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Makalu 2000:
Dhaulagiri
2000: Lhotse 2000: Cho
Oyu 2000:
Manaslu
2000: Kangchenjunga
2000: Annapurna 2000:
NEWSFLASH 12:50PM EST
US
Today at 6.30pm have
Piotr Pustelnik (Poland) and Beno Kashakashvili (Georgia) reached
the summit of Lhotse.
"But
they are in big troubles
because they didn't find needed equipment and food left by Sherpas before. So
they were probably very dehydrated and exhausted case they didn't drink and eat
from yesterday. And they have to return back..."
"We are wishing
them successful descent and return to their camp. Good luck! http://lhotse.siol.net/index1.htm"
This is the Slovenia
web site http://lhotse.siol.net
- 6:30pm.... It has
been done before. But the risk is high. These are experiences climbers who
made this decision. Piotr and Beno have climbed many mountains... We will
know more tonight (US Time)
NEWSFLASH 10:11AM EST
US
The Russians have done it !
- Today we had a news
that three of our climbers from Kuban-Everest expedition were on the top!
Tomorrow -more details! Best wishes, Liana www.risk.ru
- Our Next News
Update Will Be Around 11:30pm EST US TONIGHT.
- No others details
on these reported Summits are known at this time.
NEWSFLASH 7:00AM EST
US
15th May - ATTEMPT AT
EVEREST SPEED ASCENT
Nepalese climber - Ang
Dorje Sherpa, 32, from the New Zealand based Adventure Consultants Everest 2000
Expedition has attempted a new world record for the fastest ascent of Everest
(8848m), but has been turned back at a
height less than 100 meters from the top at 11:00am Nepal time today.
After climbing from Base Camp at 5300 meters to the South Summit in 17
hours, he was unable to continue because of deep snow slowing his progress,
making the record ascent unachievable. He was supported by the Adventure
Consultants team of Sherpas and New Zealand Mountain Guide - David Hiddleston
(31) from Wanaka, making his first attempt on Everest.
No one has yet summited
Everest this season and together the AC climbers worked to force the route
between the South Summit and the Hillary Step on the South East Ridge route
between 9:00 - 11:00am this morning. Adventure Consultants Director - Guy
Cotter, who has been coordinating the expedition from Everest Base Camp, said "They
recognized that with the conditions along the summit ridge, it would take them
too long to make the summit and return within accepted safety margins, hence
their decision to turn and head down the mountain".
Ang Dorje left Everest
Base Camp at 4:00pm on May 14 and he arrived at the South Col (7950m) Camp 4 at
midnight. The Adventure Consultants group left from Camp 4 at 10:45pm on May 14
with two other groups having left before them. Ang Dorje caught up with the AC
group at the area called The Balcony. They arrived all together at the South
Summit at 9:10am on May 15 ahead of the other teams and found that no-one else
was prepared to assist with fixing the route any further. After a further two
hours effort on their own they turned around and expect to arrive back at the
South Col Camp 4 at 3:00pm Nepal time today. Recognized as one of the strongest
and fastest of the Sherpa climbers, Ang Dorje has already summited Everest five
times, and has been to the South Summit
(only 100m short of the top) 14 times including today's attempt.
Now the expedition will pack up and leave the mountain, content that they have
made a good attempt and have cleared the way for others to now go on and summit,
since more of the route is now fixed in place.
Guy commented that "Success
in the mountains isn't always assured and their decision to turn around is an
indication of the maturity of David and Ang Dorje as mountaineers. Being able to
give up an ascent of the world's highest mountain in favor of safe operating
practice is to be commended." He added "Too
often mountaineers who push the safety envelope too far survive only through
sheer luck and are considered heroes where they are actually accidents that
didn't quite happen."
Adventure Consultants
has been honored to be in the position whereby westerners have supported a
Sherpa ascent rather than Sherpas supporting western climbers as has been the
norm up until now.
Issued by Guy Cotter,
Everest Base Camp, Nepal. Monday 15th May 2000.
Following is a time
line of the summit attempt
Note: All times
reported are Nepal time = GMT + 5 hours 45 minutes
14 May 4:00pm Base Camp:
Ang Dorje departs BC, and rockets up through the icefall, an amazing sight!
5:24pm, Ang Dorje
reaches Camp 1: Earlier in the day, Dave and the
Sherpas had reached the South Col at 1.30pm, and spent the afternoon
re-hydrating
6:34pm Ang Dorje arrives
at Camp 2: He departs at 6.45pm after three cups of
juice and Tea.
9:21pm Ang Dorje arrives
at Camp 3: Quote of the year - "Not
much tired"
10:23pm Ang Dorje
arrives at Yellowband. Dave radioed in from South
Col at 10:30pm, they ( Dave and Mingma ) were preparing to leave in 15-20 minutes.
Two teams had already left ahead, one team
- 1 hour prior and one 1/2 an hour prior, good news.
