GreatOutdoors.com: Everest 2009 Daily Dispatches

Ed Viesturs Talks About the New Edition of Himalayan Quest

peterp — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:47:16 -0700

Returned now from Mount Everest, and back at home on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Ed Viesturs talks to GreatOutdoors.com editor Peter Potterfield abut the new edition of the book the two men wrote together, Himalayan Quest, published by National Geographic Books. All those who sign up for the sweepstakes will have a chance to win a copy of Himalayan Quest signed by Ed Viesturs.

Ed Viesturs Describes the Descent from his Seventh Summit of Mount Everest

peterp — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:40:27 -0700

Returned now from Mount Everest, and back at home on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Ed Viesturs talks to GreatOutdoors.com editor Peter Potterfield to describe his one day descent from Camp IV at 27,000 feet all the way to base camp.

Ed Viesturs Describes Summit Day from His Recent Ascent of Everest

peterp — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:29:53 -0700

Returned now from Mount Everest, and back at home on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Ed Viesturs talks to GreatOutdoors.com editor Peter Potterfield and describes summit day last month, after he was forced by weather to wait 24 hours at the South Col before making his summit bid.

Ed Viesturs Describes how Experience Provides the Patience Necessary for Success

peterp — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:21:14 -0700

Returned now from Mount Everest, and back at home on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Ed Viesturs talks to GreatOutdoors.com editor Peter Potterfield to review his summit strategy, and to reiterate the importance of patience when climbing the worlds biggest mountains.

Ed Viesturs Reflects on his Seventh Successful Trip to the top of Mount Everest

peterp — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:13:03 -0700

Returned now from Mount Everest, and back at home on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Ed Viesturs talks to GreatOutdoors.com editor Peter Potterfield to reflect on what it means to have climbed Everest a seventh time.

Ed Sums Up Expedition as He Leaves Kathmandu

Ed Viesturs — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:44:15 -0700

Hi everyone, it’s Ed Viesturs calling the morning of May 24th, I’m right now in Kathmandu, Nepal, I arrived here last night, it was quite a difficult exit out of the Khumbu valley, the weather was really bad, visibility was negligible, it was raining and yesterday I hiked from the village of Pheriche to near the village of Lukla over seven hours simply to get below the cloud cover and to be able to catch a flight out of the Khumbu Valley. So it’s really really nice to be hear today, later today I’m flying to Bangkok and then from there the US and where I’ll arrive home late on Monday. The rest of the team made it to the summit yesterday morning, Dave Hahn and crew reached the summit around 6:30 in the morning, very exciting, a very very successful expedition in my opinion, and for me it was a unique opportunity go back to Everest again for the 11th time and to climb with friends such as Peter Whittaker, Melisa Arnott, Dave Hahn, Jake Norton, and to be a part of this launch of the brand First Ascent from Eddie Bauer.

The cool part of this was we spent the last year and a half designing and developing from the ground up the products that we wore, the clothing, the tents, packs and the ultimate test and the ultimate showcase for us was to go as a team, as a design team, as a climbing team, to Mount Everest and use the products we developed. We all had a wealth of experience n the mountains, we knew what we wanted, we knew what we didn’t ’want and that’s what we ended up with the products we got to develop, everything you wanted, nothing that you don’t, that was the whole idea behind this all. You know I talked about previously not gong back to Everest or probably not going back to Everest but this was an opportunity I felt I couldn’t pass up.

Ed Viesturs Calls from Pheriche to Review his Summit Strategy

Ed Viesturs — Thu, 21 May 2009 08:57:15 -0700

Hi everyone, it’s Ed Viesturs calling from Pheriche. I’m one day’s walk down valley from Everest base camp on my way to Kathmandu and on the way home. It was kind of nice to get out of base camp and start heading home and I know there’s a lot of questioning now about why and when I decided to use supplemental oxygen. And again, my decision was based on safety and team unity, safety on my behalf and also the anxiety level of my team mates for me going out ahead and being on my own.

