Hello from Everest Basecamp, We arrived here at Base Camp on Wednesday (April 6th) at lunchtime to a camp that had been fully constructed on top of a glacial moraine. The staff of 10 Sherpas and porters had been working weeks to carve flat sites for sleeping tents, a dining tent, a communication tent, a storage tent, a cooking tent, two bathroom tents, and a shower tent for our group (we got to shower yesterday!). It was a ton of work, but the camp is awesome, and it is located in the best spot in all of Everest Base Camp. We have so many comforts of home, including solar lights on the walkways between tents (very cool), 40+ movies, solar chargers for every kind of gadget, a propane heater for the dining tent, etc. Each of us has our own sleeping tent, which provides much comfort and quiet (especially for Sara!). Everest Base Camp sits on a glacier that is surrounded by the tallest mountains in the world. In a word, the place is incredible. Within a mile of where we are camped is Tibet (China), whose border is at the peak of a series of mountains to the north of us. In every direction is a massive peak, glacier packed, that is picturesque in beauty. I highly recommend a trek to Everest Base Camp to everyone. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is also very clean. The camp has had a large clean up effort in recent years (and it shows), and all expeditions are now required to carry every last piece of garbage out with them. Dave Hahn (and RMI) put together a schedule that got our group from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp in 10 days. This could have been done much faster (as fast as 5 or 6 days), but our goal for this expedition is not Base Camp. Our strategy (thus far) has been to go slow so that we remain healthy, and without the symptoms of acute mountain sickness (AMS). Since we arrived a couple of days ago, we have been resting, slowly acclimatizing our bodies to this altitude without headaches, coughs, queasiness, or other symptoms of AMS. So far, we all feel strong. What we wanted to avoid was having to descend to a lower altitude to deal with these issues. Going forward, we will be "climbing high and sleeping low" as well as working on our mountaineering skills. First and foremost will be working on the skills needed to climb the Khumbu Icefall, and we will go slowly so that we are fully acclimatized, and our skills are such that we can move rapidly through the icefall. I feel that we are in great hands. Climbing with Dave Hahn is like playing basketball with Michael Jordan. As we walked up the valley Dave would be recognized by dozens and dozens of people. He patiently posed for countless photographs, and spent time with almost everyone who walked up to him. Some folks just shouted out "You Da Man!" to Dave as he walked by. One Sherpa guiding a climber down from Base Camp was shouting and fist pumping at Dave as he walked by (very funny). Yet, despite all this, Dave remains so very humble and takes so much time to patiently explain things to Sara and me. We have lots and lots of questions about gear and our climb, and he always breaks everything down into simple steps that are well thought out. The guy is incredible, and given that it is his 20th expedition to Everest and all of his many accomplishments and rescues, he is a legend (we have, however, instituted a $1 fine for Dave for everyone he knows - so far its up to $56). Before coming over here to Nepal last year I really didn't give much thought to what a Sherpa does. I always just assumed that they were people who carried huge loads up the mountain. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Sherpa are a group of people that come from the mountainous region of Tibet, and because of this, are incredible high altitude athletes. But they also take great pride in their training. Our climbing Sherpa are trained in all sorts of high altitude skills, including medical care. Porters, on the other hand, don't go up the mountain, they carry many loads up to base camp and perform other duties in the camp. All of our climbing Sherpa on this trip have reached the summit of Everest, all multiple times. Truly amazing athletes and people, and never without smiles on their faces. While Kathmandu is approximately 75% Hindu and 25% Buddhist, the high mountain region of Nepal is almost entirely Buddhist (a good portion of the porters come from other areas of Nepal, and are not Buddhist, but virtually all the Sherpa are Buddhist). Religion is extremely important to the people here, and every town and important location has Stupas, prayer flags, or carvings in stones that represent the importance of their religion in everything they do. No Sherpa will go on to any high mountain (including Everest) until a Puja ceremony is performed. Our Puja ceremony is slated to take place tomorrow, and our Sherpa have spent many hours building a site for this ceremony out of stones in our camp. Sara M. will report on this ceremony in our next update. Historically, communication from Everest Base Camp has been though satellite phones. This year it was announced that 3G service would be available at Base Camp. But, this is not really the case, and our communication is not quite up to standards that we are used to. Because the cellular tower is solar powered, cell phone service works at Base Camp from the hours of about 9 am to 4 pm Nepal time, not the best time to call home to the United States. We have found that checking and sending emails still is problematic, and the most reliable way is still though (the very expensive) satellite phone. So, that's it from Everest Base Camp. We spend our rest days trying to nap, playing cards, doing puzzles, and playing Yahtzee and Apples to Apples. Sara and I have a fighting chance against Dave and Jeff Martin in Yahtzee and Apples to Apples, but Dave is rumored to be a world class Scrabble and Chess player, so we are pretending that we don't like those games for now (the RMI game box is stocked with about a dozen games, so I think we can avoid Scrabble and Chess for at least a few weeks). Last night Sara introduced Dave to all sorts of music that he had never heard before, such as Miley Cyrus, the Jonus Brothers, and even Linkin Park and B.O.B. It was quite a learning experience for Dave and Jeff. In the next few days Mark Tucker and Linden Mallory will be arriving at Base Camp, and we will be losing Jeff who will head home. We are excited to see Linden and Mark, but we will be sad to see Jeff leave. Thank you again for following our blog. Bill M.