Mencin

Climbers in the rubble of the icefall [click to zoom] (photo: Wilson)

The weather was excellent today with temperatures in a closed tent reaching 90°F! No wind in either base camp or at Camp II (21,000'). Eric, Wally, Greg, and Charles spent the day at Camp II acclimating. The new radio base station was installed at Camp II. Charles collected rock samples to send down from the Everest side moraine in the Cwm. Too bad — no gold. Tomorrow Greg and Eric will return to base camp. While Charles will stay one more night and Wally possibly two.

The route to Camp III should be fixed by tomorrow, and the first loads to Camp III should go up the day after tomorrow. Back down in base camp, two new Swiss teams arrived to climb Lhotse and Everest, bringing the total number of teams in base camp to nearly a dozen.

Mencin and Dawa with the GPS gear [click to zoom]

The American Environmental Expedition team continues to be in good health, and with luck, will ascend to Camp III early next week.

In order to do something interesting, check out the gear, and get our sherpas familiar with the GPS equipment, Dawa and I are mapping the movement of the icefall. In a few days, you can expect some numbers on how fast this puppy moves. We found all kinds of interesting stuff off the route from old climbing gear to helicopter parts. Early in the morning, we had to help out with a non-life threatening Swiss helicopter evac.

— David Mencin, Expedition Scientist

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