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 Home > South Col Dispatches Index > April 24 Dispatch

Views Above Camp I
Base Camp - Thursday, April 24, 2003

Prittie
Prittie
DISPATCHES

Everest 2003 Dispatch Photo
Base Camp
Easter

Greetings everyone out there, this is Willi Prittie reporting from Everest Base Camp. Firstly, I am still at Base Camp after starting up for Camp I again this morning at 4.30am, but we turned back. Bob Murphy decided he would withdraw from the expedition. He feels he gave it his best shot, but wasn't strong enough. The entire team is saddened by his withdrawal as Bob has been a very fun person and a truly wonderful human being. We all, however, greatly respect his decision.

At Base Camp today, a beautiful, flawless blue sky gave way to clouds and snow, and the largest rime I personally have ever seen. A rime is a little Styrofoam-like pellet which results when a snowflake falls through a cloud with a great deal of super cooled water vapor, and it's heavily lined. These things were three-quarters of an inch in diameter. I've never seen anything like it anyplace in the world.

Other news from Camp I, Vernon Tejas reports to all cybernauts out there that the team's pull through the Icefall yesterday was completed in a very timely fashion. All of us are always in awe of the forms in the Icefall, nature's otherworldly, beautiful ice sculptures. The fantastic spires and towers which we call seracs, and the icy blue depths of cracks which we call crevasses.




Arriving at Camp I, they report as arriving at a tent city at almost 20,000 feet on the glacier. The multicolored, international collection of tents apparently spread out for almost a kilometer along the trail of the snow-covered upper Khumbu Glacier.

Today, Camp I reported a clear, calm, cold dawn, followed by a walk partway up the steep-walled, high, protected ice valley known as the Western Cwm (pronounced 'koom'). This "walk," of course, involved lots of continued clanking of ice axes, crampons, and mechanical ascenders amidst the huge crevasses and icefalls the Western Cwm is famous for. As they progressed upward, Nuptse and Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world, dominated their view.

Finally Chomolungma, or Everest itself, made its appearance from behind the west shoulder, dominating all. The climbing sun turns this ice valley into a solar oven on clear calm days like this one. So the team took a rest break to cool off and enjoy the views–the views of Camp II, Camp III, the South Col, and the summit, which we all hope is our destination in the next month of this expedition.

Stay tuned for more from Chomolungma!

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

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