I started thinking about this quite a bit when I first arrived at the South Col, it was very cold, very windy up high and I started to contemplate the risks of climbing in those conditions without supplement oxygen. The risks are definitely increased when you climb without supplemental oxygen especially when it’s very very cold and very very windy. I would have had to leave the South Col at least an hour or perhaps two ahead of my team calculating that they may have caught up to me somehow during the day as I would probably have been climbing slower. So I would have been separated from my team, they would have been probably a little worried about me, and I would have been a little bit worried about myself as well especially in those cold and windy conditions.

Photos from Summit Bid

peterp — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:14:33 -0700

The photograhers of the First Ascent Everst Expedition have sent photos of Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker's recent summit bid, one where the climbers were forced to spend an extra night in the death zone at the South Col, but one which ultimately ended in success. Ed Viesturs, who wanted to repeat his feat of climbing Everest again without oxygen, decided for the safety of the team to use supplemental oxygen on this climb.

Ed Viesturs Reports He Did Use Supplemental Oxygen on the Ascent

Ed Viesturs — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:49:05 -0700

Yeah, Hi Peter, just one more item that I needed to clarify.

Hey everybody, I just wanted to let you know as well that something I didn’t mention right off the bat was I did make my ascent using supplemental oxygen. I kinda came to that decision after we had … 6000 feet, and knowing that the next day would be rather cold and windy, as a safety issue I felt it would be better to stay with the team and use supplemental oxygen. So it was more based on safety, and sticking with my group. So I kind of compromised my ascent but it still worked out well. And thankfully the oxygen kept all of us warmer during our ascent and made our climb a little bit faster. So that’s the way it goes. Sorry I forgot to mention that earlier. I did want to iterate that today as I pulled my thoughts together after the climb. So, thanks for that.

Descent to Base Camp - Part 3

Ed Viesturs — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:25:30 -0700

Yeah, so, my plan is to leave base camp tomorrow, the 21st, and if I can connect all the logistical dots that I’ve put into place I hope to be home Sunday May 24th. I’m pretty excited about that. I get to be home with my family, which is my number one priority now, to get going.

Dave Hahn and his group will be climbing from Camp II tomorrow and they hope to be summiting within the next three to four days. So we wish him well. You can follow his progress and his team’s progress still on firstacents.com. So thanks for checking in. I’ll give a call or two on the way out. It might be rather uneventful and not quite as exciting as what we just went through, but thanks for following along once again on this Everest climb for Greatoutdoors.com

Descent to Base Camp - Part 2

Ed Viesturs — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:13:47 -0700

To continue, so we descended from Camp II and made it through the Icefall and arrived here at about 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon in the thick air of base camp.

So yesterday the climb went rather well. It could have been a lot better but there were a lot of people on the route. That’s just the nature of the game. I made it to the summit in 9-1/2 hours and there were a lot of places where people were stacked up climbing on the fixed ropes and unwilling to depart the fixed ropes and once I found a bottleneck of people or somebody slow ahead, what I tried to do then was climb around them, just climbing free off the fixed ropes and that’s the only way I was able to get around a lot of the people that were going a lot slower then myself and the rest of my team.

The climb, the weather was good. Yesterday we left high camp at 11:00pm. We left the Balcony, 27,500 feet, by 3:00am, which was literally half the climb. At that point it was still obviously dark and very cold. Somebody registered minus 30 degrees fahrenheit at that time there at the Balcony. And as the sun rose, the winds died a bit, it got a little warmer and by the time we got the summit it was breezy but still a very, very nice day. We could see for miles around. The descent was rather uneventful. We got down in about four hours which was quick. We were able to get out of a lot of the crowds again and get back to the South Col by 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon.

So 14 hour round trip. My seventh ascent of the mountain and more then likely my last ascent of the mountain. It was a great place to revisit, to come back to Everest, but I don’t have the desire anymore to come back and climb the mountain for the eighth time, you could say. So thanks for checking in. I’m actually departing base camp tomorrow. I’m going to end this and start over.

Descent to Base Camp - Part 1

Ed Viesturs — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:06:44 -0700

Hi Peter, it’s Ed. If I break up or go too long I’ll make a couple of calls and hopefully you can stitch this all together.

