Well we’re all set to go, our Sherpas have finished stocking the South Col and are now taking a rest at EBC. We’re aiming for a date soon after the 19th as the next good weather window for the summit. Everest was summited first this season by the Sherpa line fixers on the 11th, and there have already been a few summits after them. Next week we should be up there if all goes to plan. Everyone is well and healthy at EBC. We’ll update you on the summit push.
Tag: Everest South Face
First rotation to Camp 2 complete!
Our Everest team took a break on April 18. It was a resting day, we burnt juniper and quietly contemplated the events of 2 years past when we lost some good friends and guides. We miss you Ankaji.
On April 19 the Everest climbers set off for their first rotation cycle. First climbing and sleeping at C1, then next morning climbed to C2, returned to C1 for the night, and finally returned to BC. They are all safely back at BC, and every excited to climb higher. The days were good with some windy nights. The team will start their next rotation to touch C3 on the 28th. Lakpa and his team are patiently waiting for another chance at the summit at Annapurna base camp, which should be soon. Keep posted.
Everest and Annapurna update 17.04.16
After spending 2 nights in C3 on Annapurna, strong winds have yet again delayed summit aspirations for Lakpa and his team. They are safely back in BC waiting for another summit opportunity. Over at Everest BC, we held our main pujaon the 14th with all climbers and gear. Our Sherpas are busy now stocking C1 and C2, while our other climbers are practicing ladder crossings in preparation for their first foraythrough the icefall on the 20th.
Tomorrow marks the 2nd anniversary of the tragic ice fall avalanche. Our team will take a break tomorrow to remember the event and the men who died.
Annapurna and Everest update
Lakpa and the Annapurna team are currently healthy but are stuck at EBC due to bad weather.They are sitting tight waiting for the weather to be kind for their summit push. Our Everest teams start to arrive at BC today after enjoying lovely trekking weather heading up. The camp is all set up thanks to the hard work of Rabin and our climbing Sherpas.
Base camp is bustling, we are expecting more than 300 climbers for the big 3 mountains this season. The vibe is positive and morale is high to have a good season this year. Whilst waiting for our Everest teams to arrive, our Sherpas have already taken a break back to their homes and have returned to camp. As advised by a local lama, we conducted a small puja yesterday. Once the teams are settled in, we will conduct our major pre climbing puja on the 14th.
Remembering Ankaji and Pem Tenji
Today a year has past since the tragedy of April 18, 2014, a day that forever changed us at Himalayan Ascent. We remember Ankaji often; random events and moments often trigger his face in our minds.
That tragic day in the icefall, Ankaji left behind 6 children and Pem Tenji, 2 children. Today they are marking their father’s one year passing with a special puja. Fortunately, we can report that the children are doing well.
Ankaji’s 2 eldest daughters, Chhechi and Phinjum, are about to sit their major national board examination for their grade 12 qualification. All going well, they will continue to tertiary education later this year. His third daughter, Sumi, is just about to start grade 9 at Alpine Valley School. First son, Ang Temba continues his lama training at a monastery. Ankaji’s youngest sons, Ang Ngima and Ang Sumba, will soon start grade 6 and 5, respectively, sponsored by the Himalayan Trust at HIMS in Kathmandu.
Pem Tenji’s children, 5 year old Dachhiri and 3 year old Furli are still located in their village in the Makalu region.
We were overwhelmed by so many who contributed towards the education of Ankaji’s and Pem Tenji’s children. We were especially touched by those who generously donated without having known these two men. This post is a tribute to thank you on the anniversary of their deaths. We raised just under US $14,000 over the past year. Now that our fundraising efforts are over, we will transfer this into a fixed deposit savings account. Our plan is to use this education fund later for the children’s higher-level education.
Donations were received from: Laurelyn Sayah, Bibiana Cujec, William Marriot, Peter Lark and Carling Chan, Douglas Frost, Emma Linke, Zoe Marston, Erika Martinez, Atle Johan Bull Lund, Natalie Nguyen, Noel Clough and Thomas Rogerson, Amy Hankinson, Meridith Simms and Matt Scholes, Margaret St Hill, Daniel Munnik, Katie Peichel and Steve Froggett, and Smilyen Pavlov.
We would like to thank Allan and Sharon Cohrs (EverestOne) for facilitating the donations in Australia and for their ongoing support. A special thank you to Patrick Hollingworth, and a very special thank you to Simon Alsop from Mountain Equipment (Sydney, Australia). Simon organised a donation on behalf of Mountain Equipment generated from ticket sales of their Reel Rock screening last year.
The Juniper Fund and the amazing work of David Morton are supporting Ankaji’s and Pem Tenji’s families as part of their larger effort to help the surviving families of deceased mountain workers.
This year Himalayan Ascent is taking a break from Everest. We wish everyone climbing this season success, but importantly also great adventure and a safe return home to loved ones.
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.
