme about other people?

This is a man who ran seven marathons in a row just four months after suffering a massive heart attack, who took up climbing after he lost the fingertips of his left hand to frostbite. The real reason, say sources close to the explorer, is that he wants to make another attempt on the mountain in secret and away from the intense media spotlight.

"He wants to climb it underneath the radar," one said. "He felt very pressured last time when every step and every cough was reported. He made the right decision turning back. But he can be forgiven for wondering whether, had he pushed on, he might have succeeded."

It is understood that Sir Ranulph has not joined a big commercial expedition but assembled his own team of Sherpas locally and retained the services of Kenton Cool, the British guide who taught him to climb and guided him on the mountain last year and up the Eiger's North Face in 2007. It is thought he plans to ascend following the classic route from the south, pioneered by Hillary and Tenzing.

"Ran doesn't like being defeated," the friend added.

In 2005, Sir Ranulph made his first attempt on the mountain, from Tibet, as part of his bid to raise millions for charity, but turned back 400m from the summit after fearing for his heart. It was just two years after suffering the heart attack that left him in a coma for three days. That attack happened on an aeroplane, moments before take-off at Bristol Airport in 2003, and had it not been for the immediate proximity of a defibrillator, he would almost certainly have died.

In 2007, he set his sights on the North Face of the Eiger. Stung by a mild rebuke that Everest wasn't a real climber's mountain (because very little actual climbing is involved), Sir Ranulph embarked on one of the most formidable challenges that a climber can do – the notoriously treacherous North Face of the Eiger. Clearly, the birth of his daughter in 2006 was not going to slow him down.

The route is up a mile-high vertical wall that is at the mercy of constant rock fall and bitter föhn winds. The climbing does not require great displays of gymnastic strength. But being able to look down and see the tiny spec of Grindelwald between one's legs requires considerable presence of mind to overcome. And Sir Ranulph famously suffers from vertigo. Nevertheless, guided by Kenton Cool and assisted by the alpinist photographer Ian Parnell, the trio successfully reached the top on their fifth day on the mountain.

Last year he attempted Everest for the second time, guided by Cool, but this time from the south side. With every move followed by cameras and internet bloggers, Sir Ranulph suffered early on from chest problems and did not appear to make good progress. But it would be a mistake to view his failure as inevitable, says a fellow climber, who was with him on the mountain.

"He had recovered by the time of his summit attempt. He was going strong. He wanted to spend an extra night up high which turned out to be a mistake as the weather turned. He was overcautious but it's possible he could have made it. It's one of those things."

At the time, Sir Ranulph swore he would never return. It is perhaps ironic for someone who once auditioned to replace Sean Connery as the next Bond, that Sir Ranulph now should find himself saying "never say never again".

Whether he succeeds or fails when the summit attempts begin at the end of May, one thing is certain – Britain's best-loved explorer is unlikely to give up easily.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

18th April:

I almost died climbing Everest

Conan Harrod, 40, a computer engineer, lives in the Lake District with his wife, Lindsay. In May 2003 he was close to achieving his ambition of climbing Mount Everest when tragedy struck. Here, he relives the disastrous climb that nearly cost him his life. `

Dangling perilously from the end of a rope connected to the highest mountain on Earth, I truly thought my time was up. No climber had broken a leg and survived above 8,000 metres before, and I doubted whether I would be the first.

For a few seconds, I considered disconnecting myself from the rope and falling to my death. If I was going to go, I might as well get it over with instead of enduring a slow and agonising death in -30° temperatures.

I've been climbing all over the world since I was 18, but Everest was the ultimate challenge. The expedition in 2003 was made not only to achieve that goal, but to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. My father was just 44 when he died of the disease in 1988, so the charity was close to my heart.

At 7.30am on 21 May, six days from base camp, I headed for the North Ridge with five other climbers. This route is more accessible than the others, but it is also the most dangerous. The day we reached our final camp, at 8,250 metres.

The climb had been uneventful to that point, although a severe storm, with strong winds of 100mph, had devastated other expeditions. Storms aren't uncommon on Everest – after all, it's a treacherous place. On average, 12 climbers a year die on the mountain, and usually only 25 per cent of all expeditions reach the top. This storm had been forecasted so, thankfully, no one was injured.

Our party was spared the worst, and just a few of our tents were blown away. Having sufficient back-up, we continued the climb.

The following day, at 2.30am, we set off for the summit. The wind had picked up and a mist meant that visibility was poor. Undeterred, we began the last leg, a seven-hour climb to the summit. Although just 600 metres in altitude, the air is so thin at that height that every step is incredibly exhausting, even with oxygen.

