Stories Category: Expeditions

Reflections on the trying circumstances of the 12th Everest expedition of Himalayan Ascent

The 12th expedition of Himalayan Ascent on Mount Everest was a mixed season of personal bests peppered with challenges. As we reflect on the highs and lows of this season, we remain proud of our commitment to safety and teamwork, even in the face of adversity.

Smooth Beginnings and Strong Team Spirit: With excitement and anticipation, we kicked off our expedition with a formidable team consisting of 10 clients, 8 of whom aimed to conquer Everest while 2 set their sights on Lhotse. The group also included 2 climbing without supplemental oxygen. We were well-prepared to take on the world’s highest peak with our experienced team of 12 Sherpas.

Weather Woes and Rescue Missions: After a smooth start, the weather began to play tricks on us during our second rotation. Unpredictable conditions and unfavourable forecasts forced us to make difficult decisions. Our priority shifted from reaching the summit to ensuring the safety of our team members. We had to conduct rescue missions for 2 Sherpa guides from above Camp 2 and base camp. These unexpected events served as poignant reminders of the inherent risks of mountaineering.

When the much-awaited summit weather window finally arrived, we faced yet another unexpected hurdle. Half of our clients, disheartened by the crowds and their experience on the Lhotse face, made the difficult and personal choice to abandon their summit bids. Although they didn’t reach the summit, personal bests were still achieved during a very busy Everest season.

Persistence and Teamwork: Undeterred by the challenges, the remaining team members, along with our dedicated guide, embarked on their summit push on the 22nd of April. However, extreme cold temperatures forced them to turn around at the Balcony. Although we did not stand atop the summit this season, we take immense pride in our commitment to never leave anyone behind.

The Value of Safety and Client Care: Himalayan Ascent has always prioritized safety and client well-being, and this season was no exception. We are proud to have maintained our impeccable record of not losing a single client since our establishment. Our ethos of prioritizing human lives over personal achievements continues to guide us as we learn valuable lessons from this challenging season. We recognize the importance of adapting to unpredictable weather patterns and carefully managing our clients’ expectations. With a commitment to continuous improvement, we aim to make the upcoming seasons safer and more rewarding for all.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our clients, Sherpas, and the entire Himalayan Ascent team for their unwavering spirit throughout this trying season. Planning for our 13th Everest expedition is already underway based on team safety and the preservation of this awe-inspiring mountain.

 

 

Everest 2020 & Covid-19

In light of the coronavirus pandemic situation across the globe, on 13thMarch 2020 the Nepal government has closed its borders to visitors until 30thApril 2020. Effectively this has halted tourism for the coming Spring 2020 season, including all mountaineering expeditions and trekking trips.

 

Whilst we understand the actions taken by the government to protect the general Nepal population, unfortunately many who rely on the Spring season income for their livelihood will go without this year. We are saddened by the impact the closure will have across the tourism sector in Nepal, but in particular the impact this will have on expedition and trekking staff that are the cogs and gears behind all Nepal adventures. We are working to reduce the financial impact for some of our staff.

 

This is a difficult and stressful time for everyone, we wish you good health over the coming few months as this pandemic runs its course. We look forward to partnering with you again when Nepal reopens for business. We’ll be ready to hit the trails and peaks strong!

End of Spring 2017 wrap up and new beginnings….

Himalayan Ascent and EverestOne shared a great season this past Spring. Sharon Cohrs led a trek to Everest base camp and Allan Cohrs (EverestOne) led a successful expedition on Lhotse. Allan and Raul summited Lhotse on 16th May following the summit rope fixing team. We also had a summit on Everest and climbs on Lobuche so all round a brilliant start to 2017.

The autumn season will start in no time with off the beaten treks in Mustang, Annapurna and a charity treks in the lower and upper parts of the Khumbhu. We also have plans for climbs on Ama Dablam and Mera peak.

New beginnings for us….after 8 years working together as Himalayan Ascent and countless more years before we started this adventure together…Lakpa has now moved onto another business and has left Himalayan Ascent. We wish him well as he pursues his other endeavours. I am sure we will work together again if the opportunity arises. This leaves Himalayan Ascent as now a family owned business of Sumit Joshi and Sabita Rana, and we look forward to continuing to support your adventures in the Himalayas in the future.

