|
Latest News |
| Climbing
Dispatches |
| 26st May 2008
- Dawa Steven ascents Mount Everest,
8848m |
| Climbing
Dispatches |
| 21st May 2008
- Dawa Steven ascents Mount Lhotse,
8516m |
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Dawa Steven Sherpa
and his other Sherpa team members
reached the Summit of Lhotse (8516m) on
21 May. He had left the 7800m Camp 4
(known as Lhotse Wall) at 2:30 am and
reached the top of Lhotse at 8:35 am.
Dawa took the ICIMOD 25th Anniversary
flag with him to the summit of Lhotse
and took photos with the flag. He and
his team spent 45 minutes on the summit
before descending to Camp 2. Dawa Steven
plans to rest for a couple of days and
then attempt the summit of Mt. Everest,
most likely on 27 May or even earlier
depending upon the weather conditions.
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| Climbing
Dispatches |
| 18th May 2008
- Dawa Steven Sherpa @ Camp 2 |
| Today I am at Camp
2 on Everest. I plan to climb to Camp 3
tomorrow 19 May and then on 20 May I
intend to camp on the Lhotse Wall.
Weather permitting I plan to summit Mt.
Lhotse (8501m) on 21 May. Following this
I will then descend and then continue my
climb to the summit of Everest. |
| The weather so far
has been good for climbing. |
| I am carrying the
ICIMOD 25th Anniversary flag with me to
the summit of Lhotse and then on to
Everest. |
| Climbing
Dispatches |
|
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. |
| News by:
ecoeverest.net.np |
|
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Everest
record breaker Apa Sherpa expected to
join the Eco Everest
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29th April 2008
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| Apa Sherpa, the
17th times world record holder of
Everest is expected to join the Eco
Everest Expedition for the 18th time to
the summit. He was honoured as the Chief
Guest at the Glacier Lake Outburst Flood
Awareness Workshop which was held on 25
April in Namche Bazar. Organized as one
of the events during the Eco Everest
Research expedition, the workshop aimed
to raise the awareness of the local
community and organizations on the
impacts of climate change in the
Himalaya |
more >
 |
| News by:
ecoeverest.net.np |
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ICIMOD Silver Jubilee Flag
handed over to Dawa Steven Sherpa,
leader, Eco Everest Expedition 2008 at
Everest Base Camp
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|
18th April 2008
Dr. Andreas Schild,
Director General of ICIMOD handed over
the ICIMOD silver jubilee flag to Dawa
Steven Sherpa, the leader of the
climbing team, to be taken to the top of
the world. The Eco Everest Expedition
was conceived by Dawa Steven, whose
personal near tragedy of an ice collapse
in the Khumbu ice fall in 2007 led him
to ICIMOD to seek some answers. His
realization of the potential impact of
climate change on the lives of his
people in the Khumbu region was the
birth of the Eco Everest Expedition
2008.
On the
same occasion the ICIMOD Information
Centre, and a repeat photography
exhibition, 50 Years of Change -
Glaciers, Landscapes, People and
Resilience in the Mount Everest Region,
Nepal was also opened at Everest Base
Camp. The photographs demonstrate the
changes in the climatic, cultural and
physical landscape of the Khumbu over
the past half century.
At the function Dr. Andreas Schild, Director General of ICIMOD,
stressed the need for immediate action
focusing on understanding the impacts of
climate change, and finding ways to
strengthen people's resilience and
support adaptation.
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News by:
ecoeverest.net.np |
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Crucial Role of
Timely Monitoring and Research in
Helping Mountain Communities in Disaster
Risk Reduction: Shomare Village, Khumbu
region
17th April 2008
Shomare for climbers is a small cluster
of houses with a "fantastic close-up
view of Ama-Dablam" on their way to the
Mount Everest Base Camp. It is also a
place to rest and take a meal between
Pangboche and Pheriche.
For the ICIMOD research team it is the
location of Shomare that sends warning
bells tingling. Shomare is situated on
the west bank of the Imja River on the
old landslide debris and close to the
active landslide. According to the
research team, if the Imja lake bursts
its banks (link Google Earth) the
resulting outburst of water could wipe
out the entire Shomare Village.
These are the
kinds of observations that the research
team is gathering in their effort to
contribute to reducing disaster risks
created by climate change in the lives
of mountain communities. The scientific
field study is a part of the Eco Everest
Expedition 2008 organised by Asian
Trekking, ICIMOD and UNEP.
The ICIMOD research team is carrying
out detailed field investigations to
study the climate change impacts on the
glaciers and glacial lakes. The team
also tries to assess the potential risk
of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF)
activities to mountain communities
living downstream.
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News by:
ecoeverest.net.np |
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Revisiting 1985 Dig
Tsho GLOF site: Himalayan GLOF risk
assessment by ICIMOD
17th April 2008
The memories of the sudden flood of
black water that washed away their
entire livelihood still haunt Lhakpa
Chamjee and Ang Maya, even though the
ICIMOD research team estimates Dig Tsho
lake to be considerably more safe at the
moment.
