Indonesian Digital News Archive

One of the most daring and difficult climbs of last year was the first ascent of the Shark Fin on Mt. Meru put up by Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk and Conrad Anker. Those three men are some of the most experienced and respected climbers around and this expedition still pushed them to the very edge of their physical and mental limits. The video below is trailer for the documentary of that climb and it gives you a sense of the challenges that these three men had to over come just to reach the top. The film looks fantastic, that is if you enjoy watching climbers suffer.

The next few days could potentially be exciting ones on both Everest and Lhotse. The promised weather window appears to be on track and ready to open starting tomorrow, which will grant access to the summit at last. As a result, the teams that have been struggling there most of the fall are now ready to make the final push to the top.

Among them is Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki, who is attempting the West Ridge of Everest alone and without oxygen. Kuriki has spent much of the past week in Camp 2, waiting for his opportunity to go higher, and over the weekend he was able to move up to Camp 3 in order to get into position for his summit bid. According to his Facebook page, Kuriki will stay in C3 for today, gather his strength and wait out the weather. Tomorrow he'll proceed up to Camp 4 and weather permitting he'll go to for the summit on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Polish team led by Artur Hajzer climbed up the South Col route over the weekend and now have five climbers in Camp 4. Their weather forecasts indicate that starting tomorrow things improve quite nicely with a window that will remain open late into the week. Having struggled in high winds and snowy conditions the past few days, the team is a bit weary and battered, but they are excited to get the chance to tag Lhotse's summit at last. If the weather window stays open as expected, a second group of climbers will attempt to make another summit bid on Friday.

Finally, there have been no updates from the Korean team that is attempting Everest along the traditional South Col route but presumably they'll be moving into position as well. It wouldn't at all be surprising to learn that they are also in Camp 4 and waiting on the weather window tomorrow as well, but for now we'll just have to wait to see if they are able to complete their climb as well.

Good luck to all the climbers. Stay safe and get up and down in one piece.

As the weekend draws near, more information is creeping out about the teams that remain on Everest and Lhotse who are hoping to make summit pushes sometimes in the next few days. We've known for awhile now that there is a Japanese climber (identified as Nobukazu Kuriki) and a Korean team on Everest and a Polish squad hoping to summit Lhotse, but beyond that details have been scare. Thanks to Explorers Web, we now have a clearer picture of these teams and their ultimate goals.

According to an update from ExWeb, the Korean team is the 2012 Everest Peace Expedition from the Gang-Won University Alpine Club. The group is led by Himalayan vet Sung-Wook Hong, and includes the following members: Bong-Ha Park, Young-Hoon Oh, Jin-Seok Kim, Joo-Hwan Ahn, Seok-Joo Woo Young-Rae Kim, Jin-Young Jeong, Keun-Young Choi, and Il-Jin Im. Updates from the team have been a bit sporadic, but a few days back they indicated that they were in Base Camp on the South Side of the mountain, waiting out the weather. Their forecasts indicate that a shift could come in the next four days, and they are preparing to make a summit bid when that happens.

The Polish Lhotse team is essentially in the same boat. It is a young squad led by Artur Hajzer who have also been hoping to wait out the weather. ExWeb quotes Hajzer as saying that his considerable experience in the Himalaya tells him the weather won't make a permanent change until late October or into November, and if they stay patient they'll get their opportunity. They're planning on starting for the summit of Lhotse this weekend with an eye on topping out in the Sunday or Monday timeframe. Since Everest and Lhotse share the same route up to Camp 4, they'll likely be climbing in tandem with the Korean team over the next few days.

As for Kuriki, he's making a solo, but supported, climb along the very dangerous and isolated West Ridge. As if that route wasn't challenging enough, he's also going up without oxygen. The latest news from his Facebook page indicates that he is still in Camp 2 today waiting for the weather window to open. He believes that will happen in the next day or two as well. His forecasts indicate the winds will drop on October 15 or 16, providing access to the summit for a short time. If thats true, he'll start to move up tomorrow and Sunday so that he'll be ready to take advantage of the calm (relatively speaking!) conditions.

