Welcome to the kick-off of Everyday Everest, my new Podcast series during the Everest 2024 climbing season. Based on my 2020 Virtual Everest series, I'll read an updated version of the story a couple of times a week for the next two months. Everyday Everest follows a fictional team of nine climbers and their personal Sherpas from leaving home, trekking to base camp, acclimatizing, and finally, on their summit push. The story's protagonist, Harper, sets the tone for the story when she tells her husband, Marc, "Honey, I'm going to climb Everest." #everest2024 Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/04/08/everest-2024-everyday-everest-podcast-series-welcome-and-part-1/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

Welcome to the Everest 2024 Weekend Update. The Everest spring season is on track. Hundreds of people are advancing towards Everest Base Camp on the Nepal side of the Mountain. The Tibet side remains quiet, as teams will not arrive for at least another week. There are a few snags here and there, but nothing serious at this point. #everest2024 https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/04/07/everest-2024-weekend-update-april-7-climbers-on-the-trek/ Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

If it's April, it must be time for Everest. The Icefall Doctors are hard at work. Climbers and trekkers are making their way through the Khumbu or driving from Lhasa. Shepars and base camp crews are building tent platforms and preparing their spots for the teams. Yaks and mules are meandering ever higher, loaded with supplies. Katmandu is filled with tourists and visitors, boosting the local economy. Hang on, everyone. It's time. #everest2024 https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/03/31/everest-2024-weekend-update-april-1-season-underway-lost-legends/ Climb On!! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

We are getting closer to #Everest2024, and there are some new rules Nepal is proposing. In this interview with Garrett Maddison, founder of Madison Mountaineering, we meet Garrett and how he started his company. We also discuss his recent “Aconcagua Ambush,” where he and his client summited the highest peak in South America, spending only one night on the mountain and using an experimental oxygen system that has promised other high peaks. Also, his thoughts on Nepal’s plan to require all climbers to use WAG bags to remove solid human waste from Everest high camps, the use of helicopters on Everest, and a limit on luxuries at base camp.https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/02/19/everest-2024-interview-with-garrett-madison-on-his-aconcagua-ambush-and-the-upcoming-everest-season/ You can follow Maddison on their website, Facebook, and IG. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

How can a 19-year-old can afford to climb Everest? Well, Ryan Mitchell, 19, living in central Massachusetts, explains how in this podcast. Ryan, a Summit Coach client, contacted me about a year ago, wanting advice and coaching on how to climb Everest in the Spring of 2022. He had little to no experience, so while I told him there were many companies who would take his money and have him on Everest, the best approach would be to wait at least a year and gain the skills and experience it would take to make a safe attempt on the world's highest peak. He agreed, and we've been working together for the past twelve months. In this podcast, Ryan explains how he is funding his climbs, his training approach, and critically, is his "why" You can follow him on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIDQSqdVuNwtfRMKqfX-o7g https://www.youtube.com/@RyanMitchellYT I know you will enjoy this. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

The past few months have been difficult in the mountaineering world. We have seen climbs on many 800ers that turned out tragically: Mohammed Hassan on K2, Anna Gutu, Migmar Sherpa, American Gina Marie Rzucidlo and Tenjen Lama Sherpa on Shishapangma. A few dramatic rescues and a never-ending quest for records. I turned to long-time alpinist Adrian Ballinger, co-founder of Alpenglow, to try and make sense of what's going on, what can be done to prevent these seemingly preventable deaths and if the pursuit of records is worth the risks. We also discuss his return to Everest planned for 2024 after missing the last four seasons due to China's closure on their side of Everest .Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

