Everest 2003 Live Reports- May

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Live Everest 2003 Expedition Reports! May

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	May 24th, All Expedition Members in Base Camp after Successful Summit Climb!
	Everyone is here in base camp after a truly successful season on Everest and Lhotse. The feeling of coming down after a long time at extreme altitudes is hard to describe. Even here at almost 18,000 ft. it feels like sea level after being almost 72 hours at or above 26,000 ft.. Really have enjoyed being here with the whole team and the Sherpas that have worked so hard to make it a successful and safe season. Look for later reports detailing the Sherpas that helped make it happen! Both Teams are here now. John and Lorenzo are enjoying being down off Lhotse and they are planning to fly out with the Everest Team to Kathmandu. Scott, Sean, Cliff and Kevin are recovering from a long stay up high and will start packing gear for the helicopter ride out day after tomorrow! Were all down safe, enjoying a bit of celebration with the Irish Team right now. The Sherpas have been working hard bringing down everything from up high. Tomorrow night we'll have a party to celebrate both the Everest and Lhotse Teams summits (and South Summits!). We have a chartered helicopter coming in on the 26th which will let us all get back home just a little bit sooner. A brief list of our Expedition Success Lhotse Summit- May 20th 9.15am John Rust Lorenzo Gariano Pemba Sherpa Pasang Nuru Sherpa Everest Summit- May 22nd 12.30pm Scott Woolums Cliff Dargonne Jangbu Sherpa Mingma Chiri Sherpa Everest South Summit- May 22nd 10.00am Sean McEvoy Kevin Neal Phenden Sherpa Llama Babu Sherpa Its been a long season here in the Himalayas. Now its off to spend some time at home before our South America, Europe, and Russian Climbing seasons begin this summer. Watch for more live reports following Scotts Kazakhstan trip coming up in July. Full coverage of a climb of the spectacular Kang Tengri Peak in the Tien Shan Mountains of Northern China region! Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 23rd, Summit on the 22nd! Safe Back in Camp 2!
	Were back in Camp 2 after our successful summit day yesterday. A huge day in what started out as perfect weather and that fast changed to a wild storm towards mid-day. Everyone's feeling tired but happy to be here. Had a bit of a problem with our digital video/still camera so will not be able to send out any photos from up high until we process and scan our roll film back home. Photo from last year near Camp 3. Our super cool Sony Micro MV cam we had been using decided to go for the Lhotse Face Toboggan run, reaching terminal velocity and grabbing some rather spectacularly huge air as it bounced and shattered and slowly disintegrated over 5000 ft. down below! Our only true tragedy! May 21st/May 22nd Summit Day We left camp the evening before (the 21st) at 11pm. We woke that night to no wind and crystal clear skies. The perfect day. So all things were go for it. This was our second night here at the South Col and we all felt ready after being on oxygen here since our arrival. This looked to be our break in the weather....... Off to the Balcony, reaching there in about 5 hours with quite a few different teams leaving for the summit between 9 and 11pm. Fairly cold in the early morning going up the triangle face and the ridge past the balcony. Then up to the South Summit. Still perfect weather at this point, we were feeling good with all things. The climbing here is quite steep and exposed along a rocky ridge mixed with ice. This is where we started to wait for the other groups ahead as many people started going extremely slow. Many people continue even though they are having obvious difficulties or trying to climb with minimum oxygen. But these groups of people can cause huge delays for groups trying to travel quickly in the face of marginal weather. A spectacular moonrise next to Makalu, then the sun came up when we were near the base of the South Summit. Absolutely amazing sunrise over Tibet, with Makalu and Lhotse visible. Up to this point it had been completely calm and virtually clear. Over the next couple hours that was about to change! While basically waiting in line to get up the South Summit, the winds had picked up, plumes started blowing off the summit, and high clouds started blowing over the top. To the South west layers of cloud at our elevation began moving in and by the time were at the South Summit, the fun had stopped! Conditions here on the South Summit were whiteout and 40 knot winds. It was hammering quite hard and with having to wait over 2 hours at this point for other groups we were a bit on the late side, later than I would have liked to see. Right on the other side of the South Summit, there's a small protected area to change out oxygen and take short breaks. With the wind cranking overhead, we had a bit of a reality check. Full storm conditions and looking over towards the Hillary Step, extremely crowded, with many people moving so slow as to make it very sketchy. With the main summit ridge disappearing in cloud and the Step sliding in and out of view by thick cloud we had to make a decision of what to do. Under these circumstances its always best to make the very hard decision to turn around. It was going to be extremely risky to continue, as its at least 3 hours round trip with waiting for the people along the summit ridge, combined with high winds and very cold conditions standing and waiting, fully exposed. What to do? We had a discussion, laying out the risks and options. Its simple, the weather can either change for better or worse, and no one can predict whats really gong to happen at the summit of Everest! To always make the safest decision, you turn around, which is a solid choice. With conditions like this we all felt it too risky to continue with all of us. WIth any change for the worse in the weather, it would invite a serious situation. Sean had already decided to head down from the South Summit, Kevin decided to join him going down, Cliff and I decided to go ahead with a few simple rules to keep things safe. These are very difficult personal decisions made during serious conditions. One can only look at conditions around them, feel inside themselves for personal reserves, understanding the risks if continuing and make a decision. Everyone felt completely comfortable with their decisions after getting back to Camp 4 later. Just remember that the South Summit of Everest is over 28,800 ft. and if it were anywhere else in the world, it would be