SUMMITS SOON: Everest's Perfect Storm: Extreme Conditions as Summit Push Begins

Everest 2026 is a pressure cooker. The route to the summit opened May 13th. And the weather window slammed shut the same day. Wind chills of negative 68 degrees Celsius. A jet stream parked directly on the summit. And 492 permitted climbers — plus their support staff — all staring at the same narrow window around May 19th.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There's probably gonna be a lot of unreported frostbite.

SPEAKER_04 0:03

Alan Arnett has been covering Everest for over two decades. He doesn't say things like this lightly. The route to the summit opened May 13th. Then the jet stream firmly parked itself on the summit of Everest, shutting down any future possibility of summit bids, wind chills of negative 68 degrees Celsius. Alan Arnett says, what does it matter if it's Celsius or Fahrenheit?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Minus 68. That is frostbite. I don't care what type of a downsuit that you have or boots. So I'm expecting, sadly, there's probably going to be some deaths. So this next week is going to be a nail bite.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

492 permitted climbers and their support staff all staring at the same summit window that doesn't begin till about May 18th or 19th. This is what a pressure cooker looks like on the highest mountain on earth. While many are hunkering down and resting for a clear weather window, scores of climbers, guides, and high-altitude workers are moving their way up the mountain to be in a position to summit as early as May 18th or 19th, possibly the 20th or shortly after, which creates a very short summit window for the record year. More permitted climbers on the mountain than ever before. But so much can change on a dime. And the experts aren't holding back. Alan Arnett, who we saw at the very beginning of this video, the ultimate Everest Chronicler, said in a recent video about the delays and the short amount of time left must squeeze hundreds of people to the top and back down again. The route opened, as mentioned, on May 13th, and some climbers were following along with the rope fixing team and summited successfully without incident. But meteorologist Mark de Kaiser says the jet stream is parking itself on the summit right now. Winds are blowing past safety limits until the 18th, and hopefully many people will be in position. And as friend of the channel, Xavier Ladussur has reported on his Instagram account, he and his team, along with Perna Lopcham, will be departing for the summit this evening. Now, I say this evening, Nepal is 10 plus hours ahead of where I am right now. And how that works is a climber will leave and probably end up at camp two on the first day, stay overnight, then to camp three, overnight, camp four, overnight. So it could be three, four days possibly before those people are in position to actually go for the summit, weather permitting. And it's always worth watching the updates from Kenton Cool, who has been to the top 19 times more than any other person who isn't from Nepal. And he keeps a very balanced and positive outlook on how things are going. I'm sure after 19 successful summits, he's seen a lot of things come and go and knows that keeping a level head is absolutely critical to keeping emotions at bay with his clients and his staff.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Time for another Everest update, and looking behind me, you can see that this is not Everest Basecamp. So what is going on? Meanwhile, uh we do have a really good Everest forecast coming up. There's a little bit of high wind, which is due to the jet stream, which is uh slowly moving out of the area. But with the good forecast in mind, I have decided to travel back to Base Camp and uh make an attempt on the summit with my right-hand man, Dorzy Gelgeon. So I'm gonna start my travel back to Base Camp tomorrow. Um, and then once I get there, we will decide when we are gonna move up the mountain.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

Also, among many of the expedition outfits, laying in wait for the perfect opportunity. Lucas Furtenbach Adventures is getting his team prepared with their high-altitude food, showing off, as he calls it, high altitude cuisine. And that includes one of his guides, Dave Watson, keeping a level head as teams prepare to take on one of the most challenging days. This is a day that puts you right on the edge. And given the numbers of people who will all be up there at the same time using one single fixed rope to go up and down, everything counts. And a little bit later in the video, stay tuned. I'm gonna bring you a short interview with a doctor who is on Furtenbach Adventures in Base Camp, and he's gonna share with us his take on what it takes to get up that mountain successfully. Now let's get back to it. Another very important issue to the safety of the mountain workers on Mount Everest and the other 8,000 meter peaks is Pemba Sherpa, he's the founder of 8K Expeditions, social activists, and among other things, was a coordinator with the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal to get the ropes fixed up to the summit on May 13th. He's sounding an alarm, and he says that Sherpas are doing all the heavy lifting on Mount Everest in what is now a very tight schedule on the mountain. Think about this. So the mountain typically closes right around the very end of May. So we're looking at just a little bit over a 10-day window to get more climbers than the history of the mountain to the summit and down again. And he says that what's happening with the mountain workers is there is inadequate rescue backup and insurance. And he says that they're the ones fixing the ropes for the 490 plus people waiting to stampede the summit on the 19th. And as I noted earlier, the rope fixing team it reached the summit on the 13th. 14 Sherpas, brutal conditions, a season already delayed by three weeks. While their achievements are often hailed around the world as being the strong ones, the the heroes of Mount Everest, he said that yes, they are the backbone of mountaineering. And he said it's at risk because it's hard to make a living on this mountain, they're not being paid in an equal measure. Many young Sherpa are leaving the country to go make a better living. And he says, then what happens very often is they have very inadequate insurance and no proper rescue backup. So if one of those Sherpa had lost his life in service to all those people waiting below, what Pemba is saying is that Mount Everest itself, the guiding industry, is really putting too much pressure on the very individuals it relies on for it to function properly. Here's what he told me. There's a lot of people on the mountain, and you need so what what are some of your concerns about the high the mountain workers, the sherpa, and all those people? Because it seems like it's getting more and more dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah, I have a concern, and always on my mind, because of these the the stabs who are voting who are working on the on the mountain, especially the sherpa, my guides, the cook, kitchen boy, the porters, everybody. So they have listed their insurance premium for the resting them and the insurance money that they get if in case, unfortunately, if they die on the mountain. And there is nobody looking after their family, basically the children and the wife, and nobody is caring about that. Okay. So I want to uh advise to the nations, it's not like a conflict or the fighting, it's not like that. But I want to advise to the nations that we need to improve this kind of factors. That is why uh the people, uh, the the workers who are working on the mountains, they are now migrating to the abroad country for their better financial support. Working in the European country, even in the Gulf country, they are compelled to move because there is no safety, no guarantee, no good payment. So these sorts of things we have to uh improve in terms from the from the organizing company, they have to think about that. And the next thing, if the government keeps the systems and rules and regulations that the private organizers like my company must follow that one. This is my concern. I I feel very, very deeply saddened about these kind of practices and the activities on the mountain.

