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 Home > South Col Dispatch Index > April 18 English Dispatch

Tour of the Mountain
Base Camp - Saturday, April 20, 2002

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Henke
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Hello [Spanish speaking] friends. Namaste and greetings from Everest Base Camp. I'm Ellie Henke, Base Camp manager, and I'll be sending the latest expedition news during the time when the team is up on the mountain. (Sorry that this computer doesn't have all the spanish accents; also, excuse my language errors.)

Yesterday (19 April) the team left Base Camp in two groups for the Khumbu Icefall, and finally, for Camp I. The first group of Vernon, Willi, Al, and Joe got up at 3:00 in the morning, and after a breakfast of fried eggs and pancakes, left Base Camp at about 4:30. And yes, it was fairly dark at that time of the morning, but there were no clouds and the stars were impressive and beautiful. Before leaving Base Camp, everyone passes by the location of the puja (prayers and blessing of the expedition), where they offer other prayers, burn a little juniper (which offers a nice odor to the gods), and throw rice three times.

The second group of Luis, Jose Luis, Mike, Cleve, Karl, Jeff, and Arnold woke up a little later at 5:00 and left Base Camp at about 6:30, with more light than the first group had. We were thinking that the first group would climb a little more slowly than the second group, and that the second group would catch up with the first group somewhere on the route, but it didn't happen. The first group arrived at Camp I in about eight hours and the second group arrived over an hour later.

When they climb through the Icefall, everyone uses fixed lines for safety. With fixed lines all the climbers are separated, and if there is a serac or other ice fall they are not attached to other people and can leave the dangerous area quickly. Also the climbers are directly attached to the fixed lines so the fixed line will catch them if they fall.

Well, I spoke with the guides last night (19 April) and again this morning(20 April) and they say that all the climbers arrived at Camp I a little tired but in good health, with very little headaches or nausea - thanks to a good plan with a lot of time to acclimatize. Last night was very cold in this 5900-meter camp, but everyone was happy in their tents and down sleeping bags.

Today (20 April) the plan is for a hike a little higher in the Western Cwm and another night at Camp I. Tomorrow they will move to Camp II at 6400 meters, where they will spend two nights before returning to Base Camp again. After this "tour" of the mountain they will all be much better acclimatized.

Thank you for following along; we will be sending more news as we get it from the mountain.

Ellie Henke, Alpine Ascents International Base Camp Manager and MountainZone.com Correspondent

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