New World Record: Apa Sherpa stood on the top of Mt. Everest for the 21st time
Apa Shepra on Mt. Everest summit 2011
New World Record: Apa Sherpa, Climbing Leader of Eco Everest Expedition 2011 reached the summit of Mt. Everest for the 21st time – a new world record with the message of “Stop Climate Change”. He joined Eco Everest for his 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st Summit of Mt. Everest in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Apa said he is committed to support the efforts of Dawa Steven Sherpa, leader of the Eco Everest Expedition to bring awareness to the world community about Climate Change and to help remove old garbage from the slopes of Mt. Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) – our sacred mountain.
At 9:15 am this morning (11 May), Eco Everest Expedition Climbing Leader Apa Sherpa and members Chris Shumate(49 yrs) of USA, Bruno Gremion(39yrs) of Switzerland together with three High Altitude Climbing Sherpas, Ang Dawa Sherpa, Phurba Sherpa and Arita Sherpa, stood on the top of Mt. Everest (8848m). They had left Camp 4 (7950m) at 10:30 pm on 10th May.
Dawa Steven Sherpa said that “This Expedition is focused on climbing in an Eco-sensitive manner to keep Everest clean and collect garbage, debris and waste left by past expedition groups. The collected garbage will be brought down to the Base Camp by members of the clean up team for proper disposal. The Eco Expedition would again be using the alternative energy solutions like the parabolic solar cookers, solar lightings, the ultraviolet light pens for water purification, using portable toilets called “CMC” clean mountain cans and toilet bags(Restop bags) which we bring down to Base Camp for proper disposal”he said”.
Until today, 11 May, Eco Everest Expedition 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 led by Dawa Steven Sherpa brought down to base camp more than 13,500 kilos of previous expedition teams garbage for proper disposal.· In addition wreckage parts of the Italian Army helicopter were also recovered from the edge of the Khumbu Icefall. The helicopter crashed between Camp 1 (6100m) and C 2 (6500m) on Mt. Everest during the Italian Everest Expedition in 1973.· This probably demonstrates the movement of the Khumbu Icefall 1.3 km over the past 36 years. Also more than 400 kilos of human waste produce by Eco Everest Expedition and four died bodies recovered and brought down from the mountain for a dignified burial. Still the “Cash for Trash” clean up campaign is going on until the end of this climbing season.
At Base Camp, the collected garbage will be sorted into biodegradable and burnable which will be handed over to the Sagarmatha or Everest Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), an NGO based in the Everest region. The non-degradable and non-burnable garbage will be brought to storage in Asian Trekking’s warehouse in Khumjung village.
The sponsors of this year’s Eco Everest Expedition 2011 “Cash for Trash” garbage collection program are Asian Trekking Pvt. Ltd and The North Face.
Dawa Steven Sherpa and his Eco Everest Expedition team are continuing this initiative to create awareness among the local people and among the climbers to help keep Mt.Everest and the Himalayan Mountains clean. Eco Everest Expeditions have been taking a message to “stop climate change” as it destroys the Himalayan environment and threatening the lives and livelihoods of the mountain communities.
Also this year Ken Noguchisummiteer from both side of Mt.Everest and Environmentalist from Japan and his team has jointed forces with Eco Everest Expedition and plans to clean in the extreme altitude at and above Camp 4 (7950m).
Eco Everest Expedition Climbing Leader Apa Sherpa and members Chris Shumate(49 yrs) of USA, Bruno Gremior(39yrs) of Switzerland together with three High Altitude Climbing Sherpas, Ang Dawa Sherpa, Phurba·Sherpa and Arita Sherpa are·near South Summit (8650m) on the way to the top of Mt. Everest (8848m) They had left Camp 4 (7950m) last night, 10 May·at 10:30 pm .
