Entries from Expedition Dispatches
1:00 p.m. PDT/ 1:45 a.m. Nepal Time
Hi, this is Michael Brown calling from the South Col of Mount Everest. It's a very blustery snowy night and we've made a decision to wait another day so we'll be here 24 hours more. Been monitoring the weather and it looks like we might have a little bit more wind tomorrow; but, possibly less snow because at the moment it's snowing and there's clouds all the way over the summit. Chances are we would be climbing all the way up in the snow and back down again in the snow so not really a very pleasant day for climbing. Give it 24 hours and hopefully we have a better result tomorrow. Thanks for standing by and we'll stay in touch, we'll keep calling and letting you know what's happening. Take care.
12:25 p.m. PDT/ 1:10 a.m. Nepal Time
Our group has continued to evaluate the weather and has now decided to postpone their summit attempt until tomorrow. Spirits remain high and everyone is hoping that the weather looks better tomorrow.
10:15 a.m. PDT/ 11:00 p.m. Nepal Time
We just heard from our team at Camp Four. They have been watching the weather and have decided to hold tight for a little while and hope for clearer skies. We will let you know when they depart Camp Four.
6:10 a.m.PDT/ 6:55 p.m. Nepal Time
A quick update from Mark Tucker at Basecamp says that the summit team is currently at Camp 4. Everyone is doing well. They have had dinner and hot drinks and are heading for their tents for some sleep before they begin their summit attempt.
We wish them good luck!
Michael Brown at South Col
Michael on the choice to stay
Via radio to Basecamp
All is well here on Mount Everest. We have one summit team that is at Camp Three today and another team remaining at Camp Two for an extra rest day. The weather continues to improve and our plan is for everyone to move up one camp tomorrow.
There were many more climbers on the summit today and several teams are in place to make their summit bid tomorrow.
Everyone is doing well and we are excited to be continuing our move uphill tomorrow.
Keep us in your thoughts, wish us well.
Leif Whittaker from Camp 3
Via radio from Camp 2
Hey this is Seth checking-in from Advanced Basecamp (ABC) on Mt Everest with our summit folks.
The whole team is here just settling in for dinner. Everyone is doing great. (Cheers in background)
Tomorrow we plan on tackling the first part of the Lhotse face and spending the night at Camp 3. The weather forecast has been in and out but the last one shows some improvement. So we will plan to leave tomorrow morning in the dark, after one night at Camp 3 we will move up to the South Col and then finally the summit.
On a final note we want to wish our Basecamp Manager, Mark Tucker, a Happy Birthday! (Cheers in the background). Happy Birthday Tuck!
That is it from Advanced Basecamp.
Via radio from Camp 2
Some snow in the night but it didn't present much of an obstacle to us. Our entire team was up at 3:00 a.m. and walking at around 4:00. We went through the icefall in good time. Casey's group stayed at Camp 1 as planned. Our half of the team went to Camp 2 arriving just after 10:00 a.m. We are excited to be here again, there is a lot of electricity in the air now.
We watched many climbers going to Camp 3 today, and they had to fight through very strong winds. The jet stream is obviously over Mount Everest right now. To our knowledge nobody is at the South Col in position for a summit bid at this moment. It seems as if every team on the mountain is poised for the summit in the next 3 to 4 days.
We are still very interested in the path the storm Laila takes, but our forecast has given us encouragement that it is not headed directly towards us. Tomorrow both teams will be at Camp 2 and hope it will be our last rest day of the trip.
Leif Whittaker at Camp 2
Mark Tucker reporting from Basecamp.
4:15 am - On the move!
Woke up to a blanket of white.
A few inches of fresh snow last night but not snowing now, and brightness starting to shine on the upper reaches of surrounding mountains. The team had a smooth departure from base camp minutes ago. All members were looking good and in high spirits (most took a shower yesterday so even their fragrance was not so bad ) Just a couple other headlamps in the icefall this morning, so no traffic jams for our boys. YEE HA!!
Mark Tucker reporting from Basecamp.
Here listening to one of our neighbors celebrating the arrival of their team after a successful summit. What a relief for them after so much time and effort on the mountain. RMI's time will come. We continue gathering all pertinent information about the upper mountain to help us have a smooth summit push. Team members are putting the final touches on gear and charging their internal batteries with care. Part of that recharge was the Ultimate Horseshoe Competition at Basecamp. Final competitors: Scott Jones, Rob Suero, Tsering Sherpa and me.
The departure date from Basecamp for the summit push is set.
Stay tuned.
Taking advantage of a short weather window, a little over 80 people went for the summit today. News is still coming down from high on the mountain and things are sounding uneventful, which is a good thing!
For us RMI climbers, we had several meetings today with Guides, climbers and Sherpas and decided that our time has come as well. We are planning to let a short window of weather pass and will start our final push up the mountain within the next several days weather permitting.
The team is rested and excited at having known dates for our summit push and everyone is making their final preparations. Meanwhile, we will continue to listen, watch the weather and fine tune our dates as they get closer. Stay tuned for our upcoming summit launch!
Hello again everyone,
Things are still going well here at Base Camp. After breakfast most of the climbers went on a hike to keep the blood flowing. We have had enough rest to get us ready for our summit push, now all we have to do is wait for the right weather pattern to show up. Still looks like it will be a few more days though. It's ironic that one of the hardest parts to climbing big mountains is figuring out how to stay relaxed while you wait. If the forecast holds the group should be headed uphill in a week or less.
In the meantime we'll try to keep ourselves busy with the usual, card games, movies, horseshoes, and laying around in our tents.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
The team continues to wait for good weather before beginning our summit push. Right now our forecast is pointing towards a possible window some time in the May 23rd to 27th range. It's about what we expected when beginning our trip and so far our forecaster has been pretty much right on.
Today there is a lull in the winds up high and a few teams are possibly going for the summit today. We wish them the best of luck.
It's a tricky game judging the best window for the summit. Right now the Jet Stream is split to the north and south of the region. That doesn't mean that the summit conditions will be ideal but a small, fast team may be able to get to the summit. The better bet for us is to wait for more stable conditions to greater ensure that we can summit safely.
So for now we're still in a holding pattern. But we've got plenty of good food and we're enjoying our time here at Basecamp before we head back up the mountain.
We've now recovered from the last round up high. Most coughs are gone and the sunburns have faded. We are each getting stronger now and ready to get on with the climb to the summit. But of course, the weather isn't quite stable enough yet for that last climb. Jet stream winds continue to scour the upper mountain. Basecamp has been uncharacteristically breezy and cool for the past few days, although not unpleasant. There is hope for a break in the winds in a week or so, which... as it turns out... coincides with the dates we've always assumed would work best for our team anyway. A few teams are reportedly up at Camp III now and set on finding a lull in these next few days. We wish them luck and salute their boldness... but we don't envy them. The mountain is tougher in tough conditions. Our team is passing the time with hikes, card games, chess, horseshoes and fine dining.
Last night we were honored to have Apa Sherpa join us for dinner. Apa will be trying for his record 20th summit of Mount Everest as we go for ours and is a great hero and friend.
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