the second highest summit in the world! So Kevin, Sean, Phenden and Llama Babu descended from the South Summit, back to Camp 4 in difficult conditions. Cliff and I jumped in line (and in the wind!) towards the summit. Punching through some fairly serious conditions we reached the summit after a couple hours, the weather held just enough to allow us up and down without getting too cold. Reaching the top around 12.30pm in thick cloud and high winds. Not the best day for pictures, it fact it had been so cold that all of us took very few pictures. Jangbu and Mingma Chiri also summated with us. After about 30 mins. on top we started down into the winds and cloud along the thin summit ridge. It turned into a difficult descent with the conditions getting worse down towards the Triangle Face. We had left several partial bottles of oxygen for the descent, which turned into a good plan. The problem was that many groups do not bring enough oxygen and can actually nab bottles that we had planned to use, fortunately all our bottles were in their place. We did end up giving 2 bottles out to others that needed them on the way down. Meeting up with several people in trouble. One climber having run out of Oxygen, just sitting along the trail, another partially snow blind again sitting, both just waiting for help. Some extra oxygen helped both get down safely. Many groups plan a very minimum amount of oxygen for summit attempts. Its critical to have enough for everyone, including Sherpas to get down with out running out. Its like hitting a wall when your tank goes empty above the South Col, it literally stops you in your tracks. Too be safe, you need more than just enough! A long summit day for Cliff and I. Getting back to Camp 4 we basically collapsed into our tents, trying to rehydrate, which is one on the biggest problems climbing extremely high. Everyone was exhausted and fell asleep immediately on high flow oxygen. Sweet Dreams at 26,000 ft.! May 23rd We slept solid till the next morning, when high winds again swept the South Col, ripping at the tents. A cold morning packing up and starting down to Camp 3 and the Lhotse Face. Using oxygen really helps everyone think clearer and perform better on the technical sections. We continued down to Camp 3 with the team really doing well. Only 4.5 hours from Camp 4 all the way down here to Camp 2. It feels so amazing being back down at Camp 2 and its relative luxury. We have our full computer communications, internet, email, updates capabilities here so we can catch up some with our trip reports and communications tonight. And with Tenzi cooking here, we had Pizzas for lunch and an awesome pasta for dinner! Base Camp tomorrow! The Sherpas have completely cleaned our camps 4 and 3. All empty oxygen is brought down which is a huge project. We have a policy to pack all oxy tanks, rubbish and cooking canisters down for recycling in Kathmandu. We have already sent out some porter loads from Base Camp to Lukla and the team is planning to share a chartered Russian helicopter out after a couple days. So our plans to go down will happen quick as we start out. But first its time to share some time with the Sherpas who have worked incredibly hard to make both the Lhotse and Everest trips such a success this year. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	Press Release: Scott Woolums Summits Mt. Everest
	12:45 pm (Nepal time), May 22nd 2003: Adventures International expedition leader, Scott Woolums, called home via satellite phone from the summit of Mt. Everest. From his vantage on top of the earth’s highest peak—at 29,035 feet—Woolums reported that he and client, Cliff Dargonne, along with Sherpas, Jangbu and Mingma Chirri, had climbed through a storm that blew in making the going tough with lots of wind on the exposed summit ridge. "We couldn't even see the main summit from the south summit...looked up to see patches of blue sky and decided to push on," he recalled. Until today, extreme winds had thwarted all previous summit attempts from the South Col this season. Two nights ago the Adventures International team hung back at camp IV even as more than 60 other climbers left camp for their summit bids; all to be turned around below the balcony. “We made a decision to wait and not go up to conserve our oxygen…for more favorable conditions to begin the final summit push,” Scott reported on his website. Less than 48 hours earlier, on the morning of May 20th, Adventures International also saw a team to the summit of Lhotse, an 8000 meter peak adjacent to Everest. Local Hood River guide, John Rust, and client, Lorenzo Gariano, topped out on the summit of the world’s 4th highest peak accompanied by Pasang Nuru and Pemba Chirri. This is Scott’s second summit on Everest; he guided a successful expedition in May 2002. He was very confident and optimistic about the current expedition. “This is the style of trip (I) believe in: small, well organized, experienced, easy to manage and focused on climbing the mountain not the politics surrounding it,” he said before his departure in late March. An accomplished high altitude guide, with 25 years experience, he has previously guided 17 Himalayan climbs including summits of Pumori, Ama Dablam, Great Trango Tower, and Cho Oyo, plus 26 expeditions on Aconcagua and a record 30 summits of McKinley on 42 ascents. In 1991, Woolums founded his own business--Adventures International Inc.—specializing in unique travel opportunities from hut to hut treks into some of the world’s most remote regions to extreme climbing expeditions and high altitude mountaineering. The company offers trips in South America, Asia, and Africa; as well as more remote destinations including climbs of the “seven summits” (the highest points on each of the 7 continents): Aconcagua, Carstensz Pyramid, Elbrus, Everest, Kilimanjaro, McKinley, and Vinson on Antarctica. While the summit marks the culmination of the team’s activities, they have been in Nepal for the past 9 weeks acclimatizing and ferrying supplies up the mountain. For details about the Everest experience, check out the live expedition reports—a series of dispatches including images, audio and video clips, Scott transmitted throughout the expedition—posted on his website: www.ExploreYourPlanet.com Thank You to Our Sponsors: Clifbar, Gerber Legendary Blades, Brunton, Danimex, HumanEdge Tech, MountEverest.net We would like to thank our sponsors for helping with the enormous task of providing equipment, resources and believing in our efforts to attempt the summit of Everest. Thank you for supporting the Adventures International Everest 2003 Expedition.