Apa Sherpa, climbing leader·of Eco Everest Expedition, member Chris Shumate of USA, Bruno Gremior of Switzerland, Ang Dawa Sherpa, Phurba Sherpa (little bulldozer) and Arita Sherpa reached Camp 4 at an altitude of 7950m. After taking rest for few hours, they will proceed towards the Summit to night.
Apa Sherpa, climbing leader of Eco Everest Expedition is at Camp 2·and his team members and Sherpas are at Camp 3. Apa will joint his team members and Sherpa at Camp 4 tomorrow and aiming to be on the top of Mt.Everest on the 11 May.
Apa’s previous ascents on Mt.Everest:
Ascents of Mount Everest
| DATE | EXPEDITION |
|---|---|
| 1 May 10, 1990 | International |
| 2 May 8, 1991 | Sherpa Support/American Lhotse |
| 3 May 12, 1992 | New Zealand |
| 4 October 7, 1992 | Everest International |
| 5 May 10, 1993 | American |
| 6 October 10, 1994 | Everest International |
| 7 May 15, 1995 | American On Sagarmatha |
| 8 April 26, 1997 | Indonesian |
| 9 May 20, 1998 | EEE |
| 10 May 26, 1999 | Asian-Trekking |
| 11 May 24, 2000 | Everest Environmental Expedition |
| 12 May 16, 2002 | Swiss Everest 50th Anniversary Expedition 1952-2002 |
| 13 May 26, 2003 | American Commemorative Expedition |
| 14 May 17, 2004 | Dream Everest Expedition 2004 |
| 15 May 31, 2005 | Climbing for a cure |
| 16 May 19, 2006 | Team No Limit |
| 17 May 16, 2007 | SuperSherpas™ |
| 18 May 22, 2008 | The Eco Everest Expediton |
| 19 May 21, 2009 | The Eco Everest Expedition |
| 20 May 21, 2010 | The Eco Everest Expedition |
We just received call from Dawa Steven Sherpa, leader of Eco Everest Expedition 2011 that Carlos-Eduardo Santalena, Brazilian, Carlos Eduardo Elizeu Canellas, Brazilian, Sherap Gyalgen Sherpa, Nepal and Pasang Rita Sherpa of Nepal reached the·top of Mt.Everest(8848m) today, 7 May at 09:50am.Carlos Eduardo Santalena became·the youngest Brazilian Mt.Everest Summiteer.
Charlie Wittmack left Camp 4 in the South Col last night at midnight and·reached the Summit of Mt.Everest·at 10:50 am today, 6 May 2011. Asian Trekking Family extends our hearty Congratulation to Charlie for his successful ascent and safe descend back to Base Camp.
Joe and Brian are in C3, Apa in C2 and Wiggy and myself in Base Camp waiting to hear from him!
The Summit Team are now at Camp 2, on their way to the summit.
Early morning and the team gathers in the mess tent, slowly equipment is made ready as the climbers go through final preparations for the climb ahead. Breakfast is taken with plenty of cups of coffee and tea; some added warmth against the chill outside. When ready we walk up towards the Puja alter with a fire of juniper and incense burns.
Apa Sherpa hands the climbers rice to scatter across the alter as an offering. With the gods of the mountain satisfied Rodrigo, Carlos, Carlito, Chris, Deke and Sherpas set off into the Ice Fall. Today they begin their journey to the summit under the leadership of·our climbing leader Apa Sherpa, world record holder of Mt.Everest·Summit 20 times.
Through the pre-dawn gloom we can trace their head torches before finally becoming lost in the labyrinth of the Ice Fall. We return to our tents, monitoring the radio traffic and awaiting the new day. It is not long before the silence is shattered by the sound of a rescue helicopter as it passes above BC and heading up and over the Ice Fall.
Sadly a climber died between C2 and C3 two nights ago and the rescue helicopter has been requested to transport the body back down the valley. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
Radio chatter is busy this morning; it is becoming quite apparent that we are not alone in identifying Saturday as a summit day. With multiple teams clambering up the Ice Fall the sheer volume of traffic is slowing the rate of ascent.
