UKC

Amazed no one has mentioned Kenton Cool's astonishing lightning 11th ascent of Everest in the night, having done Nuptse yesterday - now well on the way to summiting Lhotse, the first time this triple ascent has ever been done. (Or tried, I believe.). I clicked on Facebook 'request friend' when he got back to South Col about 2 hours ago, and astonishingly have just had a 'confirm friend' message back from him ...

UKC Staff Edit: Now on the UKC News Page:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68069

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Typical youth of today, spending time on facebook instead of focusing on the job at hand! ;oP

Awesome feat, though. Looking forward to reading the report on his safe return!

In reply to Cthulhu:

I just clicked on Facebook to, in effect, wish him luck and was astonished by his reply. What I'm interested to find is how many thousand feet of ascent and descent will have been involved in the whole round trip to EBC.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: I always wondered whether the "Everest Horseshoe" would become a mountaineering test piece in the future: up Nuptse, travese over Lhotse, down to the South Col, up Everest and down the N Ridge.

In reply to Pero:

I'm wondering whether what this triple ascent by Kenton amounts to is a recce for exactly this project in the future. There will be very few people in the world who have looked along the L - N connecting ridge at close quarters in both directions. He'll also now know the Nupste ascent and the Lhotse descent.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: A few years back, I wondered whether in my lifetime, anyone would do either of:

The Everest Horseshoe
All 14 8000ers in a year

In reply to Pero:

The Nuptse-Lhotse traverse is a monster, the only thing that remotely compares to it would be the Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat, though this one is even higher and possibly longer. Certainly one of the biggest challenges left for the upcoming generation!

Incidentally, I am not sure I understand how Kenton could summit Nuptse and be back at the south col on the same day. Did he go down all the way to C1 and ascend the Lhotse face back up? That would be a pretty amazing feat in itself.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: total hard core guy! hope he does the 3 and returns safely

In reply to Alex Buisse:

He had Gordon guiding him via Facebook. That's blown the onsight for him.

In reply to jon:

LOL .... Amazing just what I can do from a comfy chair beside the garden pond, with a pint of beer in hand.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Just read the report on the BBC and now feel utterly insignificant......

What an incrediblle feat. Do you think if we killed him and ingested his bones we would gain some of his power?

In reply to jon:

I believe the onsight of the Everest bit was already well and truly blown.

In reply to Robert Durran: best he could hope for is a retro flash.

In reply to puppythedog:

Especially if his brain has been adequately fried by altitude over the years. Maybe his repeated ascents is explained by the fact that every year he forgets that he's already done it.

In reply to Robert Durran: Well, we've al been half way up a route and thought 'this is familiar'.

In reply to Robert Durran:
Every time he sees Everest it is for the first time, like the goldfish, nice castle! Interesting enchainment, and there was me thinking after the Ueli debacle, the Everest soap was over for this year!, no mention of the use of supplemental O2 on Everest, although I presume climbing at night and previous form suggest he was, I guess playing Russian roulette at this stage of the game would be a tad risky for a family man.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Well done Kenton. Awesome achievement.

Pleased to see also that David Hamilton from Nuneaton has just summited Everest (for the 7th time)yesterday.
Wishing them all a safe descent.

David is one of that small club that has done all 7 Summits twice, or more, which must be a rather interesting line in familiarity.... if its December its Vinson, if it's May it's Everest.... etc

In reply to Babika:
>
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I think David has to do Carstensz again - he's done all the others twice (including Vinson many times). He's in Camp 2 at the moment.

Looking forward to hearing news about Kenton...

In reply to Babika:

Well, he hasn't finished yet ... a bit premature to congratulate him until he's safely down from Lhotse, the hardest of the three. All being well, good news should be coming through very soon.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: I keep checking for the good news. Nothing on FB yet.

In reply to puppythedog:

From KC on Facebook: LHOTSE HAS BEEN SUMMITED. DESCENT HARD. NOW AT CAMP 2 FOR THE NIGHT. THREE SUMMITS IN THREE DAYS. NUPTSE, EVEREST, LHOTSE. THE FINISHING LINE OF BASE CAMP IS IN SIGHT,

It must be windy for him to be so shouty!