	May 22nd - Back in C4 after Summit
	They are all resting safely at camp IV at this hour. Scott called home via satellite phone earlier from the summit of Mt. Everest to report that he and Cliff Dargonne were standing on top of the world at 29,035 feet, along with Sherpas Jangbu and Mingma Chirri! He said they climbed through a storm that blew in making the going tough with lots of wind on the summit ridge. "We couldn't even see the main summit from the south summit...looked up to see patches of blue sky and decided to push on," he recalled. Kevin Neal and Sean McEvoy accompanied them to the south summit before making the difficult decision to descend.

	May 22nd Summit
	Today at 1.00 pm Scott Woolums reached the summit together with Cliff Dargonne. Scott made a difficult decision last night to stay on the South Col whilst all else left for the summit. His decision was based on his experience and it proved very wise today. Scott has also been the multi media champion of Everest this season, feeding live video, pics and voice dispatches from all high camps on the mountain. He was the one who captured the spectacular video of the wild storm shredding tents at Camp 3.

	May 21st - Everest 2003 Expedition Summit Bid In Progress!
	May 21, 2003 9:30am PST (10:15pm Nepal time) Just received a call from Scott via satellite phone. The team is gearing up and planning to leave camp IV shortly for their summit attempt! He reports, that the high winds have ceased; however that was not in the forecast, so hard to know if the calm will hold into the daylight hours. No one has summated from the S. Col. yet this season. The 60 or so climbers who set out yesterday all turned back below the balcony due to extreme high winds. The Sherpas have not even been able to fix the lines above this point; they are currently enroute to do so just ahead of the climbing teams. Here at home, we'll be on the edge of our seats for the next 10-12 hours waiting to hear how it goes up high. Yvette Blanchett reporting.

	May 21st, Waiting at the South Col in High Winds
	A wild night last night up here at the south col. Last night over 60 people went up to try for the summit. Soon afterwards some very extreme winds turned all summit attempts around. We made a decision to wait and not go up to conserve our oxygen for tomorrow or the next day. Very serious conditions though last night and this morning. Of the teams that went up last night, over half have now descended to camp 3 to recover. Our Team is really doing excellent up here. Strong, good spirits, and ready to go. We have been using oxygen since arrival so are feeling super and sleeping well. Talked to the Lhotse Team this morning. They spent last night at Lhotse Camp 4, 7800 meters, actually the last 3 nights there! They are moving down to Camp 2 today and doing well. Great job yesterday summiting Lhotse guys! Our plans are to go this evening if we get a break in the weather. If not, we have enough oxygen to wait till the day after tomorrow. Hanging out at the South Col! Day 2. 30 plus knots and a serious plume blowing off the top right now. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 21st, Scott Calls in from Camp IV, 7900m
	In a phone call from C4, Scott Woolums reports that all South Side summit push teams turned around tonight. The past twelve hours has been horrible, the wind pounding the tents all night. The climbers turned already before the balcony, as the Sherpas couldn't even reach there. The good news is that at the moment all climbers on the south side are back safe at C4, and at least 18 have already started a descent to C2. Image courtesy of MountEverest.net Scott's audio dispatch from Camp IV

	May 20th, Phone call from Everest South Col: Climbers heading for summit in strong winds
	Scott Woolums of Adventures International just called in from Camp IV, 7900m. Four hours ago (2000 hrs Nepal time), Sherpas left from Camp IV, to fix ropes from the Balcony, 8400m to the summit, 8848m. One hour after they left, other teams followed suit, first the Indians, then the Irish, French, and the rest – in all about 75 climbers are currently making their way to the summit right now. Scott says that it looks like it's a cap cloud on the summit and he estimates that it is probably blowing 60 – 80 mile per hour up there. At this minute (2.30PM EST), the climbers are just reaching the Balcony and the Sherpas are nearing the South Summit. Scott is weary about the situation. His climbing experience tells him that these are not the best circumstances for a final summit push. The main problems being the wind, the clouds rolling in and the fact that the ropes to the South Summit, 8750m, have not yet been fixed. With the mass exodus from Camp IV for the summit, Scott is fighting the peer-pressure and has decided to wait another day at the South Col, to re-evaluate the situation, look at the weather conditions and see how the first wave of climbers are faring. The current weather reports show unstable conditions over Everest. It is neither a window, nor a full storm. Those kind of conditions are very tricky for climbing decisions. Hard gusts of high wind alternate with pockets of calm, subjecting a summit push to a great deal of chance – and risk. The crucial point will be when the climbers reach the South Summit. There they will step out of the shelter of the ridge and out onto the exposed fore summit. Not until then will they be able to know the true force of the winds over the main summit. Image courtesy of MountEverest.net