SPEAKER_04 9:00

So the wins are expected to drop on May 18th, 19th. And now, so how do you get prepared for such an event like this? If you're up there and something's completely out of control, how do you get emotionally and physically ready for the biggest day physically of your life? I had a great conversation with Dr. Bernabe Abramour. He's a physician and a climber with Furtenbach Adventures. And Bernabe, he has worked on Aconcagua for over 10 years. He summited Aconcagua himself seven times, medical director of Extreme Medicine, which is the official medical service of Aconcagua's regional park. Now, for those of you who might not know, Aconcagua is the highest mountain in South America, one of the seven summits, just below 7,000 meters or 23,000 feet in height. And in a wonderful conversation we had just the other day, he emphasized hydration over and over. He kept going back to hydration as one of the key elements for safety on Mount Everest, as well as some element of mental discipline. And so let me take to just a short snippet of that interview with Baronabe. As a doctor, as a as a as the the person who's looking out for the well-being of your team, obviously for everybody, but what are the things that you're most concerned with when they go up to the summit? Like w if you were to tell them anything to be sure to look out for. What would you say, okay, look out for this, this, this, uh, and you should be fine?

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Okay, we uh we do and I I'm with a partner here with Sago. We are uh we are two doctors at the camp. And we we do uh as people have medical tech, we take the heart the heart, the lungs, uh the oxygen, uh the pulse and um the blood pressure. Uh how is it feeling in in this uh expedition? Because it's not uh only the organic uh the demand for the mind for uh play uh a really important role in this uh uh in this type of expensive because uh there are a lot of data and some of the work. But uh with this kind of argumentation uh really uh we try to uh to give some advice for uh for the push for the rotation for the push to the summit uh and take care, uh be honest with with uh with the symptoms. I know it's very important to uh to talk with uh uh uh with our guy and uh and tell all that uh therefore in this moment um and drink a lot of water uh key uh with the secret in the mountain, but it's uh it's really difficult to uh uh to understand and drink and drink a lot. And it's very important drink a lot on the base camp because on the altitude it's difficult. Yes, drink a lot, drink a lot, drink a lot, and be honest and and talk a lot uh uh with the guide.

SPEAKER_04 12:24

Yes. Everest is about to be Everest and the world will be watching. The question is, will the climbers listen to the mountain and to the weather, or will Alan Arnett's prediction come true? Only time will tell. And it's coming down to the wire. It's gonna be happening very, very soon. What do you think? I hope that you'll leave your ideas and your thoughts in the comment section below and get the conversation started. And if you're still watching and haven't subscribed yet, please click that subscribe button. And for more exclusive content, be sure to check out the member section. And if you want some free exclusive content, you can go to patreon.com slash everest mystery. And also be sure to check out our merch store, Everest Mystery.com. A big reveal here. We have two new embroidered hats: the Pemba Charing Expedition Rescue Flat Bill Cap. It's a snapback, one size fits all. This one sports the words Everest Mystery on the back and also the Pemba Charing Rescue Trucker Cap. Both these hats come in several different colors, so check it out. And all the proceeds from these two hats will go to support a rescue mission of the choosing of Aung Chering Lama, who was instrumental in the rescue of this Eurasian wigeon that stole the hearts of many viewers on Everest Mystery, including myself. And Aung Chering has given his stamp of approval on these hats and will gladly receive the proceeds to donate it to a rescue mission. And so check it out and support the best cause that I can think of. Well, I think that we want to also support the cause of the safety of all those individuals now vying for the summit of Mount Everest. Be safe, my friends, and don't let ego and ambition get in the way. And in the meantime, do a good deed. Don't ask for anything in return, and make the world a better place one tiny step at a time. Peace be with you.