Hi everyone. It’s May 20th, 9:00pm. And fortunately, happily, thankfully, we are here at base camp. We left the South Col at Camp IV this morning at 8:00 in the morning. We had a phenomenal nights sleep. You just go close your eyes and you’re out, basically, for 8 hours after climbing Everest. We made a decision as we were descending rather then stopping at Camp II, we thought, what the heck, let’s go all the way to base camp. It was cloudy today and cooler lower so the Icefall wasn’t as threatening as it would have been on a hot, sunny day. And so we made it through, obviously, and arrived here . . . (satellite transmission failed)

Back Safely to Camp IV

Ed Viesturs — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:33:44 -0700

Hey everyone. It’s about 2:30 in the afternoon. It’s Ed Viesturs calling, Camp IV. We have returned.

We left last night at about 11:00 under beautiful skies. We had a phenomenal day. And there was some crowding on the route. We managed to pass some people, some of us better then the others, and the first group of us to reach the summit, myself not included, was Peter Whittaker on the summit at about 8:00am, Jake Norton, and John Gribber. So about a 9 hour ascent to the summit. It could have been a lot quicker had we not been dealing with traffic problems. I tried to do my best to get in and out of traffic and got to the summit about 8:30 in the morning. So it got a little blustery on top. We spent probably an hour on the summit and we got back here at Camp IV at 1:00 in the afternoon. So about a 14 hour round trip.

Conditions were good. The weather was almost perfect. You could see forever. The only drawback, in my opinion, I would say was the traffic that we had to deal with. A lot of bottlenecks, a lot of just standing around really going nowhere but that’s pretty much what you sign up for these days.

I’ll call again tomorrow. We’re going to spend the night again here at Camp IV. We’re pretty hammered, we don’t have the energy …(satellite transmission fails)

Summit Success !

GreatOutdoors.com staff — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:34:23 -0700

Relaying from FirstAscent.com, the team reached the summit at 8:00am Nepal time. All are safe. Slight plume on top, 360 degree view, and hard to find a cloud in the sky. Stay tuned. More from Ed when they descend to Camp IV.

Above the Balcony and on the way to South Summit

GreatOutdoors.com staff — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:33:45 -0700

As reported by FirstAscent.com, the team made it from the South Col to the Balcony (27,500 feet) in four hours. They are climbing strong on their way to the South Summit (28,700 feet).

Perfect Conditions Now for Summit Bid

Ed Viesturs — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:31:13 -0700

Hey everyone. It’s Ed Viesturs calling from Camp IV. It’s about 10:00pm on the 18th. And we’re about an hour away from departing. The weather’s been phenomenal. The winds have died. There’s a few slight breezes of wind here and there, but it looks to be an almost perfect night to go for the summit. We expect about an eight hour ascent to the top and anywhere from 12 to 14 hour round trip. Due to the wind and cold up higher I do not plan to make any calls along the way. It’s just going to be too hard and too time consuming and so I’m going to focus on the climb. And I’ll give you a call when we get back here to Camp IV and let you know how it all shakes out. So pretty exciting stuff. We’re just drinking some tea here and snacking a little bit, getting our gear ready and we should be climbing by 11:00pm Nepal time. Thanks for checking in and Ed Viesturs signing out for Greatoutdoors.com

Zero Visibility Stalls Summit Attempt

Ed Viesturs — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:31:31 -0700

Hey everyone. It’s Ed Viesturs calling. It’s midnight here and we’ve finally made the decision not to go, even though the winds have died somewhat. The cloud cap that started on the summit grew and it’s now basically engulfed us here at the South Col so visibility is about zero. So we decided to call it for today. We’re just going to hang out here tomorrow and make an attempt again tomorrow evening. Thanks for checking in.

