Everest 2004, records and storms

Last week 5 mountaineers died on Everest, while Sherpa Pemba Dorji climbed from Base Camp to the aummit in just 8 hours 10 minutes

Manuel Lugli

May 2004

Traduci in

It's happened once more and it will happen again. Last week Everest relived days that have been seen and documented before. Between the night of the 18th and the morning of the 21st, the highest mountain in the world was enveloped in a raging storm. And the many (too many?) mountaineers poised to bid for the summit or already descending were caught out, shipwrecked, lost. The final verdict was serious: 5 deaths, 4 of which on the Tibetan side. Thoughts, the usual ones, race and intertwine: this, these, are difficult mountains, always! Regardless of with or without supplementary oxygen, they always require perfect training...

This has already been said before, it's true of course, but nevertheless does nothing to explain, and anyway won't change much, if anything at all. What remains, in the storm, is the solidarity and help, absolutely essential, given to the two Spanish women by Silvio "Gnaro" Mondinelli, Giulio Maggioni and Michele Compagnoni of the K2-2004 expedition. What remains is the pain felt by the relatives and friends of those who will no longer descend. And in the meantime the entire process has started once again: the queues for the summit have returned, the mountains are in the forefront once more. Starting with the the 26 year old Nepalese Sherpa Pemba Dorji. On 21 May he set a staggering new record for Everest Base Camp - Summit: 8 hours 10 minutes, over 2.5 hours faster than the 12 hours 43 minutes set by his countryman Lakpa Gelu in 2003.