	May 20th, Just Arrived at the South Col!
	Yahoo, the Lhotse Team is safely back in camp 4 after reaching Lhotse summit this morning. A cold windy day, but John, Lorenzo, Pasang Nuru and Pemba Chirri all summated Lhotse! Congregations! The Everest Team is up here at over 26,000 ft. now! Whew, an exciting day after leaving early this morning from camp 3 and coming up over the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur. Were all doing well here at the south col, on oxygen, settling in for a short nap. then a bit later tonight its off to the summit! Fairly good conditions here at the South Col. Winds of 30 mph and sunshine. Were all set for tonight, just time to relax and brew up. Our Sherpas are all doing very well, with Phenden. Llama Babu, Jangbu and Mingma all here. Pasang Nuru may come up from Lhotse. These guys are amazing. they came up from camp 2 today with loads to support our summit day. We plan to have at least one safety/rescue sherpa(s) stay here when we go up. This is critical in the event of an emergency. The additional support of having at least one Sherpa that can bring up extra oxygen or assistance quickly is super important. Off to the summit tonight! Were all hoping for good weather tonight. Watch for a report and photos from the summit in the morning if we get good conditions! The winds have really kicked in with a huge plume blowing off Everest right now. We have enough oxygen to sit out another day if we need to. Right now there's no chance to summit in these winds. So we are hoping for a change today. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 19th, Just Arrived at Camp 3!
	Up here at camp 3 in good conditions. The team is doing great and moving well. Now a night here followed by an early start to the south col tomorrow morning. The Lhotse Team has delayed their summit day due to extreme winds last night and into this morning. They plan to stay up at Lhotse Camp 4 again tonight and have another go tomorrow morning. Way to hang in there John and Lorenzo! Their camp is almost 8000 meters high. Everyone is jazzed to be here with a good forecast for the next couple days. From here its 6 to 7 hours to the south col and camp 4. Our goal is to leave as early as we can to reach camp 4 earlier in the day to allow plenty of time to relax, re-hydrate and recover before starting our summit day tomorrow evening around 10 pm. Yahoo, were on our way! Scott Woolums Reporting Audio dispatch from Camp III, 7300m..

