Everest Summit Success

Everest season has been rocky to say the least, but today began with good news: Sam Elias, Emily Harrington, Kris Erickson, Hilaree O'Neill and Mark Jenkins of the National Geographic/The North Face team summited the mountain at 8:15am Nepal time via the South Col route, snapping one of the first-ever Instagram photos from the highest point in the world. According to a voicemail left by Erickson while resting at Camp 4, the morning was "cold and windy, but rather beautiful." Eighty-two climbers summited during this weather window.

Erickson and O'Neill are in the midst of another push to also summit Lhotse, the world's fourth-highest mountain, connected to Everest via South Col route. If successful, they will have summited both peaks in fewer than 24 hours.