 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone following what's going there and updates?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Surprised there's not a thread running already. Could reflect the lack of news coming out of the area. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Could reflect the lack of news coming out of the area.
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or the lack of Snowheads planning to climb Everest. I'm on an Antarctic kick at the moment - listened to an audio book reading of Alfred Lansing's book "Endurance" on the drive home from the Alps. Compared to all those months on the ice, or in small boats, 14 hours in a comfortable car with heating and cooling controls at my fingertips was a doddle. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I thought they could access internet from mountain these days and would imagine must be lot of climbers posting / tweeting about how their whole mission is in shreds. Just thought there might be SHs also following some climbers on twitter or wherever who might be able to supply updates
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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peanuthead,
Careful, if nbt thinks you're selling double glazing your account will be zapped 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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musher, I don't get it?
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peanuthead, Everest are a well known supplier of double glazing - SHs has had a lot of SPAM from Kitchen Suppliers - I think musher, was having a joke
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peanuthead, pam w, ...press not really getting it right. 'Avalanche' is technically correct but doesn't convey the nature of this accident.
av·a·lanche
/ˈævəˌlæntʃ, -ˌlɑntʃ/ Show Spelled [av-uh-lanch, -lahnch] Show IPA
noun
1.
a large mass of snow, ice, etc., detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly downward.
2.
anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity: an avalanche of misfortunes; an avalanche of fan mail.
3.
Also called Townsend avalanche. Physics, Chemistry . a cumulative ionization process in which the ions and electrons of one generation undergo collisions that produce a greater number of ions and electrons in succeeding generations.
verb (used without object), av·a·lanched, av·a·lanch·ing.
4.
to come down in, or like, an avalanche.
verb (used with object), av·a·lanched, av·a·lanch·ing.
5.
to overwhelm with an extremely large amount of anything; swamp.
But this accident appears to have happened in the Khumbu Icefall:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KhumbuIcefall.jpg
This was not a slab avalanche or powder release, but a collapse in the icefall, part of the moving glacier. Such environments occur all over the high ranges and the Alps - they are terrifying places where ice collapses can occur in a seemingly random fashion. A number of excellent alpinists have been killed in serac collapses in icefalls. It was a serac collapse which was involved in the big death toll on K2 (see No Way Down). The Khumbu Icefall is a notorious place. I have seen serac collapses - one in Arolla on the Eastern hanging glacier icefall and they are gut-wrenching. The explosion of the collapse echoed around the valley like an earthquake. Climbing an icefall - on Everest, in the Alps, is like playing Russian Roulette. Such events are totally unlike windslab avalanches - where you can better predict where and when a slide might occur.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I follow Kenton Cool on twitter and he's made mention of it over the last few days
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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My cousin and his wife are currently on their way to base camp. Will see if I can get some news out of them (they can be somewhat "cryptic" at times).
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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It was a serac collapse which was involved in the big death toll on K2 (see No Way Down)
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There was a BBC docu about that a few months ago - chilling and fascinating viewing at the same time. Didn't leave me with a good view of the Korean climbing team - they contributed to the death toll by not starting early enough, and then they killed some more sherpas by making them go and try and rescue some half dead Koreans. The head Sherpa guy was a total legend surviving 72 hours or something in the 'death zone' and rescuing loads of people!
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You know it makes sense.
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| kat.ryb wrote: |
| Quote: |
It was a serac collapse which was involved in the big death toll on K2 (see No Way Down)
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There was a BBC docu about that a few months ago - chilling and fascinating viewing at the same time. Didn't leave me with a good view of the Korean climbing team - they contributed to the death toll by not starting early enough, and then they killed some more sherpas by making them go and try and rescue some half dead Koreans. The head Sherpa guy was a total legend surviving 72 hours or something in the 'death zone' and rescuing loads of people! |
That was a fascinating film. A very good friend of mine, Yossi Brain, was a friend of Gerard McDonnell, and I was lucky enough to meet him a couple of times.
(Yossi himself sadly died on Cerro Presidente in 1999, having earlier survived falling off Mont Blanc and trekking with a broken ankle and arm to a French army hut somewhere miles away to get help for his more seriously injured companion climber.)
Mad, in a brilliant way.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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This sad incident featured on Radio 4 this morning.
Just before 6am on the Today Program (at 53.35 on the Radio 4 Player) there was an interview with Jamling Tenzing Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay who climbed the summit with Edmund Hillary.
He said that all climbing of Everest should stop as mark of respect for the dead sherpas, and those who were up there intending to climb should instead visit the sherpa villages and offer support to the sherpa families.
Excellent idea.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I know it's "progress" but the mass ascents of Everest by people equipped with mobile phones, supported by loads of Sherpas, somehow isn't "cricket". But I suspect that the kind of mountaineers who want to climb Everest are very fixated on their goal, and inevitably "selfish" and are not readily going to give up.
kat.ryb, that sounds a good programme - just tried to look it up but it doesn't seem to be on iplayer at the moment. I am looking for something good to watch after a nice supper - and I don't have a telly. I watched the old Ch 4 on Shackleton the last couple of evenings (Kenneth Branagh made a good Shackleton) and wouldn't mind a bit more extreme adventure stuff, as i sit comfortably sipping the remains of my red wine.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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pam w, there were 3 Everest related docs (Endeavour series) on BBC3 a couple of months ago, fascinating stuff. I think all 3 are available on You Tube (Everest Without Oxygen is mind blowing).
If you have access to iTunes, Touching The Void is now available to rent / buy.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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franga, thanks. I watched the 2013 documentary about sherpas - very interesting and quite sad, in view of the recent tragedy.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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pam w It was fascinating - really well done. It was this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03td9sc
Not on iplayer any more but you might be able to find it on other sites.
The Endeavour series sounds good, thanks for the tip franga
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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jbob, interesting blog, thanks for that link.
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