Expedition Diary #9
May 6, 2002

Base Camp, Mount Everest

As I mentioned in my last update, several climbers were trapped at Camps II & III and that it was not clear how many days they may have to wait before descending. As it turns out, the storm raged another 2-days before letting up and the result was disastrous. Peter Legate, the fellow who I trekked in from Lukla and climbed Island Peak with, fell to his death on his descent from Camp III at about 7 AM on April 30th. After two rough nights, he apparently mis-clipped the fixed lines and tumbled more then 1000 feet down the Lhotse Face. His body was found deep in a crevasse just below the serac at the base of the face. Do to the condition of the body and it's location, it was decided to leave it in place on the mountain. Peter was a true gentleman and the loss was personally devastating to me. We had spent 6-weeks together - mostly one on one - and I had great respect for him.

I had also mentioned in the last update that I sustained minor frostbite on both thumbs and 5-fingers. It turns out that it is not as minor as I first thought. It's actually level 3 frostbite and I have completed some aggressive therapy and believe I will be OK for a summit attempt in the near future.

The treatment consisted of descending to a lower altitude, a 3-day course of Ibuprofen, and soaking my hands in warm salty water. The tissue has turned black and is dead, but feeling is coming back and all appears to be healing well. The key is that I must not let them freeze again or I will be in serious trouble.

Believe me, I am going to be very careful. In order to rest and to heal my hands, I dropped down to Deboche (12,500') for 2-days, then hiked back up and spent a day each at Pheriche (14,000') and then Lobuche (16,000'). This was about a 40-mile hike round trip and was well worth the energy. Deboche is located down in a Rhododendron Forest and was a great relief from the cold and sterile environment of Base Camp. I returned to Base Camp on May 5th and feel very good overall regarding my chances of success on this climb. The best guess is that we will summit about mid-May, pending a good long-term weather forecast and other teams summit plans. As mentioned before, the plan will be to go directly from Base Camp to Camp II, then to Camp III. From Camp III we will use Oxygen to the South Col (Camp IV, 26,000 feet), and then on the fourth day we will try to summit (29,030 feet), returning to Base Camp 2-days later.  I hope to send another update just before heading up for the summit bid. Bottom line - I am acclimatized, rested and ready to go.

Today I washed some clothes and tomorrow I hope to take bucket shower. I am still eating like a horse, but suspect I am losing weight since I have no spare tire anymore. Thank you all for your support and prayers. My special thanks to Scott for sending this e-mail out to each of you.

Don't forget that I am not able to receive any e-mail here at base camp. So please do not try to respond to this e-mail. Sorry about that.

My next update will be before our summit attempt - time permitting - from here at Base Camp. If I don't get e-mail to you before the climb, it will follow shortly thereafter.

Until then, my best regards, Randy

Note to Doris: I'll definitely call you before the summit bid.