Renowned mountain guide puts clients on Everest summit less than a week after they left London
The four British climbers flew from London to Kathmandu on May 16 and reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit Wednesday morning local time, according to Lukas Furtenbach, who has been using different methods over the past five years to speed up the climb.
The climbers had put in months of preparation, training in hypoxia tents and undergoing xenon gas treatment at a clinic in Germany before heading to Nepal.
'Xenon improves the acclimatization and protects the body from altitude sickness and the effects from the hypoxic environment. Xenon makes the climb safer,' Furtenbach told The Associated Press from the base camp at Everest.
He said all the climbers were safe and returning back to lower camps after the successful ascent on Wednesday Climbers normally spend weeks at base camp to acclimatize to the higher altitude. They make practice runs to the lower camps on Everest before beginning their final attempt on the peak, so that their bodies are prepared for the low pressure and lower level of oxygen available.
The new method is likely to reduce the time climbers spend out of their home countries and cut the number of days they need to take off work, also cutting down on expenses.
Nepal does not have any rules on how many days climbers must spend acclimatizing or making practice climbs. Their permits, which cost $11,000 each, are valid for 90 days. Climbing season normally wraps up by the end of May, when the weather deteriorates and monsoon season begins. The ropes and ladders fixed to the mountain are then pulled out.
Hundreds of foreign climbers have been given permission to climb Everest this year. Roughly half of them have succeeded and the remaining will likely attempt their climb within the next few days.
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CBC
29-07-2025
- CBC
Peak romance: Regina couple engaged on Mount Everest, married on Mount Kilimanjaro
A couple from Regina is still coming down after taking their relationship to new heights earlier this month. Kelsey Bone and Scot Pominville had been together seven years before they got engaged on Mount Everest last September. Almost a year later, on July 3, the couple tied the knot on Mount Kilmanjoro — the highest mountain in Africa. "I figured I'd always kind of end up eloping or something like that … kind of combining adventure with love, " said Bone. She had met her husband Pominville for the first time at a friend's housewarming party. That night, the host's sewage system had been backed up and caused a mess in the bathroom. Bone said she arrived to see Pominville in the middle of it all. "He was helping clean it all up and was cracking jokes," said Bone. "When disaster struck, he stepped in, and right away I was interested." After they met, it didn't take long before the couple found themselves on a number of adventures. It started with their "first big hike" at Grey Owl in Waskesiu, Sask. "We just did it and enjoyed it," said Pominvile. "Didn't want to kill each other when things were difficult and you're tired and sore." Bone said after travelling so much together they decided to set a goal to travel to all seven continents. "Scot comes up with the idea that we're doing it, and then I do all the rest," said Bone. "He's had Everest on his bucket list, to go sleep at base camp, so that was just kind of the next step and check off Asia," said Bone. Engaged above 17,000 feet Prior to their engagement, Bone and Pominville had been researching a trip to Mount Everest for nearly two months before finally booking their tickets last September. They flew from Kathmandu, Nepal, and made their way to Lukla before embarking on a 10-day journey to reach the south base camp on Mount Everest — located at an elevation of 5,364 metres (17,598 feet), and the first stop of the much longer trek to the peak. Pominville said he had been carrying an engagement ring in one of his carry-on bags. He had spent the entire trip worrying Bone would find it. "Some of the stuff in my backpack was hers and vice versa ... and there's snacks," said Pominville. "So it's not like she would never go into my bag." Pominville said he tried to keep the ring in the part of his backpack where she would have "no real reason" to look. He also took the ring completely out of its box and kept it in a small ziplock bag so Bone would have a harder time stumbling upon it. "Luckily, she never did," Pominville said. When the couple finally reached base camp, they made their way to a famous rock on the southeast ridge route, often used for photos. A rock and a question "If he was gonna propose, I figured it might happen on this rock cause this is kind of the telltale of base camp," said Bone. As Bone started to pose for photos she was quickly caught off-guard. "I think we're going to get some photos and then look to my side and there he is down on his knee," she said. "I knew to say yes, but then like, what? Where do I put the ring? What hand does it go on? What finger? That was all lost in the moment." Pominville said he didn't tell anybody about his plans to propose until about a minute before. He pulled the ring out of his pocket "just a little bit" to show their guide. "He instantly knew, like we just talked telepathically," he said. The guide then pretended to act as their photographer, when he was actually taking a video of the engagement ring. Pominville said he instantly felt relieved. "You know, there's a million thoughts going through my mind. So as soon as it happened, I was like, 'Oh, good, I don't have to worry about anything anymore,'" said Powmanville. The couple had booked their hike during the Everest's off-season, which meant they were the only ones on the mountainside that night. Pominville said that meant they were able to have their engagement entirely to themselves. "We had a nice, I don't know, 12 or so hours of just soaking in the moment and being isolated and alone in a pretty remote spot and it was really nice," he said. The dress that hiked After the engagement, the couple hadn't thought much about the kind of wedding they wanted. Bone said she always knew she never wanted a really big wedding. "I always knew we weren't really big wedding people, so I'd always kind of pictured in my head that I'd either be eloping or destination Mexico, one of the two," she said. Pominville said the where or how never really mattered to him either. He also thought they would most likely end up eloping to a hot destination. "I always said the important part is who it's to, not where it is or what it is," he said. Two of their close friends had been pushing them to elope shortly after their engagement, and invited them to join a trip to Kilimanjaro. It was only one week before the trip when Bone and Pominville decided they would get married there. "I was thinking, no, I don't want it to overshadow their trip at all," said Bone. "As soon as I said that, they sent back a screenshot that he [one of their friends] got ordained." With such little time to prepare, Bone searched online for a used dress to pack and take on the hike with her. "I knew I needed something light that I could pack and stretchy that could fit over hiking gear," she said. "The only dress I went to look at and tried it on. It was perfect," she said. The seven-day hike up Mount Kilimanjaro started in a rainforest before turning into loose trees and finishing on rocky land. Bone said the entire hike she shifted her focus on just enjoying each day, rather than the upcoming wedding. "There's so many variables that I … it wasn't a guarantee that we make it to the top," she said. "I just wanted to make sure that I enjoyed the trip either way." Before starting the final stretch of the hike, Bone changed into her wedding dress and tucked it into the rain pants she was wearing. Seven hours later, the couple made it to the top. "I definitely had an adrenaline rush of like, 'Oh my God, this is actually happening'," she said. "I put my hair in a ponytail and then the maid of honour, she stuck the veil in, and we had our quick one minute." Another peak surprise Little did she know, Pominville had another surprise for her. Due to a lack of time, Bone's original ring had been a "cheap" last-minute pick from a local shop, he explained. Before the trip, Bone's parents insisted Pominville replace her ring with a family heirloom. He said the heirloom was around 150 years old and had been locked in a safe the last few years. "So I took it and got it resized so it fit her," said Pominville. He didn't tell her about the new ring until the moment they got married. Bone said the day couldn't have been any better. She said even the 21 members of their support crew joined in on the celebration. "I was one of those kids that actually never dreamed of my wedding. I never pictured myself in the big dress or anything,' she said. "This was absolutely perfect."
