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#23235 - 04/25/12 12:30 AM
Re: All the best, K-dub!
[Re: Steve C]
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WHA member
Registered: 09/22/09
Posts: 3866
Loc: Fresno, CA
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I posted a comment on Kurt's blog that we are watching his progress here on WhitneyZone. And today he sent this email: Hey Steve,
Greetings from Everest Base Camp! Thanks for following along and thanks for sharing it on the WZ. The Internet is so slow here I can't get on the WWW but I've so far managed to get pictures sent to Bishop that they can share. We're resting for a couple days before going back up to try to reach C3 at 24,300'.
I hope you're well.
All the best,
Kurt Just amazing that he can send an email while sitting in a tent at 17,598' elevation. http://sierramountaineering.com/blog/ April 19: Kancha Nuru Sherpa near the top of the Khumbu Icefall
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#23326 - 04/26/12 05:03 PM
Re: All the best, K-dub!
[Re: Steve C]
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WHA member
Registered: 08/14/10
Posts: 468
Loc: OrangeCounty
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Hey Everyone, I just read a post on Kurt and Fred's journal, written by ' Tater '.
Tater's post reads as follows:tater April 26th, 2012 at 03:24 FYI to SMI Groupies Theres a nice article on http://www.explorersweb.com/ by Bandar from IMG that mentions Kurt and Fred. It's entitled "Day 29-31 R&R, oxygen and internet at Gorek Shep". Bandar notes Kurt and Fred walked down and also shows some photos of the o2 bottles and tents. FYI, I just tried to find the article Tater referred to in his post, but I'm not having any luck accessing the article. If anyone can post a link that might work for me in this thread I'd sure appreciate it.
L-A-R 
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#23395 - 04/29/12 01:09 PM
Re: All the best, K-dub!
[Re: 2600fromatari]
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Registered: 10/07/09
Posts: 1578
Loc: Fresno, CA
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Just went out to my garage. Guess what I found! Everest-expedition-quality climbing gear! Now to trim some palm fronds.
_________________________
Adventurum veris sub ubi albus nihil. - Ipsi dixit MCMLXXII
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#24027 - 05/16/12 08:38 AM
Re: All the best, K-dub!
[Re: lynn-a-roo]
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WHA member
Registered: 09/24/09
Posts: 692
Loc: Blacklick, OH (formerly SoCal)
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John O'Meara, who is our local Metro Parks Executive Director here in Central Ohio, is part of an IMG-guided team making an Everest summit attempt around the same time as Kurt (and on the same overall permit, as I understand it). This will be John's first Everest summit, if successful. He has already done Whitney and Aconcagua -- the two I can remember from among the other major peaks he has done. John's assistant, e-mailed us this morning with the latest from one of John's teammates' blog, dated late May 14 (Everest time): John and his teammates have begun the push to the summit and are resting at Camp 2 and if all goes well, hope to summit on Saturday (May 19). Here is a link to another of John's teammates, Bandar, who is blogging and also doing audio dispatches. http://www.explorersweb.com/bandarThe post below from Bandar tells the story of what happens to the body on the way to the summit. "The expected route for the Summit push is a bit different than the previous rotations. We plan to climb on the first day from EBC to Camp 2, without a stop at Camp 1. This should take approximately 8 hours. The next day will be a rest day at Camp 2 to hydrate and repair and then we will move to Camp 3 on day 3. Day 4 will have us leaving early in the morning to the South Col (Camp 4) where we will arrive around 12:00 PM. Camp 4 is at 8000 meters, the beginning of the "Death Zone", the altitude at which the body no longer recovers and is slowly dying. Although we will be on oxygen the whole time in the death zone, it is still a very unpleasant experience; therefore, we will leave on that same night, at approximately 9:00 PM, on our move to the summit, hoping to summit some time around sunrise. We don't expect to be able to eat or sleep at Camp 4; it is just too hard given the low oxygen. The summit push can take up to 18 hours, meaning that we would have been awake since leaving Camp 3, a total of almost 36 hours. It's going to be a hard, hard push.... especially with our already emaciated bodies. During the whole time we will be accompanied by our personal sherpa and will be carrying 17 lbs (8 KG) of oxygen.
