Everest 2009: News and Notes

January 19, 2009

The Everest publicity machine is starting to churn. We are still a few months away from the start of the 2009 Spring climbing season on Mt. Everest, but Everest is already getting some feature headlines in the media. Here’s a rundown of some of the latest headlines:

Wendy Booker will be attempting to conquer the last leg of her Seven Summits quest this Spring. Wendy’s story is quite remarkable in that she has conquered the previous six peaks AFTER she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. If she tops out on Everest, this will make her the first person to ever do so with MS, as well as the first person to conquer the Seven Summits with the disease. She will be climbing with Mountain Link, an Everest guide service out of Bend, Oregon, with logistics and planning done by Robert Link. Wendy will be climbing with her long-time climbing partner, Brooke Barnes, who has been along for three of Wendy’s six summits enroute to the famed Seventh. You can read the complete article as found on KOMONews.com.

The Magazine of the Society for Science, ScienceNews, has released an interesting article on air quality from the summit of Mt. Everest. A group of climbers carried up some portable ozone monitors in 2005 and took some readings. Many of us would think that the top of Mt. Everest would have some of the cleanest air in the world. ScienceNews now has us believing differently. Their study suggested that on May 18, 2005, the air on Mt. Everest registered 70 parts per billion of ozone concentration. Just to compare what that means…if levels hit 75ppb in the United States, EPA air quality standards would be violated. The article goes on to suggest that this air quality may be partly to blame for breathing issues near the top of Mt. Everest. I should mention that May 18, 2005 represented the single largest concentration of ozone read on Mt. Everest during this study. The other readings fell well below the 70ppb–which would still lead me to believe that ALTITUDE is the single biggest factor in judging why people have a hard time breathing on Everest. Who am I to question a study, though. You can read the full article by visiting ScienceNews.

Speaking of high altitude, MediLexicon has published an article about a recent study looking at the effects of high altitude and some of the symptoms that it can bring on. This study was originally published in The Lancet Neurology and goes on the basis of some interesting finding by a group of climbers with the Caldwell Extreme Everest Expedition in 2007. This study offers up little new information for my regular readers, but does look at the symptoms and explain that illnesses in high altitude may be detrimental to each individual climber. Everyone reacts differently and has different symptoms. You can read the full article by visiting MediLexicon. Some of you may be interested to know that I covered some of the Caldwell Extreme Everest Expedition in 2007. You can find the reports by checking out my Everest 2007 page.

Alan Arnette has returned with his annual look at the pricing of Everest expeditions in 2009. His 2008 report was missed due to Alan’s own Everest Expedition, but he has returned to show us the big difference between guide companies. The price of an Everest expedition in 2009 ranges from $21,000 to $65,000, with the median price being $40-$45,000. The median price is about average. The top end expeditions have went up a little over the past two years. So what is attributed to the pricing differences? There are many factors, including where the guiding company is from. If you go with a guiding service from the United States, they have thousands of pounds of equipment to ship to Tibet or Nepal, depending on which side you are going up. A more local guide service can cut out that pricing. The key, as in most everything, is to not worry about the price. Most would say that you get what you pay for. Better guides, better service, and better treatment of the Sherpas are key in the higher prices. If you pick a Russell Brice or Dave Hahn to be your guide, you pay more for the experience of the guides–a key factor when it comes to being successful. Know your guides, know what is involved with the expedition, talk to people that have used the guide service, then lastly worry about price. When it comes to Everest, research can definitely pay dividends. You can read Alan’s full report on the prices of an Everest expedition by following this link.

If climbing Mt. Everest isn’t within your pocketbook this year, perhaps you would like to have the opportunity to venture to BaseCamp and check out the climbing life. Basecamp treks have become quite popular on Everest, with many people just wanting to take a closer look at the world’s highest mountain. While perusing the Mountaineering/Mountain Climbing/Alpine Trekking group on Facebook, I discovered an interesting post. Joe Bonington is looking for people interested in venturing to Everest Basecamp with him and his father, Sir Chris Bonington. Don’t know Chris? Sir Chris Bonington is credited with the first British ascent of the Eiger’s North Wall (1962), the first to climb a major Himalayan wall when he led a successful expedition on the South Face of Annapurna (1968), then in 1975, Sir Chris Bonington finished one of the great Himalayan problems when he led the first team to conquer the South West Face of Mt. Everest. This is Everest history and now you could have the chance to venture to Basecamp with one of the true legends of Alpine climbing. I am in contact with Chris’ son, Joe, and should be getting more information on this trek in the days to come. If you wuold like to contact Joe, yourself, you would have to sign up to Facebook, then find the Facebook group Mountaineering/Mountain Climbing/Alpine Climbing, then join. His post will be found in the forum at the top of the page. If you sign up for Facebook, be sure to look me up and add me to get even more updates and news as I make them available.

If you are heading to Everest in the Spring, either to climb or trek to Basecamp, get in touch with me. I offer one of the top sites on the internet for news and publicity for Mt. Everest Expeditions. If your looking for exposure for your adventure, I can offer interviews, dispatches, and updates as they happen to the media. Get in touch and we can see what I can do for you.

2009 will mark my third year of covering the Mt. Everest climbing season. In April, The Adventurist will go into full Everest mode, offering daily updates,interviews, and news on what is taking place on the world’s highest mountain. If you are a fan, be sure to bookmark the site, or sign up for my Free Feedburner Email Updates. If you have an interest in the return of Everest: Beyond the Limit, you may want to refrain from stopping by the site from April till June. I report things as they happen and this often includes spoilers to one of Discovery Channel’s most popular series. There. You have my fair warning. You can see my previous reporting from 2007 and 2008 by following the links.

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