Photo Gallery

 

Everest team at South col, ready for the summit

The team are on their summit push and are currently resting at C4 (South col). It was windy at C3 last night and they did well to reach the South col in good time this morning. We are an 11 person team, 4 clients and 7 Sherpa guides. Weather being all good they will start at 9pm tonight for a summit in the early morning.

Another year of new challenges in the Himalayas

Here at Himalayan Ascent, we are gearing up for another exciting Spring season. The boys are busy shopping, packing….and repacking as we squeeze equipment and food into sacks for flights heading east.

This season Lakpa is leading an expedition on Kanchenjunga (8586m), the 3rd highest mountain in the world, which is located between the borders of Nepal and India in the east. Not many people attempt this mountain so Lakpa and his team will enjoy some solitude on the expedition. In contrast, Sumit will be back in the thick of Everest and Lhotse fever starting in early April to manage operations. Allan Cohrs (Everest One) will lead the climb on Lhotse, Dendi Sherpa will lead the Everest climb and Sharon Cohrs (Everest One) will lead an Everest base camp trekking group.

It’s going to be an awesome season, we can’t wait to get started.

Ama Dablam season underway, and generous Dendi and Ankaji supporters

This week we kick off our Ama Dablam season. For some it’s a time to take care of unfinished business, for others it’s a new challenge to climb the jewel of the Khumbu. For us at Himalayan Ascent, the expedition marks our final adventure for 2015…it’s been a long year, we’re looking forward to ending it on a high.

The April earthquake literally rocked our Spring season, at the time Lakpa was leading an Annapurna expedition and Sumit was trekking in the Khumbu. Although their teams were safe, sadly HA’s head expedition cook, Rabin, lost his brother at Everest base camp. Maila was a much loved assistant cook and had worked on numerous HA expeditions in the past. Lakpa and Sumit were both active in the post earthquake emergency period distributing shelter materials, food and clothes. To anyone who supported our relief work, a very big thank you!! We still have an ongoing project supporting a school rebuild in Gorkha (epicentre of the earthquake) and Rabin is still working to rebuild his village in Dolakha. Contact us for further information.

Autumn started with several treks and climbs around the Khumbu, most notable being an expedition on Pumori. Lakpa is leading our expedition on Ama dablam this year, and is currently trekking to base camp.

Our Ama Dablam season was cut short early last year in the accident of HA guide, Dendi Sherpa or “Long Man”. A year has passed since we lost Dendi, but today at Lukla before he left for Ama dablam, Paul Hoskinson delivered some great news to Dendi’s wife. Touched by memories of Dendi at Ama Dablam in 2013, Paul has organised with the Juniper Foundation to sponsor the education of all four of Dendi’s children!

Here in Kathmandu, there was more kindness and generosity shared from Yolande Wildschut and Bert Vissers. In September this year, Yolande and Bert completed an epic 16 day 1609 km biking trip from their home in the Netherlands to France, a fundraising initiative called “Moving mountains for Ankaji and the Nepalese Sherpa community”. They raised an amazing 6000 EUR for Ankaji’s surviving children and for the HA welfare fund to be given to Sherpa communities and families in need of support. Yolande and Bert were inspired to do something after the passing of Ankaji during the 2014 Everest icefall avalanche and 2015 Nepal earthquake. During a Dutch North col expedition on Everest in 2005, Ankaji rescued and saved the life of their friend, Rik Jan. We were not surprised to hear about Ankaji’s heroic act, he was truly an amazing person and guide. Please enjoy photos from Yolande’s and Bert’s inspirational journey for his family and Sherpas in need.

Dendi Sherpa, our long man

The danger of falling ice is high on Ama Dablam, yet still the accident was unpredicted and has taken us all by surprise. Climbing fast at 3am before light reduces the risk of falling ice. In the darkness, the climbers didn’t see or hear the moving ice.

This post was meant to highlight our successes of the past few months on Cho Oyu and Mera. However, a recent event has forever marred our happiness in the death of Dendi Sherpa. Early morning on November 3rd, Dendi was guiding a strong Swiss team of three on their summit bid on Ama Dablam. They started from Camp 2 at midnight and had passed Camp 3 by 3am. Shortly after this time, the team was hit by falling ice.