Excellent effort! I hope the final leg is also negotiated safely.

In reply to Tony the Blade:

Wow!! What great news, because a little while ago I looked at the weather for Everest on the internet and saw that it had turned very iffy today, with heavy snow showers, quite strong winds and v cold (wind chill of minus 32 C.)
http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Mount-Everest/forecasts/8850

This is fantastic news, a stupendous achievement.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Thanks for the updates:
So the biggest Three Peaks. excellent andwell done Kenton. I look forward to the blog, I am curious about details such as oxygen or not, how quickly they pushed from what altitudes and stuff.


Well done Kenton, something new to talk abuot on the lecture circut too.

In reply to puppythedog:

Nuptse, Everest and Lhotse in three days ... the mind boggles. And presumably with little or no supplementary oxygen, because they were traveling very fast and light. Surely this is one of the greatest high altitude mountaineering achievements ever?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Seconded! Nuptse, Everest and Lhotse summited over 3 days is a superlative and fantastic achievement and surely the ultimate 3 peaks challenge! Has anyone else achieved anything similar in recent times if at all?

In reply to BALD EAGLE:

Well, there was the fantastic mega high altitude 6-mile Mazeno Ridge traverse on Nanga Parbat by Sandy and Rick Allen recently ... and that, too, was met by relative indifference by the UK press ... and dear old (grade-obsessed, gritstone-fixated) UKC.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Aye, Sandy and Rick's traverse was total nails worldclass mountaineering.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Great mountaineering, but a bit of rookie error on the nagivation - he's clearly done them in the wrong order. Once on the sumit of Nuptse he should have continued along the ridge to do Lhotse next, it's daft losing that much height. Mind you he's from Gloucestershire so won't have had much experience in ridge walking. And I bet he didn't even come down the West ridge of Everest, so not the proper horeshoe

P.S. Has anyone ever down 2 8000ers on succesive days before ? Gasherbrums ? When you think about it doing any 2 major summits in successive days is incredible, but 3....

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

<doh> Of course how could I have forgotten that. Ultra-superb achievement by those guys!

In reply to Chris the Tall: The horseshoe is another challenge I suspect. Does anyone know what happened about the client he was going to guide up Everest, is he going to have to go for another punt up Everest?

In reply to puppythedog:

Our news, so far...more details to follow:

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/kenton-cool-climbs-everest-lhotse-nuptse

In reply to Chris the Tall: Close. In 84 (I think)Messner and Kammerlander traversed Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I in alpine style going from the summit of Gasherbrum II descending to a pass and reaching the summit of Gasherbrum I in 3 days

In reply to L.A.:
Messner actually consideres the Gasherbrum traverse to be his best Himalayan achievement.

Did Cool use oxygen? If not, it is a fantastic achievement.

A bit of a report here: http://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2013/05/20/kenton-cools-truly-epic-everest...

Bloody good going!

Is there any news on the style? Did KC use the fixed ropes and supplemental O2?

I surely hope that HIMEX will remove the fixed-ropes from Nuptse once the season is over. Nuptse is a beautiful difficult summit with and it's sad to see it plastered and degraded with fixed ropes just because someone 'bought the summit' from HIMEX

Anders

He's only gone and bloody well done it!!!

He posted this last night:

Back down in BC totally shattered like never before after a week in high mountains. Will update with photos tomorrow...now it's rest

L.E.G.E.N.D

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Outstanding.

Massive congrats to Dorje & Kenton.


Mildly amused by the fact that, having been away for a few days, I first read about this in The Times, a la 1953....

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I think because of all the commercial work Kenton does he ends up with some unfair flack... this might shut a few folk up. A very impressive feat. It was funny when he fell off the 1' podium at Kendal though

In reply to Offwidth:

I agree absolutely. He helps the Sherpa's economy, gets on with them very well (I'm certain), and gives people a great guiding experience. Plus he raises money for charity. Plus, when he does his own thing, as now, he excels. Plus, he's a hell of a nice guy.

