Lhotse 2014: The world’s most expensive Everest Base Camp trek

May 22, 2014 Trip reports 8000m peaks, altitude junkies, climbing fatalities, commercial mountaineering, dorje sherpa, edita, everest, everest base camp, ian cartwright, lhotse, margaret watroba, media sensationalism, mountain flights, nepal, phil crampton, puja, russell brice, sherpas

The story of the Altitude Junkies 2014 Everest and Lhotse expedition. I was excited to be attempting 8516m Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world which stands across the South Col from Everest. Even if I didn’t reach the summit I would surely reach Camp 2 at least, as I had on every previous occasion.

A last desperate bid for Everest glory … by helicopter

May 14, 2014 Humour altitude junkies, edita, everest, kathmandu, lhotse, margaret watroba, mountain flights, nepal, phil crampton, russell brice, sherpas

It’s been a terribly unhappy 2014 Everest season for many reasons, so here’s something to cheer us all up. We all thought the season on the south side of the mountain finished two weeks ago, but reports in the Himalayan Times have fuelled speculation that the Southeast Ridge may yet be climbed this year.

The double Everest tragedy

April 27, 2014 Expedition dispatches altitude junkies, climbing fatalities, commercial mountaineering, dorje sherpa, everest, everest base camp, lhotse, nepal, phil crampton, sherpas 15 Comments

I’m back in Kathmandu again at the end of what has effectively been a very expensive Everest Base Camp trek. All expeditions have been cancelled, and there will not be a single summit from Everest’s south side this season. This

The Sherpa sacrifice

April 20, 2014 Expedition dispatches altitude junkies, climbing fatalities, dorje sherpa, everest, everest base camp, howard somervell, lhotse, media sensationalism, nanga parbat, nepal, phil crampton, sherpas 15 Comments

I don’t know whether this is going to post successfully, as we have been without meaningful internet communications since we arrived at Everest Base Camp over a week ago. I have wandered down to Gorak Shep in search of 3G

Namche Bazaar and the start of the Everest trail

April 5, 2014 Expedition dispatches dehydration, digi comms, edita, ian cartwright, lhotse, margaret watroba, mountain flights, namche bazaar, phil crampton, teahouse trekking 8 Comments

We’ve had a lazy rest day today in the Sherpa capital of Namche Bazaar. On a good day this is one of the most spectacularly situated villages anywhere in the world. It lies in a natural bowl on the hillside

A briefing at the Ministry

April 2, 2014 Expedition dispatches lhotse, media sensationalism, mountain environment, nepal, phil crampton 2 Comments

A new joke is doing the rounds in Kathmandu. How many Nepalese Ministry of Tourism officials does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the bulb and the other to issue a press release to the

South Peak: my attempt on Lhotse

March 26, 2014 Expedition dispatches 8000m peaks, altitude junkies, chance, everest, everest base camp, first ascents, himalayas, ian cartwright, island peak, jerzy kukuczka, krzysztof wielicki, lhotse, media sensationalism, mera peak, nepal, phil crampton, reinhold messner, ricardo cassin, tibet, tomo cesen 8 Comments

Good times are approaching again. On Sunday I leave for Nepal for my fifth 8000m peak expedition, and it’s fair to say I’m just a teeny bit excited. My objective this time is 8516m Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world and the one next to Everest, as I’ve been telling everyone who has asked.

5 ways to prove a summit claim

October 9, 2013 Humour baruntse, denali, edmund hillary, everest, false summit claims, first ascents, frederick cook, gasherbrum, gps, hudson stuck, jacques balmat, manaslu, mark dickson, michel paccard, mont blanc, phil crampton, route descriptions, scotland, tenzing norgay 10 Comments

If a climber reaches the top of a mountain and no one is around to see them, have they reached the summit? Lots of people make false summit claims, for all sorts of reasons, so how can you be sure? Here are some of the ways of proving a summit claim.

Following the Everesters

April 24, 2013 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, alan arnette, altitude junkies, blogging, commercial mountaineering, digi comms, edita, everest, explorersweb, grant rawlinson, margaret watroba, phil crampton, sherpas, the chomolungma diaries 15 Comments

This time last year I was lying in a tent on the north side of Everest, listening to a deafening wind pound against the nylon beside my head. Every spring a few hundred people seek to share my experience by trying to climb Everest, and thanks to the miracle of modern communications, it’s possible to watch from the sidelines.

Is the mountaineer Phil Crampton Richard III’s distant relative?

February 8, 2013 Humour altitude junkies, phil crampton, tumblr post 2 Comments

With the cities of York and Leicester engaged in an unseemly tug-of-war for the bones of King Richard III, I can exclusively reveal the city of New York has entered the contest to inter the corpse of the former English monarch, who died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.