Mount Everest in 2016

Mount Everest in 2016 covers events about Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth located in Nepal and Chinese Tibet in Asia. It is a popular climbing destination for extreme high altitude climbers, with several hundred climbing each year despite various dangers.

Mount Everest, May 2016, with Nuptse and Lhotse peaks to the upper right

Summary
Mount Everest as seen from the ISS

The Nepal Department of Tourism said by June 2016 that about 456 people made it to the summit of Mount Everest, including 45 women.[1] They noted some good summit windows, and on one day, 19 May 2016, 209 climbers made it to the summit.[1] By 11 May 2016 the lines were fixed on the south side of Everest, after which several hundred climbers would make it up in the critical weather windows.[2] Alan Arnette published his Everest report by year end, based on results for the now 93-year-old Elizabeth Hawley, which were released in December 2016.[3] For 2016 her records indicate 641 made it to the summit early 2016.[3][4]

Years in review summary
Year Summiters Reference(s)
2012 547 [5]
2013 658 [6]
2014 106 [7]
2015 0 [8]
2016 641 [9]
2017 648 [10]
2018 807 [11][12]
2019 approx. 891 [13]

2013 set a record for most summiters in a year, around 667, not surpassed until 2018 when around 800 summited the peak.[11][12]

Spring 2016
Typical Nepal camp altitudes[14]
Location Altitude (km)
Base camp 5400 m / 17700 ft. 5.4 5.4
 
Camp 1 6100 m / 20000 ft. 6.1 6.1
 
Camp 2 6400 m / 21000 ft. 6.4 6.4
 
Camp 3 6800m / 22300 ft. 6.8 6.8
 
Camp 4 8000 m / 26000 ft. 8 8
 
Summit 8850 m / 29035 ft. 8.8 8.8
 

On 11 May 2016, nine Sherpas summited Mount Everest. The next day another six persons reached the top.[15] These were the first summitings since 2014, when 106 made it to the top.[16] By 13 May, 42 climbers had reached the summit[17] and by 22 May, good weather had allowed over 400 climbers to reach the summit. However, about 30 climbers developed frostbite or became sick, and two climbers died from what was reported as possible altitude sickness.[18] Among those that had to turn back was a science expedition attempting to study the link between hypoxia and cognitive decline.[19] Although it did not run its course, it did give some clues into the effects of high-altitude acclimatisation on human blood.[19]

Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards were sponsored by Eddie Bauer to climb Everest, and they relayed information from the Everest climb using the smartphone software application and service Snapchat.[20] Mount Everest has had a 3G wireless data communication network since 2010.[21] One of the things that was reported by them, was that bottled oxygen was stolen from them and there was some bad behaviour up there.[22] The bottled oxygen was there for emergency back-up if they ran into trouble.[22] Cory Richards summited Mount Everest without oxygen and returned safely, and Adrian made it almost to the top also.[22] Another famous mountaineer, British climber Kenton Cool achieved his 12th Everest summit (the second-highest number of Everest summitings for a foreigner after Dave Hahn),[15] and US celebrity mountaineer Melissa Arnot, completed her sixth summit, and achieved her personal goal of climbing Everest without supplementary bottled oxygen.[23] This also turned out to be the most summits for a foreign female (not Nepali or Chinese), and one of the first US women to summit and survive without supplementary oxygen.[23]

In 1998, Francys Arsentiev had made it to the summit, but died during the descent; she went on to become a famous corpse as a landmark known as "Sleeping Beauty" until she was buried on Everest in 2007 by one of the people who had tried to help her.[24] Another woman from the Americas, the Ecuadorian woman Carla Perez also summited Mount Everest in 2016 without supplementary oxygen.[25] Perez and Arnot became the fifth and sixth women to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen.[25] There is an ongoing discussion about the use of extra bottled oxygen in mountaineering.[25] Also at issue is Dexamethasone (Dex), which is valuable as a lifesaver as it reduces swelling in the brain if someone comes down with high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE). When American Bill Burke was interviewed for his attempt, he noted how one of his team members had overdosed on Dex, prompting a medical evacuation even as in his more recent expedition, someone had 25 doses of Dex.[26] He also noted it was hard to argue against large supplies of Dex, due its life-saving properties against some types of altitude sickness, especially HACE.[26]

An example of a death in which Dex was implicated was Dr. Eberhard Schaaf in 2012 on Everest. Schaaf died on descent at the south summit from altitude sickness.[27] It has a good reputation as a life saver, and is commonly given to Everest climbers for its ability to intervene in last desperate moments when altitude sickness sets in. For example, in the 2016 season Robert Gropel said he gave Dex to his wife (as reported by the Daily Telegraph) in attempt to save her as they tried to descend Everest.[28] Dex is just the tip of the iceberg, with the UIAA noting the aforementioned dexamethasone, but also acetazolamide (aka Diamox), amphetamine, and alcohol use;[29] and another noted Diamox (acetazolamide) use among trekkers.[30] It is not really a matter of some authorities being for or against medications, but awareness, as misuse can cause drug interactions and various side effects.[30] In particular it was noted that supplementary oxygen significantly lowers death rate on ultra-high altitude mountain climbing, and is generally not regulated as a drug, whereas the safe use of medications is less understood or even acknowledged in many cases.[30] (see also: Effects of high altitude on humans)

