2012 Everest expedition links

For a summary of how we did, see 8000m history.

Current Everest forecast by Mountain Meteo Services - thanks!

Everest Nepal

Initial plans changed completely, but we are adaptable!
We have a small, focused team on the south side, meet them:

Chris Klinke - leader

From casual climbing beginnings and meeting me in 2003, Chris has now climbed on a surprising number of 8000m expeditions, including summiting Cho Oyu and Everest with us, and surviving the 2008 K2 disaster (hence the blog name).

k2klinke.blogspot.com/

Raffi Farajian and Bassam Sfair - Lebanon

Sponsored by Enovera, they are aiming to be the first Lebanese to summit from the south side, and the second summiters overall. We warmed up on Aconcagua together. Raffi is in the restaurant business, Sam is a guide in Lebanon and is setting up a mountain lodge.

Facebook - Gravity Trek Mountaineering

Twitter - @GravityTrek (no account needed to follow them)

Wasfia Nazreen - Bangladesh

In her Seven Summits quest she was the first person from Bangladesh to climb Aconcagua - congratulations (and climbed with us). Now she s aiming even higher. She is passionate about development and gender issues, a high profile activist.

Facebook - BangladeshOnSevenSummits

Facebook - WasfiaNazreen - her public figure

Website with twitter feed - bdon7summits.org

Nima Griman - lead climbing sherpa

Three Everest summits under his crampons perhaps understates his Nepal mountain and trekking experience. In 2010 for Project Himalaya he guided Barry Cohen to the summit of Everest.

Sange - personal sherpa

Assisting Wasfia, Sange has worked with us on many expeditions and his jovial laugh is always appreciated.

Da'Kusang

A lanky, humble rising star.

South side friends

Lots of friends from previous expeditions are there also.

Dawa Gelje and crew

As usual Dawa, Sarki, Pasang Gombu, Tarke and that tight crew are working with Mountain Trip lead by Scott Woolums.

Blog - MountainTrip.com/category/everest/

Alan Arnette

Alan climbed on Shishapangma with us in 2007 and always has insightful comments and his whole website is a treasure trove, with detailed route descriptions, gear discussions, the best daily blog and everything Everest. Ethically, he raises money for Alzheimer's awareness, but pays for the expeditions entirely himself so all money raised goes to the cause.

Blog - AlanArnette.com/blog/category/everest-2012/ and scroll past the "sticky" teams list for his updates.

Expedition news - Explorers Web (some free news, some subscriber only content)

Blog - Billi Bierling

Everest Tibet

A very small team...

Tom Kowpak

Keen as mustard, Tom climbed Aconcagua with us in 2010 and met his partner there too. They live in Sydney, Australia.

 Blog - kowp.com.au/category/blog/

Jamie McGuinness - leader

Four Everest summits, however more importantly has never had a death on any of his expeditions.

Bali (Bal Bahadur) Lopchan - Nepal

Bali (36 years old), just gets things done, the reason he has risen from porter to sirdar and now expedition sirdar, and has worked with Jamie on the challenging 42 day exploratory treks. Bali is still waiting for a chance to summit Everest, in 2010 he worked for the German-Austrian team and climbed to 8300m no less than five times and in 2011 bad weather turned us back.

Pasang Gyelu Sherpa - Nepal

Quiet Pasang, who has summitted Everest multiple times is also our excellent cook for the 42 day exploratory treks.

Kami Sherpa - Nepal

Our base camp manager and cook, Kami has also climbed Everest, and Cho Oyu 4 times and so can climb in in an emergency too. We love the fresh bread and pizzas from our gas oven, and the variety of chicken dishes.

Nawang Geden Sherpa - Nepal

A quiet regular too, who has carried many loads to 8000m.

Dawa Gyalgen Sherpa - Nepal

Our ABC cook and backup climber who has summited Everest with the the Everest Peace Project, and copes well with the tough conditions at ABC.

Other Tibet Everest teams

Grant Rawlinson

 "Axe" joined us in 2011 on Everest is with Altitude Junkies this year, and his dispatches are usually insightful and honest.

Blog - ClimbForHope.wordpress.com/category/everest-2012/

Andrew Lock

Australia's first mountaineer to climb all 14x 8000m peaks, Andrew is back climbing independently to solo without oxygen, thereby joining the elite of the elite, who have climbed all 14 without bottled oxygen. He has climbed Everest twice from the south side, including filming for Discovery Channel, but both times with oxygen. Yes, that means he has climbed K2 without oxygen, and was his first 9000m summit...

Blog - Andrew-Lock.com

Shishapangma

Luke lead a team of six on Shishapangma, the 14th highest peak on the planet.

Raphael is climbing to raise money for the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA).

Raphael has a set of expedition photos on flickr and here is his summary:

My goal was to climb Mt Shishapangma, the 14th highest mountain of the world at 8027 meters (26,335 feet). Shishapangma is the only 8000-meter peak located entirely in Tibet/China. The Tibetan name “Xixapangma” means “mountain overlooking the grassy plain”. The Sanskrit name is “Gosainthan”, which means “the holy place”.

I really enjoyed this 6-week expedition. I joined a great team of climbers, with a positive attitude and willingness to summit; our Sherpas (Gyalzen, Ngima and Kaji) provided excellent support; and the food was succulent, thanks to our cook, Karma. I was looking for a different experience from my 2010 Everest expedition, and I was not disappointed. First of all, being surrounded by the Tibetan plateau at 5000 meters (16,400 feet), we were able to approach Shishapangma by car right up to Base Camp. That was a real change versus the classic trekking approach in Nepal. Secondly, we were almost alone on the mountain (5 expeditions, altogether). In fact, after May 22, we were the only expedition on Shishapangma. During the summit push, there were only 6 climbers on the mountain (from Advance Base Camp to the summit)! In 2010, on Everest, between Camp 4 and the summit, there were 200 climbers. I felt very lucky to be able to climb an 8000-meter peak almost alone.

The climb by itself was sometimes steep, but never difficult. However Shishapangma presented some objective danger due to crevasses: we had to rope up between Camp 1 (6400 meters – 21,000 feet) and Camp 2 (6900 meters – 22,600 feet).

I spent the 3 months before the expedition training hard so that I was physically and mentally strong. Despite a tooth infection (resolved with antibiotics) and the inevitable diarrhea, I was in good shape and very focused on the summit. Unfortunately, after four weeks of acclimatization and three days into the summit push, I got sick (nauseous, vomiting) on the last day of the summit push at Camp 2.5 (7100 meters – 23,300 feet). At this point, I decided to stop at Camp 2.5. It was a difficult decision, but I know it was the right one. I am, of course, disappointed to not have reached the summit, but it is better to have remorse and come back alive without injuries. The mountain will always be here for a future attempt.

It is interesting to note that during this season (Spring 2012), nobody was able to reach the summit of Shishapangma.

Current Shishapangma forecast by Mountain Meteo Services - thanks!