23 years after the GLOF occurred on
4 August 1985, ICIMOD's research team
revisited the Dig Tsho Glacial Lake
Outburst Flood (GLOF) site and
downstream river banks on 10th April
2008 as part of the ongoing Eco Everest
expedition (www.ecoeverest.net.np).
The Dig Tsho GLOF site is in the
Langmoche and Bhote Koshi valleys. The
purpose of the visit was to study the
present conditions.
The analysis of temporal series of
satellite images show that the size of
the Dig Tsho lake seems stable. The
present observations show that further
retreat of the steep Langmoche glacier
will not cause the lake to further
expand at the far end as the glacier
retreat will only expose the bed rock.
The present outlet of the lake is at the
same level as the Langmoche river bed
and a large mass failure at breach area
that can close the outlet causing rise
of the lake water level can be ruled
out. This observation supports the view
that a second outburst from Dig Tsho
Lake seems unlikely.
Even though the likelihood of a second
GLOF from Dig Tsho is small the threat
of GLOFs in general in the valley
remains, as there are several other
glacial lakes in the vicinity. These are
growing rapidly, and could potentially
reach a stage where an outburst could
happen. Such events threaten the very
livelihoods of local people and economy.
Regular scientific monitoring with
in-situ measurements of these lakes is
necessary to take preventive measures to
safeguard the mountain communities and
the environment. As part of the
EcoEverest Expedition the ICIMOD
research team will conduct a detailed
field investigation and establish a
pilot early warning system in Imja lake,
in collaboration with Department of
National Park and Wildlife Conservation
and Keio University of Japan.
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|
News by:
ecoeverest.net.np |
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Climate Change
Affects Local Life in Thukla: Small GLOF
activities in the Khumbu Glacier
Tshering Lhakpa Sherpa, resident of
Thukla shares a local resident’s
perspective of glacial lake outburst
flooding
The bridge over
Khumbu River got washed away by a flash
flood for the fourth time in 2007. It
was also the fourth time that Tshering
Lhakpa Sherpa had to repair the bridge.
T A lifeline between Thukla and Pheriche,
the bridge is a crucial means for
commuting. The Khumbu River originates
from the Khumbu Glacier. Fed up,
Tshering Lhakpa decided to find out what
was causing this unusual frequency in
the surge in the Khumbu River. He went
up to the Khumbu Glacier and noticed
small ponds of glacial lakes bursting
their fragile banks, resulting in the
small GLOF activities. Tshering Lhakpa
also remarks that the snow cover
consequently the borderline is receding
up the mountain.
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News by:
ecoeverest.net.np |
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Everest Expedition
Kicks Off
7 April 2008
The first dispatch from Team 1 has come
in at 10:30 this morning (8th April
2008). The original scheduled flight on
7th April had to return to Kathmandu
because it was unable to land due to
unfavourable weather conditions. Basanta
has sent in the following dispatch of
their arrival at Lukla Airport:
"The Team 1 of
ICIMOD Eco Everest arrives in Lukla."
Lukla Airport is at an elevation of
9,380 ft. (2,860m) and is situated in
the town of Lukla in eastern Nepal. The
airport is the starting point for
trekkers climbing Mount Everest. The
paved tarmac is only accessible to
helicopters and small fixed wing short
takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft such
as Twin Otters. There is about a
700-metre (2,000 ft) angled drop at the
end of the runway to the valley far
below.
"We are all set to go to Monjo."
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News by:
ecoeverest.net.np |
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Auspicious Beginning
for the Eco Everest Expedition and the
Scientific Research Teams
4th April 2008
On 5th April 2008 at ICIMOD, the Eco
Everest Expedition and the Scientific
Research teams were given a traditional
and auspicious start to their mission to
spread the message about climate change
and the need for every individual to be
involved.
The Expedition
team was represented by Dawa Steven
Sherpa (leader of the Expedition) and
Basanta Shrestha (leader of the Research
Team). Other team members included:
Samjwal Bajracharya, Birendra
Bajracharya, Paribesh Pradhan and Sarad
Joshi.
The auspicious symbols of tika
(blessed vermilion powder) flower
garland, and khada (silk scarf with
auspicious symbols and greetings)
representing Nepal's multicultural
society were offered by ICIMOD
colleagues Samjhana Thapa, Anjali
Shrestha and Prerna Thapa respectively.
These items symbolize protection,
safeguard and success for anybody
embarking on a major mission.
Milan Tuladhar rounded the ceremony
off by "sweetening" the mouths of the
team members by feeding them "laddoos"
(Nepali sweet), another symbol for
wishing the team success and
fruitfulness in their venture.
"... on behalf of the Team 1, I
would like to express sincere thanks and
appreciation for our Directorate
colleagues for a surprise traditional
Nepali programme 'wishing all of us a
good luck' along with Dawa Steven
Sherpa." e-mail message from Basanta,
4th April 2008
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News by:
ecoeverest.net.np |
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