Seems like it should be an exciting weekend on Everest and Lhotse. Wish these teams luck and lets hope the weather cooperates. In the meantime, check out the latest YouTube video from Kuriki which he posted this morning. It is some beautiful images from the Himalaya that are sure to inspire.

The fall Himalaya climbing season is slowly grinding to a halt as the jet stream seems to have already shifted across the region, bringing unpredictable weather conditions and high winds with it. That hasn't deterred a few climbers that remain on their mountains, hoping to get one last weather window that will allow them access to the summit. Two mountains that still have climbers in place are Everest and Lhotse, where teams are moving up although their chance at success remains very much up in the air.

One climber that has set some ambitious goals for himself this fall is Nobukazu Kuriki who is attempting a true solo summit of Everest without oxygen and along the West Ridge no less. According to updates on has Facebook and Twitter pages, Kuriki arrived in Camp 2 yesterday amidst high winds, which he is hoping will die down in the next day or two. The forecast indicates that low pressure could settle over Everest this weekend, giving him an opportunity to make a summit bid, but for now he sits and waits to see if he'll be able to move up. The Japanese climber has been sharing videos of his progress and you'll find his most recent video below.

Alan Arnette says that this is Kuriki's fourth attempt on Everest , with his most recent expedition taking place last fall. He also has solo climbs on  Denali, Aconcagua, Elbrus, Kilimanjaro and Carstensz Pyramid, while also knocking off 8000 meter climbs on Cho Oyu, Manaslu, and Dhaulagiri.

Meanwhile, Alan also reports that the Korean team that I mentioned last week is still attempting the South Col route on Everest, although there has been no updates on their progress. Similarly, the Polish team on Lhotse, which shares much of the same route as Everest, is reportedly still on the mountain and still hoping to summit as well. Last week we knew that they had reached as high as Camp 4 on the mountain, which means they should be well acclimatized and read to go, weather permitting.

Finally, over on Dhaulagiri teams have called it quits for the season as well. Carlos Soria has decided that the mountain is simply too unstable to attempt a summit bid, so the 74-year old Spaniard is heading home, saying that he has learned that you must climb the mountain in the spring, when conditions are more stable. The Summit Climb team, led by Dan Mazur, came to that same conclusion a few days back and that squad is headed home too.

That means it is all eyes on Everest and Lhotse to see how we'll finish out the season.

Earlier this week the mountaineering world was rocked by another avalanche tragedy on a Himalayan peak. Just two weeks after a serac collapsed on Manaslu, killing more than a dozen people, we received word that a major snow slide had swept two Uzbek climbers off of Annapurna. Yesterday a search and rescue team combed the mountain looking for traces of the missing men, but found no trace. Late in the day it was announced that they were suspending the search and heading home.

The tragedy occurred on Monday when a team of three climbers from Uzbekistan were moving up Annapurna from Camp 1 to Camp 2. The avalanche caught them in the middle of that climb and quickly buried Iljas Tukhvatullin and Ivan Lobanov. A third member of their team managed to avoid being swept down the mountain and was able to descend to Camp 1 and call for help.

The only other team on Annapurna this fall was a squad of Russian climbers who were hoping to open a new route. As soon as they could, members of that team moved up the mountain to search for their fallen comrades. With the assistance of a helicopter, that search went on all day yesterday but the debris field is reportedly quite large with literally tons of snow covering the area. Russian Climb reports that the SAR team swept the slope as best the could and checked numerous crevasses, but found absolutely no trace of the missing men.

After a disappointing and sad day on the mountain, all of the climbers were planning on descending to Base Camp today and heading home. The weather has changed for the worse in the Himalaya and the loss of the two Uzbek climbers has cast a shadow over the season on Annapurna, a mountain that is always unyielding, even in the best of conditions.

My condolences to the friends an family of the fallen.

Yesterday the news broke of yet another avalanche in the Himalaya, this time on Annapurna. The details have been sketchy, but we know that a trio of Uzbek climbers were ascending from Camp 1 to Camp 2 when the accident occurred. Two of those climbers were caught up in the slide, while one managed to escape and eventually make his way back to C1 to call for help.

