Off to Nepal, flying across the Pacific right now, on the first leg of our Everest adventure. After months of preparation and training everyone is super excited to be enroute to Everest! It's hard to describe how it feels to be leaving for an Everest climb; overwhelmed with thoughts of so much history, anticipation, time away from home and loved ones....but our goal is definitely worthy! We have a very tight, small, capable team to have a go this spring, and are looking forward to getting high on the hill in some good weather! But of course there are final logistics to attend to first, and a bit of a hike into base camp.

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
March 25th 2002, Kathmandu

It's a perfect day in Kathmandu with good weather! All our bags and our team members have arrived: Jack Gerstein, Bruno Rodi, Jason Rodi and myself. We have been sorting through mountains of equipment, and actually sent 3500 lbs of gear into the Khumbu yesterday with most of the sherpa team. They are a super bunch of guys, lead by Sirdar, Phenden Sherpa. All the Climbing Sherpas have previously either reached the summit of Everest or the South Summit; they are the true heroes of Everest! Andy Broom and Willie Benegas will be leading the other party of our shared permit with their group of 3 also. We’re all excited to get up to the mountains, flying into the Khumbu the day after tomorrow. We plan 12 days trekking from Lukla to base camp to give ourselves lots of time for acclimatization. More soon…

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
March 28th 2002, Namche Bazaar

Just arrived in Namche Bazaar, we’ll spend a couple days acclimatizing. All our food and equipment, almost 2 tons, will go into base camp from here on yaks; we'll follow soon. Been experiencing a lot of afternoon thunderstorm activity every day with a bit of rain. The snow level is currently at 15,000 feet; snowing most the day even in Namche. Off for a hike to the villages of Kundi and Khumjung today. We are all hoping for our first view of the mountain! We plan to trek to Tyangboche tomorrow.

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Our group arrived in Dingboche today. The weather has been ok, but snowing for awhile each afternoon. We plan to stay 3 nights here before moving up so all the team members can acclimatize well. We had a great Puja or blessing ceremony at the Pangboche Monastery yesterday. This is important for both us and the sherpas before going onto the mountain. We will have a much larger Puja at base camp. Several other teams are in the area now; everyone is slowly making their way to base camp for the April/May climbing season.

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 4th 2002, Loboche

We’re in Loboche at 16,000ft., one day away from base camp. We scrambled up a peak behind the lodge here this morning to 17,400ft. Everything is going really good. Our team is jazzed as we are getting closer to the mountain. We have been getting brief glimpses of Everest in the mornings; the afternoons have been cloudy until today which stayed clear. The weather has been cold, with light snow falling every day, but not enough to affect any plans yet. Tomorrow we plan to move into our base camp. We are planning our main Puja, or blessing ceremony in a few days. This is an important event before anyone goes into the icefall. After we arrive in Base Camp we plan 3 days rest and acclimatization before going higher up. We also need the time to sort through 2 tons of gear and prepare loads for the upper mountain. There is a lot to get organized for the next few weeks

I have just received word that the icefall has been fixed by the Sherpas. So looks like as soon as we arrive in BC and have the Puja we can have our first crack at the icefall--always exciting!

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 8th 2002, Everest Base Camp 17,500 ft.

Yahoo! Everyone is in base camp and feeling great! It feels like we have finally started, after a long couple weeks trekking into base camp. I actually have some time to write a bit more about our expedition now.

We just had our Puja (Sherpa blessing ceremony) this morning. This is an essential rite for the Sherpas in preparation for any Everest expedition. The Sherpas believe that to go into the icefall above base camp or to any higher camp is dangerous before the Puja. So most expeditions wait till all members and staff are here to participate. The sun came out of the clouds just in time for our ceremony. The Puja included prayers, dancing, a bit of whiskey, prayer flags, burning juniper and incense all mixed together for a significant yet lighthearted party which lasted 3 to 4 hours. Two other groups also had their Pujas today, so base camp was quite festive.

