Climb of a Lifetime

The 2009 Everest season is underway! I just read the my favorite Lakpa Rita Sherpa was honored by the Ministry of Tourism this week for being the first Nepali to climb the Seven Summits. Pretty cool-Go Lakpa!

Two of the people in the group I descended Denali with last summer will be climbing Everest with Alpine Ascents this season: Kathy Setian and Michael Morales. Go Kathy and Michael! I will be watching their progress here: http://www.alpineascents.com/everest-cybercast.asp

Still no word on when and if the North side of the mountain is going to open up.  I will be interested to see how Russell and his huge Himex team do on the South Side this year and look forward to the Discovery Channel taping of the IMG team as well.

Pemba Dorje Sherpa, aged 31, and his younger brothers Nima Gyalzen and Phurba Tenzing, intend to stay 24 hours on the summit of Mt Everest. They will use the time to pray for peace in Nepal and the rest of the world.

The three have reached the summit a combined total of 16 times and Pemba still holds the record for the fastest ascent from base camp to summit in 8 hours and 10 minutes.

Babu Shiri Sherpa, now deceased, held the record after spending 20 hours atop the summit of Everest. Pemba and his brothers hope to beak that record in May. Best of luck to them and be safe!

Rob Gauntlett, the youngest Briton to summit Everest, and his climbing partner James Atkinson were found dead in the Mont Blanc area today.  There is no official word on the cause of the accident as of yet though they were discovered in a couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul, near Chamonix. The two men had been ice climbing on the east Gervasutti route of the 4,360m mountain yesterday.

Over 13 months in 2007 and 2008, Rob and partner James Hooper traveled from Pole to Pole using only human and natural power; more than 26,000 miles using only skis, dogsleds, sails and bicycles. You can read more about all of Rob's expeditions on his website: http://www.robgauntlett.com/index.php

My condolences to Rob's and James' family and friends.

In 1953, we all know that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay were the first to summit Everest. What many people do not know, however, is that only 3 days before, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans came within only 300ft of the summit. Tom designed two types of breathing equipment for this expedition (seen below)- one closed circuit system and one open circuit system.

 Tom and Charles used the closed circuit system on their attempt at Everest's summit and had to turn back when the system froze in the extreme cold. Hillary and Norgay then used the open circuit system, which was seen as inferior yet more reliable on their attempt and this same system has been used in oxygen units ever since.

In the closed system, oxygen in a climber's exhaled breathe is recycled and put back into the mask. This allows the oxygen level to stay constant and enables a climber to go almost twice as fast as a person using an open system. The bugs that Bourdillon and Evans encountered have now supposedly been fixed by researcher Roger McMorrow. Will we soon see these systems being used on 8000m mountains?!?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4775071.ece