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Makalu 2000:
Dhaulagiri
2000: Lhotse 2000: Cho
Oyu 2000:
Manaslu
2000: Kangchenjunga
2000:Updated Annapurna 2000:
(Note as you read
today's News: Know today's news is really continued from Saturday
and Friday, plus the NEWSFLASHES. Therefore if you
have not read Saturday's and Friday's
News, you will need to, to get a better picture of the Status of the
climbers on Everest.)
EverestNews.com this
year is offering our readers "Guest Columns" perspectives from climbers who has
summitted Everest. In this case a climber who has reached the
Summit from both sides. Graham is discussing how things are going so far. This
is the climb from his perspective.
 |
Graham Ratcliffe,
the first climber from the UK who reached the Summit of Everest from both the
North and South Sides. |
Graham Ratcliffe www.highambitions.com
I was some what dismayed when
I read one report being posted from Base Camp referring to a summit push by
Henry Todd's team as ' Freaking Lunatics '. Much of the report appeared to
be made on what they had listened into on other peoples radio messages and guess
work. I think the report probably says more about sensationalist
journalism and the lack of grasp of intelligent language than of the other
team's decision to make a summit push.
People visiting EverestNews.com should
know that Henry Todd is not out for popularity votes but has a safety record on
very big mountains that is outstanding.
I like the reporters comment
when he reported that Henry was openly contemptuous about the media, this is not
strictly true as Henry worked with the BBC in 98 and 99 perfectly well but given
'that report', is it surprising he has contempt for certain sections !!
I totally agree with the
concern of EverestNews.com about people sending reports after having listened
into radio messages.
This is a great dis-service to
the sport of climbing.
In the events of 96, and I was
there, the teams in Base Camp put a 24 hour news blackout until families were
informed. My wife was told I was safe and on my way down a full 24 hours
before she started to get phone calls from the press. Can you imagine the
distress if that if had been the other way around !!
In reading the report I also
note that Henry's team was on the South Col awaiting the next weather report
before they went for it. I predicted in my last column several days ago that
avalanche on the Lhotse face and snow high up would be a problem so this will
have come as no surprise to Henry's team either.
Consider the fact that the
report they got forecast even more snow.....it looks as though they decided to
take a chance and make a summit push before the snow high up got even deeper. OK
it didn't work but climbing this high always carries a risk and each team has to
decide the level of this and they did turn around without causing a drama.
You have to remember that in
1996 they knew the storm was coming it just came a day earlier than predicted
!!!
The reporter also stated that
Babu was the only one to have gone high up to now........ I thought I had read
he was with Hugo and the other Mexicans (plus his Sherpas Team).
Babu is an intelligent man and
would not go breaking trail by himself up to the Balcony !!
Graham Ratcliffe
- Everest South Side: Will it
be tonight or on the 15th? Stay tuned. EverestNews.com will update again
about 11:00PM EST US on 5/13/200. Do NOT Expect NEWSFLASHES today, they will
not happen.
-
Mountain Madness
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
Update: Christine
has reported in that at
5:20 Nepal time on May 13, she and Peter Habeler were at Camp 3. They will be
leaving for Camp 4 at 3.00AM on the 14th.
Stay Tuned...
The
Millennium Seven Summits
Expedition
We have just talked to
the team at Camp 2 (it is 6 o'clock in the evening here in Nepal) and they are
definitely setting off for Camp 3 tomorrow. Hooray! The summit attempt has
begun...
Everest Update 5/13/2000
The climbing
team spent a relaxing day at Camp 2 in preparation for their summit bid. The
Sherpas spent their day at Base Camp before they go up to Camp 2 tomorrow.
Whereas the team will go from Camps 2 to 3 to 4 and then to the summit, the
Sherpas will go from Base Camp to Camp 2, then Camp 4, charging straight past
Camp 3. At Camp 4 they will catch up with the team and join them on their Summit
Day.
A team attempted
to reach the summit today but only got as far as the Balcony (about halfway to
the summit from Camp 4) where the fixed ropes end. This means that there have
been no successful attempts to reach the top this year. So far, the teams have
been hampered on their final summit day by the snow laying thick underfoot. The
energy it takes to break trail is phenomenal at that altitude, even if the snow
is only inches deep. Two or more teams set off today from Camp 2 to Camp 3 and
they are planning to try and summit on the 15th May. They are going to try to
share the work of breaking trail to increase their chances of success. Our team
will follow them a day later and hope that they will benefit from being able to
follow in several people's footsteps.
We have just
talked to the team at Camp 2 (it is 6 o'clock in the evening here in Nepal) and
they are definitely setting off for Camp 3 tomorrow. Hooray! The summit attempt
has begun..
Cheers
Amanda
- Kangchenjunga Spring
2000
The First Ascent of
Kangchenjunga for the Spring Season 2000
At 1403 local time (0918 UK
time) today, Saturday 13th May 2000, John Doyle, Ady Cole, Nima Dhorje and Pemba
Norbu stood on the summit of Kangchenjunga (8586 meters), the third highest
mountain in the world. They are the first climbers this season to reach
the Summit of Kangchenjunga and achieved the ascent without the use of
supplementary oxygen. - Steve Jackson, the Leader.
Himalaya Center,
Kathmandu 13 May 2000
- Cho Oyu Summits
Also are being reported.
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