Spanish climber evacuated from Everest

A Spanish climber who was part of a team attempting to summit Mount Everest in winter has been evacuated from the mountain, expedition organisers said today.
Carlos Rubio, 28, and compatriot Alex Txikon, 35, have been on Everest since early January attempting the first winter summit of the world's highest peak without supplemental oxygen in nearly three decades.
The pair were at camp two -- 6,400 metres (20,997 feet) above sea level -- when Rubio was crippled by altitude sickness and evacuated by helicopter from the mountain on Friday.
He was flown to Kathmandu on Saturday and is now recovering in hospital, Tashi Sherpa of Seven Summits Trek, the agency managing the expedition, told AFP.

"He was evacuated from camp two because of effects of altitude sickness," Sherpa said.
Txikon remains on Everest and has now reached camp three (7,200 metres). He said in a Facebook post that he would ascend to camp four -- the last one before the summit -- on Monday.

"I could practically not walk. I was very, very, very, very weak. The head was motivated but the body demanded it. I came down and now I am recovering," Rubio said from hospital in a YouTube video posted Sunday.
The last successful winter summit of Everest was in 1993 by a Japanese team. But no one has reached the peak without using supplemental oxygen since a Nepali mountaineer in December 1987.

Mountaineering experts say climbing in winter is more dangerous than spring -- when most people tackle the 8,848 metre peak -- owing to high winds and extreme cold.
Temperatures at the summit average -36 celsius (-33 fahrenheit) in winter and can drop as low as -60 celsius.
Txikon, who is accompanied by four Nepali guides, is expected to try and reach the summit in the first week of February.
Mountaineering is a major revenue-earner for impoverished Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 metres.