	May 18th Evening, Update from Camp 2!
	Just a quick update tonight. Everything is still a go for both teams. We just talked with John up at Lhotse Camp 4 on the radio. Both John and Lorenzo are feeling excellent and are ready to go later tonight. Both are sleeping on oxygen tonight as are their 3 Sherpa support team, Pasang Nuru, Ang Pasang and Pemba Chirri. The weather is a bit mixed this afternoon but is expected to improve tonight and in the morning. Good Luck with tomorrow guys! The Everest Team is having dinner here in Camp 2 with plans to go around 5am up to camp 3. Everyone is feeling super at this point and were all good to go! We'll send out an update from Camp 3 tomorrow. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 18th, Lhotse Team Moving to Camp 4! Everest Team moves to Camp 3 Tomorrow!
	Were here in Camp 2 now watching John and Lorenzo moving up to Lhotse Camp 4 today. Right now there at the Yellow band and moving well. 3 Sherpas moved up today from here to meet them at Camp 4 to support their summit go tomorrow morning. Everything is looking good. They are both using oxygen from Camp 3 and back to Camp 3. 2 Sherpas will be summiting with them tomorrow and both Sherpas will also be using oxygen. There will be a safety/rescue Sherpa staying in Lhotse Camp 4 with extra oxygen in case of any problems. So we have a solid support net for their summit attempt tomorrow. Now we are all hoping for some great weather for them. There's a fair bit of wind along the the Everest and Lhotse ridges today, but the forecast is for that to diminish by tomorrow. The route they are doing is fairly protected from the higher level winds that has kept all the Everest Teams from summiting so far. Go guys!!! The Everest team is here in Camp 2, taking a rest day after moving up yesterday. We will get an early start tomorrow and go up to Camp 3 to stay. When we go up, it will be right up to Camp 3, onto oxygen for the night, then move up to the south col the next day climbing on oxygen. This is when our Sherpa team will leave from Camp 2 to meet us at Camp 4. We actually will not spend the night, but start climbing around 10pm that night for the summit. So from here everything will happen fast. A lot of energy in Camp 2 today as many groups are getting set or moving up for their summit attempts. We have been discussing going one day later as the fixing team up at the south col has had to hang in camp 4 for another day as the winds have been too high to go above the south col today. So hopefully with the forecast for diminishing winds tomorrow the route will go in up to the Balcony or south summit and the Lhotse team will have a good summit day! Were all waiting and watching. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 17th, Everest Team at Camp 2, Lhotse Team at Camp 3!
	The photo is of the Everest Team entering the Khumbu Icefall (for the 6th trip up!) taken this morning. The Lhotse Team has taken advantage of some very good weather this morning and moved up to Camp 3. Both Lorenzo and John are feeling good and will spend the night there, without oxygen. Just heard from them on the radio and everything is going good. Tomorrow morning early they will move up to Lhotse Camp 4 at around 7800 meters! They will be using oxygen on the climb up to Camp 4, and onto the summit. The winds held off till around 10am this morning, crystal clear all morning. So with an early start they should be able to get up to Lhotse High Camp before the afternoon snow and winds move in. We'll be watching from Camp 2 here all day tomorrow. The Everest Team is all here at Camp 2, 21,000 ft. The summit is still 8,000 ft. above and being blasted by extreme winds this afternoon. You can see the classic plume blowing off the top right now. Our plans are for a rest day tomorrow. Watch the weather very closely. Then move up to Camp 3 on the 19th. We have a ton of Oxygen so plan to use it for everything from Camp 3 and above back to Camp 3. Right now we are looking at the 21st for our summit day. We have just received a new forecast from our independent source that confirms the 21st is looking like the best day on the horizon and that it may close off after that. First confirmed reports of a monsoon just in the beginning stages starting to form, so its looking like this is the week! A lot of teams are on the move today. Lots of rumors on who's going when. We have contributed one of our Sherpas and oxygen to the Sherpa team that's going up tomorrow to break trail and put in the fixed lines above the south col. That's suppose to happen tomorrow morning. We'll keep everyone updated on what's going on up here at Camp 2. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 16th, Off Tomorrow for the Top!
	The Everest Team is leaving Base Camp tomorrow morning for Camp 2 and the start of our summit bid. Everyone is excited to be on the road again after waiting for almost a week for a better forecast. Our plans are to move up to Camp 2, spend 2 nights there before moving again up to Camp 3 on the 19th, to Camp 4 on the 20th and onto the summit later that night, summiting on the 21st if all things go well. We can readjust the schedule while in Camp 2 as better forecasts come in. Our Lhotse Team will be moving up to Camp 3 tomorrow, only 2 days away from the summit now! Both John and Lorenzo are doing well tonight. This afternoon turned into a beautiful day, hot and sunny with some higher winds up high. They spent the day preparing for their move to Camp 3 early tomorrow morning. They will be looking at summiting on the 19th! Go, go , go! So both our teams (Everest and Lhotse) are starting to stage up higher now. Quite a few other teams on the mountain are starting to move up also. A number of teams moved up to Camp 2 today on their summit attempts. It will all come down to the weather from here on out. It looks like a lot of teams will be going for summits starting on the 19th. Check in tomorrow as both teams are on the move now! Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 15th, Everest Base Camp, Summit Plans are Made!
	Another day here in Base Camp watching the winds up high, hearing reports of 60 + winds through Camp 3, seeing the forecasts come in and starting to make our summit plans. We have been helping working out the details for a strong Sherpa team to move up and fix to at least the balcony or the south summit on May 18th or the first good day after that. Over 8 Sherpas (including Mingma Chirri from our team) from 7 teams will help to break trail and fix lines. This team will proceed most summit attempts which will follow on the 19th, 20th and 21st. This will of course all depend on how accurate the weather forecasts are for diminishing winds around that time. Its looking good on the weather for next week. The Polar Jet Stream is sitting directly over Mount Everest right now, around Monday or Tuesday its supposed to be pushed northwards which will result in a huge drop in the wind speeds being seen. This combined with some very dry air from the west will hopefully create some windows to summit in. Now the big guess is when this will happen? Every team here has their own ideas. Several groups are going up for the 19th, the first day the winds are forecast to drop. More are looking towards the 20th, we are planning on the 21st (depending on the next 6 days forecasts between now and then!). We feel giving the weather a bit of extra time in case the jet stream does not move away as forecast may be a good idea. Enough of the hype about us and the weather, here's some photos of the guys that are really working hard behind the scenes! We plan to do a more extensive photos and bios on all the Sherpas soon. These guys really are the ones behind a major Everest Expedition. They have done an amazing job this year getting the higher camps set, all oxygen up and cooking at BC and Camp 2. A better team simply could not be put together! The Lhotse Team is now at Camp 2 waiting also. They are looking towards the 19th for their summit go on Lhotse. Lhotse is more protected than Everest and so they should have a better chance with the weather and taking advantage of the predicted drop in the winds around the 19th. Both Lorenzo and John are ready to go up to Camp 3 on the 17th, then onto Lhotse Camp 4 on the 18th. Their shot at the top will be well supported by 3 Sherpas and plenty of Oxygen. We are hoping the weather allows a safe summit day on Lhotse. The route they will be going up is a steep couilor that's goes almost directly to the summit above Camp 4. A demanding route to the fourth highest summit in the world! Go John and Lorenzo! We'll be sending reports out of their progress over the next few days. So follow our reports as the summit is getting very close! Both the Lhotse and Everest Teams are set to go. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 14th, The Lhotse Team is on their Way Up!
	With a reasonable forecast on the horizon, John Rust and Lorenzo are on the way to Camp 2 to start their summit go! Everyone is excited here for some action uphill after we've been waiting for 3 days. The forecast is showing a significant drop in winds starting around the 19th or 20th. With the recent successful summits of Lhotse by several groups over the last few days, and our Lhotse Team in position to start up (Lhotse Camp 4 in), John and Lorenzo are on the move! The Everest Team is still waiting for the solid, steady, consistent weather that an Everest summit attempt will take. We feel its premature to jump on the very first day of good forecast weather as the resources that moving a whole team of Sherpas and members to Camp 4 is very significant. So we are looking for a solid few days of forecast good weather to maximize our safety and summit chance. In Base Camp here there will be another meeting today of all the Sirdars from 6 different teams to discuss fixing the upper reaches of Everest above the South Col. A lot of progress was made yesterday with all teams present offering both Sherpa and Oxygen support. This is a similar plan that was worked out earlier this season that has since fallen through. With the SIrdars from these teams behind the plan, it will happen. These are the guys that make things happen on Everest, they are in charge of planning the upper mountain logistics and movement of all the supplies up to the higher camps. Right now all the resources to fix to the summit are in Camp 4, now its a matter of picking the good weather day before the teams plan summit attempts to get the trail broken and the route fixed. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 13th, Still Waiting! Kala Patar Summit Today!
	Still waiting for some positive weather forecasts. So its off this morning to climb the trekking summit of Kala Patar that has remarkable views of Everest! See the photo with this report! Today up high, the winds looked ok, but then today is supposed to be the best weather this week.. It is looking like this next weekend may be good conditions as the high winds that have been here all week will be backing off some. Wednesday and Thursday are forecast to be the highest winds this week followed by improving conditions. Endless games of cards, movies, and just hanging out in Base Camp has everyone ready to go. The Everest Team is starting to look towards going up later this week to Camp 2, the Lhotse Team will be moving up tomorrow to be ready for the lighter winds that are forecast for the weekend. Stay tuned as the summit is very close and things could happen fast from here! Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 13th, New High Resolution Video from Kala Patar Summit!
	Check out our new short video clip filmed this morning from the summit of Kala Patar! Download the latest version of Windows Media Player to view correctly! High Resolution Video from Kala Patar Summit!

