Everest North Side 2016 – Update May 18

Cory Richards enjoying life at Advanced Base Camp

#RapidAscent Team Moving Higher

Alpenglow’s Rapid Ascent team has been enjoying life at Advanced Base Camp (21,000’/6400m) for a few days in order to fully recover and be ready for the next low wind period that will allow their summit push. The team was initially planning on leaving camp today however an unexpected burst of wind popped through on the forecast so they have decided to wait one more day for things to calm down

The team is targeting May 22 as their summit day. Other teams on the mountain are choosing to target the two days before hopefully clearing the way for our team to move right up. The summit push will be four days. The team will sleep at the North Col (7000 meters), Camp 2 (7800 meters), Camp 3 (8300 meters) and go for the top from there, getting as low as they can directly after the summit (most likely Camp 2).

The report from lead guide Chad Peele this morning was that Bryan and Trudi are “pent up sled dogs ready to crush!”. Adrian responded from base camp that this was as perfect state to be in before heading higher and advised the team to “keep crazy hydrating and stay off the whiskey :)”.

Lead Guide Chad Peele surveying the upper mountain from our camp at 7000m on the North Col. Photo: Zeb Blais

Sherpa teams spent the last few days higher and returned to advanced base camp last night. They reported that it was warm up on the North Col and that the camps above are intact having survived the high winds that have been battering the higher elevations.

The Sherpa teams have now fixed ropes up to 8300m and will continue to the summit in the coming days. It’s typical that the North Side see’s summits a week after south side teams because there is no hard end to the season on the north, and teams do not have to deal with melting out icefall hazards.

#EverestNoFilter – At Base Camp Moving Higher Soon

Adrian and Cory have descended as low as they could go ending up at 17,000’ base camp for as many days of rest and relaxation as the forecast would allow. The idea here is that over the last 3 weeks the guys have spent their energy moving as high as possible, stressing their bodies. All this in order to build the proper acclimatization needed to push all the way to the 29,029’ summit.

At the relatively low altitude of 17,000’ base camp allows their bodies to make more red blood cells assisting with the ability to carry oxygen to hard working muscles.

Trudi and Bryan climbing towards the North Col during last weeks acclimatization rounds. Photo: Zeb Blais

The guys look to be leaving base camp sooner than expected due to a change in the forecast and they may end up summiting just a few days after the Alpenglow Rapid Ascent team. All in all they are feeling psyched and ready to head back up the mountain shortly.