The Plan

Today is day 4 and is a complete rest day. No hiking, just organizing gear and perhaps reading a book. Tomorrow we continue moving up valley.

So, what’s the plan? Typically, people summit Everest the last two weeks of May. The goal is to go as late into the spring as possible for warmer temperatures, but also to get off the mountain before the Monsoon arrives in the beginning of June (“Monsoon” means a change in weather pattern. In this case the NE winds switch to southerly winds, bringing heavy moisture up from the Indian Ocean. Although every year is different – after all, this is weather that we’re talking about – typically, the Monsoon lasts from June through mid-September).

So the goal is to be ready to climb Mt Everest during the last two weeks of May. To get ready for the ascent, I have to acclimatize. That’s why I’m here so early. It takes a solid month, if not more. I’m writing you from an elevation of 11,300’. Tomorrow I’ll go higher and likely won’t breathe such thick air again until after my summit attempt.

I have chosen to take a meandering trek to basecamp. I’m not in a hurry and this place is stunning. So tomorrow I will veer off the main 33 mile path to Everest Base Camp (EBC) and head up a different valley. Eventually I’ll go over a 17000’ pass and reunite with the main drag to EBC. If the weather allows, and health allows, I’ll arrive at EBC on the 19th of April (which I think is day 12 or 13).

EBC is at about 17,000’. The standard way of acclimatizing above EBC is to do three rotations up through the Khumbu Icefall. Rotation one is to go up to Camp 1, tag Camp 2 at 20,000’, and then descend to basecamp. Rotation two is to go up to Camp 2, tag camp 3 at 23000’, and then descend back to basecamp. Rotation three is the summit attempt and is 5 days: you sleep at camp 2, camp 3 and camp 4, go for the summit and descend to camp 2, and then out. I will be using supplemental Oxygen at camp 3 and above.

The Khumbu Icefall is the famous bottleneck on this side of the mountain. It’s basically a waterfall of frozen ice. Climbers don’t normally go through such an icefall, but there’s no reasonable way to avoid it on the Nepal side. It’s not realistic for climbers to just shoulder a weeks worth of food and gear and climb through it. It’s just too difficult, tedious and dangerous. Instead, from the very beginning, expeditions have fixed ropes and ladders through the icefall. This process can take weeks, but once the route is in, then climbers can move up and down through the icefall in only a matter of hours. In the old days, individual expeditions fixed the route themselves. Nowadays, all the expeditions collectively hire a company called “The Icefall Doctors”, and this company of Sherpas creates and maintains the route. As I write this the Icefall Doctors have not yet reached camp 1, but that’s not a concern. My understanding is that they normally have the route open to camp 1 by around mid April.

Incidentally, I only know this from Alan Annette’s YouTube blog. Nobody down here has any inside information.

https://youtu.be/nBOxqvGMZ7Y?si=ZpXpgJoNqinL2kZN

If you watch his weekly blog, you’ll probably know more about what’s happening on Everest than I will.

I’m choosing to skip the first rotation through the Icefall. Instead, I’ll attempt at least one and perhaps 2 trekking peaks that are both about the same elevation as Camp 2 (20,000’). The peaks are Lobuche East and Pokalde. I’ve not climbed either. In the last week of April the plan is to walk down valley to their base, and give it a go. I love to explore and this is just a way to mix it up. Interestingly enough, a good friend of mine says that I’m making a mistake. He rightly says that I’ll never see anything like the Khumbu Icefall ever again, and that it’s interesting to see how much it changes over the course of a month. He might be right. Ask me when the expedition is over. However, I’ll still get to go up and down through it twice.

So, that’s the plan. We’ll see if we pull it off. My return flight is May 31st. Conceivably I could be back a few days earlier or later, but no need to worry about that now.

Cheers