After the Puja, our team went into the lower section of the icefall this afternoon for some ladder practice and exercise. It is always exciting to check out the route into the Khumbu Icefall for the first time. This is the entrance to the Western Cwm higher on the mountain. All expeditions via the South Col route have to make multiple trips through here to the higher camps. The ice fall is a constantly changing living beast, full of ice towers on the verge of collapse, a series of huge ice steps across hundreds of crevasses and through areas we call popcorn ice, where you can see down through ice debris a hundred feet below and things are just frozen together enough to hold your weight! This is place you want to spend as little time as possible in.

Later...snowing now, several inches have accumulated. So we’re inside our dinning tent with the heaters cranked and about to watch a DVD movie. Dramatic change in the weather today, from hot sun to full snowstorm. As more snow falls, tomorrows plans are changing.

Base camp is actually quite luxurious. We have a full solar power system with a couple backup generators to facilitate a heated dinning tent with 110v light system, satellite phone, computers, DVD player, plus a shower tent and individual tents for all. It is basically our own little village at 17,500 ft. We will be in and out of base camp for the next 2 months, so a comfortable place to hang out in bad weather is critical for the spirits on longer trips like this. Our base camp staff is terrific; we have super cooks. It is quite a social scene at base, with lots of good friends showing up on other expeditions, interesting projects going on, films, trekkers, always something happening!

Our plans call for a slow program of acclimatization on the mountain. First we’ll go up to Camp 1 at about 20,000 ft. for the day, probably April 10th. After this we plan a few days of rest, then back up to sleep at Camp 1 for a couple nights with a hike up to Camp 2. It will take a while for Camp 2 to be ready to stay in. After this second foray up higher we again take a rest at base camp. The next time up, the third trip, we plan to shoot up to Camp 1, then up to Camp 2 for several nights, with a day trip up to Camp 3 followed again by another rest at base camp. Our forth trip to altitude will be direct to Camp 2 for a couple nights; then onto Camp 3 for 2 nights, and then all the way back to base camp for a long rest. The next trip up we should be ready for a go at the top, although to predict that far in the future schedule on Everest is only wishful thinking. As we get closer to May, we will be getting better ideas on when our first shot at the top will be. Stay tuned for more stories of life at 17,500 ft. and above...

Hey to everyone from Jack, Bruno, Jason and Scott!

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 11th, 2002

A great day here at Base Camp. We left early yesterday for our first trip up through the icefall to Camp 1 at around 20,000 ft. It was a long day as Camp 1 is 2500 ft. above base camp with a difficult approach; possibly some of the most difficult sections of the whole climb! This is the section of ladders, teetering ice towers, and steep ice steps. Going through the icefall, we followed the route that the "Ice Doctors" establish for all the teams on the mountain. They do a great job of keeping the route open throughout the season for all teams. Still every day you come to sections that have collapsed over the last 24 hours and a new route has to be set. While up high yesterday, a small part of a serac (huge block of ice) collapsed a couple hundred yards away shaking everything. Definitely scary as you never know if the whole thing will go, including the area you are in! Jack, Jason, and I made it to camp 1; Bruno turned around a bit early and went down with Willie, our partner here from the Alpine 8000 team. After dropping some equipment we turned around and headed back to Base Camp.

Today is a full on rest day at base. A chance to wash clothes, take showers, recharge radios and computers, sort food for the higher camps, update our web site and relax in the sun. We are one of the first teams with members to reach Camp 1. Our Sherpa team established a good spot for what will be Camp 2 at 21,500 ft. So things are starting to roll!

Life here is always busy with friends from other teams stopping in, equipment to check, food to sort, etc. Avalanches go off every 2 to 3 hours from Pumori, Lingtren, Everest, and Nuptse; some are quite large and go off for a long time. So it’s never boring even though we are here for almost 2 months. There are around 12 teams on the mountain now, although it’s not crowded while climbing. There are teams from Iran, France, Switzerland, Korea, and a number of teams from the USA. Most of the commercial trips are from the US.

The weather pattern has been super consistent: perfect clear mornings, hot and sunny mid days, followed by a slow building of cumulus from the south that snows 2 to 6 inches late every afternoon. By noon the next day all the snow is gone.

We are planning 2 days off here, maybe a third, then we’ll move up to Camp 1 for a couple days. Everyone needs the rest after our climb yesterday. Each time up we can move a little quicker as we acclimatize to the higher altitude. Everyone is always fighting their own battle with the thin air and breathing. As we get higher this will be one of the more difficult things we each face. By camp 4 we will be using Oxygen for support.