At the time that I posted that breaking story yesterday a search and rescue team was en route to the site of the avalanche to search for survivors. While we still don't have much in the way of new information today, Russian Climb is reporting that eight Russian and Uzbek mountaineers spent the day searching the area and didn't find any signs of the two missing climbers. They even used a helicopter to support their efforts, but to no avail.

Search efforts will continue today but it seems unlikely at this point that either Iljas Tukhvatullin or Ivan Lobanov will be found alive. There is no indication if either of them were wearing avalanche beacons at the time of the accident. Such beacons should be mandatory equipment on mountains like Manaslu and Annapurna, but many climbers still go up without them.

Russin Climb promises more updates as they come in. For now we'll just have to wait for news.

More sad news from the Himalaya this afternoon as Explorers Web is reporting that another avalanche has claimed lives in the region, this time on Annapurna.

Details on the accident are still a bit sketchy, but according to ExWeb there were two teams climbing the mountain's North Face this past weekend, one from Russia and another from Uzbekistan. Reportedly the Uzbeks, led by Iljas Tukhvatullin, were attempting the standard route while the Russians were hoping to open a new line to the summit.

Yesterday the Uzbek squad was moving up from Camp 1 to Camp 2 when they were hit by a massive slide of snow and ice at about 3:00 PM local time. Tukhvatullin and climbing partner Ivan Lobanov were both swept away, while a third member of the team managed to escape. After climbing up to C2, that unnamed climber then descended back to C1 to radio for help. Reportedly he has said that the avalanche was not the result of the collapse of serac but instead the entire side of the mountain began to shift and move. ExWeb speculates that an earthquake may have triggered the slide.

According to the article, another team was heading up from Base Camp today to search for survivors. We'll just have to wait and keep our fingers crossed that they could possibly find someone still alive, although that doesn't seem likely at this point.

The 8091 meter (26,545 ft) Annapurna is notorious for its avalanche danger and is considered one of the most dangerous mountains in the world in no small part because of how unstable it can be. I'm sure we'll hear more about this situation in the days ahead, but for now lets up the search and rescue team stays safe as well.

It looks like predictions of the end of the fall season in the Himalaya are proving to be true. This past weekend there were summit bids scheduled on several mountains across the area despite the fact that the jet stream had begun to settle in at the higher altitudes. But those summit attempts were stalled out, at least on Makalu, due to high winds.

One of the climbers who saw her climb brought to an abrupt end was Billi Bierling. She had been on Makalu for the past six week and expected to top out last week until her Sherpa team put Camp 4 in the wrong place. Billi and the rest of her squad had hoped to rest up and give it one more go this past weekend, setting out for the summit on Friday with the hopes of topping out today. Unfortunately they only made it as high as Camp 2 before returning to Base Camp due to the high winds on the upper slopes. The weather forecasts didn't look promising for the days ahead, so the expedition was cancelled and the climbers started for home. After 10+ hour trek to Yangle Kharka yesterday and a brief helicopter ride to this morning, Billi is already back in Kathmandu and promising more information on her experience soon.

Commercial guide service Alpenglow Expeditions posted a dispatch explaining the situation on Makalu as well. They note that they decided to pull the plug on their climb due to the dire forecasts which show no break in the winds for the next two weeks and beyond that it is impossible to tell. Sitting and waiting for two weeks without knowing what lies beyond simply wasn't an option, so they pulled up camp, collected their gear and hit the trail for home. The dispatch hints at more than a little frustration with the situation but such is the experience when climbing in the Himalaya, where the weather is always unpredictable and even more so at this time of the year.

There is also late season news from Manaslu, where EpicTV reports that amidst the tragedy of the avalanche, and the triumph of the summits that followed, one success story was over looked. Last week, German skier Benedikt Bohm became the first person to successfully climb and make a ski descent of the mountain without the use of supplemental oxygen. More impressively, he also made the climber from Base Camp to the summit and back in under 24 hours. Bohm is part of the Dynafit ski team, which also played an instrumental role in helping aid the survivors of the avalanche. Strong members of that team were amongst the first on site in Camp 3 when word of the accident reached the other teams. This is a tremendous achievement on the part of Benedikt and congratulations are certainly in order.