Ang Dorje arrives at
South Col around 12:00pm Ang Dorje departs South
Col with Passang, at about 12:30am 15 May 2000.
Chuldim stays on South Col. In fact there is a Chuldim in each camp! - Camp 2
Chuldim, South Col Chuldim, and Ang Dorje's real name is Chuldim!
Chongba Sherpa has been down in Gorak Shep for the night to relay messages from
South Col and Camp 2, is returning to BC this morning.
15th May, 7:25am:
Chuldim at South Col reports that he has heard from the group, that all 4 are
together and just below the South Summit. From the South Summit they may be 2
hours to the summit. Ang Dorje is still on track to take 3 hours off the speed
ascent record. The weather is perfect,
there is one thermal cloud down by Cholaste at 18000ft, otherwise blue skies and
no wind at all at Base Camp!
8:05am:
Ang Dorje radios and advises that they are 15 minutes from the South Summit
still.
9:10am:
Dave called from the South summit - he'd been there all of 5 seconds! They were
still South Col side, in knee deep snow.
There were just two other Sherpas ahead of
them from Mountain Madness who have been fixing rope,
on the South summit were Dave, Ang Dorje & Passang, Mingma was still
behind but coming up. They are needing lots of rope and hope others coming up
have more rope. About 15 people behind them. Chris Boskoff and Peter Habeler have pulled out not reaching the
Balcony this morning and they are now below Camp
IV, Nazir Sabir who is on the Mountain Madness permit is still climbing but not
near. Dave states "Mind blowing view, not much
filming yet as the camera was frozen but now is OK. Ang Dorje on O2 since South
Col".
9:35am:
Dave called again. Situation is that there is just Dave, Ang Dorje,
Passang, and one other Sherpa from Mountain Madness, so only 4 prepared to do
anything and about 10 other people around. They only have 50 meters of rope. So
are turning back, as there is "new snow on ice
from thereon" but not enough manpower to go
on. "It's the time factor from here to the top
that is the issue without enough resources and help from other teams".
Guy radios response "OK
good decision, you're already on the 2nd highest summit in the world, we've seen
this before, this would be pushing the envelope". and
comments to AC Manager - Suze Kelly assisting at Base Camp "
They got to the balcony at 3:30am, beautiful day, but now they are first with no
one else to help secure the route".
10:05am: Dave's radio message to Guy
"Mingma has arrived with more rope and more
O2, they are going on. They will go slowly over the next hour and see where they
get to, it's near the limit but still within the margins. Mingma is going down.
Talked over O2 supplies and there is sufficient for all, turnaround times in
relation to amounts of oxygen left, all still good so pressing on". Expedition
Doctor - Jim Litch and Guy both talked thoroughly with Dave and all agreed on
course of action for the next hour. After a further
two hours effort on their own they turned around and expect to arrive back at
the South Col Camp 4 at 3:00pm Nepal time today.
NEWSFLASH 3:37AM EST
US 5/15/2000
The most recent news
is, that they all turned
around at the south summit.
There was a lot of snow
and all the rope was used for fixing already, therefore there was no
more rope available for fixing the sharp, snowy ridge between south summit and
Hillary step.
More news as soon as confirmation
occurs.
Best regards Bo
Belvedere Christensen
Bo is climbing with
the Danish http://www.tt.dk/everest/intro.html
NEWSFLASH 12:10PM EST
US 5/15/2000
Today's effort
to reach the summit is quite close. 5-6 expeditions has united and with 11 Sherpas
in front, they were on the South Summit this morning at 8.30 local time. The
members are Nazir Sabir from Mountain Madness, Dave from Adventure
Consultants, some British, some Americans and some Koreans.
Daily News: 5/15/2000 Report
(Updating at 10:12PM
EST US 5/14/2000, around 8am on 5/15/2000 in Nepal)
(Note as you read
today's News: Know today's news is really continued from Sunday,
Saturday
and Friday, plus the NEWSFLASHES. You will need to
these other pages to get a better picture of the Status of the
climbers on Everest.)
- Everest South Side:
It was last night !
A group of climbers going strong
for the Summit...
It is anyone's guess
IF they will make it or turn around...
Expeditions, that
EverestNews.com believes has climbers among the group: Mountain
Madness (Christine), Nazir
Sabir,
Adventure Consultants (with David Hiddleston & Ang
Dorje Sherpa who is attempting to the speed ascent record on Everest), Spanish,
Jagged Globe. Ben Webster
was also at Camp 4 and therefore, could go (see below for more on him).
You can find detailed
information on most of these attempts in the May 13th News
and some below.
EverestNews.com is receiving
reports from all of these expeditions !
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
was at Camp 4 last night in Nepal (the 14th) moving strongly. Leaving fro the
Summit at 11:00 PM Nepal Time for a May15th planned Summit date.
Our last contact with
MountainMadness was, "Christine is moving strongly and headed for the
Summit."
Stay Tuned... We will update as News
Arrives...
