Mount Everest 2025

Nine people died trying to summit Everest in 2024.

Alan Arnette's 2025 blog. Ropes have been fixed up to Camp Two.

Green boots!

More new rules:

All climbers are also mandated to carry advanced satellite tracking devices during their ascent, so teams on the ground can track their movements in real time

The new bill also mandates that all guides, including Sherpas, must be Nepali.

Dead body management insurance will also be required by climbers… Climbers and Sherpas are also required to carry policies for accidents, health, and search and rescue; all policies mandated must cover at least three months' insurance per individual.

A $4,000 refundable garbage deposit with a non-refundable garbage fee will be collected at the time of permit issuance. In order to get that deposit back, climbers are required to bring their ‘human waste bags’ back to Base Camp after their climb, in addition to bringing back a minimum of 18 pounds of waste to reclaim their deposit.

the new laws prohibit expensive and luxury glamping equipment, such as see-through dome tents with all the luxuries of home, to full-service dining and entertainment areas for the 2025 climbing season and future seasons

Heli-jumping” is also prohibited as of this season

Costs for permit fees to climb Mount Everest in 2025 are set to increase by 36% on September 1, 2025, from $11,000 per person to $15,000.

^ oops, some overlap with OP. IIRC, the tracking devices issued last year were very low quality. Also new rules are issued every year but enforcement is spotty. The glamping one is already ignored if you read AA’s blog.

⛰️ 🧊 ☠️ 🤡

The climbing season threads have been the most unexpected of surprises on DL. Hilarious, informative, and of course at times DL catty and bitchy.

[QUOTE] The new bill also mandates that all guides, including Sherpas, must be Nepali.

This is a terrible idea. A lot of them don't know what the hell they're doing.

'A $4,000 refundable garbage deposit with a non-refundable garbage fee will be collected at the time of permit issuance.'

Most of the rich westerners will be fine losing this deposit if it means they don't have to lug their shit about.

So no western guides allowed? Can expedition leaders still be western or will that be axed next?

if there is money to be made, it belongs to the Nepalese.

I wait all year for this thread . My post Easter surprise

Good. I’m glad they are cracking down on these more money than sense idiots who endanger others with their dumb shit.

Chomolungma deserves respect.

Go get em, gal!

Having all these RULES about who can and CANNOT climb is goddamn UNAMERICAN!

More Nepalese expedition leaders means more corrupt fuckers like Nimsdai.

"I will make Nepal our 53rd state if these horrible rules aren't rescinded!"

There probably won’t be any summits until mid-May.

I did learn that people do climb at other times. Very, very few but it is possible. Autumn has more than summer or winter. I wonder what it’s like, who are they? Also all the guide ropes and ice ladders are removed after the spring season so how are they climbing?

Mount Washington in Winter is rugged enough.

BTW, if you want to see a supurb recreation of what it's like to climb Mt Washington in Winter, check out the movie Infinite Storm with Naomi Watts. I was extremely impressed, quite realistic even though it was shot in another country.

I have a friend up there now. The whole thing takes 60 days! They make them acclimate, and do practice runs on ice ladders. He’s submitted 12 high mountains, and this will be the sixth of the seven summits for him. He was supposed to go a couple years ago but ended up needing knee surgery, but he’s worked hard to get back in climbing shape. It seems terrifying to me, but he is clearly having a blast.

Summitted. Not submitted.

This experience is right up there with the Nautilus and Ladies’ Rocket Ship.

Keep us updated with how your friend does, R21. Is he wealthy?

R21's friend is the Bottom on Top of the World. I await the "Let's Be" thread about him.

[QUOTE] Bottom on Top of the World.

Love it! Updates please, R25.

I've wasted big $ and put myself in harm's way for stupid reasons, which is why I hate seeing others do it. But I also realize you can't stop someone who has something to prove and the wherewithal to do it.

When I was in Nepal I saw a video of the conquest of Everest. One dude, I think he was Australian and had a new baby, got trapped in a storm and got severe frost bite. All his fingers had to amputated, he lost a good part of his nose, and both feet. But he lived.

No, thanks.

“I've … put myself in harm's way for stupid reasons…. But I also realize you can't stop someone who has something to prove and the wherewithal to do it.”

And so begins the story of how I lay there, face down-ass up, in a bathhouse in the 90s.

He’s comfortable, as they say r24.. No kids, no current relationship, so he’s able to train hard and take all the time it requires to be ready. He’s started the climb and will be out of contact for a week. It’s 20-30 degrees in the tents at basecamp, they sleep in all of their clothes.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster:

According to a report in the Financial Times, four British mountaineers are to inhale the inert gas xenon under medical supervision after arriving in Kathmandu. They are then to be flown by helicopter to Everest Base Camp and set off straight for the summit with their Sherpas. After a three-day ascent to the summit at 8,849 meters and a one-day descent, they will return to Kathmandu by helicopter and then return home.

After a week, the Brits could be back at their desks at home. They still pay an introductory price of an undisclosed amount. In future, such a short trip to Everest will cost around 150,000 euros.

Can I still bring my cappuccino machine up?