The other two mountains that were expecting summit attempts this past weekend were Everest and Lhotse. I haven't seen any updates on the progress of the teams on those two mountains yet, but it is likely that the jet stream may have prevented them from going up as well. We'll just have to wait for dispatches from Nepal to get word on their success.

Over the past six weeks or so, we've been following the fall Himalayan climbing season quite closely, watching as various teams attempt to summit Makalu, Dhaulagiri and of course Manaslu. But it seems there may have been a few teams flying under the radar and ExWeb now reports that there may be summit bids brewing on Everest and Lhotse as well.

According to this story, posted late yesterday, there is a large Korean team, consisting of ten members, who are attempting Everest along the South Col route. Perhaps more intriguing, ExWeb also says that there is a lone Japanese climber who hopes to summit along the seldom visited West Ridge as well. Those teams haven't been alone in Base Camp this fall however, as the report also indicates that there is a seven member Polish team, along with another two-person team, that are attempting to climb Lhotse. As many of you know, Everest and Lhtose share the same face, only diverging at Camp 4 where climbers go their separate ways.

Apparently this has been a relatively fast climb. ExWeb says that the Ice Doctors didn't have the route through the Khumbu Ice Fall finished until September 19 and the teams have worked with limited Sherpa support. Some of then even built their own high camps in preparation for the summit bids. The Polish squad as reportedly been as high as Camp 4 this past weekend and are now preparing to make their summit attempt ahead of the shift in the jet stream.

The weather forecasts say that the jet stream has already settled in over the region, but there will be a lull in wind speeds around the 8th. That means that any teams left in the Himalaya who hope to top out this fall need to get underway now with the hope that they can finish their climbs on Monday. Among those who are making a last minute attempt is Billi Bierling, who thought her chances of summiting Makalu were over after her Sherpa team put their Camp 4 in the wrong place. Billi left BC this morning with an eye on topping out early next week.

Stay tuned for more updates when we get them. It seems we have one more potentially busy weekend in the Himalaya before the season comes to an abrupt end next week.

The tragic avalanche accident that occurred on Manaslu last week has cast a large shadow over this fall's Himalayan climbing season. As operations on that mountain wrap up for the year, I'm sure we'll be hearing more about that awful experience. But today we have a video that was put together by Himalayan Ascent that shows some of the rescue efforts that were made in the wake of the accident. The footage gives us all an idea of what it was like on the mountain as search and rescue teams combed  Manaslu looking for survivors and assisting the injured.

While teams continue to wrap up their summit bids on Manaslu and other wait for another chance on Makalu, it seems a summit push has begun on Dhaulagiri. If the weather holds and things stay on schedule, there should be several teams topping out on the mountain in the next few days.

Amongst those teams is the SummitClimb squad who spent yesterday resting in Camp 2 at 6560 meters (21,517 ft). They should be proceeding up to C3 today and if the schedule holds they may be able to top out as early as Thursday or Friday of this week.

Similarly, ExWeb is reporting that 73-year old Carlos Soria is on his summit push and could reach the top of the mountain later tonight. Carlos' home team shared that news earlier in the day and posted the video below. While the entire thing is in Spanish, it does feature some nice shots from Dhaulagiri and gives us all an idea of what conditions are like on the mountain.

Like Annapurna and Manaslu, Dhaulagiri is also very avalanche prone. Conditions are said to be stable on the upper slopes, but lets keep our fingers crossed for the climbers who are headed up in the next few days. With a  little luck and good judgement, they'll all get down safely.

Looking for a clam and relaxing way to wrap up your day? Then this video just might do the trick. It simply consists of striking images from some of the most beautiful mountains on the planet, with some wildlife mixed in for good measure too. The music is tranquil and the settings serene, so turn up the volume, kick up your feet and enjoy 13 minutes of bliss.