A tribute to our brother, Ankaji Sherpa 12PM
With heavy hearts, today we farewell our friend and brother, Ankaji Sherpa. Today his spirits will soar to heights above Everest to a new world I know that will welcome him with love. See you in our next life brother.
Ankaji Sherpa (1978-2014) Loving father of six and Himalayan Ascent Senior Guide When Ankaji participated in the rescue operation for the 2012 Manaslu avalanche, I recall how torn up he was emotionally when he saw the avalanche debris. As I write this, I can’t believe this has also become his fate during his 8th Everest expedition and 14th year of guiding. It was Ankaji’s decision this year to take the responsibility of head guide rather than client personal guide, even though the position is less lucrative and holds no personal glory. With five Everest summits already under his belt, Ankaji wasn’t a guy ever interested in personal glory. He always prioritised safety, particularly client’s safety, and the team before his own personal ambitions. Ankaji was on what was meant to be a routine rotation to set up Camp 1 and 2 when the avalanche struck and took him from us. In fact, Ankaji was just being Ankaji at the time of the accident as he accompanied his brother-in-law slowly through the icefall instead of thinking of his own safety.
A local of the Makalu region, Ankaji started guiding when he was 22. This year at age 36, he beat many guides more than 10 years younger in age to win a competitive spot in the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations Aspiring Guides programme. This programme was his one personal ambition to formalise his extensive years of experience and love of mountaineering. His list of accomplishments included several 8000m summits (Everest, Manaslu, Cho Oyu, Shishapangma). His fitness was incredible, he was literally a lean mean fighting machine. Last year, after pulling off two fast ascents of Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, Ankaji came to give us a hand on Ama Dablam with hardly a moments rest in between! He was an exceptional guide respected by everyone.
However, it was Ankaji’s warm personality that really stood him out as a guide, friend and father. He was widely loved for his friendliness and team-orientated work ethic. It’s countless the number of times clients expressed to me appreciation of Ankaji’s caring nature when they felt unwell or fear during a trip. His kindness touched everyone who was fortunate enough to have known him. Undoubtably his selfless personality stems from his love for his family of six children (three daughters and three sons), whom he was raising almost single-handedly. For a guy who always smiled, laughed and loved life, you would have never guessed that life was in fact, less than easy for him. Ankaji wasn’t just a guide; he was a good friend, supportive teammate, climbing buddy and a brother. We will miss you kaji.
Himalayan Ascent will make every effort to help support Ankaji’s children. If you would like to help, please do contact us (sumit@himalayanascent.com).
Sad day for the Himalayan Ascent team 8AM
Himalayan Ascent have never had to make a post like this before, so we are lost for words how to express this:
We regret to confirm that during yesterday’s avalanche between Everest base camp and Camp 1, we lost 3 of our guides and support staff. They included our senior guide, Ankaji Sherpa, Tenzing Sherpa (Camp 2 kitchen assistant and Ankaji’s brother-in-law) and Asman Gurung (personal guide of Edwin, USA).
Fortunately, Dendi Sherpa, Ang gelu Sherpa and Anil Shrestha had already reached Camp 1 when the avalanche occurred. The boys are safe and have already returned to base camp.
Ankaji’s body was recovered yesterday and is in the process of being sent to Kathmandu to begin funeral services today. The bodies of Tenzing and Asman are yet to be retrieved. Lakpa will return from Makalu base camp today to help coordinate Ankaji’s last rites and funeral. They will conduct a 49 day puja for Ankaji. Ankaji was a key member of the Himalayan Ascent team, our entire team is grieving from this accident.
We have the families of Ankaji, Tenzing and Asman in our hearts and minds; please keep them in your prayers.
This is the worst accident in Everest’s climbing history. In total, the lives of 16 men were lost from several expeditions. Eight of the men were Khumbu locals, their bodies have already been returned to their families. Most of the men were carrying loads to Camp 1 and Camp 2 at the time. These are the men who are the true work horses of expeditions, the men who make Everest dreams come true for summit aspirants. Men who are themselves climbing guide aspirants, but still untrained, begin their experience by carrying loads for Everest climbers. Sadly they are often forgotten, let’s hope their contributions are better considered from April 18th 2014 onwards.
Puja completed, climbing to begin! 5PM
After much preparation and excitement, our puja this morning got underway with all of our Everest climbers and gear in attendance. This year a lama from Pangboche led our ceremony. As is also the local tradition, we celebrated the end of the puja with beer, of course with Everest beer.
Tomorrow at 3am, our support Sherpas and staff will make their first foray through the icefall to carry loads to Camp 1 and Camp 2. The team includes Ankaji, Dendi, Anil the Camp 2 cook and others.
Carlos, Cid, Jangbu and Chirring returned to Lobuche enroute to climb Island Peak. Our trekkers and other Island Peak climbers have also departed Everest base camp so the camp site is quiet again.