What it’s like to cross the ice ladders. Hey you can practice at home!

Isn’t Mallory’s body still up there?

Yes, R34. The team that found him covered him with rocks. The camera never has been found.

Thanks for starting this OP!

Return to Corpse Poo Mountain

A 64 year old man died last week trying to summit the 'easy' mountain Ama Dablam.

On Everest, heavy snow has stopped progress.

The April 30 link above is worth reading.

Arnette calls out various climbers who are going for records—speed climbing without oxygen, a new route that avoids the icefall, a sherpa who wants to summit four times in 20 days, a BASE jumper going for the altitude record, and a guy who has cycled from Calais to India after swimming the Channel. The Xenon guys will be interesting too.

[QUOTE] a sherpa who wants to summit four times in 20 days

Insanity.

"YAAAAAAASSSSSS!!!!!"

Darwin's Mountain

Awards Season is coming

The OP sounds mentally deranged.

Just give me a cute Sherpa, a cozy tent at Base Camp and I’ll be fine.

The movie Everest (2015) is pretty good.

What's the point of the xenon gas?

Breathing Xenon -may- be a performance enhancer. Four former military guys have been breathing it at home and hope to arrive and summit in the space of a week. We’ll see.

Xenon gas used to be used as an anaesthetic ...

I can see this going deliciously wrong.

What is the estimated summit day?

Not OP, but fuck off, r43. I look forward to this post every year. Bring on the photos of the climbers lined up like sardines, awaiting their few minutes to take a photo on top.

The last two weeks in May will be peak climbing (heh) judging by past history, so May 15?

Mt. Everest, the mountain with the biggest tits in the world.

^^^^ we resemble that remark!

Mount Everest was created because Eurasia was an insatiable bottom.

And India is a power top!

A 39-year-old man from Chicago has died on Makalu.

High winds have slowed progress on Everest. Ropes have only been fixed up to 7000m. No summits yet.

See link and scroll down for a very interesting account of climbing from Camp 1 to Camp 3.

First summits expected later on this week.

Ropes still not fixed above South Col.

Did not realise that 25% of all Everest climbers abandoned their climb at Base Camp. What a waste of $60k.

^^^^ a fool and his money ...

A 38 year old American died in his tent of a cardiac arrest, half way up Makalu.

They die in vain.

If I were to have such an opportunity, I would be fine just staying in base camp and being near Chomolungma.

That area has some beautiful scenery (if you look past the human damage)

R21 here. My friend’s practice partial ascent was postponed for a few days, but he did just return from his Basecamp to Camp 3 round trip, without oxygen. In a few days he and his Sherpa will head all the way up to the top with oxygen.

He said ‘take one step and take two deep breaths’. Because the air contains 1/2 the oxygen than at base camp. And also noted that he went up 6 ice ladders, some as tall/long at three stories. And he is insanely happy.

Thanks for keeping us updated r64! The ice ladders sound terrifying. It’s probably a good thing that glacier is there, I am am sure it keeps away millions of people who would Otherwise want to climb.

Wishing your friend all the best.

Three. Story. Ice. Ladders.

Dear god.

[quote]R28 One dude, I think he was Australian and had a new baby, got trapped in a storm and got severe frost bite. All his fingers had to amputated, he lost a good part of his nose, and both feet.

Haha! Have fun trying to play with your baby NOW, idiot! It will shriek in terror each time it sees you!!

I don't know if this is the first summit. It's the guy r39 mentioned who swam the Channel a d cycled to India.

Wow, good for him.

Okay a climber from Ecuador was the first, summited without oxygen. 18 people have made it so far according to the AA blog.

[quote]summited without oxygen

that's nutz

The dude at r68 is sunburned to hell and back. Yikes!

Could be wind burn, too, that high up.

[quote]R28 One dude, I think he was Australian and had a new baby, got trapped in a storm and got severe frost bite. All his fingers had to amputated, he lost a good part of his nose, and both feet.

It really makes you wonder - if this new Quasimodo were your husband, would you stay with him?

A lot of it of course would rely on if he still had a nice big cock you could ride, after strapping him in his gurney so his stumps couldn’t reach/flail out and touch you. But what if that appendage had snapped off, too?

[italic]Is it desertion[/italic] … when your partner returns from a trip an impotent, maimed monster??

Here's a long article about the xenon sniffers. These guys have got rocks in their heads.

R67 R73 luckily the guy died soon after of cancer so your concerns are unfounded

[quote] One dude, I think he was Australian and had a new baby, got trapped in a storm and got severe frost bite. All his fingers had to amputated, he lost a good part of his nose, and both feet.

And then there are people who have summited 5 times unscathed. Life is just a crapshoot.

[quote]R75 luckily the guy died soon after of cancer so your concerns are unfounded

Hmpphhh….yes, well…..

[italic]settles into rocker, returns to knitting, thching to self

"Did not realise that 25% of all Everest climbers abandoned their climb at Base Camp. What a waste of $60k."

But a smart waste, if there is such a thing. Pushing on climbing Everest when you're not feeling it and not absolutely confident isn't gonna work. In way I respect that they paid THAT much money but still chose to shut it down.

