NOVA Online | Everest Quest | Through the Icefall (4)

Through the Icefall
part 4 | back to part 3

The Icefall (cont.)
Climbing Everest is a process that takes about 6 to 8 weeks. Mountaineers must not only acclimatize, they also have to ferry loads up to the various high camps along the route to the summit. Each camp is supplied with tents, food, and cooking equipment over a period of several weeks. The climb, therefore, is not a direct ascent from Base Camp up to Camp 4 and then to the summit. In fact, climbers spend most of their time on the mountain carrying loads of supplies up to the various camps. Most importantly, they acclimatize in the process. Hence the climbers might spend several nights at Camp 3 before descending to Base for rest. After that they might carry essential loads and fuel up to Camp 2, then descend back to Base before returning to the mountain for their final assault on the summit. On their final bid, the climbers will progress from Base Camp to the summit, spending a night or two at each of the successive camps.

ladder crossing

Early expeditions had to haul logs through the Icefall to assist in crossings, but today fixed ropes and lightweight aluminum ladders help climbers cross the gaps and crevasses between the ice boulders. The ropes and ladders have been prefixed by an expedition whose sole task is to keep the route fixed and safe. Each expedition pays $2000 to that expedition as a fee for setting the route and maintaining it throughout the climbing season which lasts from April 1 to June 1.

ice climbing

We watch the team's progress through the spotting scope as they make their way down from Camp 1. They have successfully ascended the Icefall and radioed us to say that Camp 1 has been established. Later, Araceli describes what it was like: "You go up and down and sometimes you see your friends are ahead on the same level as you, but to get to them you have to go up and down again. It's like a labyrinth, it's moving all the time and the route changes. Today we went up one way and when we came down the route was changed. And in 2 weeks it will be changed again. It's good, because it's different some days. When there is an unbalance and something falls you cannot climb there then, and you must find another place to climb." Click here to hear Araceli talk more about the Icefall (RealAudio).

Continue

Photos: (1-3) courtesy Robert Schauer.

Lost on Everest | High Exposure | Climb | History & Culture | Earth, Wind, & Ice
E-mail | Previous Expeditions | Resources | Site Map | Everest Home