Summit day is expected to burn around 15 - 18 thousand calories. Since we really can't eat up high, this will mainly be from our body's remaining fat (not very much there) and muscle. 18,000 calories is approximately 5 lbs or 2.4 KG. We will each carry 3 liters of water with us, 2 liters in plastic nalgene bottles in our down suits and 1 liter in a thermos in our packs. The goal is to drink the nalgenes first before they freeze (yes, even inside our down suits, next to our skin they freeze) and then drink the thermos. We also are carrying lots of gu type energy gels. These are barely palatable at sea level but provide quick energy. I will also mix cytomax and gatorade into my water for some calories while climbing.
We all carry in our pockets Diamox for Altitude sickness, Dexamethasone, a steroid used for treating High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) and Nifidipene for High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE), as well as immodium for lower GI issues, advil, aspirin, inhalors, etc. Preparation is key.
On the mountain will be our team of 10, plus 8 personal sherpas and 10 or more climbing sherpas doing odd jobs. Summit day is a bit hectic for everyone but I can take comfort in knowing that there will be a lot of people on the mountain were things to go wrong.
After our summit, we, ideally, will climb back down to Camp 2 (Camp 4 if we don't have the energy to get to 2), we will sleep one night and then head to EBC. After arriving at EBC we pack and get ready to go home!
It's a very mixed feeling you get during this time. Anxiety, fear of failure, excitement, and curiosity all in one. Let's hope the team is successful and none of us have to come back and go through this process again.
Bandar
14 May, 12 - 23:22"CaT
_________________________
If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it. - Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)
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#24093 - 05/17/12 01:46 PM
Re: All the best, K-dub!
[Re: lynn-a-roo]
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WHA member
Registered: 09/24/09
Posts: 692
Loc: Blacklick, OH (formerly SoCal)
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lynn-a-roo,
No need to worry. Without minimizing the obvious risks involved in doing Everest, including the death zone, they are all in good hands, and I'm sure that safety is their #1 priority. Both Kurt and his group, as well as John's guide service (IMG), are experienced mountaineers, including multiple Everest summits. They've been there preparing and acclimating for this summit since late March, and I'm sure that, without rushing, they will spend as little time in the death zone as they have to in order to safely accomplish their goal, weather permitting, and then allow sufficient time for them all to enjoy the fruits of their labor on the summit. The death zone reference is limited to what the lack of oxygen at that altitude is gradually doing to your body if you're not using oxygen. Their use of oxygen throughout that time should hold off those ill effects until they get back down to a relatively safer elevation after they summit.
CaT
_________________________
If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it. - Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)
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#24134 - 05/18/12 11:43 PM
Re: All the best, K-dub!
[Re: lynn-a-roo]
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WHA member
Registered: 10/18/10
Posts: 301
Loc: Mars
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According to a post by someone named taters on Alan Arnettes website Kurt and Fred have summited and are descending now with IMG. See link in my post above to read taters post. Looks like it. Congrats to them: http://www.mountainguides.com/everest-south12.shtmlHere is the official summit list sent to the Ministry of Tourism: Mr. Duane Kent Nelson, USA Ms. Vanessa Audi Rhys O'Brien, USA Mr. Bandar Khalio Al-Faisal, USA Mr. Andreas Polloczek, GERMANY Mr. Atte Saku Juhani Miettinen, FINLAND Ms. Lisa Amatangel, USA Mr. Justin Reese Merle, USA Mr. Rehan Dost, CANADA Ms. Catherine Neumann, CANADA Mr. James Frederick Simmons, USA
Mr. Kurt Alan Wedberg, USA Mingma Sherpa, Phortse Chhewang Lendu Sherpa, Phortse Mingma Tenjin Sherpa, Phortse Chhiring Sherpa, Sangkhuwasava Tenjing Gyalzen Sherpa, Phortse Mingma Dorjee Sherpa, Phortse Kanchha Nuru Sherpa, Phortse Mingma Tenzing Sherpa, Phortse Pemba Sherpa, Phortse Chheten Dorji Sherpa, Pangboche Finjo Dorjee Sherpa, Pangboche —Eric Simonson, IMG Partner
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