It's the outdoorsy equivalent of the initiation ceremony for the Bullingdon Club only instead of burning a £50 note in front of a homeless person you burn $60 thousand in the company of a Sherpa.

Climbers should be forced to wear live streaming go-pros and we get to bet on them

R80 No, that's not at all creepy.

[quote] Did not realise that 25% of all Everest climbers abandoned their climb at Base Camp. What a waste of $60k.

Well, if they don’t have good insurance they have to worry about the medical bills for perhaps amputating all their fingers, a good part of the nose, and both feet due to frost bite.

So maybe it occurs to them the overall cost could be much more?

White ppl and their colonial ways

The first international climbers reached the top of Everest on Sunday, but that sprinkling of summiters will have to suffice for a few days. For the next several days, it will be too windy for all but the most stoic climbers. As expected, several groups set off toward the summit immediately after the Sherpa rope fixers finished their work. On Sunday, they achieved the first international summits of the season. Among them is Mitch Huntcraft, who swam, cycled, and ran from his home in the UK to Nepal over nine months. He climbed, supported by Gelje Sherpa and Yak Phuri, and summited at 7:20 am yesterday.

Jesus, two other guys have done similar swim/bicycle/run/climb without oxygen in the past. One, the Swedish guy, during the fatal year 1996. Was he mentioned in any of the documentaries/movies?

Thanks, r85. You give us a lot to work with.

Are you aiming for sarcasm r86? Because the link is right there at r84

Just wanted to recommend this new book by Melissa Arnot, the first American woman to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen.

It's very readable, brutally honest and compelling. Melissa is good looking and in her 20s had relationships with a few well known guides and expedition leaders, but admits she chose her partners carefully and made sure they could help her career!!!

[quote]R88 Just wanted to recommend this new book by Melissa Arnot, the first American woman to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen.

When Melissa Sue Anderson makes the summit, I’ll read the book.

15th May, and no westerners have died on Everest so far.

Are there usually deaths by now?

It’s not only Westerners who climb Everest.

[QUOTE] Are there usually deaths by now?

Yes, usually several.

I follow this guy and he is at Everest base camp right now:

54 summits on May 13, no fatalities.

[quote]54 summits on May 13, no fatalities.

This is a goddamn ripoff.

Three deaths but they weren't westerners. One Filipino guy in his 40s and two Nepalese workers who were taken from Base Camp by helicopter to Kathmandu and died in hospital.

And the guy at r94 has made it to the summit 18 times!

That guy from Chicago that died - he had a wife and 2 small kids. He was diagnosed with leukemia, I believe.

Now his wife is a widow and his children are fatherless.

I don't care if he had a cancer scare when he was 19 - this is all ego and adrenaline. And I doubt there's a life insurance policy to cover Mt. Everest deaths.

They make their cancer battle their whole personality - then do these stupid climbs to prove "Anyone can tackle anything - there are no limits to what you and your mind can do."

Don't know the guy - but I doubt you'd go more than a day without hearing about his training, how cancer changes your life view, and how amazing those climbs were.

Now you're dead and it's your own fault. You got saved from death and decided to put yourself into death's path time and time again. Asshole.

Around 7,300 have made the ascent - over 10,000 if you include multiple ascents.

Guess what the success rate is? 65-70%.

This is a farce. Ego-driven tourism for braggarts and assholes.

The guy that died about his leukemia diagnosis:

[quote] I'm going to beat this. I'm going to be there for my family and to watch Zephyr grow up. My story has plenty of chapters remaining. I have big dreams in life, including in the mountains, and will be more relentless and motivated than ever in the pursuit of those dreams.

R101 - like I said in a previous post - he made his cancer and these climbs his whole personality. The worst is when they deflect and say - BUT I'M DOING IT FOR CHARITY!

No you're not. You're just using that as an excuse - the amounts he's raising doesn't do jack-shit for pediatric cancer awareness or research. And I wouldn't be surprised if he used some of the donations to fund the excursion and training.

Hasn't he had enough recognition for all his previous stuff? I guarantee the phrase "As a brain cancer survivor" has passed his lips more often than Thank You.

Stuff like this just rubs me the wrong way. Literally tens of thousands of people are involved in pediatric cancer fundraising, treatment and research. None of them get many thank-yous, including the actual researchers who have made life-saving discoveries.

Yes I know I sound negative.

Anyone who heads to Everest soon after cancer treatment is bonkers. Chemo messes with your red and white blood cells. Your heart isn't strong enough to cope with the altitude.

But R103 - clearly you didn't read his post at R101. He was going to be there for his family and he's going to be more relentless and motivated than ever!

Such a fucking narcissistic post, if you ask me. #WhenDouchebagsGetCancer

The guy was deluded. Nobody goes to Everest for their 'family'. It's one of the most selfish quests anyone could undertake, given the high chance of it ending in death.

R105 - he went to raise $20,000 for CHARITY!

George Mallory may or may not have made it to the top but was he a top?