Thanks for following our expedition. We plan to continue a steady stream of reports from Base Camp with photos from the mountain as we go. We do not unfortunately have a full time base camp person just doing updates, but we should have very consistent reports throughout the season after each foray up.

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc. 

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 12th, 2002

Still at base camp. After a couple solid days of rest, we plan to leave for Camp 1 early tomorrow morning. We’ll spend 2 nights at 20,400 ft., with a climb up to Camp 2 for the day at 21,400 ft. Our whole group is feeling good to go so we’re off. This will be our second shot up higher on the mountain (our first to camp above base) and an important acclimatization trip.

Our Sherpas all carried loads up to Camp 2 today. A big day! The weather was not as nice with a fair bit of wind shaking things up last night, and it was very cold all day. We spent the day packing food, tweaking crampons, rehydrating, and discussing strategy for the upper mountain. There were several big avalanches today, one that came down very close to the route through the icefall.

We will not be able to send any updates till we get back down to base camp on the 15th. Then we should have some good photos from Camp 2 and the Lhotse face from the Western Cwm.

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc. 

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 16th, 2002

Just returned to Basecamp a couple hours ago after 4 days up higher. This was our second trip to Camp 1, our first overnight stay. This is a small camp at 20,000 ft, located at the top of the icefall. It is sort of a staging area for the higher camps. We will only use this camp during the early stages of the expedition as we acclimatize. We should be able to go straight from Basecamp to Camp 2 after our third trip up. Camp 1 is quite comfortable; we have a large 2 meter dome tent and a cook there. We spent the last 3 nights there.

From Camp 1, we made our first acclimatization climbs to Camp 2. The first day Jason, Bruno and I hiked up to Camp 2 and back; Jack was down with a bit of cough and stayed in Camp 1 while we went up for the day. The next day Jack and I did the same hike up to Camp 2, while Jason and Bruno headed down to Base Camp with 4 of our Sherpas. Our Sherpas have been getting camp 2 ready.

The hike up through the Western Cwm to Camp 2 is truly spectacular as we get closer to the huge Lhotse face rising above the Cwm and the dark rock triangle of Everest with large plumes of snow blowing off the summit. This stretch is fairly easy angle, with only a handful of large crevasses and a few ladder crossings. It has been very hot during the day when the sun is out.

It’s still very early in the season; no one has yet been over to the base of the Lhotse face from camp 2. Today several of the leaders of different groups met and we have made plans to share the work of putting in the over 1000 meters of fixed rope it will take to secure the route up to Camp 3 and the South Col. This is the next big step for late April, as Camp 3 and then 4 will need to be established.

On April 19^th we’ll make our next trip up to camp 1, then move up to Camp 2 for 3 or 4 nights. On this trip we plan to go up to camp 3 for the day to see how everyone does on the steep Lhotse Face. Yesterday we could actually see the trail from last year traversing across to the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur below the South Col.

We'll send another update before leaving on our next foray up high. For now we’re enjoying being back at base camp and the comparatively low altitude of 17,500 ft. (It actually feels like low altitude after being higher!) Taking advantage of the luxuries here: showers, time to wash clothes, email and calls home, and just breathing the thicker air! It is quite nice here right now, sunny and hot! More soon...

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc. 

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 18th, 2002

Hanging out at base right now, everyone is recovering from our last trip up high. We are planning to leave tomorrow for our third acclimatization trip. Tomorrow night we’ll be at Camp 1, then the next day move on to Camp 2 for 3 or 4 nights. We are hoping to make a day trip up to Camp 3, climbing the lower part of the Lhotse face. We should be back at base camp on the 23rd or 24th.

12 expedition leaders and high altitude Sirdars (Sherpas) participated in yesterday’s meeting to determine the best way to share the job of fixing ropes to the South Col which all the groups will use. A fair plan was laid out; so starting on the 19th or 20th, the route from Camp 2 to Camp 3 will be going in. When we were last in Camp 2, you could still see some of the route from last year’s traverse above Camp 3 to the Geneva Spur. Of course the ropes up there are probably in bad shape.

