10th May 2008 - Dawa Steven Sherpa

Finally, on the 8th of May, the Chinese Olympic expedition managed to summit Everest from the north side. Now, the government of Nepal has relaxed the rules to climb Everest and we are finally allowed to go higher than camp 2. What a great relief. Any longer and it could have been too late to safely climb to the summit.

During our wait, especially on 1st and 2nd of May, when the mountain was off limits, I decided to visit Imja Lake next To Island Peak. Imja glacier is receding at about 74m a year and is the fastest receding glacier in the Himalayas. It could even be the fastest receding glacier in the whole world. The receding glacier, as it melts away, leaves behind huge glacial lakes that are held back only by a dam of ice and rock. Imja Lake is over a kilometer long and in some places over 90m deep. What makes the situation so critical is that Imja Lake lies directly upstream of most of the trekking trail to Mt. Everest base camp. This trail is one of the busiest in the country and is also the jewel in the crown of Nepal’s tourism industry.

If Imja were to burst, not only would this mean a great human tragedy but also huge economic devastation.

Since my last update, I went up Everest for my second acclimatization climb. I left at about 5 a.m. while it was still dark to avoid being cooked alive in the sun, magnified by our white icy reflective surroundings. This time I went as high as Camp 2, arriving at 10a.m., and I stayed at Camp 2 for a couple of nights. The whole business of acclimatizing is extremely tiresome and boring. Camp 2 is at 6500m and every action becomes exhausting and you frequently find yourself out of breath. To pass the time without exhausting ourselves, we took to playing cards for most of the day. The day I returned to Base Camp the Chinese Olympic expedition managed to summit Everest from the north side (we are on the south side).

Now, that the restrictions have been removed, the Sherpas have rushed ahead and already fixed the route up to Camp 3. It took them less than 2 days! We expect that the ropes to Camp 4 will be fixed in the next two or three days. Camp 4 on Everest is the last camp before going for the summit. Generally the Sherpas don’t stay overnight at Camp 2 until its time to make an assault on the higher camps, Camp 3 and Camp 4.

Before the Sherpas headed up we had a small meeting and I briefed them about the use of the human waste disposal bags and the importance of bringing back these bags down so that they may be properly disposed of. Fortunately, I have enjoyed overwhelming support from my Climbing Sherpas. We have already collected 682 kilos of garbage from Camp 2 and Base camp - the Sherpas are equally excited about tackling the human waste problem on the mountain.



Mt. Lhotse (8501m) shares about 60 percent of the climbing route with Everest. We share Camps 1, 2 and 3 on the route to both Everest and Lhotse. The 4th and final camp on Lhotse and Everest are different. We have already collected enough rope and organized the necessary "Sherpa-power" to secure the route from the Camp 3 to Lhotse's Camp 4 and on to the summit.

If all goes well, I hope to summit Mt. Lhotse and return to base camp. This should take me about 5 days in total from Base Camp. At Base Camp I will rest and recover while the ropes are being set to the summit of Everest. Once the route is secure I hope to make my second summit bid and hopefully, with good luck and blessings from the mountains, I will be able to able stand on the summit of Mt. Everest for the second time with the ICIMOD banner, drawing the world’s attention to the impact of Climate change on the Himalayas.