Because Andrew Irvine is secretly hidden in that trunk with his fist up Mallory's ass, I'm going to guess "bottom".

Andrew Irvine was the submissive bottom in that relationship. Followed Mallory about like a dog.

[QUOTE]I'm going to be there for my family and to watch Zephyr grow up.

The wife must be feeling an unusual mixture of grief and relief. Life insurance surely won't kick in, but she'll get a $750/mo. Social Security survivors benefit for each child unless the Trump administration scraps it. (Remember Jeanne Pirro recently screeching aloud wondering why some children and infants are on SS?)

I don't get the appeal of climbing Mount Everest at all. Can someone explain it? Even without the corpses, it's not the most beautiful place on earth. And, sure, it's the highest point on the planet, but you still had to fly to get there, know what I mean?

"Where daddy?"

"He's climbing a tall mountain to conquer death, sweetie"

Where the dead people at

Hmmm, I have questions:

- what's the point of doing it without supplemental oxygen? Simply for bragging rights?

- there must be something more to this story about the xenon. No-one is risking their life and relying on a speculative and untested method of skipping a lengthy acclimitisation by ingesting a gas simply because they can't get the time off work. Do they think they are going to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for this?

- Was it really legal to climb alone until this year? That also seems mad.

I had a former colleague (not someone I actually worked with) who died on Everest a number of years ago, leaving behind a young daughter and pregnant wife. He unclipped his safety rope to take a piss and a gust of wind blew him off the mountain. Tragedy can also be banal.

My all-time greatest physical achievement was to climb Huayna Potosi in Bolivia, I warmly recommend it to anyone wanting a more sensible challenge. At 6088 metres its peak is higher than Everest Base Camp, so you can more or less sort of argue that you got within the same ballpark. It is, however, easy enough to be done in one night, using only chocolate as an aid.

Maybe this year they will find Sandy Irvine's other foot?

Posing by remains is, we'll, a little weirdo? The poseur could still claim the right via his many witnesses, right? It's just not tacky.

[QUOTE]there must be something more to this story about the xenon. No-one is risking their life and relying on a speculative and untested method of skipping a lengthy acclimitisation by ingesting a gas simply because they can't get the time off work.

What I believe is that they believed themselves "Masters of the Universe" through their lucky birth as British aristocrats who believed themselves better ay anything they did or was within their right by birth: better looking, better strength, better cardiovascular systems.

Well, except, their intense stupidity and fallibilty as cunts willing to destabilize or destroy their young families while seeking personal "glory."

I would imagine all summiteers to be utterly obnoxious, duly informing anyone they meet that they summited at their first opportunity. And surely there must be some god awful club of summiteers who basically rizz each other up on the regular. A summiteer's circle jerk so to speak. I imagine them all to be unbearable narcissists.

"The poseur could still claim the right via his many witnesses, right?"

But then all the cunts on DL would scream "HE COULD HAVE TAKEN A PICTURE IF HE ACTUALLY FOUND THE REMAINS AND DIDN'T SO BORIS-MAGA-ANTI-STEPHEN-SONDHEIMITE-PASTA-DRAINING LIAR"

Two climbers from the same dodgy Nepalese run company, Snowy Horizon Treks, have now died:

Subrata Ghosh, a 45-year-old from West Bengal, India, has died near the summit of Everest, according to The Himalayan Times. Bodhraj Bhandari of Snowy Horizon Treks reported that Ghosh passed away just below the Hillary Step during his descent.

Yesterday, Ghosh summited at around 2 pm with his guide, Champal Tamang. But Ghosh struggled with exhaustion and symptoms of altitude sickness on the way down. According to Tamang, Ghosh refused to continue descending.

Tamang eventually reached Camp 4 late last night and relayed news of the death. Efforts to retrieve the body and transport it to Base Camp are ongoing.

This marks the second fatality among foreign climbers on Everest this season, following the death of 45-year-old Philipp Santiago II from the same expedition. Santiago died at Camp 4 on May 14 while preparing for his summit attempt. There were also two Sherpas who died in hospital after coming down with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) in Base Camp.

Santiago did not look well.

Climbing The Seven Summits trek had 30 summits on May 15. Obviously most were sherpas, but it included Emma Schwerin (USA) who broke the record as the youngest American woman to summit Everest, 17 years old, and finishing the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each continent). She is the youngest person, at age 16 to climb Antarctica’s Mount Vinson. She climbs with her father and they are the first pair to complete the Seven Summits in tandem. She’s also a licensed pilot. I’m just imagining her college applications.

Unfortunately, the dearth of Western expedition leaders means a dearth of scary authoritarian figures who can order the spoilt rich men to turn round and actually be obeyed. The Nepalese leaders don't have a hope when it comes to this.

R122, so much for Everest's new rules which state that climbers under 18 aren't illegible for a permit.

If people under 18 aren't illegible for a permit, r124, doesn't that mean the girl WAS allowed to climb?

nevermind. You meant she wasn't "eligible" for a permit. I read that as "ineligble".

