How many times? Plus overcrowding on the mountain and latest from Leo and David...
A veteran Sherpa climber has broken his own record for Everest
ascents by reaching the summit of the world's highest mountain for
the 17th time.
Appa Sherpa, who is 46, came out of retirement to tackle the
mountain as part of the Super Sherpa Expedition which is raising
money for better education and healthcare for the children of the
communities around the Everest region.
Seven other Sherpas and a western climber also summited the
mountain including the record holder for the fastest ascent, Lakpa Gelu Sherpa, who topped out for the 13th time.
The pair also reportedly unveiled a newly published book on the
summit of the mountain, erm, the first travelogue book to be
'released on top of the world' apparently. More here.
Overcrowded...
The summit season is in full flow on the mountain with everestnews.com
reporting that 145 climbers have already reached the highest point on
earth this season, though sadly there have been four fatalities including two Korean climbers who fell to their deaths
from 8,300 metres.
Some reports say there is congestion high on the mountain with
climbers having to queue on the fixed ropes on the upper north side
due to the sheer number of those on the route.
Houlding Steady...
Meanwhile, the latest from the Houlding / Anker / Thaw / David
Beckham team is preparing to move up to Advanced Base Camp sobered by
the news of the death of a Japanese climber after summiting. Check
out the videos on the multimedia
section and you can see Leo Houlding wearing a mix of
Gore-Tex and 1920s flat cap, nice :-)
Leo's video gives some idea of the sheer scale of the operation;
it's taking 42 yaks plus porters to move up from Base Camp to
Advanced Base Camp on the Tibetan side of the mountain.
Oh, and if you check the audio bit of multimedia, you have world
music while you work or listen to the, erm, website theme. Er,
different... on balance we preferred the world music.
More about the Houlding expedition at www.ueverest.com.