Dendi was in front and sadly he was hit directly. A rescue was conducted at the earliest opportunity to evacuate the surviving Swiss climbers. Hans Rudolf climbing behind Dendi sustained injuries to his pelvis and he’s currently recovering in Kathmandu. The other two Swiss climbers, Catherine Martinson and Thomas Martinson, were generally unharmed and are relocated in Kathmandu.

The danger of falling ice is high on Ama Dablam, yet still the accident was unpredicted and has taken us all by surprise. Climbing fast at 3am before light reduces the risk of falling ice. In the darkness, the climbers didn’t see or hear the moving ice. Just the day prior under windier conditions, 18 climbers summited the mountain so climbing conditions were reasonable. However, we can’t over analyse the accident. We can only accept that accidents do happen, but it pains us that this time our brother and friend beared the brunt.

Dendi Sherpa was 29 years old from the Jubing village close to Lukla. Fondly known as “long man” due to his unusual height, he had a characteristic shy gold glinted smile. Dendi was a strong climber, a good guide and was a core member of Himalayan Ascent. His ascents included Everest, Cho Oyu , and Ama Dablam. In recent years, Dendi was looking to improve himself beyond climbing and was taking adult education classes off season to finish his high school qualification. He wanted to provide more for his surviving family of wife and 4 young children (3 sons and 1 daughter between ages 1.5 and 8 years).

We have cancelled our remaining expeditions on Ama dablam. Lakpa has recently returned from Dendi’s village where funeral services have begun. Since the accident, we have been touched by stories from past clients remembering our beloved “long man”. Thank you for sharing your memories. If you would like to contribute support to Dendi’s family, please contact us at sumit@himalayanascent.com

Makalu team back at base camp 9AM

Despite mild wind weather predictions, strong winds prevented the Makalu team from reaching Camp 3 on the 15th. Camp 3 sits on the Makalu la, a pass or saddle that is exposed to winds.

We heard reports of some teams already at Camp 3 who were unable to leave their tents, and other braver teams who managed to push pass the winds to climb to Camp 4 that day. Kudos to them!! Having now missed the 17th-18th summit window, Lakpa, Chris, Vance, Ngima and Galden are back in base camp to wait for the next oppportunity.

Closure on a black Everest season 8PM

I am back in Kathmandu and am relieved to leave behind another tumultuous Everest season.

Although I am excited to be safely home to my pregnant wife, I am deeply saddened that Ankaji’s children and 15 other families don’t have a father to welcome home this time. What grieves me more as I reconnect to the international coverage of the accident is that there are now reports circulating of a malicious group of Sherpas threatening and intimidating other climbers.

Curiously my name appears in one report as a leader of such a campaign. As with a year ago on Everest, yet again I find myself in a position needing to put forth a version of events as I experienced.

Everest team is going home 12PM

After days of uncertainty and unrest at Everest base camp, the Himalayan Ascent team can finally officially announcement that they’re going home. Our guides had already decided to quit the expedition following the loss of our friends and teammates last Friday, but due to the growing movement to demand more protection and rights from the government, we waited it out to support our fellow guides.

This morning a party of government officials and various association members met at base camp to discuss the demands raised by the guides last Sunday. They have unofficially announced to waiver permit fees for climbers who want to return within 5 years to attempt Everest again, but they haven’t officially closed the mountain to expeditions. However, this now does open the door for foreign climbers to exit 2014 and to return again with less financial losses to them. Perhaps opportune, this decision by the government may have been invoked after seeing an avalanche occur again directly at the same spot as last Friday. We assume this event may have realised to them the true risks involved if they continued to push the guides to press on with expeditions.

Our Everest climbers have already dispersed to climb Island Peak and Lobuche East, and Ed Marzec is returning to Kathmandu today. Tomorrow we will begin packing up and will start heading down from Saturday.

After supporting arrangements for Ankaji’s funeral, Lakpa has returned to Makalu base camp to continue the expedition on Makalu. Chris Burke and Vance Cook are acclimatising around base camp already.

Tomorrow Jangbu will return to Lukla with Allan and Sharon Cohrs, and Bobby Bajram. Bobby suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and is on a quest with EverestOne to climb Everest in the future. For now, he’s here to experience the beauty of the Khumbu and to climb Island Peak. Check out http://www.everestone.com.au for more details about this journey.