I caught up with German Alpinist Jost Kobusch, who now lives in Chamonix, France, to discuss his upcoming 2023/24 winter, no O's, solo attempt of Everest's West Ridge. No climber has reached the summit using this route and precise style. He will begin climbing on December 22, 2023, the beginning of the astronomical calendar winter. He will complete his climb no later than February 28, 2024. In 2019, Jost reached his high point of 7,329-meters/23,750-feet. His second attempt in the winter of 2021/22 ended much lower, around 6300 meters/20,669 feet, when the jet stream moved over Everest bringing hurricane-strength winds to the area. So he returns for his third climb, hoping to tag 8000 meters and get a good look at the Hornbein Couloir. He will pre-acclimatize on two 7000-meter peaks as part of his Altitude Academy, a training program of sorts open to anyone. We cover a range of topics from what he learned from his previous attempts, his 2021 solo, the winter summit of Denali and even back to 2017 when he began climbing in this style in Pakistan's 7296m high Nangpai Gosum II (great video on YouTube.) We also discuss what he's doing differently this time, his style of solo, no O's, and more. I think you'll enjoy meeting this 31-year-old climber. He sees three issues: His physical condition The mountain conditions Weather You can follow his climb on his website, which has an excellent 3D GPS tracking map using Zoleo, and also on his social media channels Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

Norwegian Kristin Harila, 37, Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa summited all fourteen 8000ers in three months and 1 day (92 days.) The first was Shishapangma on April 26, 2023, and the last K2 on July 27, 2023. In 2022, Harila summited twelve of the fourteen, but China refused them entry into Tibet to attempt Shishapangma and Cho Oyu thus, she returned this year to complete her project. She is no stranger to mountaineering. In 2021, she became the fastest woman to climb Everest and Lhotse in a record 12 hours. The 36-year-old is from Vadso/Norway and is a former cross-country skier. Today, she claims her profession as a runner, skier and former mountaineer as she announced she is retiring from climbing with the end of this project. While she came to mountaineering late, she's summited twenty-eight 8000-meter peaks since her first, Everest, in 2021 and made a name for herself with several records, including: Fastest person, together with Sherpa Lama overall, to True summit all 14 peaks over 8000m in 3 months and 1 day (July 27th, 2023) Fastest person overall to summit the five highest mountains in the world in 69 days, Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu. Fastest woman to climb Mount Everest, 8848 and Mount Lhotse, 8516, in less than 8 hours on May 23rd, 2023. The previous record for reaching the true summits of the 8000ers was five years and four months by Nirmal Purja Pun Magar. Both climbers have been criticized by some in the climbing community for climbing with too many Sherpas, using supplemental oxygen and using helicopters to fly from mountain to mountain. Harila's journey was not with controversy. They included switching teams and Sherpas from 2022 to 2023, using helicopters to fly Sherpas to Camp 2 on Manaslu, and the one that caught global attention when a High Altitude Porter, Muhammad Hassan, not climbing with her team died on K2. Her team gave aid, but he died. A video taken hours later showed other climbers, not Harila's team stepping over the dead body on the way to the summit. Harila was widely criticized for his death, yet her team did everything to save his life. The Pakistani government investigated the incident and posted a detailed report clearing Harila's team of any wrongdoing and gave her photographer, Gabriel Tarso, an “appreciation letter” for his effort to save a life that night. We explore all of these controversies in detail in this podcast. This is the full report for download: Muhammad Hussain’s Death on K2 and Kristin's report on her website. A GoFundMe account is open for donations to support Mr. Hassan’s family. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

Climber, author, and journalist Billi Bierling is well-known in the mountaineering world for her work with the Himalayan Database. We get to know Billi in this podcast, discuss the commercialization of mountaineering, her new book and the future of the HDB Remember to visit my blog for frequent updates on all things mountaineering. https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

The 2023 Everest spring season is over, with some records to take pride in and others to be avoided. If there were one word to summarize the season, it would be chaotic or perhaps deadly. This spring was the deadliest season in history on Everest. Nepal issued a record 478 climbing permits to foreigners. Add in one and a half Sherpa supporting each foreigner; over 1,200 people pursued the summit this spring. Fears were rampant of a 2019 repeat with long lines and deaths. The lines never developed, thanks in part to colder weather that sent a higher number of climbers home in mid-season, many with a persistent virus. However, the deaths developed, but not because of the record permits or climate change. These are red herrings to abdicate responsibility. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

Monday, May 22nd, was a windy but good day for summits and records. About fifty more people summited, advancing the season total to close to 500. The season could end this week as winds will become too dangerous. In this Podcast, we have reached the summit, and I describe how it feels and then the descent to Camp 2. Remember that you can see daily updates on my blog at https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/ Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