While I've already done one climbing update from the Himalaya this morning, I thought that this story deserved its own post. Over the past few weeks one of the climbers I've been following closely is journalist Billi Bierling who has built herself an impressive high altitude resume over the past few years. Billi has been focused on scaling Makalu this fall and probably should have summited this past weekend, but she is currently back in Base Camp and hoping she'll get another crack at the mountain, after her Sherpa team miscalculated the route and made Camp 4 in the wrong place. Now, with the jet stream predicted to shift within a matter of days, it's possible that the team won't have a chance to climb the world's fifth tallest mountain after all.

In a report posted earlier today, Billi says that none of the Sherpas on the expedition have ever been on the 8481 meter (27,825 ft) Makalu before, but they had studied the route on maps and photographs. Last Monday, after spending several weeks acclimatizing on the mountain, Billi and her team set off from BC amidst good weather and high hopes. Their plan was to spend a single night in each of the first two camps and two nights at C3 to help prepare them for the summit push. While there, the Sherpa team proceed higher up the hill to establish Camp 4.

Only they didn't proceed up the correct route and they ended up placing the team in a spot that could not be easily or safely traversed to the proper route. That meant the squad would have to descend back down the mountain to find the correct approach, but after expending so much energy just to get to that point on the mountain, there bodies were too tired to do that.

The team leaders made the decision to have everyone return to Base Camp, which is where they are now as they attempt to collect their strength. They hope to rest up and try to give the climb another go, this time along the proper route. But as I mentioned above, the forecast says that the jet stream is now scheduled to shift on October 4 – Thursday of this week – and when it does it will settle directly over the mountain. That means the summit will be closed for the season and it will be time to pack up and return home.

All is not lost however, as the forecasts have been known to be wrong before and there is a possibility that the shift won't take place until sometime next week. Billi and the rest of the team are hoping that means they'll get one more weather window before the fall season ends, and with that in mind, they are preparing for second summit attempt around October 7 or 8.

For now, they sit, rest and wait to see what develops.

As expected, a calm weather window gave climbers on Manaslu, the eight tallest mountain in the world at 8156 meters (26,759 ft), an opportunity to launch summit bids over the weekend. These attempts came just one week after the tragic avalanche accident that claimed more than a dozen lives, but the climbers who remained on the mountain in the wake of that tragedy had their patience and perseverance rewarded at last.

Amongst the teams that saw success on summit day was the Mountain Professionals squad. They report that their entire team successfully topped out earlier today and made it back to Camp 4 to enjoy some rest and hot tea before proceeding down to C2 for a proper sleep. If all goes according to plan, they should complete the descent tomorrow and return to Base Camp at that time.

Similarly, the Altitude Junkies checked in following their successful bid as well, reporting that 15 members of their team reached the summit. Two Sherpas and one member of the group did turn back on the way up, but everyone else, including Edita Nichols, managed to stand on top. They're all feeling strong and in good spirits, and have started their descent back to Camp 2 as well.

The Himalayan Experience team was also scheduled to make their summit bid starting yesterday, but as of now there has been no update on whether or not they were successful. Considering how well oiled the Himex machine is, I'd guess that they were able to put at least some of the climbers on the summit but they just haven't had the opportunity to report in just yet.

Congratulations to all the teams. Everyone enjoy the feeling of success and get back to BC safely.

After a long and difficult week, it seems the climbers on Manaslu have begun to put the tragedy behind them and are now focused on an impending weather window that should give them access to the summit. As a result, most of the teams that are still on the mountain are now on the move, with an eye on topping out early next week.

Earlier today the Mountain Professionals team checked in from Camp 2 on Manaslu where they report stable weather and snow conditions. They started their ascent yesterday and pushed past C1 and straight on to Camp 2. Their Sherpa support team plan on shuttling gear to Camp 4 tomorrow and the climbers are now planning on summiting on Monday, weather permitting.