The Xenon guys:

Since the first of the year, Al Karns, Garth Miller, Kevin Godlington and Anthony Stazicker have slept in home hypoxic tents that gradually lower their oxygen levels to simulate high altitudes. They flew out of LHR yesterday.

“We think probably a day of travel, then three days to go up, two days down and the last travel day…. The reality is we’ve got 21 days to do this. The record is at 21 from London back to London in 21 days, so I’m really confident. I reckon there’s a 70 to 80 percent chance we’ll do it in 21 days, a 30 percent chance we can do it in seven,” said Carns.

Austrian mountain guide Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures believes xenon therapy, a contentious technique banned in professional sports, could eliminate the need for this lengthy process. A mere 30-minute session inhaling a low dose of xenon gas reportedly stimulates red blood cell production, reducing the usual 10-week expedition to just seven days. Mr Furtenbach has already put this bold theory to the test. In 2020, Mr Furtenbach summited the 6,961-metre peak of Aconcagua in Argentina after pre-acclimatising with a dose of xenon. ‘I climbed a difficult route eight days from leaving Innsbruck, and had no problems on the summit,‘ Mr Furtenbach told the Financial Times. This company already offers several longer trek plans that include “hypoxia training”.

A lot depends on the weather of course but I wonder, when the weather is good there are bottlenecks of other climbers. Will the Xenon team be able to pass?

R64 and r22 here. My friend was unable to summit. He got a lung infection he could not beat. Four guides and six climbers in his group got it. He said he was at about 60% strength, and some even at 100% can’t make it to the top. He realized his family and friends couldn’t care less if he summitted, they wanted him back alive and safe. His goal all along has been to reach the 7 summits by age 60, and I think he only has a couple years left, with two summits to go. He got to 23,000’ on this trip, which is a new personal record.

He also wrote a big mea culpa about referring to his guide as a Sherpa. Sherpa is an ethnic group in Nepal, and the correct term is guide.

Oh, he also had to have a tooth pulled towards the beginning of the trip, so the healing from that also set him back. Truly just not meant to be.

Finally, he said he met Emma, the youngest American female to summit after she returned.

I hope your friend gets checked out by a doctor before trying to fly home.

I just can't understand the whole Everest thing. Are you impressed? Because I'm not. I immediately think asshole.

[quote]r122 Emma Schwerin (USA) broke the record as the youngest American woman to summit Everest, 17 years old, and finishing the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each continent). She is the youngest person, at age 16, to climb Antarctica’s Mount Vinson. She climbs with her father

It would be so funny if she toppled off a cliff before his very eyes!

So much for the new rule stating nobody under 18 is allowed a climbing permit. Nepal never sticks to its word.

Did she summit on the Nepalese or Chinese side?

Thanks for the update, R128. Wounds don't heal on Everest as there isn't enough oxygen in the air so having a tooth removed would have definitely set him back.

Kathmandu AP — A British mountain guide has scaled Mount Everest Sunday for the 19th time, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest mountain by a non-Sherpa guide.

Kenton Cool, 51, from southwest England, scaled the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak on Sunday, May 18, along with several other climbers and he was doing well and on way down from the summit, said Iswari Paudel of Himalayan Guides Nepal, which equipped his expedition.

Cool first climbed Mount Everest in 2004 and has been doing it almost every year since then.

[quote]R134 Wounds don't heal on Everest as there isn't enough oxygen in the air

[italic]Wounds Don’t Heal on Everest[/italic] surely must become a title someday?

Maybe for the little teen climber’s memoir, as she recalls the family pressures that urged her up and into the spotlight.

"Wounds Don’t Heal on Everest" sounds like an Oprah Book Club pick.

I’m seeing it as a tee shirt, too.

I love how all the actual Sherpas - the guides - y'know, the ones taking these foreigners up there - are not included in the ascent totals.

One Sherpa has gone up 30 times. But they also account for 1/3 of the deaths.

The whole thing is madness and a farce. 60-70% success rate.

Imagine if these hikers spent the same amount of money and time helping others instead.

Where are you looking? The climbing companies’ results I’ve seen always include the sherpa guides in their lists of summiters.

Here’s a good source for updates: an Instagram account called: everest.live_

He’s at EBC and posts every day, sometimes twice. Briefly, the Xenon guys (London to London 7 days) arrived at EBC on May 17. The weather on May 18 & 19 has been favorable for summiting, 250-300 people per day. Camp 4 is packed with people and tents. May 20 forecast is not so good, much more wind expected.

A Romanian guy climbing without oxygen had died on Lhotse.

Jeepers, 300 per day? That's like a popular village fete.

One of the guys on Team Xenon is Al Carns, a Westminster MP. I am surprised Keir Starmer is allowing him to do this. The prospect of a snap by-election is not a promising one for him right now.

Did the Xenon guys summit? They’d better get on the ball. Only a few days left to climb and catch the plane back to London.

How many dead now?

R144 - not enough.

Everest is insatiable.

Can drones fly at that altitude?

... googling ....

YES

I Died Recovering Frozen Bags of Poo from Mount Everest And All I Got Was This T-Shirt And A Bag of Poo

Great recommendation R141. Here's a link to the account which is updating a lot more regularly than Arnette is.