With masses of climbers on Everest, today we saw over 100 more summits bringing the season total to over 166 and the sixth death of the season. There were many "records" set as well, some in the beholder's eye. Several hundred remain to attempt the summit. Narrative on climbing to the summit Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

It looks like ten people summited Everest in the leading part of the first wave. Scores, if not over a hundred, are staged at Camp 2, waiting for the South Col camps to be fully stocked. The weather continues to hold with good conditions and winds under the 30 mph threshold through May 20. Many teams are eyeing Wednesday, May 17th for their summit day. Look for summits each day this week. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

As forecasted, the winds have let up, allowing the rope team to continue fixing it to the summit. This will open the mountain for scores for clients with one or more Sherpas in support. Look for a busy first wave of summits over the next few days. The question is, how many people will be on their summit push this weekend? Almost every team has completed their acclimatization programs and is ready. The lack of fixed rope to the summit and high winds above Camp 3 has stalled everyone, frustrating some team leaders. Some forecasts have acceptable summit winds, under 30 mph/48 kph through May 20. If this pans out, there will be plenty of time for everyone to have their shot at the top. Thus, it becomes a question of how the team leaders will cooperate and coordinate their summit pushes. Nepal issued 467 permits, and each foreigner, aka client or member, has at least one Sherpa climbing with them. Some have two or more. Last year’s final statistics showed 683 summits on the Nepal side broken down as 256 members and 415 Sherpas in support, yielding a ratio of 1: 1.62. By the way, for members, 75% of those who climbed above base camp made the summit. According to the Himalayan Database, the top reasons for ending a climb once above base camp are: Exhaustion, frostbite, Weakness or Lack of Motivation Other Illnesses or Pain Bad Weather (storms, high winds, etc.) In a typical year, around 25% of the clients abandon their expedition. Some get hurt, others are bored, and some figure out they are in over their head and wisely return home, hoping, perhaps, to learn from this experience and return one day better prepared. If that holds for 2023, we’ll see around 350 members instead fo 467, making the crowds more manageable. Almost as a final kiss, high winds knocked down many tents at Camp 2 over the last few days. No one was injured, but some tents were lost. The best teams have spares, while others go begging for replacements. Just another normal day on Everest! One fly in the summit ointment is that Camp 4 at the South Col has not been established. By this time in a normal season, Sherpas have stocked it with ample supplies like tents, stoves, fuel and oxygen. Some teams will skip this first wave until it’s established, while others will have the Sherpas do double work by supporting their client and carrying huge loads. This is an example of how Sherpas are so critical to climbing Everest for practically every client. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

The #Everest2023 season is taking shape as teams continue to acclimatize with rotations to Camps 1 and 2, with some tagging Camp 3 at 23,000 feet or 7,000 meters. In this interview with Garrett Madison, founder of Madison Mountaineering from Everest Base Camp, we discuss the record permits, his acclimatization strategy, addressing the human waste problem, the long route through the Icefall and their attempt to summit the difficult and highly technical Nuptse. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

Everest teams are doing the usual acclimatization rotations but are seeing heavy attrition that will ease crowding concerns. There's a new level of base camp luxuries that might be beyond the pale for some purists. Heavy snow is forecasted on Dhaulagiri, stalling movement there. Overall, it's been a low-drama year, thankfully. In this episode, I explore controversy on Shishapangma, exploding luxuries at Everest base Camp, and a narrative about the Western Cwm between Camps 1 and 2 on Everest. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

Weekend Update While teams are as high as Camp 2 on Everest, most of the attention was on Annapurna, where one climber died, and two other climbers were miraculously rescued. Heavy snow hit Everest, but climbing continued. Everest Base Camp is filling up as permits topped 400, a record for the Nepal side. The fixed rope was set to the South Col. I expect it reach the summit late next week. I cover a few topics in this update: - Noel Hanna death on Annapurna - Annapurna Anurag Maloo miracle rescue - Baljeet Kaur rescue - Record Everest permits - First steps in the Khumbu Icefall Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