Peter
Habeler,
we believe but have not confirmed, was with her last night at Camp 4.
- What
did happen when Henry Todd's Expedition attempted the Summit: Here
is what the two Americans from near the Seattle area have to say:
We are back in Base Camp 100% healthy and fine, with LOTS of swirling
issues. To summarize, we busted our butts for lots of days to position
ourselves at the South Col for a summit attempt. We did that. On our
summit attempt morning, which was clear
and cold with a perfect forecast,
"our" 5-6 Sherpas
abandoned the attempt at 1:20 a.m. with us at 26,650 feet.
They just couldn't handle
being out front and since
they had part of our oxygen stash and knew the route, we were pretty well s******.
With no one to support our attempts but them, we returned to Base Camp to
recover for another attempt. The
weather has finally turned here, you can see it and feel it.
It has been one heck of an adventure, beautiful beyond belief, challenging, etc,
but well within our capabilities. WE are very tired of this place, but
like a new friend said, we can stay another week or so or come back some other
year for two more months. We are literally just back, nothing to eat yet,
backpacks barely off, so I am cutting this off. Much more later!!!
Mike and Kristy Woodmansee
The
Millennium Seven Summits
Expedition
Everest Update 5/14/2000
Today, as planned, the climbing
team left Camp 2 at 6 o'clock this morning and set off up the Lhotse Face to
Camp 3. They arrived at Camp 3 around lunch time to find the tent with all the
kit in buried in snow. It took them one hour to dig out the tent but the
contents were intact. They were then able to get in the tents, eat, drink and
rest.
The Sherpas set off from Base
Camp at 6 o'clock this morning and arrived at Camp 2 at 11 o'clock. They also
spent the day resting in preparation for their long climb to Camp 4 tomorrow.
We spoke to the climbing team
and the Sherpas this evening and gave them the latest weather forecast. The
forecast predicted good weather and the whole team plan to set off for Camp 4
tomorrow morning, with a view to summiting on May 16th. They all aim to arrive
at Camp 4 about midday where they will rest, eat and drink until about 11
o'clock that evening when they will start their summit bid.
Cheers
Amanda
- Everest Spring
2000: Byron
Smith
Current Status: May
14, 2000
The weather on
Everest is improving and some teams are going to attempt to summit Everest
tonight.
Byron says he won't
be rushing back to the mountain as he still has until May 31 to make the
climb. He is concerned about a backlog of teams all trying to climb-up at the
same time. This is exactly what happened in 1998. Byron wants to wish all the
mothers around Canada and the world a very Happy Mother's Day.
While the team
continues to wait out the weather, they still have to deal with the cold.
Virginia Robinson, the team's doctor, has sent an education log on the science
of keeping warm with high-tech clothes. You can find inks to extra educational
material at: http://cbc.ca/everest2000/dailydispatch/diary000512b.html
Check their site for
the radio calls and more. http://cbc.ca/everest2000/
EverestNews.com is
being told from reliable sources that climbers have reached 8500 meters, and
other climbers 8300 meters. It is unclear who the climbers are... We keep hearing
Russians and Spanish climbers. EverestNews.com has been told, but not confirmed
that ropes are fixed most of the way to 8500 meters.
Who will take the
risk ? to be first...
Then
again if no climber goes first nobody Summits !
- Everest North Side:
The Dutch
Three Dutch Climbers
Frits Vrijlandt, Steven Le Poole, and Joke Groenendaal: Frits and Steven, will
attempt to climb Everest via the North ridge. Joke will keep you updated. They are climbing as part
of a British Dutch non-commercial expedition.
Update: A summit team will consist of 5 climbers: Steven le Poole, Frits Vrijlandt,
Mike
Pearson, David Jewell, Paul Walters. They have left BC on Saturday to go up to
ABC. If
the weather forecast is favorable on Sunday they will
proceed to North Col and
will make
their summit bid on Tuesday-to-Wednesday night. They
should reach the summit at around 2.00 p.m. on Wednesday. All
that is needed now is a 4-day good weather window.
Check them out: http://www.everest.home.nl/
for the full details.
- Everest
Spring 2000: Everest
Dream
I am back at the Base
Camp after my "Oxygenation" at lower altitudes! I am catching up with
typing up the daily's. As you might know a few unsuccessful attempts have been
made so far but the conditions are not very good. My summit attempt will be
after the 20th of May but I don't have the exact date yet. Tomorrow I have a
couple of meetings with other expeditions that would like to team up and make a
summit attempt. I will be able to be more definite in the next couple of days
that I will send the rest of the updates... I am feeling great and optimistic
about the summit attempt. Saeed
Saeed have sent many updates
(5/4 to 5/9/2000 in. Check his site for all the interesting details. www.everestdream.com
http://www.our.com/mpgate/everestnews/shop
Please
show them your support on EverestNews.com !
For
all the May 2000 News
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all the April 2000 News
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all the March 2000 News
