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Avoiding Risks
Base Camp - Friday, April 28, 2000

DISPATCHES

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Editor's Note: The following story was emailed today from Everest Base Camp by Dan Morrison, Quokka Sports/MountainZone.com correspondent.

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Simone Moro was scheduled to go high today, but when I arrived at Moro's tent, which is just about as far from our camp as you can be and still be in Base Camp, he was talking to his father on his satellite phone. Afterwards, Moro laughs and tells me, "My father used to be a bicycle champion. So he often pushes me harder than anyone else. Just now he was asking me why I wasn't already up at the South Col." Moro laughs again. "The plan of today," Moro tells me, "was to go to Camp III and then to go to the South Col. No?

"We left here yesterday morning, and in five hours we were in Camp II. We slept there. And the plan was to start in the early morning to Camp III. Sleeping there, because we already slept there one night, so that would be the second night, then to go to the South Col to put up our tent there. And all our acclimatization program should be finished.

"But we are in the wilderness, in nature. And we made a mistake.

"This morning, early, it was windy. So we decided to wait one or two hours in the camp. And when we started, we saw all the Sherpa coming down. Because the Sherpa plans were to go directly from Camp II to the South Col and leave the equipment and come down.

"And we met them on the fixed ropes on Camp III. And they told us, 'No, no. It is better to go down. It is too risky. Probably the wind can break your tents.'

"And so, to avoid any stupid risk, we came down. Also because the Russian team that spent the night in Camp III, came down. And when they met us they said, 'Don't go to Camp III, because the weather report says for the next two or three days the weather will be windy. If you stay at Camp III you will waste food and gas.' And we don't have Sherpas so we would have to do another carry to resupply Camp III.

"So for that reason we came down.

"Now I want to go down, like Anatoli taught me, to go down, 4,000 or 3,500 feet for three or four days. Because the sensation between me and Denis is, we feel strong, we go quickly, quicker than Sherpa. But our legs, we lose power. We haven't had any meat in a long time.

"So we will go down to Dingboche, we will stay in Dingboche for three or four days, and we will eat meat every moment. And then we will come back here again.

"And hopefully we will finish."

— Dan Morrison, Quokka Sports/MountainZone.com Everest Correspondent

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