Huge congrats to best friend and climbing partner of 15 years, Jon Kedrowski! It was a rollercoaster of a ride this season. In my view two things stand out: 1) Jet Stream trapping climbers near the summit on May 19-20, 2) Jon climbing Everest twice with a successful summit in "dead-calm wind". I provided forecasts for Jon's Team, all part of Dan Mazurs' Summit Climb Expedition. It was an honor.
Jet Stream & Weather Windows: The weather this season on Everest was big news. From my meteorological perspective, I watched the jet stream sit directly over the summit for weeks on end in April and was a little worried. Would the typical 5-day summit windows really open? Technically speaking, the Himalayan Mountain Range is caught between a rock and a hard place - between temperature and moisture contrasts from the north and south. The height of these mountains is a significant factor - any little deviation in the mathematics is hugely important to the bottom line forecast. The placement of the jet stream's strongest core of wind never recedes from Everest's summit by more than a few thousand feet during these summit windows. It looked to me like it would come down to very small summit windows this season, and indeed, that's what happened. Two-day summit windows played-out. And, these tiny 48-hour weather windows forced all the climbers into the normal chokepoints all at the same time.
Jon has an incredible story to tell when he gets back to the USA.
Some Excellent Media Coverage:
Jon Kedrowski summits Mt. Everest (KWGN-TV):
http://kwgn.com/2012/05/29/colorado-mountain-climber-talks-about-getting-to-the-top-of-mt-everest/
Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/jon-kedrowski-avon-man-re_n_1556538.html
CNN: (Great Article by Ashley Strickland)
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/25/climbing-geographer-nears-mount-everest-summit/
Jon Kedrowski's Everest Blog: http://www.jonkeverest.org/blog
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| Jon Kedrowski on the Summit of Everest May 2012 |
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