"We estimate that during our informal survey on Everest spring 2012, at least two-thirds of climbers we contacted were prescribed several performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and had intended to use them not for rescue, but to increase their chances of summit success"

— Dr. L. Freer of Everest ER[30]

Mexican-American David Liaño Gonzalez (aka David Liano) summited for the sixth time, promoting a charity and also carrying a Seattle Seahawks flag with him to the Everest summit.[31][32] Another sports team represented at the Everest summit was the Denver Broncos, with its flag unfurled by Kim Hess.[33] Rounding out US mountaineering was news that a group of soldiers and veterans summited, including some who had been wounded in combat.[34] A British wounded veteran (one-eyed) was also trying to summit but gave up his bid to help some Indian climbers.[35]

In 2016 the first climbers from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Tunisia reached the summit of Mount Everest.[36][37][37][38] Only two other people from North Africa have summited Everest, one from Algeria and the other from Morocco.[38] The youngest Australian woman to summit Mount Everest was Alyssa Azar.[39] She returned to Australia safely, but a bittersweet victory for Australia after the loss of another Australian woman who was also trying to summit that May with her husband.[39] The youngest Japanese woman also summited (and returned alive) at the age of 19.[2] Another woman record-breaker in 2016 was the first woman from Thailand to summit Mount Everest, Napassaporn Chumnarnsit, who was granted an audience with the Prime Minister of Thailand for her achievement.[40][41] The first person with cystic fibrosis also summited Mount Everest on his third try.[42] Also, a 61-year-old summited with two artificial knees.[43] He had been trying for several years and had lost his Nepali friend Sherpa Nawang Tenzing in the 2015 earthquakes.[43] He was not alone in being grief-stricken, as many climbers connected with the Everest mountaineering community lost climbing buddies in two years of disasters.[44] One who narrowly survived the disasters himself climbed this year to bring attention to the disease Lewy body dementia (DLB), which had affected his father.[44]

Rescues and fatalities

A one-eyed British war veteran rescued a woman from India who was in trouble on her descent.[35] The climber, Leslie Binns, successfully rescued her and tried to save another from her ill-fated eleven-person expedition which suffered three fatalities.[35]

On 11 May 2016 a Calgary physician died in Tibet, in the Chinese-side base camp.[49] A 25-year-old Nepali named Phurba Sherpa, fixing lines near the Lhotse summit, fell to his death.[50] A guide company, Arnold Coster Expeditions, suffered two fatalities, and a third client had to be airlifted out.[51] One was a man from the Netherlands, and another was a South African-born Australian woman.[51] Her husband had tried to save her, but he also ran into trouble and had to be airlifted out with medical complications.[51] These deaths were very widely reported in international news and triggered some public discussion about Everest mountaineering and tourism.[50][51]

An Indian expedition from West Bengal suffered a great tragedy, with the single expedition suffering three fatalities and third, a mother of an 11-year-old had to be rescued on her way down.[51] At first it was reported one died and two were missing, but later the other two were located and had not survived.[51] One British climber gave up his summit bid to help a Bengali woman that had fallen and was ailing on her descent.[52] She was evacuated by the Himalayan Rescue Association and airlifted to Kathmandu with bad frostbite injuries.[53] They were part of an eleven-member expedition from India. Eight had reached the summit, including the injured woman[53]

The death toll for Everest climbers rose to five in most reports by late May 2016, and with a death of a high-altitude worker on Lhotse face during the season (Everest summiters sometimes need to climb Lhotse face depending on the route), gives a total of six known deaths from the Everest massif by the time the season drew to a close.[47] Although not widely reported during May, a climber in Tibet had died on 11 May 2016 which makes it possibly six for Mount Everest and seven for the Everest Massif.[49] The Nepal ministry of tourism said five people died (on the Nepali side).[1]

gollark: Um, assassinations would be bad.
gollark: They *could*, if they were actually inclined to which is apparently not really happening.
gollark: And governments bad.
gollark: I mean, governments seemingly aren't doing much, because apparently the general people don't like it.
gollark: If someone actually makes and widely deploys cheap/sensible nuclear power then lots of other companies will follow suit.

References
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  2. "19-year-old becomes youngest Japanese to climb Mount Everest". Japan Times. Kyodo. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  3. "Everest by the Numbers: 2017 Edition". alanarnette.com. 30 December 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  4. "Himalayan Database Expedition Archives of Elizabeth Hawley". www.himalayandatabase.com. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  5. "Everest Maxed Out". ngm.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  6. "Everest 2013: Season Recap: Summits, Records and Fights". alanarnette.com. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  7. "Everest 2014: Season Summary - A Nepal Tragedy". alanarnette.com. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  8. Peter Holley (12 January 2016). "The Washington Post - For the first time in four decades, nobody made it to the top of Mount Everest last year". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  9. "Everest by the Numbers: 2017 Edition - The Blog on alanarnette.com". 30 December 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  10. "Is it time to ban Western travellers - and their egos - from Mount Everest?". The Telegraph. 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
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  33. Liz Gelardi (6 June 2016). "Colorado woman checks Mount Everest off list on quest to climb "seven summits"". Thedenverchannel.com. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  34. Ashley Strickland. "Active-duty U.S. soldiers, veteran summit Everest". cnn.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
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  52. "Metres away from Mt Everest summit, Briton turns around to save Bengali woman". Hindustan Times. 2 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
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