In reply to Offwidth:

Totally agree. What a phenomenal mountaineering achievement by one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Would love to jump up and down, but before I get overly jingoistic, i would like to know about the style this peak bagging exercise was carried out in, the devil is in the detail, another circus stunt or a genuine cutting edge mountaineering achievement, bravo, oh hang on a minute, jugging fixed ropes to the summit of Nuptse, this should really have been climbed in better style, bottled 02 on Everest with fixed ropes? I am presuming this is the case and the elephant in the room, nobody seems to want to answer this one. This leaves the upper part of Lhotse, as to camp three is fixed, it is normal for alpinists to climb Lhotse sans bottled o2, so this must be a given.
If I am wrong and the whole enterprise was carried out alpine style sans O2 then bravo for a cutting edge mountaineering achievement, hyperbole aside.

In reply to Andy Clarke1965:

From what i read he did use o2 and fixed lines, key being this year's lines to Nuptse and the 2-way fixed lines on Everest. Still an outstanding achievement and a mammoth effort nonetheless.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

What was the total distance of ascent Kenton Climbed over the 3 days?

In reply to Mr Lopez:
With fixd ropes and gas it is not an outstanding achievement, it's just an achievement.

In reply to Blizzard:

That's just what I'd like to know. The statistics must be rather awesome.

In reply to tim carruthers:

We don't yet know exactly what aids he did or did not use. One thing that seems obvious to me is that they must have used little or no supplementary oxygen, because they were travelling fast and light and (afaik) had no porters above BC, so they couldn't have carried much. I imagine they took some supplementary oxygen with them, mostly as an emergency backup, in case they got into difficulties spending that long in the death zone.

Second point. Of course it's an outstanding achievement, because it's never been done before. It's arguably the most outstanding achievement, ever, in terms of consecutive high altitude ascents.

In reply to tim carruthers:

An amazing feat of endurance at high altitude, in pure climbing terms a fine personal achievement, for this feat to have been accomplished the list of those directly or indirectly involved is endless not unlike giving thanks at the oscars, from cooks at camp two to the numerous high altitude Sherpas fixing and placing tents, carrying oxygen. A little more difficult to organize than your average bob graham round!.

In reply to Andy Clarke1965:

OK, so that implies they had porters at Camp 2 (which in effect acted as Base Camp for the three peak circuit), but after that I think it was just Kenton and Dorje.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Tents, oxygen, fixed ropes, would already be in place ( as part of his usual commercial regime or tagged onto another group), normal practice on guided trips, they would not need to carry much, plus an insitu cook at camp two to refuel.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

The "national" press or the climbing press? If the latter, I disagree - I saw plenty about it (also on UKC).

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Well, I said UK press, not climbing press.

In reply to Andy Clarke1965:
Your profile suggests you know what you're talking about, but i still find it hard to believe that before KC has even been confirmed as down and safe that you questioned the ethics of his ascent.
Seriously?
The guy does something amazing, and never done in Himalayan history, and your reply is to question whether he used O2?
Did Hillary/Tenzing use O2?
Did what they achieved lead to a whole new era of Himalayan expedition?
Will KC's achievement now go down as a marker to be bettered in the appropriate hardship without O2?
Probably, but it doesn't lessen what the man has achieved. I personally think that such a first( and all the subsequent ascents that will come his way) could not happen to a more deserving man.
Nominative determinism at its best.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

You seeem to be speculating a lot. Might it not be better to wait for the facts?


That simply does not follow!


I think it is obvious that that would almost entirely depend on the style. Messner's traverse of the Gasherbrums, for example, in impeccable style would take a lot of beating. I think that the most that can be said at the moment, that, even in the poorest style imaginable (fixed ropes, fixed camps, oxygen etc) is that it is a very impressive feat of endurance. As a mountaineering achievement I'd rather reserve judgement.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Agreed. I said clearly: we don't know. I did in fact post to shut someone else up for speculating before we know the facts, but deleted it, because it seemed unnecessarily strong.