	May 13th, New Low Resolution Video from Kala Patar Summit!
	Check out our new short video clip filmed this morning from the summit of Kala Patar! Download the latest version of Windows Media Player to view correctly! Low Resolution Video from Kala Patar Summit!

	May 12th, Everest Base Camp Waiting!
	After a day resting here in base camp, everyone is looking towards moving up. Unfortunately the weather forecasts are not very promising. Predicting high winds through the week, with higher winds moving in on the 14th. Today turned out to be quite nice and the forecast looks good for tomorrow as well, but we cannot get in position for a summit attempt in just a couple days. Its 5 days from leaving base camp to summit day so everything needs to be planned careful using accurate weather forecasts. There are several smaller teams moving up into position but it seems almost everyone in camp is waiting, which could be a problem if everyone decides to go on the first forecast good summit day. We'll see what happens. There's lots of time left this season for a solid window of high pressure to roll in and stabilize the weather for awhile. Our Sherpas are taking a well deserved rest after setting up the South Col and Lhotse Camp 4 over the last week. Today the last 2 loads went up to Lhotse Camp 4. So not a lot else to report on until the weather takes a change! Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 11th, At Everest Base Camp watching the Weather!
	Some photos of the two climbing teams at base camp today! Were all moved in here. Relaxing, washing clothes, discussing things with the other teams, Sherpas and basically checking weather updates as were ready to go if we can find the weather window to go up in. Our Sherpas are now back in camp now. Everything is set up, our Lhotse Camp 4 and the South Col Camp 4 for our Everest Team. The Sherpas have done such a great job getting the mountain set to go. They have done multiple trips up to the South Col and Camp 4. Now almost everyone is back in Base Camp, resting and waiting! Lots going on in camp here. Groups coming, going, wondering, waiting, trading weather info, and watching. The forecasts are not very stable at the moment. Some groups are secretive and some are sharing information! This is where the whole summit schedule gets sorted out and everyone finds out how many people will be going about when. Hopefully things will get spread out some with all the groups on the mountain this year. but eventually the weather and weather reports will dictate who goes when. Lots of groups want to go on this or that date but until the weather allows no one will be going anywhere! The Jet stream is moving back a bit closer to Everest and some moisture is forecast to come in mid week. A beautiful morning today here but the winds are already starting again on the Nuptse Ridge, blowing long plumes of snow off now. Have heard several groups have gone up to C3 to try and changed their minds and come back down. Good news yesterday as a Japanese Team summated Lhotse! Interesting the motivation to go after everything is set up and you've been 45 days or more waiting for this moment. Still the forecasts really show no definite reasonable weather to plan a summit attempt in. So we'll wait a bit more and see. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 9th, On our way up to Base Camp! Live from Lobouche!
	On our way up to Base Camp! The weather forecasts have been looking a bit more promising now. So time to go back up to a position to go for the top. In really a very nice morning we zipped up to Lobouche from Dingboche today. Met several other groups going back to Base Camp also. We have been hearing that several groups are going up to Camp 2 to start their summit attempts, so things are beginning to happen. We have been watching the weather very carefully to find the good solid high pressure system to plan our schedule around. So far the weather reports are only predicting short windows of lower winds and clearing between an unpredictable jet stream and moisture at the moment. So any day now we hope to see the forecasts that we need to plan all the energy and resources a major go at the top will take, safely! Today, in a good window, part of our Sherpa Team made it up to the South Col. This puts us ready to go now. Really good news. Photo of ; Starting on left, Lorenzo, Sean, Cliff, John, and Kevin in the Eco Lodge at Lobouche. Scott Woolums Reporting.

May 8th, Dingboche Village, New High Resolution Video!

Welcome to Dingboche! Check out our newest video clip from here while our two teams are waiting for the winds to back off up high. We have been seeing lots of other teams here also waiting for improvements in the weather. With several teams on a tight schedule, the tension is growing as the winds continue.

