Christine Boskoff
reporting for Mountain Madness from Everest base camp for April 26th: Tomorrow,
April 27th, Peter
Habeler and I will climb to Camp 2.
We will be picking up weather reports from base camp and if
the reports are favorable we will begin our attempt on the summit.
If the winds continue to be high we will stay
at Camp II until the weather improves.
Rolf will be sending reports
from base camp while we are up on the mountain. Until later.....
Mark
Whetu and I climb up to the North Col. We have incredible views all
around. On our left rises the enormous bulk of Everest itself, with
the summit visible.
Alberto and Felix Inurrategi
with Pepe Garces reached the Summit of Manaslu on
4/25/2000 which is believed to
be the first Summit of the Year 2000 for a 8000 meter peak.
Alberto and Felix
Inurrategi are attempting to finish the 14 8000 meters peaks this year. They
now will be off to Annapurna !!! These guys are
special.
Juan
Oiarzabal Expedition attempting to recreate the ascent of 1924 of Mallory and Irvine,
is at 7800
meters and moving up in wool !
Yes, in wool don't you
just love it. For more details see our earlier reports including: Juan
Oiarzabal.
The Russians are still
going strong. Climbers are
openly discussing who wants to be first up in 2000.
The "First Up" on the North side is a dangerous race with deaths occurring
commonly on the first day of Summits/attempts on the North Side in recent
years.
Camp 1 is established
for some, Camp 2 for others...
Everest South Side:
Camp 4 is being
established. Looks like early May for Summit attempts.
Canadian Everest Expedition 2000:
Current Status: One
more shot: After six days of rest in Dingbouche, Canadian climber Gabriel Filippi
has returned to Base Camp with a clean bill of health.
Current Status: Snow
is still falling at Everest Base camp with the Sherpas from Byron Smith's team
still waiting out the weather before going up to the higher camps to stock Camp
IV. Byron, Tim Rippel and seven Sherpas will make their summit push once the
camp is fully stocked.
For video updates,
background information, interactive maps and more on check
his diary entry for more http://cbc.ca/everest2000/
Christine Boskoff -
Expedition Leader:
The only American woman alive to have reached the Summit of Four 8000 meter
peaks: Gasherbrum II-West Ridge(1999), Lhotse-West Face (1997), Cho
Oyu-West Face (1996), Broad Peak-West Rib (1995). Only a few America men have reached more.
Peter
Habeler - Austria: Owner
and Director of the Alpinschule Mount Everest, President of the Austrian Alpine
Club, First man, along with
Reinhold Messner, to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen (1978).
8000 meter peaks: Kangchenjunga, Nanga Parbat, G-I (Hidden Peak), Cho Oyu
Dispatch: Christine
Boskoff reporting for Mountain Madness from Everest Base Camp April
25:
It began to snow
here yesterday at base camp. It is truly our first winter (spring)
storm. On the 24th the Sherpas came down off the mountain with many of
the climbers. The rest of the climbers descended to base camp today.
On Monday we had to say good bye to one of our teammates, Ray
Yeritsen. He has
sustained a back injury that will prevent him from going to the
summit.
We got a weather
report yesterday predicting a couple days of bad weather then clearing on
Wednesday. However, the winds are expected to be picking up. We
are not sure when we will be going for our summit attempt. A recap of the
past weeks events: on April 17th Peter Habeler and I climbed to Camp
II and slept. On the 18th we went up high on the Lhotse Face, returned
to Camp II to sleep. On the 19th we remained at Camp II and went up to
Camp III on the 20th and spent the night. April 21st brought us back
to base camp where we have been resting. We will continue to rest at
base camp until the snow lets up.
Until then....
Annapurna Spring 2000: EverestNews.com will
follow the attempt on Annapurna of the "International Annapurna 2000
Expedition": We think
you will find these daily reports very interesting. Go to their site for the
pictures and dispatches in Spanish.
Update 4/25/2000 Snow
covers the entire mountain with white.
Weather:
Snow, with improvement expected in the next hours.
Location
of Expedition: Base Camp
Next
Objective: Climb to CI and CII
Dispatch: A
front of clouds the covers the bulk of Annapurna. Since we
arrived, it has snowed every afternoon. Although
there is a risk of avalanche, tomorrow all climbers will go to CI with the
intention to climb to CII the next day. The
members of the French
military expedition will try to climb Tilicho Peak (7,140 meters) and then to
CI. We know
that our CI has been affected by the snow, making the tents into snow-white
forts. We are concerned with the loss of important climbing materials. Of
course, the same can be said of CII. We will not know anything about the
status of our materials there until we climb there. We
are prepared for the worst.
HISTORY: We have
noticed that the co-ordinates of Mera peak in the Himalayan Index of Alpine Club
are not the same as in the official list by the Ministry of Tourism and Civil
Aviation. That MTCA-list has the same co-ordinates as Himalayan Classification (AAJ
Vol.27, issue 59, 1985) but AAJ-list has a bit longer name "Mera (Peak
41)". Pk. 41 has those co-ordinates in Himalayan Index that belong
to Mera in the other lists.
The new topographic
map published by the Nepalese officials (sheet 2786 04 SAGARMATHA. His Majestys
Government of Nepal, Survey Department 1997. Scale 1:50000) has no name to that
summit, that is presented as Mera in Schneider (and other) maps. That map
presents the name of Mera for summit that is marked as Peak 41 in many other
maps and Himalayan Index.
NEAREST FUTURE: A team
of four climbers has started from Luklha towards the end of Hinku Khola. There
are two members from Finland, Mr. Petri Kaipiainen (age 45) and Juha Saarinen
(age 40). The two fellow climbers come from Colorado: Clyde Soles (age 40) and
Fred Barth (age 45 approx). The Finnish members had a trek to Gokyo and Everest
BC to adapt to the height and came down to Lukhla to meet the American climbers.
They had a rest day last Friday and got also supply from the American expedition
retiring from Ama Dablam. They shall establish the base camp at the height of
4950 approx. and have 10 days to find a suitable route and to make the first
ascent.
