From home to Everest in only 3 weeks? Furtenbach Adventures makes it possible.
Acclimatization for this expedition is already done at home. While a traditional Everest expedition takes two months, our Flash Expedition saves time and additionally increases safety and chances of success. (3 weeks only)
One of the main reasons for being forced to abort a summit attempt on an 8000-meter-peak is the lengthy acclimatization period on the mountain. Going up high and back low several times over, the risk of catching an infection at base camp where people have to live in close proximity to one another saps the energy of many climbers before they’ve even started on the actual ascent. To raise your chances of success, we start the acclimatization process using hypoxic tents in your home, 6-8 weeks prior to departing for Nepal. The tents are set up by experts, and under their supervision your body will slowly become acclimatized to conditions equivalent to being at camp at 7,000 meters on Mount Everest.
Conventional acclimatization tents can simulate a maximum altitude of 5,000 meters. Furtenbach Adventures has used hypoxic tents for 20 years now and has a great deal of experience in using this kind of acclimatization for high altitude mountaineering. In 2016, we ran the first ever successful Everest expedition, where all team members were pre-acclimatized using hypoxic tents. Our team was fully acclimatized within a very short period and ready for the ascent to the summit. After reaching the summit, we were also the only team to descend to Camp 2 in one push. In 2018 we our whole team summited in less than 3 weeks from home with 100% success. This was the beginning of a revolution in Everest climbing. Increased performance such as this, thanks to proper pre-acclimatization, greatly increases safety.
This special kind of pre-expedition preparation, combined with our small group sizes, maximum oxygen support, the latest equipment, an experienced team (some of our Sherpas have stood on the summit of Mount Everest 19 times) and our vast logistical experience allow us to schedule the expedition to last just 3 weeks. To date, we are the only Everest operator that can offer such a short itinerary without any increased risk. Over the past decades we’ve seen advancements in mountaineering technology, equipment, high-altitude medicine and weather forecasting. Climbing tactics however, have remained the same as they were in the 1970s. We are now writing history by providing a climbing alternative that’s bang up-to-date and meets with the latest standards in technology.
The Everest Flash Expedition uses the objectively safer route on the north side of the mountain, in Tibet. We travel from Lhasa by Jeep to base camp. By the time our expedition members reach base camp, all of the high camps and oxygen depots have already been set up by our Sherpa teams. All we have to do is wait for a weather window.
For our oxygen systems, we rely on Summit Oxygen, the latest, lightest and most reliable system on the market. Climbers are given special regulators that have been customized for us and deliver a higher flow rate of oxygen than other regulators – up to 8 liters/ minute. Unlimited oxygen* is available from ABC at 6,400m or from the North Col at 7,000m.
We carry entire spare oxygen systems – masks, regulators and bottles – for each client, all the way up to the summit and back. We budget a minimum of 2 Sherpas per client to make up for any shortfalls in Sherpas and to enable them to carry all of the oxygen equipment.
Check out our overview page to see which options we offer on Everest.