Everest Climbing Legend Missing On Baruntse.

Author : Kraig Becker.

Update: According to this post, from Alan Arnette over at the Outside Blog, the search has been called off. After using the helicopter to survey the area, the SAR team determined that it was impossible that Chhewang Nima could have survived the avalanche.

My condolences to his family.

Nepali climbing legend Chhewang Nima Sherpa has gone missing on Baruntse following an avalanche on that mountain this past weekend. He is an extremely experienced guide who has reached the summit of Everest on 19 separate occasions.

According to this story from the BBC, Chhewang Nima was fixing ropes to the summit of Baruntse at an altitude of roughly 7045 meters (23,114 ft) on Saturday when he was hit by the avalanche, which sent him over the north-east face of the mountain. Fellow climbers immediately began the search, but have not had any luck in finding him thus far. A helicopter was expected on the scene today to aid in the rescue operations.

Located in eastern Nepal, Baruntse is 7129 meters (23,389 ft) in height and has distinct summit with four unique peaks. Chhewang Nima was leading a group of climbers for Shangra-La Treks and Expeditions on the mountain when he went missing.

Lets hope there is still a chance for rescue. Nima has been a steadfast figure on Everest for a number of years and it would be a shame for him to perish this way. After two days of searching, it certainly doesn’t look good, but he is an experienced and tough mountain guide, so you never know where he may be located, just waiting for help.

* Source : – http://theadventureblog.blogspot.com/

** Previous story :

– Himalaya Fall 2010: More From Lhotse.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Lhotse Update!

– Everest 2011 season – Expeditions with any British Teams or Britons.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Shisha Pangma and Manaslu summit reports.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Solo Summit Bid On Lhotse.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Everest fall season summits and Cho Oyu too.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Eric Summits Everest, Completes Save The Poles Expedition!

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Eric Larsen In Camp 3, High Winds Predicted For Summit Day.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Eric Larsen Begins Summit Push On Everest.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Cho Oyu update, Pauner about Manaslu summit, Everest C4, Lama Geshe recovering.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Summits On Manaslu and Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Avalanche on Dhaulagiri – three Japanese climbers and one Sherpa missing.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Avalanche May End Season On Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Cho Oyu summit push take 2, Manaslu teams ready.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Summit plans buried in the snow.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Climbers Injured In Avalanche on Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Everest summit push plans, TMA team deserts Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Everest sieged from both flanks, Cho Oyu C2, Manaslu C1.

– Himalayan 2010 wrap-up: the season’s soaked kick-off.

– ExWeb special on Everest 2010: The autumn of the solo climbers.

* Related Links :

– Everest Summit Story – Part 1.

– Himalaya Autumn 2010 expeditions.

– Previous on fall 2010 Everest teams

– Everest & Himalaya 2010 Season’s End Chronicle, take 5: Special report – The Spring of Annapurna.

* Polish Himalayas – Become a Fan

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

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* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

Himalaya 2010 climbing season, Karakoram and Himalaya wrap-up /16/ – Week in Review.

A Sherpa crew topped-out Everest last week along with Himex guide Adrian Ballinger who decided to join the push after bolting parts of the route. Peak Freaks member Lucille de Beaudrap reportedly summitted later with Domhnall O’Doughartaigh and two Sherpa. A Russian Lhotse summit push reportedly resulted in an accident but details are unclear. A forecasted weather window might kick off summit attempts on Shisha Pangma and new pushes on Everest this week.

Lhotse The large Russian team led by Alexey Bolotov began the summit bid late last week. Fatalities have been reported but are yet to be confirmed. The Kazakhs recovered the remains of their mate Serguey Samoilov, perished on the mountain last year. A decision is yet to be made on whether to bury the body in C2 or transport it down to BC.

Makalu After setting up C2 on the SE ridge, four members in the British Armed Forces expedition walked American Chris Warner, ill with serious respiratory problems, down to BC. The Ukrainians have reached the West Ridge and set C4.

Manaslu The expected weather window didn´t last for Carlos Soria and team on Manaslu – they reached C3 in a snowstorm and had to pitch their tent on unstable ice. They retreated back to BC and called the expedition off. Oscar Cadiach will stay and hope for another chance, possibly joining other teams.

Shisha Pangma “The risk/reward balance is wrong, and funnily for the first time in my life I feel afraid of dying,” Mark Hose wrapped his Shisha experience. Since the increased check of true summits, Shisha Pangma has become a tough nut to crack most climbers agree. Still, summit pushes are on this week. Edurne Pasaban and Mario Panzeri teams chose Wednesday as departure day, hoping to reach Shisha Pangma main summit on Sunday. “Weather conditions may also be OK on Monday,” Meteorologist Vitor Baia told Edurne. “It will provide good conditions for descent or an extra summit day if needed.”

Annapurna: Iranian Ehsan Partovi-Nia climbed to C2 on Annapurna’s north side on Saturday to check conditions on the route to C3. An Italian climber had a minor accident on Wednesday, Ehsan said, while a Japanese expedition has left for R&R in Pokhara after a few attempts to reach C3.

Ama Dablam French Philippe Gatta summited Ama Dablam via the SW ridge in rough conditions. With only 6 people on the mountain, Philippe climbed on his own from 6350m after his partner Jean-Marc Wojcik turned back.

Baruntse “I’m an underdog, a guy from Tennessee that comes to the Himalayas every year and pioneers something to no fanfare or avail,” a frustrated Ben Clark reported from Baruntse BC on Monday after breaking his ankle in a fall. “Finally, after all I have learned and taken from these mountains… they have given me something that I can’t ever forget; real pain, real suffering and real luck. The depth of true loss that comes with that is irreplaceable, (massive monetary investment, time and health) a new low that can only go up from here!”

