Hello MountainZone, this is Alpine Ascents International Ama Dablam 2002 Expedition, Jim Williams reporting. This is a call from Pangboche village in the Khumbu region. Have a little bit of clouds this morning. We had a beautiful sunrise with pink (lithe?) clouds, a little bit breezy and slightly overcast.

This morning, after breakfast, we all went up to the monastery in Pangboche, and had a small prayer reading in the prayer hall. Now it's about 10 o'clock and we're going to head back to, or head up to Base Camp. Yesterday we took all the gear to Base Camp and Kopal and Kami and Lopsam the kitchen boys stayed there overnight to get camp set up, and we plan to walk up to Base Camp today and get ourselves situated, make ourselves at home and get ready to go climbing in the next couple of days.

We have a whole group of people here who'd like to say something, and we'll talk to you tomorrow. Here you go, here's Randy Luskey again:

(Randy): Hello, it's Randy Luskey. I wanted to say hello to all the teachers and the children at the Denver Washington Park Montessori School. We're all having a good time over here in Nepal. And as Jim said, it's starting to get colder. But we're having a great time enjoying the local culture here, visiting the monastery and (unintelligible). So I hope all's well back in Denver, and I'll pass you on to Houck.

(Houck): Hi, this is Houck, and I just wanted to say hi to all the family and friends at home who are following us along. We're having a great time here. This trek up through the Khumbu to Pangboche has been incredible, different monasteries and the different people, the Sherpa people, it's just been fantastic. We're all really looking forward though to getting up to Base Camp and really getting on the mountain, and starting climbing. I think tomorrow is going to be our first day of actual climbing above Base Camp, carrying loads and just from there moving up the mountain. It's an absolutely spectacular mountain and we're just looking forward to getting some climbing. So I'll pass it on to Don now.

(Don): Hello everyone at home, this is Don. We're just very anxious to get on the mountain and start moving up, but we've had a great trip so far. Everyone's staying healthy, and hope everything is well at home, and look forward to seeing you soon.

(Jim): Ok, MountainZone, that's all the folks standing around, to say hello to the folks back home. We'll be up for Thanksgiving, we'll have a nice dinner sometime in there after we've made load carries. So our plan over the next few days will be spending the night, at least the next three nights, at Base Camp, which is about 4500 meters. So those with your calculator can figure it out...use 3.28, and you'll do quite well. Ok, take care and we'll talk to you tomorrow. Alpine Ascents, over and out.

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