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1998 Mount Everest Expedition Cybercast

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EVEREST '99

North Expedition Dispatches
Satellite phone updates from the north side of Everest
CLICK FOR COMPLETE INDEX OF DISPATCHES

Dave Hahn

A Crowd on the Northeast Ridge
Sunday, May 17, 1998 — Base Camp, Rongbuk Glacier, Tibet

We watched four Russian climbers get to the top of the First Step on the North Ridge yesterday (28,000+ ft.) They then turned around at about noon. It was confusing to watch by telescope as they didn't seem particularly serious about the top; late start and wasted time at route-finding.

Our Sherpa team succeeded marvelously in reaching Camp VI yesterday and are heading that way again today. It is a fine day today and so we are perplexed that nobody is going for the top. There had seemed to be a number of teams that had been aiming for exactly such a window. Blame it on the wind, I suppose.

"We also have the suspicion that some teams never really planned on being the trailblazers for the North Ridge..."

The extreme weather of the last week appears to have done severe damage to the upper camps of most teams. They now seem to be largely occupied at rebuilding and resupplying those camps. We also have the suspicion that some teams never really planned on being the trailblazers for the North Ridge. It takes a fairly strong, experienced, and motivated team to push out onto summit terrain with the resources for finding the way, breaking trail through snow (if necessary), and fixing rope through difficulties. Lacking such a team ready for the top is probably keeping other climbers, who'd follow without much difficulty, from being too pushy about the summit.

My worry begins to be that we may have more climbers in the area than anticipated for the later try that interests us. Our team is beginning already to leave for ABC on the final push. We'd love to be knocking on the door to the top by the 24th of May. We know the way, we can fix rope if it hasn't been adequately done, we can wait out bad weather if it comes again. What we can't do is climb with a crowd on the Northeast Ridge of Mount Everest.

— Dave Hahn, International Mountain Guides' Expedition Leader

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