This was a week of highs and lows across the Himalayas. On Everest, three Sherpas lost their lives in the Icefall. The season's first 8000 meters summits occurred on Saturday, April 16, on Annapurna. Everest Base Camp is filling up as permits top 300. And a description of the first days at base camp and the puja. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

Lukas Furtenbach, a major mountaineering expedition guide company and is now a top supplier of supplemental oxygen systems to all teams climbing Everest. He partnered with Neil Greenwood of Summit Oxygen to create Everest Oxygen focusing on supplying supplemental oxygen to the mountaineering industry. His Austrian-based Furtenbach Adventures offer global climbs, including most of the 8000-meter mountains, the Seven Summits, the Volcanic Seven Summits, and Ski Mountaineering. However, they have made a name for themselves with their "Flash Expeditions," which takes only three weeks to climb Everest, compared to the classic style, which takes six to eight weeks. One of his secrets is using an altitude tent, aka a hypoxia chamber, that acclimatizes his clients to 7,00 meters (23,000 feet) at home. This reduces the number of rotations required before the summit push and reduces the overall time spent at base camp. It's not really a secret as anyone can rent or buy a tent, and other companies like Alpenglow out of Lake Tahoe, California, also specialize in rapid expeditions. However, Furtenback's team out of Innsabruk closely monitors their client's progress over the eight weeks they sleep in the tent, making daily changes to optimize the process. Lukas is also investing in advanced technology to remotely monitor his customer's health while climbing and evolving the oxygen regulator, the brains of the system that manages flow rates, to allow for an unprecedented eight liters per minute (lpm) flow. He only uses this high flow rate for short sections, for example, on the Hillary Step, to allow the climber to move faster. Otherwise, they run at today's traditional two, four and six lpm rate. In this Podcast, we explore the evolution of using supplemental oxygen, Lukas's approach and several other Everest topics. We cover: 2:24 - The Chinese closure of Everest for the past four years, and will they open in Autumn for 8000ers? 4:45 - Will COVID be a factor for Everest 2023? 5:55 - Furtenbach Adventures Carbon Neutral approach to mountaineering 10:02 - Climbing Everest in three weeks vs. six to eight weeks 11:35 - Pre-acclimatizing at home using altitude tents 22:13 - The history of altitude tents (In France in the late 1970s) 25:52 - Is using supplemental oxygen cheating? 29:54 - Everest Oxygen supplies systems to other teams 30:04 - Understanding the Oxygen Delivery System 47:22 - Types of Delivery Systems 52:14 - Remote Monitoring of a Climber's Health 56:17 - Everest 2023 Predictions They will update their ⁠social media, ⁠Facebook⁠, Twitter, and ⁠Instagram⁠, throughout the expedition. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support

Scott Lehmann and Shayna Unger, are aiming to be the first American deaf couple and, to their knowledge, the second and third deaf climbers to summit Mount Everest. Also, they are trying to become the first deaf couple to compete the Seven Summits. Both were born, as they say, profoundly deaf, meaning they had no hearing at all. They live in the Washington, D.C., area and are educators and mountaineers. They summited Denali, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Ecuador’s Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, and Mont Blanc, plus Scott has all the US High Point. A third-generation deaf person, Scott is an educator and a mountaineer. Given the lack of deaf representation in the outdoors and lack of communication access to outdoor education, the outdoors was not a big part of Scott’s life until he was 23 when he climbed a mountain for the first time. Shayna is a deaf woman, an educator and a mountaineer. Growing up, Shayna often went on camping trips with her deaf family in the 1990s, but they never did. They have full access to outdoor sports. It was not until college that Shayna started traveling and fell in love with climbing mountains. We cover how they will communicate with other climbers, plus the Sherpas, during their climb. They are also promoting their project, Seeing Beyond: Seven Summits. As they say on their site: Seeing Beyond: Seven Summits is not just about Scott and Shayna being the first deaf individuals to reach Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each of the world’s seven continents–it is also about two deaf people sharing a dream with their own community, the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. They are climbing with Seven Summits Treks and will update their website, and their social media, Facebook, Instagram and You Tube throughout the expedition. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alan-arnette1/support