* Polish Himalayas – Become a Fan

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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Himalaya 2009 climbing season, Karakoram and Himalaya wrap-up : Summits On Dhaula! Everest Next?

The calendar has turned to May, and while the rest of the world is dealing with the dreaded swine flu, in the Himalaya there is an altogether different ailment they are dealing with. it is right about this time each year that a nasty case of summit fever hits, and it seems to be indiscriminate in who it affects.

* red – normal route ; * green – Japanese route.

It seems Dhaulagiri may be the latest mountain to feel the impact, as ExWeb is reporting that Czech mountaineer David Fojtík topped out over the weekend, and completed the first summit of the season on that mountain by skiing most of the way back down. It is also reported that an unnamed Korean climber also reached the summit, although one of his teammates was not so lucky, and suffered severe hypothermia and frostbite on his descent back down the couloir. Congrats to the first summitteers of the season on Dhaula!

Meanwhile, things are really heating up on Everest’s South Side, where Alan Arnette is reporting that the lines could be fixed to the summit as early as tomorrow, with Sherpas reaching the summit for the first time in 2009. The prediction is that the weather will turn bad after that, stranding the teams in BC while they wait for the first window of the season, which is expected to come early next week. Everything is in position, and the stage is just about set. It is nearly go time on Everest.

Alan also reports of another significant development on Everest that should hopefully make the mountain safer this year and in years to come. It seems that fresh bolts have been dropped into the Yellow Band, a notorious bottleneck on the mountain, and new lines have been put into place. There will now be a rope for climbers going up, and climbers going down, which should help to move things along a bit more quickly. It is also reported that the guides who installed the new lines, Willie Benegas and Adrian Ballinger, also cleared out a lot of old rope that was just hanging on the face. That should greatly improve the route as well.

You may have heard that an avalanche hit Everest over the weekend, and you can checkout some video of it from the First Ascent Team below. Fortunately no one was hurt, but it sure looks scary enough. The Peak Freaks are reporting more ice slides today, and can’t help but wonder if global warming has anything to do with it. Speaking of the First Ascent team, Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker went up the mountain yesterday and established Camp 3 at 23,400 feet, where they also waited out the storm that hit over the weekend.

Finally, the Boys of Baruntse are taking a much deserved rest day today following a few days of scouting the mountain. They received a dusting of snow as well, but everyone is in good spirits and health, and they are preparing to make their assault on the 23,390 foot mountain, along a new route, and then make the first ski descent as well. Of course, they’re capturing the entire thing on video for future episodes of The Rest of Everest too! Can’t wait.

* Source :  – http://theadventureblog.blogspot.com/

** See :

– Nanda Devi East Expedition 2009 part 1 : Polish to celebrate 70th anniversary of first ascent.

– Nanda Devi East Expedition 2009 part 2 : Polish to celebrate 70th anniversary of first ascent.

– Polish Himalaya Expeditions 2009 part 5. Himalaje 2009 – polskie wyprawy, cz.5. /Version english and polish/

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

zapraszam do subskrypcji mego bloga

Himalaya 2009 climbing season, Karakoram and Himalaya wrap-up : News From All Over!

As we sit on the edge of May, you can feel that we’re also on the edge of lots of activity in the Himalaya. Teams are moving up and down Everest, making their last acclimatization runs, and the Sherpas are busy working on the final fixed lines, laying the ground work for plenty of action to come in just a few short weeks.

ExWeb starts the updates off today with the news that the Lhotse-Everest Traverse Team are on the move and expect to spend the night in C3 today before carrying the last of their supplies to C4 tomorrow. They’ll spend the night there, then descend one final time. From there, they’ll make a go at it on the next weather window, with the plan that they’ll summit Lhotse, then trek across the ridge to Everest, where they’ll top out one final time, before descending back down the mountain. This one should be fun to watch.

On Everest’s South Side there is poor weather in the forecast, with snow expected tomorrow, which may strand a few teams in BC before making their next rotation up the mountain. Most are on their way to Camp 3 for the acclimatization process, where they’ll spend the night before one final hike back down the South Col. From there, it’ll just be a matter of resting up, and watching the weather.

The North Side is facing it’s own set of issues, as more teams are arriving on the mountain, but suffering from acclimatization issues of their own. Thanks to the fancy new road that was built to base camp for the Olympic Torch Team last year, teams are arriving faster than ever, but are also finding themselves ill equipped to deal with the altitude and finding themselves out of breath when they do get there. At least one team has gone back down the mountain to regroup already as well.

In other parts of the Himalaya, teams are preparing to make their bids. On Kangchenjunga for instance, Edurne Pasaban has gone up to Camp 3 and cached supplies, while other teams have moved up as well. On Makalu, a large Korean team is building the high camps and fixing the lines, while a lone female team member stays in BC, and awaits her shot at going up. Over on Dhaulagiri there have been rumors of a summit push going on now, but there have been no confirmations of this or word of successful summits just yet, while the word from Cho Oyu is that BC is quiet with relatively few teams there this season.

Finally, our friends on Baruntse, who are attempting to climb a new route, then make the first descent on skis checked in with CNN again yesterday. Check out the video.

* Source :  – http://theadventureblog.blogspot.com/

** See :

– Polish Himalaya Expeditions 2009 part 5. Himalaje 2009 – polskie wyprawy, cz.5. /Version english and polish/

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

zapraszam do subskrypcji mego bloga