I was approaching the most difficult part of the route - the Second Step, a 100ft sheer rock wall - when disaster struck. Using a jumar, a locking device, I'd connected myself to a rope, which had been fixed to the rock by Sherpas two days earlier, when I noticed an American climber and his Sherpa ahead of me.

They were coming down the mountain and were clipped on to the same rope as me when they both lost their footing. They were able to get back on their feet, but the sudden force on the rope caused it to break away from my end, catapulting me off the ledge. All that was stopping me from falling 3,000 metres down the North Face was the jumar. Thankfully, it held firm.

I only dropped six metres, but I landed on my left leg. Immediately, I felt a throbbing in my ankle, then pain, which was so intense I almost blacked out. I spent the next two hours convinced my time was up, until I was brought back to my senses by thinking about family and friends back home.

By now, the American climber and his Sherpa had pulled me back up to the ledge, and Peter, one of the climbers in my team, had caught up. Another team member, Walid, was just metres from reaching the summit when he heard about the accident and, unselfishly, came to help.

It was too high and precarious for a helicopter rescue, so it was down to me and my friends to reach safety. Initially, I tried holding on to Peter and Walid, but it was too exhausting for everyone, and dangerous because the paths weren't wide enough for three people.

I had no option but to crawl down the mountain, which I did for two days. At times, the pain was unbearable, even after Walid strapped his ice axe to my leg for support.

One event indelibly etched in my mind is having to clamber over a dead body. The man, who is perfectly preserved, was on an Indian expedition in 1996, a fateful day when the mountain claimed 11 lives. He's famous now and named Green Boots, after the fluorescent boots he wore. His body remains close to the path because it's too dangerous to try to retrieve it.

We reached our high camp as darkness set in. With oxygen running low, it was an unnecessary risk having both Walid and Peter with me. Peter was suffering frostbite in his fingers, so we decided he'd head down the mountain.

Next morning, buoyed by the fact that passing climbers had donated oxygen supplies, I continued the crawl until we came across a camp belonging to Royal Marines. They kindly made a rope stretcher and carried me to advanced base camp. There, my injury was splinted and eight Tibetan yak herdsmen carried me for a further 17 hours to base camp. From there I was taken by Jeep to hospital in Kathmandu, a bumpy 15-hour journey, where it was confirmed I'd suffered a compound fracture of the tibia, and the fibula was broken, too.

Eight days later I was well enough to fly home, to an emotional return to my loved ones. A lot of people had risked their own lives to save mine. I'll never forget their heroics in getting me safely off the mountain, especially Peter, who sacrificed three fingers in the process.

Even though I didn't reach the summit, everyone who'd sponsored me was willing to pay up. In fact, I made an extra £4,000 as a result of the accident because people felt more generous knowing what I'd been through. So it had its benefits! In total I raised £11,500.

After 14 months I was well enough to start climbing again. My thoughts returned to Everest and how close - just 200 metres - I'd got to the summit. And so, on 17 May, 2006, I achieved my goal - I stood on the top of the world.

I stayed there for nearly an hour, thinking about my dad and the eventful trip three years before. It's a day I'll never forget.

Source: Daily Mail

4th April:

Apa Sherpa to Carry 400 Buddhist Offerings to Summit

A Nepali high altitude guide will try to climb Mount Everest for a record 19th time this summer to highlight the consequences of climate change in the Himalayas, including the world's tallest peak.

Apa Sherpa, 49, will carry a special metal vase containing 400 sacred Buddhist offerings and place it on the summit hoping the move will restore the sanctity of the Himalayas and raise awareness about climate change.

"It is not easy but I hope I will succeed," Sherpa, who is leading mountaineers of the Eco Everest Expedition to pick up the old trash left by climbers, said late on Friday.

"If I can reach the vase to the top I will be happy because it is for peace and climate change."

Environmental activists say the Himalayan glaciers from where several Asian rivers originate are rapidly shrinking due to climate change threatening the lives of millions of people who depend on them for water.

Sherpa will also carry a banner reading "Stop Climate Change; Let the Himalayas Live!."

Sherpa first climbed the 8,850-meter (29,035 feet) mountain in 1990 as a high altitude guide. He scaled the summit for a record 18th time last year.

More than 3,000 people have climbed Mount Everest, considered holy by the sherpa community living in the Solukhumbhu region where the mountain is located, since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa first scaled it in 1953.

Environmental activists say Mount Everest is littered with the trash left behind by climbers in the past. Environmental group WWF says climate change was happening faster in the Himalayas.

"The installation of these sacred vases ... is intended to restore the sanctity of the Himalayan beyul (sacred valleys) and spiritually empower the people to cope with negative impacts of rapid environmental and social changes," WWF, which is backing the climb, said in a statement.

Source: Reuters Nepal