Everest 2008: Chinese Olympic Torch Expedition–May 7, 2008–140 MPH Winds–Three Days To Go!

It is starting to look a bit hopeless for the Chinese expedition to be finished with their Olympic torch relay by the May 10th deadline. Most of us already know that China has closed down the North and South sides (through Nepal) to climbers until May 10th–the date they were supposedly going to be finished with their torch run. Being May 7th, that gives the Chinese three days to meet the deadline. If that doesn’t happen, most of us are curious as to what is in store.

Recent weather conditions do not look favorable. A special weather report from CNN is stating that the Chinese climbing expedition has been fighting 140MPH winds and heavy snow on the north slope. Originally it was mentioned that a weather window would open up on May 3rd or May 6th. Both of those have come and gone now with no summit. Rumor has it that the Olympic Torch is still sitting at 6,500 meters, well away from any major push to the top. The earliest, barring no bad weather or unfortunate events could be the 9th and 10th of May, or quite possibly later, by going on this report-

From Shanghai Daily:

The snowfall in the past couple of days had some impact upon our schedule but everything is under control,” said Zhang. “The trails and some of the tents have been destroyed, so the main job the torch climbers are doing now is fixing those damaged facilities.”

After two days of snowstorms, weather conditions in the Himalayas look favorable for the next two days. Climbers need only four or five days to reach the top of the world’s tallest peak if everything is in place.  The date of the ascent has not yet been confirmed.

More information regarding the Chinese Expedition is being released today. China has released the names of all expedition members set to make that final push for the summit, once the weather settles. MountEverest.net has went on the record with some early criticism of the team put together by China, even suggesting that the team may be having some problems with the high altitude. Most members of China’s summit team have only went as high as 6,500 meters previously, which may show a lack of experience, as well as problems acclimatizing to the higher altitudes of Everest. Most commercial expeditions to Mt. Everest require at least one successful summit of an 8,000 meter peak before a member is allowed to go. That’s a pretty big difference–

So what happens if May 10th comes and goes without the Olympic Torch making the summit? Actually, many of us are wondering the same thing. Climbers on the south side are looking to begin their higher progressions leading towards a summit bid of their own. They are waiting some what impatiently for China to finish up so they can get their own show on the road. Nepal has suggested that if the May 10th deadline is not reached, that new restrictions may be imposed. If that becomes the case, we are going to see some very angry climbers on the south that have already been pushed to their limits by China’s first Everest sanctions. Any more rules sent down by China, through Nepal, could definitely set off some bad friction between climbers and China. It will definitely be interesting to see how all of this comes out in the few days ahead. I will try to keep you posted.