In reply to Robert Durran:
...even in the poorest style imaginable (fixed ropes, fixed camps, oxygen etc) is that it is a very impressive feat of endurance.

That's about it.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Oh FFS, Gordon, calm down. They are one of several teams to do Everest and Lhotse this year, and have added Nuptse. Kenton is an excellent and experienced alpinist and no doubt his mate is very strong too, so adding one more peak to what the guided clients and 'guides' have done is not exactly 'historical'.

For something to have historical context it must be compared to what went previously and as Nuptse has not been fixed like this in concert with the other two then the logistical conditions have not previously existed so comparisons are illogical. Well done to Kenton and Dorje Gyalgen for taking the unprecedented opportunity to do all these three ascents in a row, but it can't be compared to much else.

As above, all three routes are fixed, thanks to an army of Sherpas and tonnes of bottled oxygen. These ascents bear little resemblance to climbing just ONE of these peaks without any of that aid. Fixed ropes and a beaten path make high altitude climbing immeasurably easier - yes, easier - which I and others on here know from experience, if it wasn't obvious enough.

Comparisons with other climbs on other mountains in other years are ridiculous and insulting to those who went before. From high on G1 I've looked across to G2 and simply could not believe how Messner and Kammerlander could have the sheer f#@king audacity, let alone fitness and skill, to launch off down that unknown, unfixed, untrodden, un-camped ridge to the other, without fixed descents, or set-up camp rests in between.

This is UKClimbing, not UKCool.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

An incredible achievement which was never going to fail. The man is called Kenton Cool for gods sake. He sounds like a f@%^ing secret agent. How could it have gone wrong?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

The main reason it's never been done before is that this is the first year Nuptse has been fixed. David Falt has some good thoughts on that here: http://e9climbing.blogspot.dk/2013/05/tragedy-on-nuptse.html

Considering the purity of the British ethics regarding the protection of your own rock (which I applaud), I'm a bit disappointed so many are seemingly indifferent to the destruction of some of the most iconic mountains in the world.

A thread about a bit of tat on Tower Gap can generate several hundreds of angry replies, but when Nuptse is littered with literally miles of fixed line, it hardly raises an eyebrow.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Something in me sees the Mazeno as a bigger achievement than this, really not sure why because what has been done in this triple is momentous.

Bravo sirs, bravo.

In reply to supos:

It hardly raises an eyebrow because 99.999% of us don't see it or know about it.

Not because we don't care.

In reply to Babika:

That's right: it's neither featured in some TV series or advertising promo, nor situated on the Derbyshire 'Eastern Edges'. Also, it seems that many people are scared/freaked out by real achievements, involving huge stamina and skill, and prefer to talk about 3-metre high gritstone problems done in 3 minutes, rather than 3 x 3000 metre mountain ascents done consecutively in three days.

In reply to Damo:

Based on your criteria the the Hilary/Tenzing first ascent wasn't historical, as like KC's achievement the logistical conditions that were present in 1953 to summit Everest had never existed.

To climb those 3 monsters in one push, logistical conditions or not, is unquestionably historical.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Great effort Kenton well done!!

In reply to jolivague:

It's clear what we really need is a website similar to 8a.nu for alpine ascents with scores for ascents and a league table.

Each alpine team would have its own supporters and they could cheer them on from the comfort of their armchairs.

In reply to stevez:

Except in 1952 when it did. But don't let fact or broader context ruin your story!

And I think you mean "KC and Dorje Gylgen's achievement".

In reply to Michael Ryan - UKC and UKH:

Yeh, hasn't worked too well so far Mick http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67985

In reply to Damo:

The media/commercial interests need winners...as do most people. The climbers seem happy with it.

In reply to Damo:

I think you'll find the logistical conditions in 1952 were significantly different to those in 1953, such that it would have been impossible to summit in 1952 with the technology the Swiss had. I suggest you read your Everest history better!

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:


Stamina yes but skill ? by world climbing standards climbing routes with O2 on fixed lines is not skill - its just what he does with his paying clients.

