Mount Everest in 2012

Last updated
Years in Review Summary
YearSummitersReference(s)
2012547 [1]
2013 658 [2]
2014106 [3]
20150 [4]
2016641 [5]
Everest from Gokyo Ri, 2012 Mt. Everest from Gokyo Ri November 5, 2012 Cropped.jpg
Everest from Gokyo Ri, 2012
People on the summit in 2012 Andreas Breitfuss Mt Everest Summit.jpg
People on the summit in 2012

Mount Everest climbing season included 245 summits on May 19, 2012, a record number of summits on a single day. [6] It would take seven more years to break this record. This added congestion resulted in the highest fatality total since 1996. [7] 683 climbers from 34 countries attempted to climb the mountain, and 547 people summited. [8] A record was set in May when 234 climbers summitted on a single day. [9] There were 11 deaths, some of which were attributed to overcrowding near the peak. [10]

Contents

Mountaineering season

In addition to an increase in mountaineers compared to previous decades, the success rate for expeditions increased. [11] There was a 56 percent success rate in summit attempts in 2012, compared to 24 percent in 2000. 547 people reached the summit, compared to 72 in 1990 and 145 in 2000. [1] Amongst those who summited in 2012 was Vanessa O'Brien who completed the Explorers Grand Slam.

The difficult decisions made during the climbing season were highlighted by the departure of guiding company Himex from the mountain after concerns about a hanging serac in the Khumbu icefall. Two years later, 16 Nepalese guides were killed when ice broke from the serac and created an avalanche. [12]

In 2012 Montana State University conducted a scientific expedition to Everest. The Everest Education Expedition studied the geology of the Everest massif which includes Everest-Nuptse-Lhotse-Khumbutse, and advanced the state of mineralogy, strain, and predicted rock ages. Of interest was the fossil-bearing limestone that crowns Mount Everest, the nature and impact of ice in the region (such as the icefall), and the overall stratigraphy (including limestone, metamorphic rocks, pelites, and quartzites). [13]

In May, Tamae Watanabe became the oldest woman to reach the summit, at the age of 73. She broke her own record, set in 2002 at the age of 63. The retired office worker lives at the base of Mount Fuji, and had climbed many other peaks including Denali, the Eiger, and Lhotse. She climbed with a group of four, and beat a competing 72-year-old woman who was trying for the same record. [14]

The Guinness Book of World Records states that 234 climbers summited on one day in 2012. [15] However, it was one of the deadliest seasons since 1996, with 11 climbers dying on Everest in the spring. [16]

Fatalities

The death of Canadian climber Shriya Shah-Klorfine in May made headlines and fed a debate about whether inexperienced climbers should climb Mount Everest. Issues of overcrowding and unqualified guides were also raised. [17] [18] Although Shah-Klorfine did manage to summit, she did not survive the descent. [18] [19] Questions were raised about her lack of previous mountaineering experience, as Everest was reportedly her first mountain climb. The guiding company she employed had reportedly never guided a climber to the summit before. [20] Other factors involved overcrowding on the mountain, [21] a late summit bid, and insufficient bottled oxygen. [22] The company alleges that she ignored instructions to turn around and earlier recommendations to not attempt the climb due to her lack of climbing skills. [23]

Four people, including Shah-Klorfine, died on Saturday May 19, 2012. Conditions on the mountain were described as overcrowded. [24]

2012 fatalities
Deaths [25] Nation [25]
Ralf Dieter ArnoldFlag of Germany.svg  Germany
Juan Jose Polo CarbayoFlag of Spain.svg  Spain
Karsang NamgyalFlag of Nepal.svg    Nepal
Ramesh GulaveFlag of India.svg  India
Namgyal TsheringFlag of Nepal.svg    Nepal
Dawa TenzingFlag of Nepal.svg    Nepal
Wen-Yi HaFlag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
Eberhard SchaafFlag of Germany.svg  Germany
Shriya Shah-Klorfine Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Won-Bin SongFlag of South Korea.svg  South Korea
Milan Sedlacek*Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic
Temba Sherpa* [26] Flag of Nepal.svg    Nepal
*Lhotse fatality

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherpa people</span> Tibetan ethnic group

The Sherpa are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, Tingri County in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Himalayas. The term sherpa or sherwa derives from the Tibetan-language words ཤར shar ("east") and པ pa ("people"), which refer to their geographical origin in eastern Tibet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lhotse</span> Eight-thousander and 4th-highest mountain on Earth, located in Nepal and China

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khumbu Icefall</span> Glacier in Nepal

The Khumbu Icefall is located at the head of the Khumbu Glacier and the foot of the Western Cwm, which lies at an elevation of 5,486 metres (17,999 ft) on the Nepali slopes of Mount Everest, not far above Base Camp and southwest of the summit. The icefall is considered one of the most dangerous stages of the South Col route to Everest's summit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serac</span> Large block or column of glacial ice

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Mount Everest ice avalanche</span> Avalanche on Mount Everest

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Shriya Shah-Klorfine was a Nepal-born Canadian woman who died while descending from the summit of Mount Everest in 2012.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Everest in 2017</span>

The Mount Everest climbing season of 2017 began in spring with the first climbers reaching the top on May 11, from the north side. The first team on the south side reached the top on May 15. By early June, reports from Nepal indicated that 445 people had made it to the summit from the Nepali side. Reports indicate 160–200 summits on the north side, with 600–660 summiters overall for early 2017. This year had a roughly 50% success rate on that side for visiting climbers, which was down from other years. By 2018, the figure for the number of summiters of Everest was refined to 648. This includes 449 which summited via Nepal and 120 from Chinese Tibet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Everest in 2013</span>

The Mount Everest climbing season of 2013 included 658 summits and 8 deaths. Due to avalanches in 2014 and 2015, this was the last big summiting year until 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Everest in 2016</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Everest in 2018</span>

Mount Everest in 2018 is about events in the year about the highest Earth mountain, Mount Everest, a popular mountaineering tourism and science destination in the 2010s. In 2018, 807 climbers summited Mount Everest, which is a popular mountaineering goal. This year is noted for an especially long weather window of 11 days straight of calm, which reduced crowding at the high base camps. With over 800 reaching the top, it was the highest amount ever to reach the top in recorded history, besting the previous year by over 150 summitings.

References

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