Everest NE Ridge 2011 Itinerary

GPS 'Spot' Tracker

In Challenge 5 of the Everest2 Programme that I am conducting as part of my fieldwork on behalf of the students of Ridgetown District High School (Canada), Sevenoaks School (UK) and Future Hope School (India), the students will use GPS technology mapped onto Google Earth to virtually follow me over the course of the 2011 Everest Expedition on an adventurous climb up the world's highest mountain via the North East Ridge to the 8848m summit. 

In Challenge 5 the students will use the proposed itinerary below as well as Google Earth to learn about how mountaineers gradually adjust to the change in their environment – primarily the decrease in oxygen as climbers move up and down the mountain.  This Challenge will be fundamental to understanding climbing Everest as it explains the movements between camps over the course of the expedition. It also explains why climbing Everest (and other 8000m peaks) takes such a long time – people generally assume that you just walk straight up when, in fact, you’re actually climbing the mountain about three times…!

“Acclimatisation” enables humans to survive in an environment that, without acclimatisation, would kill them. The process was first developed by George Mallory in the 1920s and has been used by climbers ever since. Humans who migrate permanently to a higher altitude naturally acclimatize to their new environment by developing an increase in the number of red blood cells to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, in order to compensate for lower levels of oxygen in the air. 

Date	Day
2 Apr	1	Depart London, England
3 Apr	2	Arrive Kathmandu, Nepal
4 Apr	3	Fly to Lukla (2800m); trek to Phakding (2640m)
5 Apr	4	Trek to Namche Bazaar (3446m)
6 Apr	5	Khumjung, acclimatisation day
7 Apr	6	Trek to Pangboche (4000m)
8 Apr	7	Trek to Dingboche (4500m)
9 Apr	8	Trek to Ama Dablam base camp (4750m)
10 Apr	9	Trek to Namche Bazaar (3446m)
11 Apr	10	Trek to Lukla
12 Apr	11	Fly to Kathmandu
13 Apr	12	Drive to Chinese border; overnight in Tibet
14 Apr	13	Drive to Everest Base Camp (BC; 5200m)
15 Apr	14	Rest day
16 Apr	15	Acclimatisation walk up Frozen River (5700m)
17 Apr	16	Rest day
18 Apr	17	Acclimatisation Ridge walk (6000m)
19 Apr	18	Rest day – PUJA CEREMONY
20 Apr	19	Move to Intermediate Camp (5700m)
21 Apr	20	Move to Advanced Base Camp (ABC; 6400m)
22-24 Apr	21-23	Rest and acclimatisation
25 Apr	24	Climb North Col (7000m)
26-29 Apr	25-28	North Col reserve weather day
30 Apr	29	Return to BC
1-4 May	29-33	Rest days
5 May	34	Return to ABC
6 May	35	Climb North Col and overnight at North Col
7 May	36	Move to 7500m; overnight at North Col
8 May	37	Return to ABC
9 May	38	Return to BC
10-13 May	39-42	Rest day
14 May	43	Return to ABC
15 May	44	Rest day
16 May	45	Move to North Col
17 May	46	Move to 7800m
18 May	47	Move to 8300m
19 May	48	Summit day
20-30 May	49-59	Reserve Summit days
31 May	60	Descent
1 Jun	61	Clear mountain
2 Jun	62	Clear mountain
3 Jun	63	Clear ABC
4 Jun	64	Return to BC
5 Jun	65	Clear BC
6 Jun	66	Drive to Nylam
7 Jun	67	Drive to Kathmandu
8 Jun	68	Kathmandu, Nepal
9 Jun	69	Return to London, England

** Orange text - indicates potential 'summit window' based upon the movements of the jet stream.