Mount Everest 2012

Author: Hugo Searle, High Adventure Expeditions Leader. One of the scariest moments I’ve had on a mountain happened at Camp 1 (C1) on Everest in 2012 when I watched the biggest avalanche I’ve ever seen fill the Western Cwm and come barreling towards me. It was mid morning on a gloriously sunny Himalayan day, the […]

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The Sherpa team that was fixing the ropes finished their job yesterday and the team summited. Now the rest of the climbers from the many expeditions still on the mountain will begin their summit attempts. News is leaking out that several teams are summiting as I write this. We have no news on Pasang and […]

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Update from basecamp: There has been some bad weather at BC for the past week and high winds are forecast on the mountain for the next few days. The Sherpa team that is fixing the rope on the route has only reached the south col (C4). It is not expected that the route will be […]

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Hugo is now in Kathmandu and this is his second installment on the huge avalanche that swept the Western Cwm in late April. This is the story of Nima’s rescue. After the avalanche had passed and I had crawled from my tent I immediately thought of Nima. He had been waiting for me at the […]

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This is Hugo’s account of the avalanche that fell off the Nupste face on April 27th. I reached C1 in quick time from BC and found Nima (our C2 cook) waiting for me near the tents. He was there to show me which tents were ours and then with a quick shake of the hands […]

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The 2012 High Adventures Expedition has decided to split in half. Hugo, Dendi, Tendi, and Karna have descended from Everest basecamp. They are currently in Tengbouche en route to Kathmandu. That leaves Karma and Pasang in basecamp where they are gearing up for a climb up the South Col. High Adventures Expeditions basecamp will remain […]

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High Adventure Expeditions has gathered our remaining team in Everest basecamp trying to decide how to move forward without any clients. On the climb up the steep and icy Lhotse face, Amit began to develop lots of pain in his upper back. The Lhotse face is the gateway to the upper slopes of Mt Everest— […]

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It was a great day for upward progress as the wind finally relented. Under clear, sunny skies we left Camp 2 and pushed up the Lhotse face. This face of ice, rock and snow stretches over 3500 feet at angles of 40 to 50 degrees with the occasional steeper bulge. This steep face requires a […]

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We’ve done everything we can to make camp 2 a comfortable place to rest and recuperate as much as one can at 21,300 feet. The mountain, however, is not cooperating as much as it could! We’ve spent two days here trying to rest and recover. The 50 mile per hour winds buffeting the slopes of […]

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We rose early from the tents at camp 1 anxious to reach Camp 2 and 21,000 feet. Situated higher on the mountain, Camp 2 is much more expansive than camps 1, 3 and 4. It generally serves as a form of ‘advanced base camp’ providing some of the luxury that we became accustomed to at […]

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