Everest South Col Expedition 2024

Leader: Chris Harling

24th May 2024 - Team back safe at base camp

The team are now all back down safe at base camp. Chris has sent some pictures through from an amazing summit night.

22nd May 2024 - 100% Summit Success On Everest!

Chris messaged this morning, now that the team are back at the South Col. Jake, Jay Chris & Phurba reached the summit at around 6:30am Nepali time. John and Phuringee were about an hour later. They left the South Col at around 9:20pm on the 21st May and made steady progress to the balcony. They were rewarded with stunning views all around them. The winds started to pick up as they were descending from the balcony back down to the South Col. Well done to all the team and we wish them a safe return to base camp.

21st May 2024 - At the South Col

Chris messaged last night to say the team have had a coulple of long an hot days heading up the mountain. They arrived at the South Col at 8:09pm Nepali time last night and now need to rest and rehydrate. Their plan now is to leave the South Col at 9pm tonight to make the summit early tomorrow morning.

19th May 2024 - Team at Camp 3

Today the team made the decision to move up to Camp 3, with the focus of the 21st May as their summit day. There is some snow forecast and clouds building in late morning to early afternoon, but overall the team are happy to make their push now. Tomorrow, they will move to the South Col, at 7900m, this is the launching platform for their summit bid.

13th May 2024 - Plans in Place for Summit Bid

After recovering from a bout of pneumonia, Jon has now made his way back up to base camp today, so the whole team are re-united once again. They will all have a couple more days rest and plan to move up to Camp 2 on the 16th May.

9th May 2024 - recovering in Base Camp

The team are recovering in base camp. They did some training yesterday using the oxygen cylinders and today they walked up to near the Pumori Base camp it was a cloudy view back to base camp.

6th May 2024 - Resting at Base Camp

The team returned to Base Camp yesterday. They had 4 nights at Camp 2 and Chris, Jake and Phurba touched Camp 3. Phurba sustained a finger injury on descent from Camp 3 from rockfall on the Lhotse face. Jon has been battling a bad chest, so both Phurba and Jon have helicoptered this morning to Lukla to get checked out and recouperate.

They will now rest for a few days before formulating their plans for the next rotation or summit push.

1st May 2024 - Team at Camp 2

Today, the team have moved up to Camp 2 at nearly 6500m. It looks like they haven't had the tracker running today, but we have had word that they have arrived at camp.

30th April 2024 - Team at Camp1

In the early hours of this morning the team made their first journey through the infamous Khumbu Icefall. From base camp it took them around 6 hours to reach camp 1. Tomorrow they will have a much easier day moving the short ditance to Camp 2, that said no day is easy on Everest. They will still have to contend with the intense heat that is common place in the Western Cwm.

29th April 2024 - Puja & Acclimatisation

The team headed up to Camp 1 on Pumori as part of their acclimatisation and have practised some climbing skills on the ice near to base camp. Today they had their Puja ceremony, so they are now ready to start heading up the mountain on their first rotation.

25th April 2024 - Everest Base Camp

The team arrived at Everest Base Camp at lunch time today and the Scenery has been spectacular. Tomorrow they will have a gear sorting day in preparation for the first foray into the Khumbu icefall.

22nd April 2024 - Lobuche East in The Bag!

Today the team climbed Lobuche East, reaching the summit around & 8am local time. They are now back down resting at Lobuche village.

20th April 2024 - Team now at Lobuche

Chris has messaged to say the team are now at Lobuche and have met up with our Lhotse team. Tomorrow they will all head up to Lobuche East High Camp.

19th April 2024 - Acclimatising at Dingboche

Chris and the team moved up to Dingboche yesterday in a speedy 3 hours. All the team are going strong. Today the team have been acclimatising on Nangkartshang, the ridge behind Dingboche, up to 5073m, where they were rewarded with spectacular views of Lobuche, Tabuche, Island Peak, Makalu, Baruntse & Ama Dablam.

16th April 2024 - Acclimatisation To Ama Dablam Base Camp

Today the team walked up to Ama Dablam base camp, for a bit of acclimatisation, while they wait for their bags to catch them up after their helicopter ride yesterday.

15th April 2024 - Hard Decisions & Moving Forward

The day after the team travelled to the Langtang valley we received news that the opening of the border with Tibet was going to be further delayed to the last week in April, with no exact date given. Permits had received preliminary approval but had still not been signed off. In addition to this the exit date from Tibet, 31st May, was not going to be extended for any team planning to climb this year. This meant that the acclimatisation needed for climbing the North side was now being compromised and Adventure Peaks felt it was no longer safe to attempt the North side of Everest.

As you can imagine this was a bitter blow and very hard decision to accept for the team, especially after so much planning and preparation that has gone into getting ready for such a climb.

Undeterred, the team have weighed up their options and have now travelled back to Kathmandu. Using their acclimatisation from being in Langtang they have now helicoptered to Pangboche and will attempt the South side of Everest. Prior to trekking to base camp, they will climb Lobuche East, to further aid in acclimatisation.

11th April 2024 - Team in Langtang

The team are now in Langtang and weighing up there options for what to do next. Apparently there is now a via ferrata on the cliffs above Langtang village, which has caught their interest. They plan to walk up to Kyanjin Gompa this afternoon.

8th April 2024 - Team in Kathmandu.

Chris and the team arrived into Kathmandu yesterday. They have submitted their visa forms for Tibet today. It looks like the border might not open until the 17th April, so the team are planning to head to Langtang in order to start acclimatising.