Lots of activity at Basecamp while back this round. Several different high altitude tests going, laundry, sorting food, re-setting tents that are always melting out. It’s so warm here that small rivers are forming on top of the ice. Large boulders are sliding around, so care has to be taken to put tents in safe places. Several very large avalanches have come down, one yesterday very close to the lower route through the icefall--always exciting!

Today’s weather is great at Basecamp; although it’s blowing well over 100mph up high right now. A possible front is forecast to come through on the 20th. We’ll see what happens with that. Forecasts are useful, although not something to necessarily plan a schedule around on the lower mountain.

Plan to send another update while up high this time. So off early tomorrow, through the icefall again!

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 23rd, 2002

Spent our 2^nd night at Camp 2 at 21,400 ft. The weather has been fairly stormy with over 1 ft of new snowfall overnight. Lines have been fixed to Camp 3. Although there was too much new snow on the Lhotse face to go up today, we took a short walk near the base.

The whole team is doing well; working hard to acclimatize and feel strong at 21,400 ft. The past few days have been tough; no problems, just a long time spent hanging out, reading, drinking copious amounts of tea to hydrate…The nights are long too, with temps dropping to -10. We usually finish dinner by 7:30 pm, and sunrise comes at 8:20 am; so we are burrowed in our sleeping bags inside frosty tents for almost 13 hours at a stretch. Still we’re quite comfortable in our large dome “home-away-from-home” tent.

Camp 2 is situated in the middle of the Western Cwm. The huge SW face of Everest looms directly behind us, rising 7600 ft straight up to the summit. Nuptse is across from camp, and a narrow notch below camp drops down to the icefall and Base. It’s an incredible place to spend a few days.

Tomorrow we plan to make the trip to Camp 3 for the day. The snow has been stabilizing the last 24 hours, so hopefully there won’t be any additional snowfall tonight as the Lhotse Face is a dangerous place when it loads up with snow. We’ll descend to Basecamp on the 25^th. The forecast is for stormy weather moving in, so we hope to be back in Basecamp to wait it out. Everyone is looking forward to the luxuries of Basecamp and the lower altitude.

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 25th, 2002

We have just returned to Basecamp from Camp 2 this morning. The four members of our group, plus one from Willie’s team, came down for a few days of well deserved R&R. It was a long stay up high, 6 days and 5 nights above Basecamp. Staying up high for a long time slowly wears you down, enduring the long nights, a variety of coughs, and the constant cold. It’s good to be here for a few days.

After the two days of light snow we finally got a break yesterday, so Jack and I left Camp 2 early and made it to just below Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face. Really felt good being up high and closer to our goal. We had just planned to go part way so it was a successful day. The rest of the crew stayed at Camp 2 for more acclimatization.

Camp 3 is in a very exposed area in the middle of the vast steep face going up to the South Col. It is so steep that tent platforms have to be chopped into the ice and ropes rigged between tents for safety--anything dropped is gone forever! About half the expeditions have tents at Camp 3 now. It’s an interesting game, as there is a very real risk of anything taken to Camp 3 being lost in an avalanche. As has already happened to another team 2 days ago after the recent snows. So it’s important not to put too much stuff there too early in the season. Many groups have stayed off the Lhotse Face the last couple days, but now it’s in excellent shape and things can start rolling. Fixed lines are going in today above camp 3 towards the Yellow Band.

Our Sherpa team, lead by Phenden, will be pitching our tents tomorrow into one of the higher areas of camp 3. All our oxygen is being carried to Camp 2 today. So things are moving along. It’s always a challenge to plan the team’s acclimatization schedule to sync with the preparation the sherpas are doing setting up and supplying the camps with food, stoves and oxygen. Everything is looking good right now for us. This season has been just a bit slow getting going for all the teams, so it looks like we will be into the second week of May at the earliest to start looking at the top.

We plan to make another acclimatization trip up high for another 5 days before thinking about the summit. It is getting closer though and the excitement and anxiety is growing. Now it's a process of staying healthy, even with doing everything we can here at base camp, the high, dry air and altitude are taking a toll on everyone. It's a careful balance between staying high to acclimatize and not burning yourself out spending too much time at the higher camps.

