Thanks to my colleague Mark today, I enjoyed this post on Wired about how climbers on Mount Everest are blogging about how Nepalese soldiers have closed the summit due to an Olympic torch run scheduled to take place on the other side of the mountain in China. Apparently, the military presence is to prevent more pro-Tibet protests. Here's one excerpt:
"We saw lots of military staff and one solider carrying a very sophisticated sniper type of gun," [climber] Jim Curtin wrote on his blog Monday. Curtin has been blogging his ascent of Everest for several weeks but is now stuck at Camp 2, at 21,000 feet. Over the last several days his blog has chronicled the frustrating wait as Nepalese soldiers block climbers from ascending the mountain.
The most interesting aspect to the story is how, as part of the restrictions on the mountain, there is a news blackout from Base Camp and no news media on other camps on the mountain. Once again we're seeing the power of blogging and in this case extreme citizen journalists filling a media void to inform the rest of us of another fascinating subplot to the controversial Beijing Olympics.
The Wired post also reveals the power of the technology available now to make this blogging possible.
Mountain teams are supposed to be under a communications blackout, but a group called Climbers Without Borders have set up an anonymous information service that allows climbers to post updates to MountEverest.net. In addition, several climbers have their equipment stashed away, according to a climbing-equipment salesman who requested anonymity to protect clients in the field.
Luis Benitez, a climber who has ascended Everest six times, said that all the technology necessary to run a blog could be stowed in a tiny bag. "You need a satellite phone, a PDA, special compression software, one cable and a solar panel and that's it," Benitez said.
Now I have to go to Twitter to see if any of these climbers are there.
