Alpine Ascents 2013 Everest Expedition making plans in the South Col

I have been pouring through numerous weather forecasts and relaying all the information I find up the mountain to the South Col where our guides are currently deciding if they will leave for their summit push tonight or hold out another day at Camp 4. We have enough resources to stay an extra day if the weather does not line up for us, but it looks like the conditions are trending toward a good summit window for tonight.

The winds have started to calm down and have shifted toward the north. Several of the forecasts I review indicate that this means the winds will stay lower and manageable for several days to come. Garrett Madison is currently collecting information from other teams in the South Col on the numbers of climbers we can expect today and tomorrow. So far the numbers going for the summit tonight are not too great and it looks like there will be likely be more climbers tomorrow. With winds calming and crowds at a reasonable level it looks to me like tonight will be a go.

Garrett will make the final decision around 9pm, four hours from now.

Stay tuned, if they decide to climb tonight, there will be many cybercasts to come as our climbers make their way to the top of the world!!

Joe Kluberton