Altitude Junkies | Everest Lhotse Dispatches

Everest Lhotse 2022 Expedition Dispatches

Dispatch #5 – May 14, 2022 – Kathmandu

We are now back in Kathmandu, flying directly from base camp, 28 days after leaving this wonderful city. We reached the summit safely without any cheesy gimmicks, such as at home hypoxic tents and we did not have a single Instagram influencer on the team. We resembled old school climbers, getting shit done without all the hype. We were the first team on top on the 12th and nobody else was near us all day until we descended and met ascending climbers later in the day. We had the summit to ourselves for the second year in a row.

Some of our climbers will depart for home tomorrow.

As always, the summit would not be possible without the fantastic Sherpa staff on the hill and in the kitchen.

We are already looking forward to next years expedition to the “Big E”.

Phil Crampton

Dispatch #4 – May 13, 2022 – Base Camp

We reached the summit on May 12 and were the first team on top and all alone on the summit of Everest. Our Sherpa did a great job of pulling out the buried fixed ropes enabling all the following climbers an easier summit day.

A great effort by all and our thanks go to the hard working Junkies Sherpa who managed the fixed ropes.

After reaching the summit the team descended to camp two and this was the first time we encountered other climbers all day.

We are now back at base camp and will take helicopters to Kathmandu tomorrow.

Phil Crampton

Dispatch #3 – May 3, 2022 – Base Camp

We have now completed our acclimatization rotation on the hill. We spent the 29th at camp one at an elevation of 6,000 meters and moved to camp two at 6,400 meters on the 30th.

During our few days at camp two some of the team walked towards the start of the ropes to camp three for exercise and further acclimatization.

We are all now back at base camp and will study the weather forecasts for our summit attempt in a few days.

Phil Crampton

Dispatch #2 - April 21, 2022 – Base Camp

The team has been feeling strong on the trek and most are already acclimatized, so with this in mind, we skipped a night at Loboche and after two nights at Dingboche, we trekked directly to base camp.

We will now spend a week sleeping at the base camp elevation of 5,300 meters before venturing to the higher camps on the hill.

Phil Crampton

Dispatch #1 - April 17, 2022 – Kathmandu

The last of our expedition members arrived today in Kathmandu with all of their luggage. Tomorrow we will take helicopters to Namche Bazar where will spend the night before starting the trek to base camp.

Several of our team members are already either trekking or climbing in the Makalu and Everest regions repsectively. They will have a head start on the acclimatization process over myself as I have been in Kathmandu for the last three weeks taking care of the last minute expedition logistics for this season.

Our Sherpa crew have nearly finished setting up base camp in anticipation of our team members arriving on the 22nd.

It seems as if the number of climbers present this season will be reduced compared to last, which I think will benefit all those climbers on the hill.

Phil Crampton