In reply to GrahamD:

Are you saying that it is not just about getting to the top but how you get to the top..

Did you steal that off Royal Robbins, Graham D?

That is far too subtle for most.

In reply to Michael Ryan - UKC and UKH:

Surely *how* you get to the top is about the level of skill required ? its hardly subtle.

There seems to be a real dichotomy on this forum between those decrying the level of mountaineering 'skill' required by mere punters to be guided up Everest jugging fixed lines on O2, with the hero worship seen on this thread lauding the 'skill' of a guide that has just jugged up on fixed lines on O2.

So yes, absolutely a phenominal feat of stamina and endurance but not really a feat of mountaineering skill

In reply to GrahamD:

Yip


You would hope so.

In reply to Michael Ryan - UKC and UKH:
So it's a great achievement but the style leaves room for improvement.

Isn't that the way it should be ?

In reply to Michael Ryan - UKC and UKH:



What! I would have thought it was blindingly obvious to vitually all climbers.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Yes, that is what Robbins said also.

I suppose another example is Lynn Hill's ascent of Midnight Lightning in Camp 4, Yosemite.

She top roped it first, then did it ropeless and with pads.

Then I think Lisa Rands did it....but without the top rope practice.

As regards style, Lisa improved on Lynn's ascent; but Lynn is known as the first women to do Midnight Lightning.

In reply to Robert Durran:

You would, wouldn't you. But it isn't.

In reply to Michael Ryan - UKC and UKH:

And thus you have a job...

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Dear Gordon,


I agree with you.

Will that make you stop?

xx
Blue

In reply to Michael Ryan - UKC and UKH:

No, I think it is. There is an ignorant/stupid/ill-informed minority but it is just that - a minority. The non-climbing public is, of course, another matter

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Which phone network is KC on? I can't get a signal for days in the Langdales.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Kenton reported using 2 bottles of O2 on Everest and one on one of the other peaks. I can't remember now and I can't find the post. Found it, 1 on Lhotse.

In reply to Michael Ryan - UKC and UKH:

Another example of course would be Joe Brown making the first ascent of Cenotaph Corner using two points of aid. No one belittled his achievement as a result. About another decade passed before it was done completely free.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I love a good game of pointless analogies..

What about:

I claim to be the first person to climb all routes in the Cromlech in 1 day.

I did it using top-ropes set up by a support team and pulling on gear or jugging on a secondary rope in the hard sections...

Analogies don't work in the real world.

In more Everest news, Silvio Mondinelli decided to use o2 for the first time from 7,000m on behalf of the extra safety for his client. In the way up mentioned a few times that he can't understand what all the hype about o2 is about, as he doesn't feel it is so much of an advantage. At 8,500 he realises his bottles are still full, and so his o2 system hasn't been on... Oooops

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Disclaimer: That's not a criticism of Cool's and Gylgen's ascent. Even though it's hardly cutting edge i still think it's a monumental effort.

In reply to Mr Lopez:

That really does have no bearing on the subject . I thought my analogy was quite good actually, in so far as JB's first ascent methods of CC are no longer considered acceptable. The Lynn Hill example someone else gave was also a useful one. Of course the challenge now is for someone to do it in (even) better style. We don't yet know for sure what Kenton did or did not use.

Great story.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: We don't know about the lines he may or may not have used or whether he carried the oxygen himself or it was at camps but we do know he used 3 bottles overall. 2 on Everest and one on Lhotse.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

In the view of this article: http://desnivel.com/expediciones/alex-txikon-kenton-cool-y-la-no-cima-del-n... I think it would be good to ask Kenton Cool again about where exactly he was when he decided that he 'made the Nuptse summit' and started to go back...

Is there any 'summit' photo available?

Cheers,
RS

In reply to RockShock:

This looks like a great moment to kickstart my business hiring out pitchforks and torches. As a launch offer, for the first week if you buy the full set comprising of 1 pitchfork and 3 12in torches you get a free jerry can of petrol free.

Contact me through my profile for t&c's and to make payment