Here we go. The second summit window is beginning to open up. By now a lot of teams have already summited, packed up, and left Base Camp. Some teams have even called it quits, being that it was a very difficult season in terms of weather and mountain conditions.
On Everest, there really is only a short window of time where people can attempt to summit, where the tip of the mountain isn't being pummeled by the Jet Stream. Once that window passes, monsoon season swoops in and the climbing season is officially over until Fall. The Sherpas remove all the ladders from the mountain on May 31st, so for those who have waited out, this will be their last shot for the year.
Peak Freaks is at Camp 3, and I'm assuming will be heading to the South Col today, where they will push for the summit later tonight. Weather conditions look promising. Also, crowd management should be better since most teams are gone. The mountain has already seen a few hundred summits already, so that should account for a good percentage of people NOT expected high on the mountain this time around. As I'm sure many of you have heard, the reason for a lot of the deaths over the past weekend had to do with the tremendous crowds that were building up (combined with other factors like weather, skill, health, and team organization), so having that aspect removed can make a world of a difference.
I'll keep you posted on any news I hear.
In the meantime, check out a podcast I did recently for Men's Health Magazine where I talk about memory, climbing, and Alzheimer's disease: http://blogs.menshealth.com/podcasts/nelson-dellis/2012/05/23/