Looking up at Lhotse from here today, we can still see huge plumes of blowing snow coming off the high ridges. The forecasts are saying maybe, maybe around the 12th there may be a break. We are planning to go back up to Base Camp the day after tomorrow. From there we'll just wait and see what happens. We have lots of time still, and its beginning to look like it may be a late season!

Hope everyone enjoys the videos, its been fun putting them together here. What else to do on our 44th day of the expedition! Scott Woolums Reporting.

New High Resolution Video from Dingboche! 1.5mb Download

	May 8th, Dingboche Village, New Low Resolution Video!
	Click here for a lower resolution (smaller download) video from Dingboche Village as the two Teams are waiting for better weather up high. Scott Woolums Reporting. New Low Resolution Video from Dingboche! 270 kb Download

	May 7th, Life in Dingboche
	Hanging out in Dingboche. Super good to be here sleeping excellent, eating great food and watching the many trekking groups coming and going. Its a busy time now, mid-trekking season here in Nepal. Lots of people coming and going, porters, yaks, a few expeditions waiting and resting as us. Being here at 14,000 is amazing in how you can actually feel your body recovering from being high for awhile. Were all in great spirits, enjoying basically a vacation for a few days before going back up for the summit! Lots of time and work has gone into being here, with all things set to go. Both Teams are feeling rested and ready to go, and we still have a few more days down low here. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 6th, Dingboche Village
	Packed up this morning and started down the Khumbu Valley to the small village of Dingboche for a well needed rest. Everyone is here now; Kevin, Cliff, Sean, Lorenzo and John. Feels amazing dropping a full 10,000 ft. in just over 2 days! We have extended our stay here to 4 days down low to recover from being up high for so long. The thick air is hard to describe, it feels like we can run around without loosing our breath now. The body recovers so much better at this altitude. You can feel the difference. So this is the start of 4 nights here before going back to Base Camp for perhaps our summit rotation. This morning with the arrival of the new forecast, Pemba Gelja decided to bring the Sherpas down to rest a bit. The forecast calls for 3 to 4 more days of first high winds, them chance of heavy snows. Not too good for the next 4 days. So they did not get up to the South Col today. The hike down today was spectacular. Dropping through Gorak Shep, Lobouche, and Dugla in a perfect day, just really high winds up high. A cold wind blew most of the day from Everest. Now some relaxing and recovery. Will post reports each day. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 5th, Base Camp after Storm
	Just down from Camp 2. Absolutely feels great at Base Camp now. Ultra cold this morning leaving Camp 2 at 6am. A very cold wind coming off the Lhotse Face from the South Col kept many groups from moving up again today. With the current weather, everything looks like it will be delayed by at least a few days. Our Sherpa team delayed going up today due to the high winds at the south col. They are planning another attempt tomorrow. Were all here now, both the Lhotse Team and Everest Teams. We will be going down tomorrow to Dingboche together for a few days rest at lower altitudes. We plan to have reports going out from Dingboche. Its still ripping windy here in Base Camp, just a few minutes ago a huge gust took out several tents here in Base Camp. Fortunately not our shower tent! See the video from our last trip up high during the wind storm at Camp 3. We have 2 different resolutions to check out. A very exciting trip to Camp 3! Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 5th, Check out These Videos from Camp 3 Storm!
	Click the video link below for a High resolution video, 3.2 mb download! The shredded tents in the videos are not from our team! See May 3, 4 and 5 Live Reports for complete story! Video by Scott Woolums. High Resolution Video from Camp 3

	May 5th, Check out These Videos from Camp 3 Storm!
	Click the video link below for a lower resolution video, .5 mb download! The shredded tents in the videos are not from our team! See May 3, 4 and 5 Live Reports for complete story! Video by Scott Woolums. Lower Resolution Video from Camp 3

	May 4th, Back Safe in Camp 2 After Huge Wind Storm!
	Hi All, Whew were back in Camp 2 after quite an exciting night last night up in Camp 3 at 24,000 ft.! Over 80 knot winds blasted camp for the whole night and all this morning. Very serious conditions, but the guys did great. A definite all nighter as powerful winds ripped through camp. Sean described it well as a freight train inside the tent about to explode, for 12 hours! We had a weather window towards mid day today to get out of Camp 3 so here we are, back at the low altitude luxury of the 21,500 ft. Camp 2! Devastation is a good way to describe Camp 3 right now. At least 15 tents have been shredded by last nights winds. Fortunately ours have hung in there and are doing well, thanks to our Sherpa team who put them in solid. One camp just below ours lost all 6 tents, completely flattened. Another groups just above us lost 2 of theirs. Just amazing what the wind does to tents up high! Feels great to be here now, planning to head down to Base Camp in the morning for a well deserved rest. Tonight will be our 5th night over 21,500 ft. Spending time at this altitude slowly wears you down, so its super important to go back to lower altitudes so your body can recover. Our plans call for us to go all the way down to 14,000 ft. and the village of Dingboche to rest and recover the day after tomorrow. So while were resting, the Sherpas are going up to the South Col tomorrow and again the day after (Lhotse Camp 4) to finish preparing Camp 4 for both Lhotse and Everest. What these guys do to support expeditions is just amazing. We're planning a rest into their schedule also before starting back up for the summits. Yesterday, even in the high winds 2 Sherpas, Pemba Gelga and Lama Babu made it to the South Col. The Lhotse Team is in Base Camp now, with plans to go down to Dingboche either tomorrow or the day after. With the recent bad weather many teams are delaying summit bids by a couple days now, including both our Everest and Lhotse Teams. We plan to sort out our summit window after a couple days at low altitude. Super close now, stay tuned! Scott Woolums Reporting. Photo from Lhotse Face, Cliff Climbing before Wind Storm