At the South Col Waiting for High Winds to Abate for Summit Attempt

Ed Viesturs — Sun, 17 May 2009 06:46:48 -0700

Hi Everyone, it’s Ed Viesturs calling, May 17 about 6:45 pm. We are here at the South Col, 26,000 feet. We had a pretty blustery day, We left Camp III about a quarter to seven, all told it took us about four and a half hours to arrive here at Camp IV. The winds been picking up steadily all day. We are still hopeful though that sometime in the next several hours that the winds will die, so we are packed, we are planning to make our bid later this evening, probably around 10 or 11 o’clock tonight and were going to be in a bit of a holding pattern until then.

We don’t know if the wind is going to die enough to allow us to go, the weather report said that it should, and if it does, we’re going to be ready to go about 11 o’clock tonight And if not we’re going to wait and try again tomorrow. I plan to give you a call again once we make the final call to in a few hours. Everything is going well otherwise. We’ve got a great camp here and a great crew of very highly experienced Sherpa with us and we are hopeful that tonight we can pull this off. So I’ll give a call again in a few hours, thanks for checking in. Ed Viesturs signing out again for GreatOutdoors.com

Ed Viesturs Reviews Members of Tomorrow's Summit Team

Ed Viesturs — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:24:31 -0700

It’s Ed again, I just wanted to finish that last dispatch, just wanted to mention the team I’m climbing with now. There’s five us, Jake Norton, photographer, Gerry Moffatt, he’s on camera and producing a lot of the dispatches for First Ascent.com, John Griber, also cameraman, and Peter Whittaker will be here shortly, expedition leader, and myself. And as I mentioned earlier Melissa Arnot is now back at Camp II, nothing life threatening, just one of the myriad of illnesses that you get stuck with here while on these expeditions anywhere from stomach problems to respiratory ailments so unfortunately she will rest and recover and not be able to climb with us. But fortunately, I’m sure she will recover and be able to make another attempt in a week or so with Dave Hahn.

But all is well here. It’s actually a beautiful beautiful day here at Camp III. We are excited to move ahead to Camp IV tomorrow and keeping fingers crossed late in the evening Nepal time begin our climb hopefully to the summit of Mount Everest. Thanks again, Ed signing out.

Ed Viesturs Calls From Camp III

Ed Viesturs — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:14:46 -0700

Hi everyone, it’s Ed Viesturs calling twelve o’clock in the afternoon on May 16. I’m sitting here at Camp III, 23,700 feet, kind of a veranda you might say, just a big ledge chopped in the Lhotse Face. It’s a beautiful calm day right now, we left Camp II and seven o’clock this morning it was windy up high, little windy on the Lhotse Face, but we took our chances and we thought, you know what, we need to hit that calm weather window we are aiming for on the 18. So as we climbed higher during the day, early morning, around 9 - 9:30 the winds started to die on the Lhotse Face. It became very warm, very pleasant. It took me abut four and half hours to get here I’m sitting here waiting for the rest of the team, they are working their way up.

Unfortunately, Melissa Arnot had to turn around shortly after leaving Camp II, she has some sort of stomach problem, little bit of vomiting, not sure what it was, her plan is to recover, go down and then wait and climb with Dave Hahn’s group in about a week or so. Five of us should be here shortly, Peter Whittaker and the rest of us. We are going to settle in and hopefully tomorrow make our way to Camp IV.

We are still encouraged by the weather. It’s breezy up high, on the summit right now, I’m looking at it, but not as horrendous as it could be. So everything is well, everything is good and we’re on our way. So thanks for checking in and I’ll report again tomorrow hopefully from Camp IV. This is Ed Viesturs signing out from Camp III on Mount Everest.

Photos of Ed Viesturs Just Prior to Summit Push

peterp — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:58:45 -0700

The photographers of the First Ascent Everest Expedition send some final photos of Ed Viesturs before he and Peter Whittaker and Melissa Arnot and the rest of the team leave Advance Base Camp for their summit push.

Ed Prepares for the Climb to Camp III and Summit Bid on Sunday US Time

Ed Viesturs — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:53:33 -0700

Hi everyone, Ed Viesturs calling, it’s about 6 pm here at Camp II. We had a really nice evening last night very calm, all day was beautiful, this was a rest day here. Weather reports continue to be favorable for the several days down the road so we are right on track. We are going to be headed up to Camp III tomorrow, we will leave here about 7 in the morning and hope to get up there within four or five hours and spend the rest of the day at Camp III. So we are excited.

Everything looks good, day to day for now, the weather reports are getting more and more favorable, the winds are dying up high, we don’t hear the typical roar of the jet stream over the summit, that’s been pushed off to the north. We get a little afternoon cloud, which is pretty typical in the mountains, but there is no major system forecasted, so things are looking good. It’s a day by day kind of process for now but we are going ahead and from there on it will be step by step all the way to the summit hopefully on the 18th. I’ll call hopefully tomorrow afternoon from Camp III things look good, thanks for checking in, this is ed Viesturs calling from camp II on Everest for GreatOutdoors.com.

(Editor’s Note: Nepal is twelve hours ahead of Pacific Time, so the summit bid, if it happens as Ed predicts on the 18th, will take place on Sunday the 17th for those following in North America.)

Push for the Summit Begins

Ed Viesturs — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:43:01 -0700

Hey everyone, Ed Viesturs calling. May 14th. It’s about 1:00pm in the afternoon and the six of us climbed today from base camp to Camp II, and so here we are.

We left base camp at around 4:00 this morning and we made it up here in various hours between five and seven hours of climbing. So everyone was here by 11:00. It was very calm, beautiful day in the Cwm. And it was starting to get quite warm, actually, for those that were rolling in around lunchtime.

We’re pretty excited to be here. Also glad to have hopefully our last uphill trip through the Icefall behind us. That was our fourth trip up through the Icefall. And if all goes well we only have then one more trip to go down through the Icefall. It’s always kind of a worry factor. We climbed through there very quickly and we’re glad that it’s over with.

So we’re just hanging out now. We’re going to hang out here all day today. And we will for sure take a rest day here tomorrow. That’s very typical of climbing on this side of the mountain. We budgeted for that. We’ve included that rest day in our planning for when we hope to hit the top, as far as the weather forecast goes. But again it is very nice to be here at Camp II. And hopefully for you guys, starting to get a little bit more interesting.

So I’ll sign out for now and give you a little ring tomorrow and let you know what’s going on. It should be pretty mellow up here. The weather is very nice, very calm, very pleasant. Thanks for checking in. Ed Viesturs signing out for Greatoutdoors.com

Heading Up Tomorrow

Ed Viesturs — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:40:16 -0700

Hey everybody, it’s Ed Viesturs calling. This is the evening of May 13th. And we did yet spend another day here at base camp but tomorrow we’re heading up.

The weather has taken a change for the better, we had a really nice day today, clear skies. It’s calm and clear right now at night. I can see stars and there’s no winds up high and this morning based on the weather reports and other factors we made the decision to make the move tomorrow, the 14th, up to Camp II. Based on our schedules we hope to be making our summit push the morning of May 18th. We would leave Camp IV, our high camp, probably around anywhere between 9:00 and 11:00pm and climb through the night to reach the summit . . .(satellite transmission fails)

So the 18th hopefully will be our summit day. The weather reports look good, the winds are dying. We’re obviously very excited to get up and get this thing done. Tomorrow we go to Camp II. We have a planned rest day there the next day. And then from there we go to Camp III, to Camp IV. And then very early, or very late in the day on the 17th probably at 9:00 or 10:00 or 11:00 o’clock that night we will begin our summit attempt and hopefully reach the summit of Everest sometime during the morning of the 18th.

So thanks for hanging in there. The weathers been kind of working us over for the last few days but now is our time to go. And hopefully we can pull this off in good form. Thanks for checking in and I’ll call tomorrow from Camp II. Ed Viesturs signing out for Greatoutdoors.com.

Held Hostage by Weather

Ed Viesturs — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:50:32 -0700

Hey everybody, it’s May 12th, the evening of. Ed Viesturs calling from base camp, again. I know this is quite exciting, isn’t it? Day after day, after day, calling from base camp.

Well, it snowed all day yesterday and then it stopped about today around 10:00 in the morning. It's been a pretty decent day today. Right now I see stars up ahead so things may be on the improve. A lot of high winds still up high. We can hear them earlier in the day, but the trend, according to weather forecasts, indicate that these winds should start to diminish and that’s what everybody here at base camp now is hoping for.

