Everest 2008: Chinese Summit Attempt Called Off

Earlier Report of Chinese Summit Attempt

EverestNews reported late yesterday that China was heading up Mt. Everest with the Olympic Torch. The Chinese expedition’s summit attempt has now been called off. High winds at the higher elevations have forced officials to call it a day and hope the winds die down over the course of the next week. Many had speculated that China may try to take the torch to the top of the world over the next two days. Today marks 100 days until the 2008 Beijing Olympics officially kick off, and tomorrow is a national Chinese holiday.

ExplorersWeb was the first to report that the Chinese summit attempt had been aborted. I am still unable to confirm this officially. Here is ExWeb’s report:

“In a later report today, Reuters’ Nick Mulvenney
told The Guardian that the Chinese summit attempt was postponed today
due to high winds up on the mountain. The reporter quoted the Chinese
expedition’s head meteorologist, Yan Xingguo: “It would be hard to
climb the summit today,” Xingguo said. “It’s certainly not possible in
the next three days because there is wind above 30 m/s (108 km/h) …
According to our experience, we can scale the summit when the wind is
20 m/s.

I have searched The Guardian, Reuter’s, and Nick Mulvenney’s own blog (straight from the Chinese Everest Basecamp) and have yet to run across this information, but that does not mean it isn’t out there, or hasn’t happened.

Yesterday, I did post that a likely summit window would be opening up on May 3rd or the 6th. It looks as if China may be looking in that direction as well.

So far, the Chinese expedition has been hampered by weather problems. A week back, Chinese climbers were having a problem getting past Camp 2 and laying rope on the south side due to high winds. Yesterday it was noted that climbers had managed to get to 8,300 meters, and had set rope in the process. A bit later, the Olympic Torch came out of hiding and started towards Advanced Base Camp. It is not noted how far up Mt. Everest the climbers were able to take the torch, but eventually they were stopped by high winds.

May 10th lingers on the horizon.

With only a week and a half to go before the deadline China has set for their expedition to be over, things are starting to get a bit tense on the North, where climbers are trying to be patient and follow the guidelines set forth by Nepal. They are not allowed above Camp 2 until after May 10th.

If the Chinese fail to summit before that time, it has been noted that China, may in fact, put out another notice on the North refusing climbers access until their expedition is over.

The Jagged Globe Expedition has suggested that officials have asked that the North side of Everest be closed from May 1st-3rd in anticipation of another Chinese attempt to get the torch to the summit. They also say that most climbers from the north have made it up to Camp 2 and are now heading to base camp, and possibly lower to their expedition’s are ok’d to proceed to the higher elevations.

Looking back on my coverage from last season, April 26th marked the first death on Everest. April 30th marked the first summits of 2007. These were pretty early summits, though, as the next push didn’t occur until May 8th. It looks like things are still right on schedule. Guess we will just have to be patient a while longer.