The Altitude Junkies have started their summit push as well, leaving for Camp 1 yesterday afternoon. They'll spend successive nights in each of the high camps before making their bid on Monday too. AJ leader Phil Crampton reports that he is still feeling a bit sore after getting caught in the avalanche at Camp 2 last weekend, so he'll take an extra day or two in Base Camp before proceeding up to join the rest of the team. The climbers are said to be in good spirits and ready to go. Hopefully their patience will pay off in a few days time.

Edita Nichols is one of the climbers who has started the ascent. She left BC yesterday and is eyeing a summit attempt on either Monday or Tuesday of next week. She says that the weather is looking good and the mountain is more stable, giving the remaining climbers there an incentive to reach the top to honor those that lost their live in the tragic accident this past weekend. Edita herself lost her SPOT Tracker in the avalanche, so she'll be out of contact for the next few days and we won't even be able to see her progress. We'll just have to wait for word of her success, but either way she plans on summiting and then heading for home by the end of next week.



On a different note, the IMG team that was on Manaslu left the mountain yesterday and are now all back in Kathmandu safe and sound. I'm sure it was a difficult decision to pull the plug on the expedition, but considering everything that has occurred there this week, it was probably the right choice for this squad. Also abandoning his summit bid is Greg Hill, who had hoped to make a no-oxygen ski descent of the mountain. He'll remain behind to support some other climbers, but he has reportedly elected to give up his own Manaslu aspirations.

Elsewhere in the region, other teams are preparing for their summit bids as well. ExWeb is reporting that teams on Makalu are now in position to top out on that mountain as early as today. That could mean that climber/journalist Billi Bierling is amongst them. We haven't had any updates from Billi since last week, but presumably she'll be on her way up soon too.

Stay tuned for summit updates over the next few days. Good luck to all the climbers. Be safe!

The news in the adventure community has been dominated with stories from Manaslu this week, where a massive avalanche took the lives of numerous climbers in Camp 3. One of the climbers who was there and was fortunate enough to survive the accident is Glen Plake, a world class skier who had intended on making a ski descent of the mountain. Yesterday, our friends over at EpicTV were able to connect with Glen in Kathmandu via Skype, while also being joined by his wife Kimberly in studio. In that interview, which you'll find in the video below, Glen shares his very personal story of survival while he still deals with the loss of his two friends and climbing/skiing partners Greg Costa and Rémy Lécluse.

EpicTV Weekly 22: Manaslu Avalanche: Glen Plake's Story from EpicTVAdventure on Vimeo.

It has been a long and difficult week in the Himalaya where climbers are still dealing with the devastating news from Manaslu this past weekend. But there is a sense of normalcy returning to the mountain and with it comes a renewed focus on climbing the mountain. Tomorrow some of the climbers will begin their summit bid, while others have decided to call it quits and head home.

The Altitude Junkies had three team members depart Base Camp yesterday and today they report that two more will now join them. They'll all descend to the village of Sama Goan where they'll catch a lift by helicopter back to Kathmandu. While sad to see their friends leave, the rest of the team has plenty of work to do. They'll start their summit bid tomorrow by climbing up to Camp 1 with an eye on topping out on Sunday or Monday of next week.

Also heading up is Edita Nichols, who reports that Sherpa teams have already visited Camp 1 and 2 to evaluate stability on the mountain. Her team won't move forward until the Sherpas say it is safe to do, but they anticipate starting the climb in the next day or two as well.

One of the squads that has decided to leave Base Camp and return home is the IMG team. Following a meeting with the entire crew, the experienced leaders of the expedition elected to pull the plug in no small part due to the continued instability on the slopes. They sent their Sherpas up the mountain this morning to collect their gear in Camp 1 and 2 with a plan to depart BC this afternoon. They should be resting comfortably in Sama Goan now and will fly back to Kathmandu tomorrow.



