Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Mark Tucker here at Basecamp in my down pants because it is a cold one tonight. Yesterday was very windy at base and likewise up at Camp Two. We have minimal staff at Camp Two and to lose tents and equipment up there, could be a big set back for the expedition. Lucky for us the report from above is that all is well. Over the years through trial and error, we have come up with a standard of equipment that will stand up to the extreme conditions higher up the mountain (most of the time). Right now wind is not our friend. With the team finished with its rotations up high, and getting toward the end of this rest cycle, its time to go for the summit! We wish. Unfortunately the jet stream is parked over or near enough to Everest that the thought is to wait a few more days before heading uphill. We are looking at weather forecasting models that help us make a smart decision when factoring all the relevant concerns to come up with the greatest chance of a safe and successful summit.
We really love it here, but you can only have so much of a good thing. As soon as possible we will get it done and start our journey back to the home land.
Today the entire team took another rest day. Although the skies were clear and sunny, the winds were blowing quite high, rattling our tents pretty hard all day. We spent our day watching movies, playing cards and catching up on life outside of Everest Basecamp.
Hello again everyone,
All is well here at Base Camp! Not much new today. The team spent the morning relaxing at breakfast and listening to the BBC, our only current news source. After breakfast most of the members took their weekly showers (thankfully) and did a little laundry too.
Our plan is to rest as much as we can as we wait for the weather window to arrive. Currently looks like it won't be here until next week sometime. That works out perfectly for us as we have plenty of resting to do. A big thanks to Dave Hahn (Expedition Leader) for setting the schedule just right. Now we can just relax for the week. If we had rushed our acclimatization program we would be getting anxious like some teams seem to be. Lucky for us!
Meanwhile we will be hanging out enjoying the nightly dinner surprises that Mark Tucker (Expedition Coordinator) creates for us. Last night we had burritos and an amazing cake. Who knows what tonight might bring!
Hope all is well back home.
Hi this is Seth at Everest Basecamp. The entire group is down at Basecamp now after a successful final rotation on the upper mountain. Everyone is happy and healthy as we begin our resting phase. We are fortunate that everyone has made it through the acclimatization rounds without suffering any illness. The cycles we go through up high are meant to stress our bodies so that we adapt to the extreme altitude, but the trick is not to stress yourself too much and become ill.
We've made it through the prep and our next step is to recover from this latest effort and then to begin the summit push. We must be patient and wait for the weather to shape up. I find that to be one of the hardest parts, mentally, of climbing here. There's always the temptation to push for the summit when your body is ready, but maybe too soon for the weather. Everest's height, 29,038 ft, is such that it sticks up into the Jet Stream. It's actually just a few thousand feet shy of the cruising altitude of a trans-continental airliner. The winds at that altitude can exceed a steady 160 mph when the Jet is over the mountain. We'll be waiting in Basecamp until we get a favorable forecast that tells us that the winds will be managable enough for a summit attempt.
When will that be? Well, that's the big question. As for now the winds are forecasted to be high for the next several days. But that's ok. We have a great setup here. There is plenty of food and plenty of things to do to keep us occupied so we don't waste precious energy stressing about weather forecasts. Our current diversion of choice is hosting inter-expedition card games. 'Texas Hold-em' is our game of choice and of course the RMI crew tends to dominate the winnings. The games are fun but most of us are already chomping at the bit to get back to the climb. We'll be sure to be rested, healthy and mentally charged up when the opportunity to go back up the mountain arrives. Until then we'll be doing our best to lighten the loads of the other climbers by taking some of their money.
Our acclimatization and preparation are nearly finished. True to the forecasts, the jet stream is back in the Everest region. We could hear it roaring against the high summits last night from our advanced basecamp. There was some worry for Chad, Casey, Rob and Scott up at Camp Three on the Lhotse Face, but they called in at 5 AM to say that the night had been tolerable, with just occasional strong gusts playing through. Michael, Leif and myself left ABC for BC just as the Camp Three team began descending toward ABC. Spindrift avalanches fell continually off of Nuptse as we made our way down the Western Cwm. The Khumbu Icefall offered its normal challenges, except that there were hardly any people to pass or wait for at the ladder crossings. Like ABC and BC, the Icefall was deserted. Most Sherpa teams are resting or down-valley, most western climbers are taking it easy elsewhere and waiting for a "weather window". It was good for us to rejoin Mark Tucker and Seth Waterfall at Basecamp and to be back to Kumar's fine cooking. Our Sherpa team finished their carries to the South Col today, all will be in Basecamp as of tomorrow. We'll rest up, wash up, fatten up and begin looking at weather forecasts.
The final team is at Camp Three for the night. Just got off the radio with them and all is well. With great weather, all members... getten er dun!
While the vast majority of the teams here have now finished with their acclimatization runs, RMI is wrapping it up in the next couple of days with great conditions and no crowds on the ropes. Our group has been working to support all waves in a very calculated way. This type of approach has proven itself time and again. In this extreme environment there is not much room for error. Here at Basecamp (17,500 ft) life is no picnic in itself, let alone these guys at 23,000 ft camped on an ice ledge with a couple of thousand feet of steep ice pulling at them from below. It's comforting to know our guys are some of the best in the business.
Some of the other teams are going way down valley where things like trees grow. Man, do I miss the color green. Unless someone is a bit sick we will probably stay at Basecamp and rest here before the summit push. There are many different approaches about what to do at this pivotal point in the expedition, it's tough to second guess what is the right decision for each individual. Many an hour has been spent on this debate. In the end you make the call and hope for the best.
Chad Peele reporting from 21,000 ft
Casey, Scott, Rob and I moved up from Basecamp yesterday. We woke to clear skies here at Camp Two. After a nice breakfast we walked up to the base of the Lhotse face for exercise. We are preparing to climb up to Camp Three on the face tomorrow and spend the night, weather permitting.
At Basecamp today, Tuck and some of the RMI Basecamp cook staff, along with a group from the HimEx team, helped build a second heli pad.
Word on the street is that four more people stood on top of the world at 6:00 am today.
This is Casey and team checking in from ABC, Camp Two.
Today the team awoke early, had a quick breakfast and headed out the door at 4:00 am. The team did a great job climbing all the way through the icefall, past Camp One, and arrived safely at Camp Two. The weather was quite nice today with all the members feeling good and in high spirits. Our goal for this rotation is for all the climbers to reach and possibly sleep at Camp Three. If weather continues to cooperate the first wave will push up to Camp Three tomorrow.
This is Seth checking in from Advanced Base Camp (Camp Two/ABC).
Today and tomorrow the teams will start their third and final rotation for acclimatization. If all goes well with the weather, tomorrow all teams will be at ABC getting ready for a climb up to Camp Three with hopes of spending one night there. We have been receiving several inches of snow over the past three days and conditions on the upper mountain have improved, infact today marks the first summit of 2010 from the South Side of Mount Everest! Nine people on top from three different teams.
The day began under grey and overcast skies, as opposed to the pattern we've all come to accept of sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons. Nothing much has come of those grey skies, so far, and in fact, Kaji Sherpa made a carry to the South Col at close to 8000 meters and reported calm and easy weather conditions. We expect Sherpas from several of our neighboring teams to fix rope from the Col to the summit in the next few days if the weather stays calm, which would be a huge benefit to all teams, naturally. We have just started to focus intently on our daily weather forecasts since we'll now be poking our noses up to heights where it all matters. Other than Kaji, the rest of the climbing team took it easy in basecamp, playing cards and horseshoes and packing for the coming rotation up the mountain. We've all been amazed, fortified... and simply stuffed by Kumar's culinary wizardry in the basecamp kitchen.
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