A cyclone is brewing which could bring the climbing season to a premature end.

Xenon guys were starting their summit push on May 17th after helicoptering into Base Camp. No news from any of them since then. Maybe the Xenon didn't work and they've all been struck down with HAPE or HACE.

[quote]R149 A cyclone is brewing which could bring the climbing season to a premature end.

Now we’re talking!

I hope all the climbers blindly (literally!) push forward… INTO THE EYE OF THE STORM : o

You've got to climb Mount Everest to reach the valley of the dolls

"I hope all the climbers blindly (literally!) push forward… INTO THE EYE OF THE STORM "

This happened in 1996. Jon Krakauer stopped in terror as he heard thunder on Everest.

Plodding slowly up the last few steps to the summit, I had the sensation of being underwater, of life moving at quarter-speed. And then I found myself atop a slender wedge of ice, adorned with a discarded oxygen cylinder and a battered aluminum survey pole, with nowhere higher to climb. A string of Buddhist prayer flags snapped furiously in the wind. Far below, down a side of the mountain I had never laid eyes on, the dry Tibetan plateau stretched to the horizon as a boundless expanse of dun-colored earth.

Reaching the top of Everest is supposed to trigger a surge of intense elation; against long odds, after all, I had just attained a goal I’d coveted since childhood. But the summit was really only the halfway point. Any impulse I might have felt toward self-congratulation was extinguished by overwhelming apprehension about the long, dangerous descent that lay ahea

- Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air

The Xenon hoes are at Camp 4!

"We have the climbers in the right position at C4 for a summit climb as soon as the conditions allow,” Furtenbach said from Base Camp. “We have access to the best weather models and meteorologist, as well as the best logistics on the mountain. We will find our window.”

Next push in two days.

Hail, Xenon!

The need to build a slide at the summit

R128 glad your friend made the correct decision! Dental procedures are a bitch, and I’m glad he lives to climb another day.

1996 Reloaded

The arrogant Xenon hoes go ahead despite storm warnings and are blasted from the mountain as they descend to Camp 4.

Have they cleaned up the shit piles? I’m not going if there are shit piles. I don’t mind the old bodies.

It's frozen shit, no odor, also non stick.

Here’s another Everest summit update website. An American pro wrestler made it.

In May 2025, the wrestler set a world record by landing a kickflip on his skateboard at 20,958 feet above sea level while climbing Mount Everest.

I actually Googled "20,958" and "kickflip." It's true, not at all an Onion-related goof take.

[QUOTE] Have they cleaned up the shit piles? I’m not going if there are shit piles.

There's always a scat queen on these Everest threads.

R163, some beautiful, ethereal photos at that link.

Woah R163, the doomed Adventure Consultants are still running expeditions thirty years after the disaster.

Xenon guys have summited and are now on their way down, but it's snowing heavily as you can see in this video ...

They didn’t wait for better weather but I suppose the other teams were waiting which meant no bottleneck.

The same update talks about another guy from NYC named Andrew Usikov who made a similar rapid ascent, leaving from NYC after doing hypoxic training, more details to come.

“ Normally, Everest climbs take 50+days, largely because of the acclimatisation period. Andrew did hypoxic training beforehand as part of his mission preparation – spending 400+hours in a hypoxic tent to help acclimatisation. Andrew started his challenge from Sea Level, starting at New York on May 15th at 00.30am and flying to Kathmandu, and then flying to Everest Base Camp. Then he and his team climbed from Base Camp and stood on the summit of Everest on May 19th date at 9.22am – meaning he completed the incredible feat in 3 days, 23 hours and 7 minutes – this sets a new benchmark…”

Okay this is not a London to London in four days type of record per the Xenon guys aim, it’s NYC to Summit in four days.

^ sorry, his name is Andrew Ushakov and his trek was called “Sea to Summit”. Not a professional climber or athlete, he only started in 2020.

Jeez, he must be $$$$$$

Costs €75,000 to €200,000 from Kathmandu per one expedition leader.

I wonder how much the Xenon guys raised for "charity." Hopefully more than €800,000.

[QUOTE] Okay this is not a London to summit in four days type of record per the Xenon guys aim, it’s NYC to Summit in four days.

This method is set to become incredibly popular amongst wealthy Americans and Brits who only want to take a couple of weeks off work rather than two months.

Soon there’ll be two sets of ropes and ladders going up. One for the fa$t track climbers and one for the slow ones. With security Sherpas guarding the fast lane to prevent poachers trying to bypass bottlenecks. Then fistfights. It’s not difficult to imagine especially with oxygen-starved people.

…just like the Matterhorn line at Disneyland!

R171. Why not Passaic or Cape May? That’s even tougher.

[QUOTE] Soon there’ll be two sets of ropes and ladders going up. One for the fa$t track climbers and one for the slow ones.

Nah, they all follow exactly the same route, using the same ropes. The Xenon hoes just spend much less time at each camp and don't return to base camp until they've summited. They set off from base camp on 17th May and summited on 21st May.