Skier Greg Hill has posted his account of the tragic events from earlier in the week, which you can read here. He was one of the climbers who was in Camp 3 when the avalanche hit, preparing to move up to Camp 4 before proceeding on to the summit. He was hoping to make a no-oxygen ski descent of Manaslu and now feels that it is simply pure luck that he is alive. Greg doesn't indicate if he'll continue his attempt or if he will now head home. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Elsewhere in the Himalaya, far away from the tragedy on Manaslu, other teams are continuing with their expedition. There hasn't been any word from Billi Bierling in a week, although reports are that teams have moved up to Camp 3 on Makalu and may be preparing for their first summit bids. Similarly, ExWeb reported yesterday that 73-year old Carlos Soria was making progress on Dhaulagiri, having established Camp 2 and working on building C3 as well. We should hopefully have good news from those mountains soon as well.

Good luck to all the climbers planning summit attempts across the region in the days ahead. Be safe out there.

Now that a couple of days have passed since the massive avalanche hit the upper slopes of Manaslu, teams are beginning to take stock, figure out their next move and plan where they go from here. Now that a relative calm has fallen over the area, we're also getting a clearer picture of just what happened at 6800 meters (22,309 ft) in Camp 3 when the avalanche struck.

It appears that the massive snow slide started when a serac collapsed above 7000 meters (22,965 ft), tumbling down the mountain and igniting an avalanche from the nearly two meters of fresh powder that had fallen last week. That snow hit the tents in C3, where most of the climbers were still sleeping or only just started preparing for the day ahead. The entirety of Camp 3 was pushed down the mountain and the avalanche was powerful enough to even bury tents in Camp 2, located at 6400 meters (20,997 ft).

Reports indicate that there are now nine confirmed dead with up to six climbers still missing. Obviously rescue operations are on going, although there is little hope of finding one of the missing climbers still alive at this time. Yesterday there were numerous helicopter flights to pick up the injured and the dead to return them to Kathmandu. As many as ten climbers survived the avalanche but were injured, in some cases severely, in the accident. Most are now being treated in hospitals for those injuries.

Most of the big commercial teams remain on the mountain and have begun to issue statements about the situation and their plans for the days ahead. The Mountain Professional report that they had just left Camp 1 when the avalanche hit, and as soon as they got word of the accident, they elected to turn around and head back down. All of the members of the team are safe and fully accounted for in BC, where they are assessing the situation. They remain confident that they can still make a summit bid in the days ahead, but for now they're standing by to assist where needed.



Similarly, the Altitude Junkies are all safely in BC as well, although some members of the squad were in Camp 2 when the avalanche hit that area. They suffered minor injuries from the incident, although they are mostly just bumps and bruises. The latest update that members of the team are experiencing nightmares and trauma following the accident, which is highly understandable considering the circumstances. Three of those climbers will depart Base Camp tomorrow and return to Kathmandu before heading home. The others will remain on the mountain and asses the situation before moving up. This morning's dispatch does indicate that some teams have already launched their summit bids however.

Finally, the Himex squad checked in with an update today as well. All of their climbers were safely in BC at the time of the accident and are also completely safe and sound. As you can imagine however, it was a busy day yesterday while everyone scrambled for information and did what they could to lend a hand. It seems Himex boss Russell Brice helped to coordinate rescue operations on Manaslu, despite the fact that none of his climbers were involved. In his most recent dispatch, Brice talks a bit about the challenges of coordinating just such an operation. He also lent some of his very strong Sherpa team to assist in helping injured climbers down and in search operations. The team will begin their summit push soon, and Russell says that they will continue to look for the missing climbers as they go up.

That's the latest news from the mountain. It seems a sense of muted normalcy has returned their. Some climbers are clearly still shaken from the affair, with a few deciding to go home. Others have to now get focused on the task at hand, namely safely climbing up and down the 8th tallest mountain in the world. Activity will resume in the next day or two and then it'll be a busy time on the peak.

The sad news from Manaslu yesterday has dredged up a slew of articles from the mainstream media who seem to only cover mountaineering when a tragic event like this occurs. Of course, when you have an accident like this one in which numerous people die, it is going to make the news across the globe. Those articles don't bother me much as we're all still trying to sort through what exactly happened. The stories that do cause me to shake my head however, are commentary pieces that remind us how dangerous climbing is and paint a distorted image of mountaineering amongst the general public who have little understanding of the sport, or the men and women who pursue it.

