‘Super Sherpa’ plans Everest return

KATHMANDU,  The Nepalese “Super Sherpa” who conquered Mount Everest for a record 19th time said on Monday he wanted to climb the world’s highest peak again in his campaign to raise environmental awareness.

    Apa Sherpa, 49, returned to Kathmandu after reaching the summit on May 21 when he broke his own record for the number of successful attempts on the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) mountain.

    The expedition he led was designed to highlight the damage that global warming has done to Everest and also to pick up rubbish discarded by previous climbers.

    “I have no plans of announcing a retirement,” Apa told reporters at Kathmandu airport as well-wishers greeted him with Buddhist scarves.

    “I am willing to climb to clean up Everest the next year as well. I saw that the glaciers on the Everest are retreating. It made me worried.

    When on the summit last week, Apa furled a banner that read: “Stop Climate Change, Let the Himalayas Live!”

    Apa said his expedition team has collected five tonnes of litter as part of their efforts to return the mountain to a pristine condition.

    “We have only one Everest so we should all work together in keeping the mountain environment clean,” he said.

    The trash included parts of a crashed helicopter, old ropes and tents, ladders, metal cans and climbing gear.

    “There is still lots of garbage up there and I want to bring it down,” he said.

    Apa, who bagged his first Everest summit in 1990, started his mountaineering career as a porter in his early teens.

    His latest successful climb coincided with that of British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who reached the summit on his third attempt.

    More than 100 climbers have already made it to the top this spring season, in which 29 expedition teams are in action, mountaineering officials said.

    Since it was first climbed in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the mountain has been conquered more than 3,000 times.

Spaniard nears being first woman to climb 14 highest mountains

MADRID, May 18, 2009 (AFP)

Spaniard Edurne Pasaban on Monday moved closer to becoming the first woman to climb 14 of the world’s highest mountains after scaling Mount Kangchenjunga on the border between Nepal and India.

    The 35-year-old reached the top of the mountain, the world’s third-highest with an elevation of 8,586 metres (28,169 ft), with a group of Spanish climbers, her team said in a statement.

    The Basque climber is the first woman to climb 12 peaks that reach 8,000 metres above sea level, including the world’s two highest mountains, Everest and K2. 

    She is competing against Austria’s Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, 38, and Italy’s Nives Meroi, 47, to become the first woman to climb all 14 “eight-thousanders”.

    Pasaban, who began her bid to make history in 2001, still must climb Annapurna and Shisi Pangma to meet her goal.

    Kaltenbrunner and Meroi have so far climbed 11 of the 14 summits. 

    Meroi, who was also on the slopes of Kangchenjunga, said Monday on her Internet site that she was abandoning her attempt to climb the mountain due to the exhaustion of her climbing companion, Romano Benet.

    

The Italian still must climb mount Makalu and Annapurna in addition to Kangchenjunga in order to make history.

    Kaltenbrunner, meanwhile, is currently climbing mount Lhotse and she still must climb Everest and K2.

    

An Italian, Reinhold Messner, became the first man to climb all 14 summits in 1986.

    The first successful ascent of an “eight-thousander” was by a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal who reached the summit of Annapurna on June 3, 1950.

    

The 14 summits are all located in the Himalayan (8 in Nepal) and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia.

Ice fall blocks Everest route

KATHMANDU (Nepal) - AN ICE collapse near the base of Mount Everest has blocked the route of scores of climbers hoping to scale the world's highest peak, officials said on Thursday.

No one was reported injured in the ice collapse on Wednesday but the route has been blocked for
a few days, said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

The section of the route called the Khumbu Icefall just above the base camp is one of the riskiest areas on the way to Everest's summit.

The ice collapse destroyed the path set by climbers and their Sherpa guides using aluminium ladders and ropes to move over the crevasses and shaky ice chunks.

Mr Tshering said it was lucky that no one was hurt since hundreds of climbers and their porters pass through the route at this time of year carrying equipment and supplies from the base camp to camps set up along the side of the mountain.

The spring climbing season is the most popular time to scale mountains in Nepal. Weather conditions generally remain calm for several days in May, giving climbers a window to hastily make their way to the summits and then retreat to safer altitudes.

A total of 65 teams have been given permission by Nepal's government to climb various mountains during the season. Of them, 25 teams are attempting Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters).

The Straits Times

Sherpa siblings eye for new Everest record

By Binaj Gurbacharya for The Associated Press

Between the three of them, the Sherpa brothers have climbed Mount Everest 16 times. The eldest raced up the world's highest mountain in eight hours and 10 minutes, the record for the fastest-ever ascent.

Now, the trio want to scale Everest together, and they aim to break the record for time spent at the summit, known as "the death zone," by staying at the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) peak for 24 hours. Most climbers linger there for only a few minutes, just long enough to take a photograph from the top of the world.

"It is going to be difficult but I know we can do it," said Pemba Dorje, 31, the oldest brother. "I feel safer on the mountain trail than on the city streets."

Dorje and his brothers, Nima Gyalzen, 23, and Phurba Tenzing, 20, hail from a family of climbers, and grew up in the foothills of the Himalayas. They have each worked many times as Sherpas, or mountain guides known for their knowledge and endurance.

For their trip together, which they begin Saturday, they plan to guide foreign climbers and share their permit to cut down on the hefty expenses, which can run as high as $70,000 per team. They hope to reach the summit by mid-May.

They also plan to take along with them icons from Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam to leave at the mountain's peak.

"We will take these items to the summit and pray for world peace," Dorje said.
The brothers know all too well the dangers they face.

They have seen many climbers get sick at the summit, and in 2007 Dorje saw a Japanese man die just minutes after reaching the top.

The extreme cold weather, low air pressure, brain-starving low level of oxygen, high winds and blizzard conditions will hardly allow the brothers to sleep.

Babu Chhiri, a veteran mountaineer who died in 2001 during an expedition, spent 21 hours at the summit in 1999 — the current record — and later said he was afraid if he slept, he would not wake up.

Dorje said he has spent significant time in past expeditions in heights above 26,000 feet (8,000 meters) and he and his brothers are prepared for the harsh conditions.

"We are going to be praying a lot, taking notes of the changing temperatures and the effect it has on the human bodies," he said.

Amid his preparations in Katmandu, Dorje said he was not scared. "I am not afraid to die on the mountains."