Did you miss the couple days that 250 people summited? The Xenon guys stop to sleep at the same camps as everyone else, they just aren’t doing rotations up and down the mountain to acclimate. In fact to avoid a bottleneck, yesterday they climbed during bad weather when other teams waited it out. Or they could’ve left London a couple days later and arrived at Camp 4 during the next predicted weather break with another 250 people already there waiting to summit.

[QUOTE] The Xenon guys stop to sleep at the same camps as everyone else, they just aren’t doing rotations up and down the mountain to acclimate

Never said they didn't sleep there but they're not spending three nights at Camp 2, then going back to Base Camp for a few nights, then up to Camp Three, two nights there, back to Base Camp and down to Namche to relax in oxygen rich air, back to Base Camp etc. They probably arrived at Camp 2 on 17th May, spent the night, Camp 3 18th May, spent the night, then Camp 4 to summit, start evening of 19th May.

Elite Exped crashes Xenon party

Furtenbach is not the only one trying to create an ultra-express expedition market. Elite Exped, Nirmal Purja’s company, just issued a press release stating that their client, Andrew Ushakov of the U.S. made it from New York City to the summit of Everest in just 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes, assisted by five Sherpa guides.

****

People are sceptical about this as Nimsdai Purja has a reputation for lying.

My point r182 is timing. Looks like they had to start their final push in the middle of the night in order to beat the crowds and summit at 7:15 am.

Very interesting re Ushakov. They first announced he didn’t do hypoxic training ahead of time. Then they walked that back. Is Nimsdai Purja the one that was lying last year about something…ropes being cut?

I'm so glad whenever I hear of those rich "explorers" rotting on the tracks

[QUOTE] My point [R182] is timing. Looks like they had to start their final push in the middle of the night in order to beat the crowds and summit at 7:15 am

You are aware that all summit pushes start at around 10pm the previous evening? If they waited until 'the middle of the night' they'd be at the back of the queue.

R184 That false narrative being pushed was very random. Glad hot snow mountain Daddy got to the bottom of it.

Elite Exped crashes Xenon party Furtenbach is not the only one trying to create an ultra-express expedition market. Elite Exped, Nirmal Purja’s company, just issued a press release stating that their client, Andrew Ushakov of the U.S. made it from New York City to the summit of Everest in just 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes, assisted by five Sherpa guides.

Elite Exped had previously informed no one of this record attempt. There was no live tracking, and Ushakov has no social media presence: He has not updated his Instagram for over three years. The press release only says that the climber used “traditional” supplementary oxygen from Base Camp to summit, but no dexamethasone or Xenon.

It also noted that “Ushakov started his challenge from sea level, starting at New York on May 15 at 12.30 am and flying to Kathmandu and then Everest Base Camp. Then he and his Elite Exped team stood on the summit of Everest on May 19 at 9.22 am.”

We have asked Elite Exped and Ushakov’s PR team for details and will update in a future story.

**** Sounds suspicious to me.

If you had read above in the thread you’d know the answer to your “suspicion.”

“ On May 23, Tyler Andrews will launch his second attempt to set an FKT (Fastest Known Time) from Base Camp to the top of Everest... Andrews added: “Goal A is a BC-to-summit record of less than 21 hours. If I’m at all close to my goal time, then I will consider a return trip in less than 24 hours as goal B. But personally, I think it’s stupid to race down 8,000m mountains.”

Also trying to do it without bottled O2 unless it’s an emergency.

Why do they all, with the exception of the the Nepalese guides, sound like people you would never want to have anything to do with?

R128's friend sounds quite sane. I mean if his friends and family want him back safe and sound...

Turns out that the four rich 'businessmen' who did the Xenon summit were actually three SAS veterans and a Labour MP!

The first report here about the Xenon guys was on 4/20. How can the government claim ignorance?

[QUOTE]Their achievement stunned the mountaineering world, but has been strongly criticised by the Nepalese government, which said it was not aware the team had used xenon gas to pre-acclimatise to the thin atmosphere on the mountain.

[QUOTE]“We are investigating the travel agency and the climbers who used xenon gas for scaling Everest,” Narayan Prasad Regmi, Nepal’s tourism chief, told The Telegraph.

[QUOTE] The first report here about the Xenon guys was on 4/20. How can the government claim ignorance?

They're ignorant and don't keep up with what's going on. They think if they ban the use of xenon gas nobody will use it but they won't bother to police this. They had a 17 year old girl summiting last week despite saying that nobody unded 18 would be issued with a climbing permit.

Honey, why don't you tell our guests again about the time you climbed Mt. Everest

It was a cold wind that day, my friend…

[quote] Mountain runners Tyler Andrews of the U.S. and Karl Egloff of Ecuador are also about to leave Base Camp, each following his own strategy and timing. Both have the same objective: to climb Everest faster than anyone else (and each other), without supplemental oxygen. They expect to summit on May 24. Andrews is timing himself just to the summit; Egloff is timing the round trip.

[quote]Egloff had hoped to wait until the typically stable days at the end of the month before the monsoon hits. But given the uncertainty of next week, he has decided to leave Base Camp tomorrow at 6 pm.