	May 3rd, Up at Camp 3 in High Winds!
	Just made it up the Lhotse Face to our tiny camp chipped out of the ice here at 24,000 ft. Not much room to move around up here as before you can step out of the tent, we need to rope up! Everyone feels good, resting here. Radical day coming up the Lhotse Face in very high winds. It went well though, we started at 5am this morning in very cold conditions. All our Sherpas came up today to go to the South Col. Extreme winds kept most of the Sherpas from reaching Camp 4. This may delay things a day or two. Just talked with John, they are back in Base Camp after a safe trip down through the Khumbu icefall. They are starting their pre summit rest now. They will heading for Dingboche down at the comfortable altitude of 14,000 ft. for a rest. That's 10,000 ft. lower than Camp 3 here. Our tents are situated at the very top of Camp 3. Closest camp to the South Col. This is the first report sent out with the Pocket PC IPAQ and Thuraya Satellite Connection. We cannot send photos out right now so you will have to imagine Camp 3 with blowing snow, 50 knots of wind all at 24000 ft.! Cheers from the Everest Team, up High! Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 3rd, Up to Camp 3 Today!
	Starting extremely early today the Everest Team is moving up to Camp 3 today behind our whole team of Sherpas on their way to the South Col. Everything is coming together on schedule, tomorrow we'll be heading down to Camp 2, then Base Camp. The weather is holding for us to squeeze in our stay here at Camp 3. So with the Sherpas getting another load up to Camp 4 (most of the rest of our Oxygen) and our team and the Lhotse Team sleeping at Camp 3 everything is looking towards an earlier summit date after our rest down low. Everyone is feeling good now and very acclimatized. The weather has been fairly stable, but over the next week we will be watching everything very close. Hope for the best. John and Lorenzo headed down to Base Camp today for some low altitude R and R. Its feels good to be down low after staying at Camp 3. It slowly wears you down being high for so long. Were all excited as the summit dates approach. Lots of groups are close now to going up for summit attempts. Scott Woolums Reporting.

	May 2nd, Life at Camp 2, Lhotse Team at Camp 3
	Another very nice day here at Camp 2. A little more wind, especially up high on the summit of Everest and along the Lhotse ridge. Still, there's lots of Sherpas going up to the South Col this morning. Overall the conditions look better today with many more people on the route to Camp 3 and above. Today is another rest/acclimatization day for the Everest Team. So its cards, email, naps and some reading for us here. We hope to move up tomorrow morning to Camp 3 for 1 or 2 nights. There are high winds forecast for Saturday and Sunday as the jet stream is swinging over the top of Mount Everest so we plan to watch that close before moving up. Camp 2 here is very protected from winds from the North and West but Camp 3 can be very exposed. Were waiting till tomorrow morning to make our decision on waiting till the winds are forecast to subside or going. All the Sherpas are on the way up to Camp 2 here, they have plans to finish preparing the South Col camp for our summit go. They will also be establishing our Lhotse Camp 4 which is above the Yellow Band and over below the couilor (normal route) on Lhotse. The Lhotse Team spent last night up at Camp 3. Looked like a very nice evening. Lighter winds and stars last night. A tough day yesterday moving up as they had to break trail quite a ways at the base of the Lhotse Face. So they should be coming down mid day today with lots of stories. They will be looking to heading down to base camp tomorrow. We hope to be not to far behind them. We are getting several different forecasts. They are all predicting the jet stream to move over Everest bringing very high winds and dryer weather, for the next 6 days! After that with a wind direction shift, wetter conditions with lighter winds. That will be around the 6th. So we'll see what happens over the next few days. For right now its very pleasant at Camp 2. Photo from Camp showing winds blowing off the summit of Everest! Scott Woolums Reporting.

May 1st, Lhotse Team is moving up to Camp 3!

Beautiful day here at Camp 2. The weather finally broke and now its hot here. The Lhotse Team woke up early and started out to Camp 3 this morning. We have been talking with them on the radio all day. They had to break trail all morning and up the lower part of the Lhotse Face, so its taken longer than normal. They have not yet reached Camp 3 but should be there very soon. George Barisas and Ang Pasang started out also from Camp 2 this morning working their way towards Camp 3, but the difficult conditions on the Lhotse Face turned them around below camp. He's back here in Camp 2 now.

The Everest Team is taking a rest day, and we plan another rest day tomorrow. Then up to Camp 3 on Saturday. Were keeping our eyes on the weather as there is still high winds forecast, but those winds are forecast to be up higher near the summit as the Jet Stream swings close to Mount Everest.

So its an exciting day here watching the Lhotse Team (John Rust and Lorenzo Gariano) work their way up to Camp 3. Now there's some light clouds moving in and out so we can't see them all the time. The clouds are good in that its cools down the temps some as its so incredibly hot mid day.

We have been playing Bridge here at camp, updating our reports and sending out email. A lazy day here at Camp 2. Scott Woolums Reporting.

Photo of the Everest Team at Camp 2