Happily we receive confirmation that both the Brazilian team and Americans have safely passed through and after resting briefly at C1 before crossing the Western Cwm and arriving at C2. Excited chatter keeps breaking through over our frequency, static interference maybe, weather possibly, whatever the reason – it’s a bad day for communications…
Arriving back at BC today from C2 was Sunita, Vikas and Sushma. All were looking tired and in need of some rest but had been able to spend time at altitude and can now await the next window of opportunity for a summit bid.
Bruno also arrived back at BC today, his acclimatisation period at C3 had gone well and more importantly he made good progress without supplemental oxygen towards C4. Having completed this he spent last night at C2 before dropping back down to BC this morning.
That leaves Arjun Vajpai; he has been at C2 for two nights and will be resting there today. Tomorrow, depending on how Arjun is feeling, he will either try and reach C3 before returning to C2 and another nights rest, or he will head straight back down to BC.
Our first team are leaving base camp tomorrow and aiming to reach the summit on saturday. We are aiming to capitalise on this early weather window.
The weather seems to be the main topic of conversation at the moment with the continued absence of the jet stream and lack of heavy snowfall, all talk inevitably leads to the Summit and the earliest opportunity to venture there.
First up this morning was Bruno at C3 as he and Phurba Sherpa set off towards C4 at 7950m. Overnight at C3 weather conditions had been very calm, light winds and no snowfall hopefully these conditions will enable Bruno to achieve C4 today before returning to C2 tonight and rest.
As for the rest of the group, they enjoyed a comfortable night at Hotel C2. Objectives for today are that the Indian party will climb to C3 before returning to C2 and an overnight stay. The exception here will be Narinder and Pawan who will be leaving C2 and returning all the way back down to BC to rest.
During the daily grind here at BC we see a lot of comings and goings. Just yesterday a small trekking team arrived at BC having walked in from Gorakshep, their guide happened to be Jamling Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay. Whilst Jamling and Apa Sherpa chatted happily away, we entertained our visitors with Sherpa tea and biscuits. These visits bring a much needed break from the routine and an opportunity to show what Base Camp is all about. Hopefully their return journey was a safe one.
Continual assessmenxt of the Swiss and American meteorological forecasts for the next seven days has highlighted a window of opportunity. This window will allow a summit bid early on Sat May 07. As previously indicated the jet stream will be out the region for the next seven days, this is an incredibly important factor, negative jet stream means less wind and therefore less wind chill!
Potential of snowfall over this period is low and what with the Sherpa rope fixing teams currently progressing towards the summit, all systems are go.
So who will be ready? Who has acclimitised in time for this summit bid? Firstly the Brazilian team will be ready, having arrived back in camp today they are rested and ready. The Americans Chris Shumate and Deke Williams have proven fit enough and acclimatized well enough to attempt a summit bid.
Finally Bruno, Bruno has acclimitised quicker and easier than most but for Bruno it will be a climb without supplemental oxygen and will undoubtedly be a considerable physical achievement. Whilst Bruno is resting at C2, the rest will leave at 0500 tomorrow from BC, good luck to all.
Finally the Sherpas, they will be with the climbers every step of the way and have been carefully selected through experience and strength. Already Naga Sherpa has allocated the Oxygen that will be issued at C3 and C4.
Lead climber for this summit bid will be Apa Sherpa. Apa first summited in 1990 and has carried on to summit a world record 20 times, his experience, knowledge and leadership is unquestionable. Having worked with some of the worlds greatest climbers this will be his fifteenth season with Asian Trekking. Apa only missed the fatal 1996 season due to his wife ordering him to stay at home and finish building their lodge in Thame, this lodge is currently run by his sister in law as Apa now lives with his wife and three children in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Yesterday and today, Members of Eco Everest Expedition team accompanied by high altitude Sherpas reached Camp 3 at an altitude of 7400m and spent the night there and some of the Members are returning to Camp 2.
