Everest season is well underway with some successful summits last week. A bunch of South Africans are sitting on the mountain, waiting for a more sustainable weather window to open before making their summit attempts.
The first, brief, summit window opened last week, which allowed for rope fixing and a handful of summits. A more sustainable window is expected to open around 20 May. From what I can tell there are five South Africans on the mountain: Ronnie Muhl, Mandy Ramsden and three others.
Mandy, climbing with the Kiwi outfit Adventure Consultants (they’re posting daily dispatches on their site – nice reading), is most notable as a successful Everest summit will make her the first South African woman to tick off all Seven Summits. Mandy is sending updates through to CapeStorm’s Facebook page. Ronnie’s team is Adventures Global and he has four South Africans with him (the rest seem to be Aussies)
Interestingly, 13 climbers on the mountain (Ronnie’s team – SA, Aussie – and Mandy, in a different team) are wearing a local South African brand; CapeStorm kitted the baker’s dozen in their A.S.R. high altitude down suits. Some climbers are out with illness. Nine (as of 6 May) continue.
To follow summit reports, which will pick up from about 20 May, visit these sites:
An image created by Capestorm and posted on their Facebook site, outlining the progress of the 13 climbers.
