The Logistics of Everest

by Kraig Becker on

As we mentioned last week, the Himalayan climbing season is in full swing, and the first teams of mountaineers should be arriving in base camp on Mt. Everest this week. BC on Everest falls at approximately 17,500 feet, higher than most mountains in the world, but it is only the beginning of the climb that hundreds of people have paid as much as $65,000 each, and devoted two months of their spring, not to mention countless hours of training, to attempt.

The first of those numbers is the one that usually gets people to raise their eyebrows. $65,000 is the upper end of the spectrum when it comes to climbing Everest, and it is possible to go for as little as half of that, which is still quite a sum of money of course. But when you’re climbing the highest mountain on the planet, do you really want to go on a “bargain” rate? The money goes to cover the cost of supplies, bottled oxygen, guides, Sherpas, and more.

Once non-climbers get over the sticker shock of how much an Everest climb costs, they then focus on the two months that it takes to complete the task, and they often wonder how come it takes so long. The two month time line includes when the mountaineer sets off for Kathmandu and continues up until they depart Nepal for home. Upon arriving in the Napali capital, there is usually a few days spent there acquiring permits and organizing gear, before they fly to Lukla and begin the roughly ten day trek to base camp, or head to Lhasa in Tibet, depending on their chosen climbing route.

There are a number of paths that climbers can take to reach the summit of Everest, and they can vary greatly in difficulty. The two most popular routes are the North and South Col routes. The North Col falls in Tibet, and thanks to the borders of that country being shut down for over a month, there are few teams climbing from that side of the mountain this year. Instead, the vast majority are climbing the South Col route, which is the same one that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay used back in 1953 when the made the first successful ascent.

No matter which side you climb from however, the approach is similar. Teams will establish a series of camps at various altitudes on the mountain. Each time they go up they will build one of these camps, leaving behind supplies that they will need when they make their final summit push. After the camp is created, they will spend the night there to acclimatize to the altitude, before descending back down to base camp to rest, recuperate, and resupply before repeating the process, going higher on the mountain, until all four of the required camps are complete.

On the South Side of the mountain, Camp I is located at 19,900 feet. From there, the climbers go up a bowl shaped valley called the Western Cwm to establish Camp II, also known as Advanced Base Camp, at roughly 21,300 feet. Moving up the Lhotse Face, they will build Camp III at 24,500 feet, before finally creating Camp IV at 26,000 feet, just below the region of the mountain dubbed “the Death Zone”, so named because the air is so thin at that altitude, that the human body actually begins to break down due to the lack of oxygen.

The creation of these camps takes several weeks, thanks to the slow process of moving all the equipment up the mountain, and the equally slow acclimatization process. Once the camps are ready however, the teams will then wait in BC for a weather window to open. They need to have several days of good weather to make a summit attempt, and it can sometimes take awhile for such a window to open. In the meantime, they sit, and wait, and hope that they can finally get underway. Many experienced climbers say that the boredom that stems from sitting, and waiting, is the hardest part of the climb.

When the opportunity does come, the teams will set out from base camp, moving up the mountain, one camp at a time, spending the night at each before continuing upwards the next day. When they reach Camp IV, they’ll rest and prepare for Summit Day, which begins at midnight, with the climbers setting off in the dark for the summit with the hopes of reaching their goal.

If they’re lucky, they’ll get to the highest point on the planet by mid-morning, but slower climbers will straggle up to the summit into the early afternoon. There is a cut off point in which guides will turn their teams around if they are taking too long however, as they don’t want to be caught above 26,000 feet, after dark, when high winds, sudden storms, and low oxygen can be deadly.

Upon reaching the summit, the climbers will spend just 10 or 20 minutes there, before turning back down. The experienced climbers know that the summit is just the halfway point, and you still need to descend safely for it to be a successful climb. Most will end up spending the night back at Camp IV before completing their descent the next day, arriving back in base camp, where it all started.

In a day or two, they’ll begin the long trek back down the Khumbu Valley to Lukla, hop a flight to Kathmandu where they’ll spend another few days, before at long last, they’ll turn for home. By this point it is usually late May or early June, nearly two months since they set out after their dream.

Ed Viesturs, America’s Top Mountaineer, Returns To Everest

by Kraig Becker on

Yesterday we mentioned that Kathmandu has become a very busy place this week as climbers and trekkers heading to the Himalaya arrive in the city before setting out on their various adventures in the more mountainous regions of Nepal. Amongst those making the journey once again this year is Ed Viesturs, who many consider to be America’s premiere mountaineer.

Viesutrs has a long, and storied career climbing mountains, and has topped out on some of the most famous peaks in the world, including Rainier, Denali, and of course Everest, which he’s successfully summitted six times. Back in 2005, on his third attempt at the mountain, Viesturs added Annapurna to his resume, completing his Endeavour 8000 project, which was a decade long mission to reach the summit of the world’s 14 8000 meter peaks. Not only did Ed finish this task, becoming the first, and to date only, American to do so, he topped out on each of the mountains without the use of supplemental oxygen.

After finishing the Endeavour 8000 project, Ed vowed to retire from climbing the big peaks, saying that he had accomplished everything that he had ever hoped to do on those mountains, and for a time, his attention was drawn to other adventures. But the lure of the Himalaya is strong, and Viesturs is once again in Kathmandu, planning to make an attempt on Everest, and claim his seventh summit on the world’s tallest mountain.