There are two other expedition teams supported by Asian Trekking, who are also an autonomous part of the Eco Everest Expedition. Firstly we have an American team of Charlie Wittmack, Matt Boelman, Joe Brus and Brian Block. An experienced climbing team they will be led by Charlie who began his trip to Nepal by swimming the length of the Thames river in England prior to swimming the English channel and finally hopping on his bike and cycling all the way to Tibet from Calais In France – now that’s hardcore.
Finally there is a Japanese expedition led by the environmentalist Ken Noguchi accompanied by Jun Hiraga (cameraman) and Mitsuter Kojima (BC manager). Ken is a veteran mountaineer with a fantastic track record in the past of having cleaned Mt. Everest, Mt. Manaslu, Mt Fuji and running many environmental campaigns in his home country. This year, Ken has joined forces with the Eco Everest Expedition and plans to clean in the extreme altitude at and above C4 (7950m). Ken is climbing up to C2 tomorrow for 5 days to clean up at C2.
Eco Everest Expedition Sherpa’s established Camp 3 at an altitude of 7400m on 26 April.
Eco Everest Expedition Sherpa’s established Camp I at an altitude of 6100m and Camp II at an altitude of 6500m and the members did acclimatization trip upto C I. Tommorow 24th April, most of the members (Premlata Agrawal, Sunita Singh, Susma, Vikash Kaushik, Narendra Singh, Christopher Shumate, Deker William, Rodrigo Raineri, Carlos-Eduardo Santalena, Carlos Eduardo Elizeu Canellas·are planning to go·to Camp I and spend the night there and on 25th April, they will continue to Camp II. Apa Sherpa and Dawa Steven Sherpa will leave Base Camp on 25th April to Camp II.·Earlier Bruno Gremior spent a night at Camp·II and returned to Base Camp . Pawan Grewal is planning a day trip to C I and return to BC tommorow.
Ken Noguchi, leader of Eco Everest Expedition 2011 Cleaning Initiative by Dawa Steven Sherpa and Ken Noguci and Jun Hiraga, leader Asian Trekking’s International Lhotse Expedition 2011 and some other members are·climbing·Lobuche East Peak (6119m) for their acclimatization exercises World record holder Apa Sherpa going to the summit of Mt. Everest for the 21st time.
Having succeeded in the Eco Everest Expedition 2008, 2009 and 2010, the Eco Everest Expedition 2011 is heading on 6th April towards Mt. Everest Base Camp from Kathmandu under the leadership of Dawa Steven Sherpa , the Managing Director of Asian Trekking, Nepal and Apa Sherpa, World Record holder of 20 ascents of Mt. Everest, as a Climbing Leader of the Expedition.
Dawa Steven Sherpa, organizer of Eco Everest Expedition talked about this year’s Eco Everest Expedition. “This Expedition is focused on climbing in an Eco-sensitive manner to keep Everest clean and collect garbage, debris and waste left by past expedition groups. The collected garbage will be brought down to the Base Camp by members of the clean up team for proper disposal. The Eco Expedition would again be using the alternative energy solutions like the parabolic solar cookers, solar lightings and the ultraviolet light pens for water purification,” he said.
Since 2008, the Eco Everest Expeditions have collected and brought off the mountain nearly 12,000 kgs of garbage and over 300 kgs of human waste produced by Eco Everest Expedition. Also four died bodies recovered and brought down from the mountain for a dignified burial.
The Eco Everest Expedition 2011 plans again to collect and bring down garbage from high altitude . His team targets to bring down 4000 kilograms of garbage from the mountain like the previous Eco Everest Expedition on the basis of “Cash for Trash” program which offers 1 hundred rupees for one kilo garbage brought down to Base Camp. Furthermore, together with Japanese Mt.Everest Summiteer and Environmentalist Ken Noguchi, the expedition aims to bring down another 1 thousand kilos of garbage between Camp II and the Summit. The aim is to clean up a total of 5000 Kilograms of garbage from Mt. Everest this year.
