Huffing and Puffing

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Hey?what?s the story? In the last blog I asked for some sun for the climbing team, and what have you sent us? Snow! I just don?t know?

The last 2 days have seen the climbing team undertaking some acclimatising hikes. So yesterday we huffed and puffed up Kala Patar and today we also huffed and puffed up to Camp 1 on Pumo Ri. This did afford us some fantastic views of the Khumbu icefall, the Lhotse Face, the Geneva Spur, the South Col and Everest itself. Most people don?t realize that one cannot see most of these landmarks from base camp. So having seen the trail ahead ?close-up? we can begin the true psych-up for the coming few months.

I?m glad to say that all the climbing team is in relatively good health and spirits. I say relative, as living at this altitude incurs a physiologic drain on the body because of the hypoxia. This of course is one of the reasons for the Caudwell Xtreme Everest trip?..to investigate the result of this hypoxia. On this note I am really glad to say that not only have we finished all the Xtreme Team testing at base camp, but our wonderful ?Base Camp Lab Staff? ? base by location, not by nature- have just finished testing the first of the trekking groups. So a big congrats from us to all the lab staff ? Kathmandu, Namche Bazaar, Pheriche and Base Camp. And to the trekkers as well, who appear to have had a wonderful trip.

Tomorrow, sees us approaching the Khumbu icefall for the first time. I have been lying in my tent the last few nights, listening to other groups leaving base camp for the ice-fall from 4:00 am onwards. The icefall is one of the danger spots of the route. The idea is to minimise time in the icefall, at a time of day that is the safest. So leave early, before it heats up and is more prone to cracking. Leave early so as to avoid slower groups. The ?Khumbu doctors? or the Sherpa team employed for the season, put in the roped route and span massive crevices with aluminium ladders.

We are fortunate that we are quite a strong team. Mike Grocott, our expedition leader, stipulated that we all should have proved ourselves on an 8000m peak before consideration on the summit team. We have all summited Cho Oyu (8201m, 6th highest in the world) to this effect. We also have extensive experience in general alpine mountaineering terms and have a number of previous Everest summiteers in the group. Add the extensive experience of the Sherpa team, and I hope you agree, that we are well prepared, are well aware of the risk management profile of the mountain and we are pretty strong.

I leave you now with this thought. If you think this is holiday, think again. Apart from huffing and puffing around this spectacular place, I am now going to have a wet-wipe bath. Although we are camped on a glacier, water is a commodity here. So showers are in short supply. I just spoke to Isabelle, my super girlfriend, while she was in a hot bath in France. So am I jealous or what? I am typing this blog with gloves on. I have super-glued all my cracked fingers. My ?washing? is hanging in my tiny tent, otherwise it freezes. And shortly I am off for supper in a cold tent with 40 wonderful like-minded nutters.

PS: Happy birthday to my Mum today and happy 70th birthday to Teddy Hinton, long time family friend. God bless all.

Patrick Doyle

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