[quote]Andrews had originally aimed to set off on Friday, May 23, but instead will leave tomorrow at precisely one minute to midnight, six hours after Egloff. They hope to make their way up after most of the oxygen-supported teams finish. We can expect news from this pair at around noon Nepal time on Saturday, just before 2 am Eastern Time.

The sun is warming the lower slopes and the ice fall is becoming unstable. The team responsible for setting the ladders is going to remove them soon.

Okay the Xenon guys spent 30 minutes in a German hospital doing xenon therapy on May 5. They spent 500 hours doing hypoxic training inc sleeping in tents and wearing masks. Seems like the latter would make the real difference plus they used oxygen to climb.

No update on the NYC guy, Sea Level to Summit, who was faster but not tracked.

The guy who was going to BASE jump off Lhotse called it off as the weather was too bad.

The two guys attempting the fastest ascents from Base Camp had to turn back. Tyler Andrews stopped just above Camp 4, Karl Egloff between Camp 2 and 3. High winds and extreme cold were the reasons.

The Xenon guys are back in London so they did do their 7-day record.

Still no more details on the NYC guy who completed a similar record (without using xenon). He wasn’t using a tracker, didn’t have social media following him every step plus he’s associated with that dodgy Nepali guy (who apparently sued and won his defamation case against newspapers last year…)

No Westerners killed this year! A travesty.

This video talks about why there have been so few deaths and the lengths the sherpas go to to save lives high on the mountain.

The season isn't over - plenty of teams are waiting around hoping for another weather window this week.

The narrator points out that the sherpa carrying the climber on his back down to Camp 4 is not using oxygen.

The clip was provided by the expedition company and doesn’t identify the climber who became incapacitated (the sherpas are named) but you kinda wonder…great that there are fewer deaths because teams are better equipped to rescue climbers in trouble but does this just encourage more inexperienced climbers? At the end it shows someone taken from Camp 3 in a helicopter except the helicopter doesn’t land, the person is clipped to a longline. Basically dangling in the air while they fly to Base Camp I guess where it’s safe to land.

I dunno, if I were on Everest and had to be airlifted out like that, being afraid of heights, I’d have a heart attack.

being afraid of heights….you’d never come near Everest in the first place ;)

Very true.

Everest Death Tally 2025

Seven. Five Sherpas. One Filipino man. One Indian guy.

Hopefully some more summits this weekend.

Want to hear more about fake NY ascent.

Nimsdai can't claim the fastest summit for his client if there isn't any tracking or photographic evidence.

Here is Andrew Ushakov’s webpage. There is a summit photo but it doesn’t say if it’s Everest.

I mean, it’s implied that it is Everest. He just doesn’t have the usual flag with photos of people.

Bizarro News: Andrew Ushakov was arrested at the airport in Nepal when Customs found $20,000 in cash in his suitcase that he didn’t declare. Apparently Elite Exped paid a $60,000 fine to spring him out of jail. Which sounds more like a bribe and an exaggerated one at that.

At any rate, his SeaLevel to Summit record now seems accepted as bonafide. And the Xenon team are being “investigated“ by Nepal —they are obviously back in the UK— for “use of Xenon in Nepal” which was never the case.

AND speed climber Tyler Andrews who turned back twice this year impulsively hired a helicopter and returned to EBC last night and started climbing anew. No oxygen, no support, just one guy with him; I guess there are sherpas at the various camps who are helping (?) But once again, after 17 hours he turned back at around 8400m. His average speed was a little over 48 minutes per mile.

Ice Doctors removing ropes and ladders on May 29.

I see dead people!

Thanks for the update R212.

So much dodginess surrounding Elite Exped. Nimsdai is very charismatic but untrustworthy.

There’s an interview with Ushakov on YouTube which I didn’t watch. The clip I saw, he was discussing how the summit wasn’t the most important part, it was getting safely back to base camp.

Was this a record low for Everest deaths? Three sherpas and two foreigners.

I hate it when Sherpas die.

You know they’re overworked and undervalued.

[QUOTE] Was this a record low for Everest deaths? Three sherpas and two foreigners.

Yes. And the foreigners weren't rich westerners. One was Filipino and one Indian.

Disappointing year!

Rich arseholes come from all nations and ethnicities,, r217.

Why are you so coy?

They’re assholes, plain & simple.

"Sherpas, execute order 66"

Over 600 people have submitted this season but the mountain is now closed.

See you all next year!

*summited not submitted

R216, I agree. Sherpas do the heavy lifting every season. They open the way up to the summit, they place the ropes, the ladders over crevices, they carry huge loads on their shoulders, and in some cases, they literally drag some of the rich western asshole clients to the summit (it's called "short-roping", and this is how DL fave Sandy Pitman got to the top). All of this for a pittance. In his book about the 1996 disaster, Jon Krakauer recalled that, at the time, sherpas were paid $2,000 per season, vs. $10,000 for a wester guide, and up to $20,000 for a "star" guide like Boukreev. These people shouldn't have to pay such a heavy tool for some mid-life crisis western twats seeking a thrill,