For this attempt, Ed is part of an all-star team of climbers, that includes Dave Hahn, who has 10 Everest summits to his credit already, and Peter Whittacker, son of legendary climber Lou Whittaker and nephew to Jim Whittaker. The team was put together by gear manufacturer Eddie Bauer, who are launching a new line of outdoor gear uner the First Ascent label.

There will be few teams on Everest with as much experience as this one. But they’ll have to still go through the same process if they hope to successfully reach the top of the mountain. Over the next few weeks they’ll be acclimatizing, establishing their high camps, and preparing to make their summit bid. With any luck, Viesturs will soon be adding another chapter to his already substantial legend, standing at the Roof of the World for the seventh time.

Undiscovered New York: lesser-known museums

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Undiscovered New York loves our museums. Who hasn’t come to the Museum of Modern Art and spent hours gazing at works like Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon? Or visited the the Met on a warm evening at dusk to take in one of New York’s best views from the rooftop sculpture garden? Or gazed in awe at the massive lifesize Blue Whale at the American Museum of Natural History?

But the truth is that whether you live here or you’re coming from out of town, a trip to New York’s “must see” museums can get old quickly. Don’t get me wrong – if you’ve never seen the Musuem of Modern Art or the Met, by all means go. But at the same time, the ridiculous weekend crowds and steep admission fees can conspire to spoil that ideal New York museum visit, especially at some of New York’s biggest and most popular spots. What’s a museum-loving visitor to do?

Lucky for you, New York is absolutely jam packed with amazing museums, covering just about any culture, subject, genre of art or period of history imaginable. Best of all, many of these museums are extremely cheap or free and you’ll avoid huge crowds and long waits that can spoil a visit at some of New York’s “biggies.” Want to have an awesome New York museum experience without all the fuss? Step inside Undiscovered New York’s favorite lesser-known New York museums, after the jump.
City Reliquary
On the outskirts of Brooklyn’s trendy Wiliamsburg neighborhood, sandwiched along a row of unassuming storefronts and steps from the noisy BQE Expressway lies one of the more unique museum collections in all of New York. It’s called the City Reliquary, and it’s a less a formal museum than a testament to the maniacal habits of obsessive-compulsive New Yorkers.

Rather than focus on collection curated by some academic “expert,” the City Reliquary started as a repository for the collections of ordinary New Yorkers ranging from “vintage thermoses” to Presidential Plates and antique pens. The organization supplements these resident collections with displays of interesting New York paraphenalia including architectural remnants of New York City buildings and Statue of Liberty mementos. It’s a small but often fun antidote to the stuffy, more established museums across the river in Manhattan. As another plus, the admission is “pay what you wish.”

Rubin Museum of Art
The Met has an amazing collection of artwork from the Far East – enough to put most major museums to shame. But there’s so much to see it get a bit overwhelming at times. That’s why a museum like Chelsea’s Rubin Museum of Art can be a great alternative for easily distracted visitors. Rather than try to cover a huge range of countries and cultures in Asia, the Rubin Museum focuses exclusively on Himalayas and surrounding regions on several manageable floors. It’s a decidedly more leisurely, manageable and less crowded way to check out some amazing culture in a cool setting.

Museum of Sex
We mentioned the the Museum of Sex this past Valentine’s Day, and it honestly deserves another mention here. OK, yes, I know – it’s a museum about sex. But before you break into nervous giggles and write it off as some place for perverts, did you ever think to consider it might be an interesting museum? The answer is a definite YES. In all honesty, the scope of the Museum of Sex goes well beyond celebrating flesh to take a deeper look at human sexuality. Honest-to-goodness academic questions are asked through exhibits about censorship, obscenity laws and the changing morals of different societies through the years. And yes, of course, there are images of some naked people here and there (shocking isn’t it?).

A Travel Guide to Shangri-La

by Kraig Becker on

The mystical, mythical Shangri-La has held a special allure to travelers since the release of the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton. In the book, the main character survives a plane crash in the Himalaya only to discover a hidden valley that is a paradise on Earth where the people live for hundreds of years without a care in the world. Since that time, many have searched for the possible location of Shangri-La, hoping to discover the place for themselves.

Now, author Michael Buckley has written a travel guide to the legendary place. The book, entitled Shangri-La: A Travel Guide To The Himalayan Dream, is an interesting mix of myth and reality, as it serves as a guidebook for such places as China, Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal, while still focusing on Shangri-La, a place that doesn’t really exisit at all. The book weaves in local legends, with tales of the yeti and sacred Himalayan peaks, while still providing practical information on Himalayan culture, the best treks in the region, places to visit, and more. There is even a field guide to the wildlife you’ll encounter there.

World Hum has recently conducted an interview with Buckley in which he talks about the challenges of writing a travel guide for a mythical place and why that myth has become such an indelible part of western culuture. He also touches on his own experiences in the Himalaya, where he has spent more than 20 years immersed in the culture and landscapes there.

Shangri-La is one of those unique legendary places that often inspires travel. The mere mention of the place conjures up visions of far off, snowy mountain kingdoms. And while it may not exisit as a real place on a map, the mere thought of it is enough to send us off looking for it none the less.

Photo of The Day (1/15/07)

by Iva Skoch on

This photo by Libor Marik taken in the Himalayas is, well, chilling.

When I grow up (and start enjoying cold climates), I want to go there, too. I am hoping that similar vistas will be the norm; a place where you just can’t take a bad picture.