CTV News
15-06-2025
- CTV News
Helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims crashes in India's Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, killing 7
This photo shared by Uttarakhand Police on the X platform shows rescuers working at the site of a helicopter crash near Kedarnath, in Uttarakhand, India, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Uttarakhand Police on X via AP) LUCKNOW, India — A helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims crashed early Sunday in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing seven people on board, officials said. The chopper was flying to Guptkashi, a prominent Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas, from Kedarnath temple town, when it crashed. The accident occurred within minutes after the helicopter took off, officials said, on what should have been a 10-minute flight. The crash comes three days after an Air India flight fell from the sky and killed at least 270 people in Gujarat state. The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger survived. Nandan Singh Rajwar, a local disaster management official, said authorities have launched a rescue and search operation following the helicopter crash and are expected to review operational protocols for flights in the region. The chopper, operated by Aryan Aviation, a private helicopter service company, went down in a forested area near the Kedarnath pilgrimage route at around 5:30 a.m. local time. Officials said the crash was believed to have been caused by poor weather conditions. Kedarnath is home to one of the four most sacred Hindu temple shrines and receives tens of thousands of pilgrims each year during the summer season, many of whom use helicopter services due to the difficult mountainous terrain. Officials said the dead included the pilot and pilgrims from the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh and western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The bodies were badly burned in a fire that followed the crash, they said. Helicopter mishaps are not uncommon in the treacherous Kedarnath region, where sudden weather changes and high-altitude flying conditions can pose risks. On June 7, a helicopter operating in the Kedarnath Valley made an emergency landing on a highway due to technical fault shortly after taking off. The pilot was injured but all five passengers on board were unharmed. On May 8, a helicopter crashed in Uttarkashi district, killing six people, including the pilot. One person survived. Biswajeet Banerjee, The Associated Press
CBC
28-05-2025
- CBC
Sherpa guide breaks record by making 31st summit of Mount Everest
Social Sharing Kami Rita Sherpa, 55, reached the summit of the tallest mountain in the world for a record 31st time on Tuesday. He broke his own record of most climbs to the top of Everest. The famed Sherpa guide made it to Everest's 8,849-metre peak while leading a team of 22 Indian-army members and 27 fellow Sherpas. Since his first climb in 1994, Kami Rita has summitted Everest nearly every year, guiding foreign climbers in the gruelling, and often dangerous, trek up to the top of the world. In the decades since Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to receive credit for summitting Everest in 1953, more than 8,000 people have made the climb. Around 700 to 1,000 people attempt to scale the mountain every year with success rates ranging from 60 to 70 per cent. Kami Rita's monumental summit reflects the crucial role of the Sherpas — an ethnic group indigenous to the Himalayan region — in keeping foreign climbers safe during the often weeks-long journey to the peak. Sherpas have long been associated with Everest, known for their ability to withstand high altitudes due to physiological adaptations. As wealthy foreigners flocked to the Himalayan region looking to check the iconic summit off their bucket lists, an industry began to grow, providing a new source of income in a country that has historically been poverty stricken. David Morton, a climber and a co-founder of the Juniper Fund, an organization that supports high-altitude Sherpa workers in the event of an accidental death on the job, said that while things have changed in the last 15 to 20 years, many Sherpas still work as porters, ferrying the equipment of foreign climbers up and down the mountain. Morton, who personally knows Kami Rita, said that more Sherpas have been able to find better paying work as guides in recent years — establishing camps and fixing routes as opposed to just functioning as load-bearers. But there are still many "inadequacies" in how the work is compensated, especially when a worker dies during a climb, he said. He said the families of Sherpa workers who have died during a climb only receive up to $15,000 US in compensation from the Nepali government. According to the Himalayan Database, an archive of all Himalayan summit expeditions and attempts over the past century, approximately 340 people have died trying to climb Mount Everest. Nearly one-third of those deaths were Sherpa workers. In the 2025 season alone, which began in early April, four climbers have died so far, two of them being Sherpa workers, according to a report from Outside Magazine. Morton said Kami Rita and his brother Lakpa Rita Sherpa, who is also a Sherpa guide and has scaled Mount Everest 17 times, have been able to support their small community of Thame in Nepal through the global recognition they've received from setting and breaking climbing records, and continue to do so through the access they've gained to foreigners.