Take this story from CNN for example. It seems to have been written simply to beat the "Everest is too crowded" drum one more time. The article essentially begins by saying that overcrowding on Manaslu helped to exasperate the tragedy there, despite the fact that the vast majority of teams weren't in Camp 3 when the avalanche occurred. The writer than uses some quotes from Outside's Grayson Schaffer to back up her perspective, although she does follow up by saying that the former head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tscherting Sherpa, claims that the avalanche was not in any way related to the number of people on the mountain.  With those opening paragraphs out of the way, we launch into a report on the deadly spring season on Everest during which ten people died earlier this year. Never mind that those deaths have nothing in common with the events on Manaslu, other than the fact that they both took place on Himalayan peaks.

First, lets address overcrowding on Manaslu. Yes, it is a busy season on the mountain, which is the eight tallest in the world. That is due in part to the fact that the borders of Tibet remain closed, forcing teams that had planned on scaling Cho Oyu or Shisha Pangma to relocate elsewhere. Many chose Manaslu because it is similar in difficulty level and located completely within Nepal, making it logistically easier to pull-off. By most accounts, as many as 231 climbers were on the mountain this fall, which is more than usual but hardly makes it overcrowded.



But even if there were twice as many people on Manaslu it would still have absolutely no connection to a freak avalanche destroying Camp 3 and killing numerous people there. You simply can't predict with any level of accuracy when an avalanche like this one will occur and every one of those climbers knew that before they ever started. You could make a case that the death toll could have been much higher had more people been in C3 at the time, and thankfully that wasn't the case either. From everything I can tell, there was not an unusually high number of people at 7000 meters when the accident occurred.

Which leads us to the author bringing up Everest again for whatever reason. Any mention of Everest can make an article link-bait, which is to say draw in readers simply by the subject matter, but as I mentioned above, the deaths on the world's tallest mountain this past spring are not related in any way to those that occurred on Manaslu yesterday. Furthermore, many people in the mainstream press simply latch on to that death tool number and run with it, decrying the dangerous nature of mountaineering without really understanding what they are talking about. Yes, ten people lost their lives on Everest this year and those deaths are always tragic. But nearly 500 people successfully reached the summit as well. That means that less than 2% of climbers on Everest died. That's a pretty high success rate actually.

Is overcrowding a problem on Everest? Yes, it is an issue. But more so from an environmental standpoint than anything else. The various camps used on the climb, particularly Base Camp, can become polluted and littered with waste due to the large number of climbers staying there each season. But fortunately there are now rules in place that require the teams to clean up after themselves and pack out everything they bring with them. That will hopefully alleviate those issues in the years to come, making the mountain a cleaner place in general.

We've all seen the photos of the massive traffic jams that take place on Everest when summit day approaches and those traffic jams certainly hinder the experience. The route up Everest can indeed become a packed highway running to the top, particularly along the South Col route on the Nepal side of the mountain. Those high numbers of people do potentially lend themselves to disaster, but so far there are few incidences in which the large number of people have directly resulted in deaths. Bad decisions by the climbers and guides, or climbers that just plain shouldn't be there in the first place, make for far more dangerous situations in my opinion.

Move away from Everest and overcrowding on Himalayan peaks is hardly an issue at all. It is mainly due to the fact that a lot of people want to add the world's tallest mountain to their resume which draws them there, even if they lack experience. They'll keep coming as long as the mountain is there or until someone imposes some restrictions on how many can climb in a given year. Considering the importance of the peak to the economies of Tibet and Nepal, that hardly seems likely to happen.

It also isn't all that likely that the mainstream press will ever stop sounding the alarm bells over climbing in the Himalaya, or just about anywhere else for that matter. It draws in readers and viewers and gets the public talking. They aren't likely to ever understand why climbers do the things they do, or why they are drawn to the high places of the Earth, despite knowing that there are risks to going there.

When these accidents occur they remind us that life is fragile and that it can be snuffed out in the blink of an eye. But they also remind us that those who have lost their lives were doing so in the pursuit of the things they love most and in the environments that they cherish. That says a lot about who they are and why they were there in the first place.