A record number of climbers have summited Everest
this spring, some 514 according to the Nepal Mountaineering
Association, and the climbing season still isn't over yet.
Ang Tsering Sherpa, the president of the Association said the
figure includes ascents from both the Nepal and Tibetan sides of the
mountain up to 28 May; the previous record, we think, was around 486
summits in a single season.
There have also been the usual number of individual records
including the 17th successful summit of the mountain by Appa Sherpa,
the oldest summit by a 71-year-old Japanese man and the youngest
non-Nepali woman who was just 18 and from the US.
And of course British mountaineer Kenton Cool climbed the mountain
twice in the space of one week to make his fourth and fifth ascents,
a British record.
There are still teams on the mountain though hoping for a spell of
settled weather before the monsoon arrives in early June. They include
Brit' Jamie McGuinness's team and the Altitude Everest Expedition
which is led by Conrad Anker and includes Leo Houlding.
Houlding At ABC
The
latest news from the Altitude Everest team and their all-singing,
all-dancing web site is that today the team is moving back up to
the North Col after spending an extra day at advanced base camp.
The team is making a docu drama based on the Mallory Irvine 1924
expedition - Anker is Hillary, Houlding is Irvine - and they've been
filming Sherpas wearing replica 1924 kit on the North Col in what's
claimed to be the 'highest drama sequence ever shot'.
There's a short video clip at www.ueverest.com
and we have to say the acting is masterly - joking aside though, it
does look impressively realistic as do the period tents.
If you check out the picture section of the site, there are a
couple of pics of Sherpas in 1920s clothing as well as climbers with
the Sherpas looking slightly incongruous against a background of
modern geodesic tents.... And check out the shot of the replica 1924
oxygen equipment.
More prosaically, you can also watch footage of Leo washing his
socks - just because you're a star climber, doesn't mean you don't
have to look after your socks... Leo comments that he's 'quite
pleased with his performance - this is all new to me' though he had a
minor headache at the North Col.
More browsable distractions at www.ueverest.com
then...
Simon Chaplin
