Sierra Journal

Mt. Everest to Get Cell Phone Coverage

Hi Mom. Guess what? I've got cerebral edema and I'm freezing to death. How's Dad?

That's right. The summit of Mt. Everest is about to be enveloped in a comforting shroud of cell coverage. So you can take the sat phone off your shopping list. That should knock a thousand bucks off the 50k price tag.  

Funny thing is I've gotten so used to cell coverage that I kind of expect it these days even when climbing and skiing. It's ubiquitous in Tahoe. And when I was on Mt. Shasta last weekend I got a call at high camp from a buddy in LA. Then called my gal to say good-night.

I'm not sure if this takes away from the experience or not. Frankly, I think I kinda like it. Is that weird?

Via Reuters:

A Nepali telecom firm plans to expand its mobile phone services to the top of Mount Everest, benefitting climbers on the world's highest mountain, a company official said on Thursday.

Hundreds of climbers, who go to the 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) Mount Everest every year, depend on expensive satellite phones to speak with their families as the remote Himalayan region does not have communication facilities.

"We are going to set up mobile towers in Thakdin, Manjo, Pheriche and Gorak Shep, which will bring the summit of Mount Everest within the network coverage," Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, director of the satellite service wing of Nepal Telecom, said.

Sherpa Brothers to Spend 24 Hours on Mt. Everest Summit

Scaling Mt. Everest 16 times and breaking a speed record just wasn't enough. Pemba Dorje and his two brothers now not only want to scale it again, they also want to stay on the summit for 24 hours before heading down. That's nutso, but good luck to ya!

From the AP:

Between the three of them, the Sherpa brothers have climbed Mount Everest 16 times. The eldest raced up the world's highest mountain in eight hours and 10 minutes, the record for the fastest-ever ascent.

Now, the trio want to scale Everest together, and they aim to break the record for time spent at the summit, known as "the death zone," by staying at the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) peak for 24 hours. Most climbers linger there for only a few minutes, just long enough to take a photograph from the top of the world.

"It is going to be difficult but I know we can do it," said Pemba Dorje, 31, the oldest brother. "I feel safer on the mountain trail than on the city streets."

*Photo Credit: Binod Joshi, Associated Press

Extreme Skier Shane McConkey Dies in Ski-BASE Accident

Tahoe-based extreme skier, Shane McConkey, died yesterday after launching off of a cliff during a ski-BASE attempt. My condolences to Shane's friends and family. Via ESPN's Freeskiing:

Decorated big mountain skier and BASE jumper Shane McConkey was killed earlier today in a ski-BASE accident in the Italian Dolomites.

A member of the Red Bull Air Force and pioneer of the ski-BASE-ing phenomenon, McConkey experienced problems in the air after launching off a cliff with the expectation of deploying his parachute canopy and then gliding down to the ground—as he had done successfully some 700-plus times before.

"He did a double backflip off the jump and he has these releasable bindings so they come off in the air and then he flies off in his wing suit," filmmaker Scott Gaffney, a longtime close friend of McConkey's, told ESPN Action Sports in an interview this afternoon via phone.

"But one ski did not come off. And when that happens the drag on the skis causes you to flip over, so the skis go over your head. So he was struggling with the one ski. Then he also got into a bad spin. So he may have never even pulled his pilot chute. And that's coming from JT Holmes, who Shane was with in Italy and who reviewed the footage of the accident. So the combination of the ski, the spin and the pilot chute, apparently. Because you can't throw the pilot chute like that; if you throw it while you're upside down and it wraps around the ski, you're done."

Here's Shane in action:

Nude Hiking Craze Hits the Swiss Alps

Here's a great piece from the NY Times on the nude hiking craze that has hit the Swiss Alps. We're so lame here in the US. Think I'm gonna start climbing and skiing in the nude in my usual Sierra haunts. For that, I'm truly sorry.

  *Photo Credit Christoph Bangert for The New York Times

From NY Times:

"In recent years, it has become fashionable for a growing number of Swiss and some foreigners to wander in the Alps clad in little more than hiking shoes and sun screen. Last summer, the number of nude hikers increased to such an extent that the hills often seemed alive with the sound of everything but the swish of trousers."

K2 update: another survivor makes it back

Dutch climber Wilco van Rooijen is resting in a Pakistan hospital after narrow escape from K2. His descriptions of the events offer a sobering account of the tragedy.  From NY Times:

After the avalanche severed the climbers’ lines across a part of the mountain called the bottleneck, Mr. van Rooijen spent the night with Gerard McDonnell, the first Irishman to climb K2, and Marco Confortola, an Italian mountaineer. About 12 climbers were stranded above the avalanche, Reuters said.   

In the morning, the three men began descending, but they lost track of one another in the dense mists and clouds shrouding the mountain.

At Least 9 Climbers Die on K-2

So Sad. From NY Times:

At least nine climbers were reported dead on Sunday on K-2, the world’s second highest mountain, after an avalanche struck them on a steep gully at a height of nearly 27,000 feet, just below the summit.

Those who perished included South Koreans and Nepalese, the Pakistani television station ARY reported. Serbian, Norwegian, Dutch and French climbers were also believed to be among those who might have died, according to ARY. Other climbers are feared to be missing.

The death toll appears to be the largest ever on K-2.

Terrible climbing accident in the Alps

This has got to be one of the worst climbing accident news reports I've ever read. I can't imagine how this poor woman is feeling. My condolences. One question though: how is it that the woman was un-roped, but her husband and three children were roped up?

From BBC News:

A 50-year-old woman has witnessed her husband and three children falling to their deaths while climbing near Europe's highest peak.

The Dutch woman watched as the four victims, who were roped together, fell 1,600ft (500m) down an icy slope in the French-Italian Alpine range.