5/04/07 -28 c, 20 knots south, cloudy to partly cloudy

5/03/07 Snow, 25 knots east, - 28 C

5/02/07 25 knots at west, -29 C, some snow showers

5/01/07 Few high clouds, 40 knots from west, -29C

4/30/07 40 knots west, cloudy, -28 C

4/29/07 -28 C, 55 knots west, some snow showers

4/28/07 Winds 70 from NW, a few clouds, -31C

4/27/07 6 knots from SW, snow showers, -30C

4/26/07 60 knots from west, some snow showers, -25C

4/25/07 Snow showers, 60 knots west, and -27C

4/24/07 60 knots from west (stronger gusts at times) -27C, some snow showers

4/24/07 60 knots from west (stronger gusts at times) -27C, some snow showers

4/23/07 Snow, winds 40 to 50 knots from SW, -31C.

4/22/07 40 knots west, partly cloudy, -30 C.

4/21/07 30 knots from SW, some clouds, -30 C.

4/20/07 30 knots from west, - 30C. Some snow showers

4/19/07 25 knots SW, and -32C. Snow

4/18/07 25 knots NW, -33 C. Snow

4/17/07 25 knots from west, -31C. with snow

4/16/07 25 knots NW, -33C. Snow at times

4/13/07 30 knots NW, -32 C. Snow

4/12/07 20 to 30 knot from NW, -33 C. Some snow showers

4/11/07 30 knots from N to NW , -32 C. Some snow showers

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Dispatch AAI - April 24 - BC
Dear friends, family and loved ones,
It was a brutal rest day. Our challenges were many and our pleasures were few. It all started with seeing who could stay in bed the longest however once the sun hit the tents the heat was unbearable and we were forced out. A demanding four course breakfast was followed by either yoga or an acclimatization trek to the base camp bakery. Then there was the quandary of deciding whether to shower, answer emails or suffer though a session of massage therapy. Deepak (our cook) insisted that we eat sushi for lunch. That was almost enough to sustain us through the ordeals of the afternoon which included cards, walking the slack line, washing clothes and reading. In the evening had to partake of John’s powerpoint presentation of several expeditions. All said and done, it was so exhausting, we barely made it back to our sleeping bags before nine….what a day!

Weather has fallen into a familiar pattern with clear warm mornings and snowy afternoons. Team members are now sleeping well after the challenges of camp one and two. Though we have had some sore throats we have missed (so far) the major cold outbreak that has run though base camp. Stay tuned.

All the best,
Vern

Dispatch AAI - April 23 - BC
Ahh… back in the land of amenities. The whole team is back in BC after a successful trip up into the Western Cwm. We spent a couple of nights in CI and a couple of nights in CII with varying degrees of sleep quality and quantity. Despite some sleeplessness (is that a word?) and a couple of headaches everyone was excited by the enormity of the environment.

Yesterday we took a walk half way from CII to the base of the Lhotse face. Everybody’s legs felt like lead as we made our way above 21,000’ for the first time on the climb… the next time our legs will still feel like lead but perhaps half the weight. It is a bit sobering.

Our Sherpa staff have been nearly running up and down from BC to CII over the past couple days and are on their last 2 days of carrying oxygen bottles. Later they’ll have a few days of moving those bottles from CII to the South Col. It’s a remarkable feat and as per usual the climbers are shocked at their strength. The trip down to BC from CII was pleasantly uneventful as the whole team climbed safely despite being a bit fatigued from the first acclimatization journey. The shower was quite popular despite the dusting of snow throughout the afternoon.

The next few days will be spent doing laundry, catching up on reading and will include plenty of poker games with Firat our Texas hold ‘em ringleader. If they haven’t already I’m sure the climbers will be sending emails to all their friends and family.

We’ll be in touch over the next few relaxing days!

All the best,
Dave

Dispatch IMG - Acclimating at Camps 1 and 2 - April 21, 2007
Ang Jangbu and Mark Tucker report from BC that the IMG team members are continuing their acclimatization runs to Camp 1 and Camp 2, and several have now tried out the route on the lower Lhotse Face. The IMG Camp 3 climbers have now returned to Base Camp. Congratulations to them on their "summit" on the Lhotse Face! This is steep and icy, and you look directly up at the summit of Everest, 7000 feet above... very spectacular climbing!
Meanwhile, the IMG Sherpas continue to build our Camp 3, and Mingma Tenzing and Nima Karma fixed another 200 meters of rope above Camp 3, as the route gets pushed towards the Col. Seventeen loads of food went to Camp 2 yesterday, in preparation of the increased occupation of that camp by the climbers and Sherpas, as the "action" starts to move higher on the mountain!

Dispatch AAI April 21 - From Camp 1 to Camp 2
Today we moved from Camp 1 to Camp 2. It took us about 5 hours. It was very hot. The second half of the day was VERY hot. We covered every speck of skin we had to keep out of the sun, and we practiced the rest step. The route from Camp 1 to Camp 2 was very straight forward. It was one of the easier days on the mountain. There are very few ladders this year, so very little objective danger. Everybody is doing well clipping in and out of protection, walking across ladders, and dealing with the sun. Everyone is here at Camp 2 now, at our lovely Advanced Base Camp on the top of the hill. We’re having soup and snacks. James is very sad to find out that his scrabble word “squids” is not allowable. But he’s doing ok with that. So it’s off to dinner we go.

This is Amy Bullard signing off until tomorrow.

Dispatch IMG - Camp 3 - April 18, 2007
IMG Leader Mark Tucker reports that our Sherpas finished fixing the route to Camp 3, established the IMG camp, dug out some platforms, and carried some equipment to begin supply C3.

Camp 3 is a very uncomfortable and unpleasant camp — with spindrift commonly sweeping down the Lhotse Face from above and piling up over the tents. Now that the site is established, there is still a lot of chopping and digging necessary to excavate additional tent platforms. These tents will be used by the climbers and the personal sherpas on the next acclimatization rotation, and on the summit bids for an overnight en route to Camp 4 (South Col). The Sherpas generally skip Camp 3 when they go to the Col — they will not stay there if they can avoid it!

Mike, Casey, and the C2/C3 crew spent the night at C1 and went partway to C2 for acclimatization, then back to C1. They hope to move to C2 tomorrow.

Dispatch AAI - April 18 - BC
Namaste from Everest BC. It's the night before we head up for our first acclimatization trip. There's a bit of snow falling and everyone is heading off to bed. The past couple of days we've been playing in the ice pinnacles getting our gear dialed and our skills sharpened.

Yesterday a couple of us headed up to the top of the icefall to check out the route and see how the icefall is faring so far. It is a bit more broken up this season than in the past few making a bit more circuitous route. The rest of the team headed up the icefall a couple of hundred feet to the second ladder.

The team is psyched about the chance to get up higher tomorrow. We'll spend 2 nights at CI and 2 nights at CII if things go as planned. We are all looking forward to seeing how the Sherpa have done setting up our camps. But most importantly everyone is excited to see the Western Cwm and the first views of the SW face of Everest as well as Lhotse and Nuptse.

We'll be in touch from the Western Cwm!

All the best,
Dave

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