Right now, the focus is on some well needed rest and recovery from a ragged high altitude cough. Stay tuned for more reports as we get closer to the summit…

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 28th, 2002

The snow has settled after a  storm blew in higher on the mountain the day before yesterday. Many tents up at Camp 2 were blown down, destroyed or taken down in high winds. Several other tents are gone at Camp 3. Most teams have already recovered and are back at it. Fortunately we came out fairly good, a broken tent is all, although it has delayed things a couple days. We are still getting weather reports forecasting high winds up high so are planning to not get in too big of a hurry. Several groups seem to be pushing hard in the face of the weather and forecasts we kept getting. The risks of pushing Sherpas to carry up in marginal weather and bad conditions are not risks we are taking.

Looking towards tomorrow, going back up for at least 5 nights. This will be our last acclimatization trip up high before we should be ready to go for the top. Everything is getting closer now. The excitement levels are high. Our Sherpa team is setting up Camp 3 today and two of our Sherpas, Pheden and Pemba, are now fixing part of the route above Camp 3 for all the teams on the mountain. (I should say the Alpine 8000 and Adventures International Sherpa team, as we are 2 groups under one permit. Scott Woolums and Willie Benegas are both leading separate teams on the hill. The official name for our expedition is the "International Everest Expedition".)

Life here at Basecamp has been great. Sleeping in, some sun, reading, and catching up with friends back home. We’re also getting ready for our next trip up. Actually lots to do, fortunately it's a perfect day at base camp. We plan to be away from base camp for 5 days, so will have to call in our next report from Camps 2 and  3. It’s easier here at Basecamp to send out more consistent reports and we plan to  as soon as we are back down.

Getting closer, Yahoo!

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 29th, 2002

Well we’re stuck in BC another day. Heavy snow is covering the mountain, so we are effectively stopped for the moment. We had planned to move to Camp 2 today, then onto Camp 3 after a rest day for our last acclimatization trip up before the summit. Hopefully we'll have some good weather tomorrow.

The Sherpas are all down except for 2 who remain in Camp 2 watching camp. Yesterday Phenden and Pemba were successful in fixing lines up near the Yellow band above Camp 3. So the route is almost in now to the South Col. We hope to be up there (Camp 3) in a few days.

All expeditions on the mountain are shut down right now, with people stuck in Camps 2 and 3. This storm has not been as violent as the last one where Camp 2 took a beating in high winds. Right now it’s just accumulating lots of snow with winds up to 30 in Camp 2.

We’re all happy to be here at our relatively luxurious Basecamp. Our biggest problem is starting to watch the same DVD movies for the second time now. Anyway, we all have some extra time to recover well from our last 3 times up to higher altitude.

Waiting and watching it snow are today’s activities!

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.

Everest 2002 Expedition Report
April 30th, 2002

It was a long windy night here at Base Camp. A sad lull has descended over the mountain as news drifts in over the radios concerning a fatal accident on the Lhotse face just this morning. We'll keep everyone updated as more definite news is available. We would like everyone to know that our group, Adventures International, and Willie Benegas part of the Alpine 8000 group are fine. We are all safe at Basecamp. We would also like to express our condolences to all the friends and family of the lost climber.

We have remained at base the last few days as bad weather keeps slamming the mountain and forecasts for more storm activity and winds keep coming in. We feel it’s best not to push hard in the conditions that have been hitting the mountain this past week. So we are keeping everyone at Basecamp, including most of the Sherpas, until conditions improve. We have had a couple good days to move over the last week, but very few to reach Camp 3 which is our next objective. So we plan to sit tight until the mountain decides it’s time.

Just yesterday there were at least 3 big collapses in the route through the icefall, so just getting up to Camps 1 and 2 is difficult. However, several people got through coming down yesterday in bad weather, deep snow, past the broken sections. It will be later today at least before the route is repaired by the "Icefall Doctors" so traffic can start back up to and from Camp 2. No one has been up or down as of 10am this morning. Winds are still blowing quite hard. Nice to have the sun at least. See what the weather brings tomorrow.

Everyone is ready to go up as soon as the weather breaks and the route is open. Still have a forecast for continuing bad weather tomorrow so we'll wait and see what happens.

Hello to all from the Adventures International Team!

Scott Woolums
Adventures International Inc.