A small group attempted a summit climb on the 11th, or the 10th. That didn’t happen because of high winds. So nobody is really able to do anything at this point. We’re all kind of held hostage right now by the weather. So I’m very hopeful. Every day goes by and every day I’m anxious to get going and get up this thing. Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day and with good indications we may hopefully, as a team, be heading back up on the 14th. And I will know more tomorrow morning, the 13th, after we get our weather report.

So thanks for hanging in there. Things hopefully will get a little bit more interesting. Hopefully in the next few days. This is driving all of us crazy, as well, me especially. I can’t wait to get back up on this thing in some good weather. So thanks for checking in. Ed Viesturs signing out for Greatoutdoors.com

Video from Everest: Ed Viesturs Describes the Frustration of Waiting

peterp — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:15:55 -0700

Ed Viesturs, the GreatOutdoors.com Everest correspondent who is attempting to reach the top of Everest for the seventh time--without using supplemental oxygen--talks about the frustrations of waiting for good weather, and the possibility that will put them in a huge traffic jam to the top.

Ed Climbs Kala Pattar as He Waits for Better Weather

Ed Viesturs — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:06:00 -0700

Ed Viesturs here, just trying to finish that call, we’re having a bit of weather, a low pressure incident here, it’s been snowing since about noon, very lightly though, and it’s about 8:30 right now, that’s making it a little harder to get the satellites. But as I mentioned we’re still hoping and planning to go up on the twelfth.

Looks like the weather is going to start to break and the winds are going to start dying and we want to be on the front end of that. We should know more tomorrow. Sorry for all these relatively boring dispatches from base camp. I did manage to go down valley today and climb Kala Pattar.

It was about a three hour round trip and for me it was just kind of a get up and get going, and move the legs, and do a workout, I’ve been trying to do that almost every day while we’ve been here rather than just hanging out So looking forward to calling tomorrow hopefully with some better weather reports and some hopeful outcome that we’re going to be heading back up and get this thing over with. So thanks for checking in, this is Ed Viesturs signing off for GreatOutdoors.com.

Video from Everest: Viesturs and Team Mates Talk Strategy

peterp — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:10:53 -0700

Ed Viesturs, Melissa Arnot and Peter Whittaker describe the frustrations of waiting at Base Camp for the jet stream to move off the top of Everest so they can plan a summit bid schedule. It's all up to the weather man now for Viesturs and the other members of the First Ascent Everest Expedition.

High Winds Mean More Delay

Ed Viesturs — Sat, 09 May 2009 08:50:30 -0700

Hi everyone, Ed Viesturs calling on May 9, still at Everest Base Camp, actually I am near Pumori, a peak near Camp I, I had to go out for a hike today to do something. But we’ve delayed yet again, looks like now we’ll probably go up on the 12 and as things change for the better we may go up on the 11.

Today is one of the windiest days we’ve seen up high, large plumes of snow blowing off of Everest and Nuptse and very obviously not a good day to be up on the mountain. Winds are predicted to be high for the next couple of days and then tapering somewhat, with low confidence as far as the weather reporting goes. So we kind of have to play it by ear but I think we are going to be headed up on the 12 and go to Camp II and hang out there and hope we can squeak it in when the winds die.

So it’s part of the game we play here on Everest, it is very unique that this is the how you do it, and these expeditions tend to drag on and get long at this time of the expedition, but it’s still early May so we do have some time but we on our team are all anxious to get going and get to the top of this beautiful mountain. So thanks for checking in I’ll call again tomorrow. Ed Viesturs signing off for GreatOutdoors.com.

Video from Everest: Fatal Avalanche in Icefall Casts Pall Over Base Camp

peterp — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:33:05 -0700

A threatening line of unstable seracs finally collapsed into the Icefall on May 7, taking the life of a Sherpa climber, and putting many others at risk. Dave Hahn, one of Ed Viesturs team mates on the First Ascent Everest Expedition, explains what happened.