Hello MountainZone, this is Alpine Ascents Ama Dablam 2002 Expedition, Jim Williams reporting. The group got up early this morning, which is Saturday, November 22nd (sic), I believe. We went to the Saturday market in Namche, and packed all the loads, bought all the last second food supplies, fresh carrots, fresh cabbage, fresh potatoes, fresh apples, oranges, everything. And at 10 o'clock this morning, everybody in good spirits, good health, we left Namche, the lodge where we were staying, said goodbye, got presented with a kata for good luck and off they went about 10 o'clock.

Our plan today is to walk from Namche to Putitanga for lunch, and after lunch we will walk up to Thyangboche. If the Lama is present we will have a blessing from the Thyangboche Lama. If he is not, then we will just visit the monastery and then keep going to Pangboche.

We will be in Pangboche tonight, which is the village right at the base of Ama Dablam. This village has the oldest monastery in the Khumbu in it, and it has a spectacular view of Ama Dablam. From here, we go to Base Camp. It's about a three hour walk. We'll probably do that tomorrow, if everybody's feeling well. We'll take a day hike to Base Camp, and then we'll come back down and spend two nights in Pangboche. And while all of our gear goes on to Base Camp, and gets set up with the cook and sherpas get camp set for us, and the following day, on Monday, we will move up to Base Camp.

So that's about it. Everything's been spectacular. We have another glorious day, not a cloud in the sky. Temperature is about 55 degrees. Slight breeze, as you can hear in this transmission. But other than that, things are wonderful.

We had this morning porridge, eggs, hash browns, fried potatoes, coffee, tea, hot chocolate. We had a good breakfast this morning and a nice start to the day. We'll talk to you later. Maybe the next broadcast will be given to you by Dave Morton. We'll see. Take care. Bye.

— Jim Williams, Alpine Ascents International Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent