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 Home > South Col Dispatch Index > May 29 Dispatch

A Very Emotional Parting
Base Camp- May 29, 2002

Prittie
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Good morning to everyone out there once again in cyberland, this is Willi Prittie reporting from the Alpine Ascents International 2002 Everest climb, reporting from Base Camp.

Hi. As you all know, things are winding down on the expedition now, a very successful and, more importantly, safe summit climb here on Mount Everest. Virtually all the expedition members have actually left Base Camp today. Many of them are doing a .... to this point...and trying to take a helicopter reaching back to Kathmandu first thing tomorrow morning.

"...number one, everyone comes back and number two, everybody comes back with all their parts attached and fully functional, and number three, everybody comes back friends, because life's too short for anything else..."
A few others are actually walking out, toward Namche and back to Lukla before getting back to Kathmandu in.... So it's just Ellie and I and our Sherpa staff here at Base Camp packing things up and closing things down at this point. It's actually a very comfortable feeling of peace and happiness in here listening to the glaciers rumble and the Khumbu Icefall drop blocks...things snap and pop....

Now we all have to do is an easy walk back to... a decrease in elevation and home. We had a great trip, everybody is, I think, very pleased. We had a very good...ceremony here at Base Camp last night. And as far as that ceremony, I offered my traditional toast to a successful climb and expedition, which I firmly believe this qualifies in every possible regard.

But my goals are always number one, everyone comes back and number two, everybody comes back with all their parts attached and fully functional, and number three, everybody comes back friends, because life's too short for anything else.

So with that in mind, we had a very emotional parting this morning, and then everybody started off down valley, the folks ...the day-long walk to Pheriche and also the helicopter...

And there will probably be a few more dispatches coming in as to how things progress... the helicopters come in and ....reporting from Kathmandu as well when we get back.

So that's all for this day, here in Base, the 29th of May, Wednesday, and we'll be shutting down the Base Camp comm (communications tent) today, packing everything up, so any other dispatches will come from people on the way out. So long for now.

— Willi Prittie, Alpine Ascents International Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent

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