At Base Camp, the collected garbage will be sorted into biodegradable and burnable which will be handed over to the Sagarmatha or Everest Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), an NGO based in the Everest region. The non-degradable and non-burnable garbage will be brought to storage in Asian Trekking’s warehouse in Khumjung village.
The main sponsors of Eco Everest Expedition 2011 garbage collection program are Asian Trekking Pvt. Ltd and The North Face.
Dawa Steven Sherpa and his Eco Everest Expedition team are continuing this initiative to create awareness among the local people and among the climbers to help keep Mt.Everest and the Himalayan Mountains clean. Eco Everest Expeditions have been taking a message to “stop climate change” as it destroys the Himalayan environment and threatening the lives and livelihoods of the mountain communities.
Eco Everest Expedition Spring 2011
Eco Everest Expedition 2011 and International Dream Everest Expedition 2011 Team Members and Staffs
There are 23 Climbing member consisting of 10 Americans, 6 Indians, 3 Brazilians, 1 Japanese, 1 Spanish,1 Mexican and 1 Swiss. Eco Everest Expedition’s advance team staffs are already at Base Camp building platform sites for tents. We are using 124 sleeping tents for members and staffs, 7 big dinning tents at BC and Camp II, 5 kitchen tents, 2 storage tents, 4 shower tents, 1 communication tent and 6 toilet tents for this expedition.
To manage this huge expedition is a very professional task, which will be done by Dawa Steven Sherpa (Managing Director of Asian Trekking and My Son) who has the experience of handing a huge team like this. This year also, Apa Sherpa will be our climbing leader, whose world record of 20 times summit of Mt. Everest will be called upon to manage the climbing schedules of all our members. Apa will be climbing again for a new record again, 21st time! To look after the logistics and Sherpas, our senior Sirdar Naga Dorje will be managing a team of 40 climbing Sherpas, including 2 other Sirdars.
At the base camp we have Mr. Lee Bennett (better known as Wiggy), who is our Base Camp Manager and Communication In-charge. Wiggy is a qualified mountain guide and was a Communication Engineer in the Royal Navy (UK) until he retired last year. Our head cook Birbal will be providing a varied menu for various nationalities to suit their plates. Birbal has a team of 11 cooks and kitchen helpers to make sure all the climbers are fed well.
Ms. Premlata Agrawal, Ms. Sunita Singh, Mr. Narendra Singh and their Sherpas flew to Lukla on 29th of March, heading for a Pre-Everest climb on Island Peak for acclimatization before joining the main team members at Everest Base Camp. The first expedition briefing of Asian Trekking’s Eco Everest Expedition Spring 2011 was held on 28th March. The briefing was given by Expedition Leader Dawa Steven Sherpa, senior Sirdar Nanga Dorje Sherpa and Ted Atkin (Inventor of Top Out Oxygen Mask) and attended by the first group of expedition member Ms.Premlata Agrawal, Ms.Sunita Singh, Mr. Narendra Singh and Pawan Grewal and their Sherpa Team members.
The Eco Everest Expedition was organized successfully for three consecutive years (2008, 2009 and 2010) to create international awareness about the impact of Climate Change in the Himalayas and the lives of the mountain communities. That is why the expedition uses highly successful alternative energy solutions like the parabolic solar cookers, solar energies for lighting and the SteriPENs for water purification and also encourages other expedition teams to use them.
Besides this, Eco Everest Expedition also focuses on cleaning of Mt. Everest and it seems somehow successful in this task. Since 2008 until today Eco Everest Expedition has brought down more than 12,000 kilos of previous expedition garbage and more than 300 kilos of human waste produced by Eco Everest Expedition from Mt. Everest for proper disposal. Also four died bodies recovered and brought down from the mountain for a dignified burial and funeral.
