Expedition Diary #5
April 9, 2002

Base Camp, Mount Everest

First of all, I was able to get over the cold and have only minor coughing so I feel fine. Secondly, the Mayost strike was postponed to the April 24^th to the 27^th so there has been no impact thus far in our expedition. I left Namche Bazaar on Saturday March 30^th with Peter Legate and continued our trek along the Dudh Kosi River and had many magnificent views. It is truly unbelievable just how big these mountains are  incredible. We had planned to be a party of 3 going into base camp, but complications with the permit in Katmandu meant that it would just be Peter an I all the way to base camp. We spent the night at Thyangboche monastery (12,887') and had the opportunity to see a full-blown prayer-scarf blessing ceremony for a National Geographic team that is doing a documentary of the 50-year anniversary of the first climb of Everest. Normally the Lama & Monks do a prayer service twice a day, but this ceremony included horns, cymbals, chanting, milk tea, etc. and it was fantastic. The climbers for this expeditoin include Peter Hillary & Jamling Norgay  both are sons of the first summit team in 1953. Inside the monastery were incredible wall hangings and a 20-foot sculpture of Bhudda.

Leaving Thyangboche on Easter Sunday, we dropped down to Debuche, crossed another wild bridge on the Imja Khola, and then climbed to village of Pangboche where mani stones lined the path. We spent the night here because this is the village where our Sidar and Sherpa team is from. This was a particularly difficult day for me as I constantly had thoughts of home, family & Easter.  Bottom line I was very homesick that entire day. We sorted some gear for base camp and took the rest with us by porter to the traditional Sherpa village of Dingbouche (14,250 feet) with its super views of Lhotse, Island Peak, and Ama Dablam. We took another rest day in Dingbouche and I did a stiff acclimatization hike up Nangkar Tshang (16,728 feet). We left Dingbouche on April 2^nd climbing further up the Imja Khola Valley to the small settlement of Chhukung for another 2-days of rest and aclimitizing during which I climbed Chhukhung Ri (18,208 feet).  Our next stop was Island Peak base camp (16,306 feet) where Sherpa Aung Sering and our porter who was carrying our climbing gear joined us. On the morning of April 6^th at 1:45 AM we left for the summit first climbing over rock and then on difficult glacier to the top of this magnificent peak (20,304 feet). Both Peter and I were amazed at the difficulty of this mountain  we expected a big hike and instead were treated to 5 sets of fixed lines and some of the most exillerating climbing anywhere. We topped out at 8:45 AM and returned to base camp and then on to Chhukhung for the night.

Leaving Chhukhung on the morning of April 7^th, we traversed along farmlands and meadows before continuing up the terminal moraine of the Khumbu Glacier and the village of Lobuche where we spent the night in the new Eco Lodge. Our bill here was more then double that of any previous night and totaled nearly $20.00 for a bed and food. The next day, April 8^th, we skirted along the glacier's edge to Gorak Shep and then on to base camp We arrived at Everest Base Camp (17,500 feet) on the jumbled moraine below the infamous Khumbu Icefall (huge, building sized chunks of broken-up glacial ice). We are now joined by most of our team and the others are due in camps today or tomorrow. Our puja is scheduled for April 14^th and only after that will we be allowed to move up the mountain. After a couple of days or acclimatizing we will work through the ice fall prior to the puja. The weather has been variable and yesterday afternoon it began to snow with an accumulation of 6 inches over night. This morning was sunny and now it is threatening to snow again. The weather should stabilize as time progresses. Here in base camp, the silence is often broken by the sound of avalanches and rock fall.

The biggest problem to date has been with our trip leader. Two years ago he was involved in an incident here at base camp that resulted in a 1-year ban from Nepal. This was suppose to be over this spring and he was cleared for this expedition by the British Ministry. When he arrived in Katmandu the Nepalese Government denied him a place on the permit. It is still not resolved and we are not sure if he will be allowed to join our expedition. In the meantime, we have named an expedition leader and are preparing to climb the mountain.

For those of you who would like to check out a web site that is covering our expedition go to: www.bbc.co.uk/southampton/features and click on Everest 2002. This is Peter Legate web site and looks to be pretty good with frequent updates. Check it out.

One other item: I am not able to receive any e-mails here at base camp. This is because I am not using my own e-mail account, but rather a host account. So please do not try to respond to this e-mail. Sorry about that.

Note to Jeff McMurray: Jeff  I believe we will be able to do a live update in two weeks or so via satellite telephone. In my next update I'll give you the details and work a time that would be the same as our weekly show. My plan is that you will call me from Houston. I'll give you the number next update. My next update will be in about 1-week, again from base camp. In that report, I will be able to give you the names of the team members and our proposed schedule.

Until then, my best regards,
Randy