Everest 2007:  South African Andy van der Velde summited with Nima Sherpa

Photo Tom West Everest 2004 Expedition©EverestNews.com

16th May 2007                                    SUMMIT SUCCESS!

We are ecstatic to announce that Andy van der Velde successfully summited Mt. Everest at 5am Nepalese time this morning.  He climbed with Nima Sherpa in good conditions and is now moving down towards Advanced Base Camp.

15th May 2007:  It was great to hear Andy’s voice from Camp 3 at 8 300m. He described the conditions as cloudy, but warm inside the tent. He is ready for his summit bid and plans to leave the highest camp in the world at 9:30 tonight. The remaining three members relaxed in Base Camp and enjoyed their first fresh salad for lunch in 6 weeks. The latest weather report reveals a stable window for all of next week.

14th May 2007; Andy and Nima reached Camp 2 at 7 700m safely and in fine spirits. The weather is holding, although some instability still exists. Ronnie, Mike and John walked down to Base Camp for a few days’ rest before their summit push next week

13th May 2007: An up-to-date weather forecast was obtained which still revealed that a reasonable weather window existed.  The majority of the team felt that the window is not ideal and would prefer to wait for warmer and more stable conditions at a later stage.

Andy, however, is determined to take advantage of the opportunity and left Advanced Base Camp at 13:30 today accompanied by the very capable Nima Sherpa, who has six summits to his credit. We established that 150 climbers are taking advantage of this weather window to push for the summit. Go Andy Go!

10th May 2007; John arrived in Base Camp early this morning from Shigar and joined the rest of the team on their walk up to Intermediate Base Camp. With porters to help carry their personal gear, the team covered the 11km stretch in four hours. 

The team is committed to arriving in Advanced Base Camp refreshed and ready for their summit push.

9th May 2007

As we prepare to leave Base Camp for the last time, we find ourselves spending time focused on the weather. There is a possible weather window around the 17th and again around the 21st.  We need to get to Advanced Base Camp before we can have a clearer picture of what lies ahead.  John will join us in Intermediate Base Camp tomorrow.

2nd May 2007

Ronnie, Mike and Andy packed up their gear and walked down to Base Camp for a rest.  It snowed for 4 hours, which made the going very tough indeed.  Along the way they met John on his way back up to Advanced Base Camp and he was in high spirits, looking forward to his climb up to 7 000m. 

1st May 2007:

Just after breakfast  we heard that the climbers from Kazakhstan were in trouble on the descent and that they called for help at 4am this morning. Our Sirdar Lhakpa Randu was involved with their rescue, which took 16 hours.

The Kazakhs finally made it back to Advanced Base Camp at 9pm.  They were physically, mentally and emotionally drained. 

A cold weather, high altitude double boot for extreme conditions The Olympus Mons is the perfect choice for 8000-meter peaks. This super lightweight double boot has a PE thermal insulating inner boot that is coupled with a thermo-reflective outer boot with an integrated gaiter. We used a super insulating lightweight PE outsole to keep the weight down and the TPU midsole is excellent for crampon compatibility and stability on steep terrain. WEIGHT: 39.86 oz • 1130 g LAST: Olympus Mons CONSTRUCTION: Inner: Slip lasted Outer: Board Lasted OUTER BOOT: Cordura® upper lined with dual-density PE micro-cellular thermal insulating closed cell foam and thermo-reflective aluminium facing/ Insulated removable footbed/ Vibram® rubber rand See more here.

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Atomic

   Big Agnes

   Black Diamond

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   Chaco

   Cloudveil

   Columbia
   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Exofficio

   FiveTen

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Gregory

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps

   Hestra
   Helmets

   Helly Hansen

   HighGear

   HornyToad
   Ice Axes

   Julbo

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kelty

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Life is Good

   Lowa

   Lowe Alpine

   Lowepro

   Millet

   Motorola

   Mountain Hardwear

   Mountainsmith

   MSR

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Osprey

   Outdoor Research
   Patagonia

   Pelican

   Petzl

   Prana

   Princeton Tec

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Royal Robbins

   Salomon

   Scarpa

   Scott

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Sterling Rope

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Teva

   Thermarest

   Trango

   Tool Logic

   Trekking Poles
   Yaktrax
   and more here