We arrived up in Base Camp (5,335m) on Tuesday, 21st. Patrick, our old climbing partner from last year's expedition, caught up with us at Lobuche on Monday night and we were able to hike into Base Camp together. We then linked up with Dan and the rest of the Summit Climb group who seem really cool. Alex is the only girl this year. Some of the other teams have been here for almost a month but the bad weather has led to delays with laying some of the new ladders which has meant that the Icefall has only been open for a couple of days. Our forced strategy of a shorter trip has worked out Ok so far. Base Camp is more spread out than last year which gives the impression of being less crowded even though there are actually 39 teams rather than the 31 teams who wanted to climb in 2014. Thats about 360 climbers.
I'm phoning this through from Camp 1 on Pumori, a 7000m peak across the Khumbu valley from Nuptse. Alex, Pat, Sange, our awesome sherpa, and I hiked up here this morning. The views in the sunshine are amazing, with light winds blowing big plumes of snow off Everest. We're looking forward to a quiet afternoon and a rest day tomorrow, training in the Icefall and hanging round Base Camp. We're feeling good, pretty well acclimatised, eating and sleeping well in our new cosy sleeping bags, chilled after hours of cards and watching downloads on the Iplayer. Ready for a bit of climbing...
So the plan is that Friday morning we leave at dawn for the Western Cwm and 2 nights in Camp 1 (6000m), up to Camp 2 (6400m) for 3 nights and then on up for 1 night at Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face (7200m) before coming back to Base Camp for a week. So by the time you guys wake up, we should be crossing the Icefall!
(Photo courtesy of Alan Arnette. Check out his blog on alanarnette.com for more.)
Lets hope the weather holds and there isn't a bottleneck as many of the other teams will have the same idea. And every morning there are 200-300 sherpas ferrying tents, stoves and fuel up the mountain to establish the higher camps - the Ministry of Tourism still hasn't decided whether they will allow helicopters to ferry some of the loads to Camp 3 to reduce the burden and risk to the sherpas.
We're feeling good and excited to be going higher. Follow our progress: http://t.co/zNGl0k19Zs
I'm phoning this through from Camp 1 on Pumori, a 7000m peak across the Khumbu valley from Nuptse. Alex, Pat, Sange, our awesome sherpa, and I hiked up here this morning. The views in the sunshine are amazing, with light winds blowing big plumes of snow off Everest. We're looking forward to a quiet afternoon and a rest day tomorrow, training in the Icefall and hanging round Base Camp. We're feeling good, pretty well acclimatised, eating and sleeping well in our new cosy sleeping bags, chilled after hours of cards and watching downloads on the Iplayer. Ready for a bit of climbing...
So the plan is that Friday morning we leave at dawn for the Western Cwm and 2 nights in Camp 1 (6000m), up to Camp 2 (6400m) for 3 nights and then on up for 1 night at Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face (7200m) before coming back to Base Camp for a week. So by the time you guys wake up, we should be crossing the Icefall!
(Photo courtesy of Alan Arnette. Check out his blog on alanarnette.com for more.)
Lets hope the weather holds and there isn't a bottleneck as many of the other teams will have the same idea. And every morning there are 200-300 sherpas ferrying tents, stoves and fuel up the mountain to establish the higher camps - the Ministry of Tourism still hasn't decided whether they will allow helicopters to ferry some of the loads to Camp 3 to reduce the burden and risk to the sherpas.
We're feeling good and excited to be going higher. Follow our progress: http://t.co/zNGl0k19Zs
Some photos from the trip up. Alex and Sange in front of the Sherpa Museum in Namche opened by Hillary; Alex in the pink; and a yak!
PS - Important Card Update: Alex has rallied at whist and we're now drawn. Sange has introduced Joker and rummy to the mix
PPS - We were interviewed by the Mail on line in Namche: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3042691/Nervous-return-Everest-year-deadly-avalanche.html
PPS - We were interviewed by the Mail on line in Namche: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3042691/Nervous-return-Everest-year-deadly-avalanche.html
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