Russel Brice’s Himex cancels Everest Expedition for 2012- A first hand report from Dendi Sherpa

Each and every expedition team is going to loan one Sherpa member to fix the rope up to summit from Camp III – Dendi Sherpa

A day after a deadly avalanche in Annapurna region that caused flash flood where 14 people are confirmed dead and more than 50 are missing, here is another news that comes from the Khumbu Region. A very well respected expedition team leader Russel Brice has officially cancelled Everest Expedition for 2012. I was able to get this news from Alan Arnette’s 2012 Everest blog here: http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/category/everest-2012/

Alan Arnette (courtesy of www.alanarnette.com)

As you know, Dendi Sherpa is also planning to summit everest for the 4th time between May 15th-May 29th this year. He is currently in Namche. I was able to get hold of him this evening and get the details about the news. He is saying that the safety rope up to Camp 3 is fixed. He says that there have already been numerous fatalities and injuries like broken ribs, broken legs etc. Generally it is the responsibility of the biggest expedition team to fix the rope all the way to the summit. Russel Brice’s expedition is considered the biggest and most respected. He was unwilling to fix the safety rope this time because of adverse conditions at Everest this year. There are 50+ expeditions this year. Dendi says that there is currently an understanding that was just reached amongst all 50 expeditions to loan at least one climbing Sherpa from the team to fix the safety rope from Camp III to the summit.

He says that Russel’s expedition backing out is definitely going to play a big role but everyone else is still a go at this time including his argentinian expedition. He says that his Argentininan team members already reached Camp III and are currently back at the base camp for the rest. He is going to assess the situation in the next few days and let us know of the current happenings there! He says that his team member’s safety is his first priority. If he feels that there indeed is a danger to the team, he is going to make the call to pull back if needed.

Best of Luck to Dendi and his team.

2008 Trek to Meera Peak Summit - Dendi Sherpa