Happy May Day!

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Happy May 1st Holiday all! We are back! Not quite how we were planning the next few days, but we are back in base camp for a bit of R&R. We went up to camp 2 at about 6400m about a week ago, as you will no doubt recall. Up there we did all the camp 2 science, which was quite exciting as there were a couple of world firsts. Bike tests, blood gases, saccadic eye-movements, trans-cranial Doppler, etc. All fun stuff if you are a scientist.

From a climbing point of view it was a time to acclimatise and work out the details of one?s high altitude equipment. I tested my electronic toe warmers, which worked very well. The first hurdle is of course, the Khumbu ice-fall. This seems to change on a weekly basis. It was certainly a different ice-fall to the first time we went up, and was different when we came down yesterday. We spent a night at camp 1, and then an early start of to camp 2. Early so that we can miss the heat of the Western Cwm. So we entrenched ourselves at camp 2, which from an oxygen point of view is noticeably less than base camp. We are fortunate though in that because we have had a long acclimitisation profile, there were relatively few health issues. Denny, Dan, Andre, Vijay and I ran all the exercise tests, and I?m pleased to say that we should be able to run the tests on the South Col, which will be the world?s highest laboratory. We will do some other tests on the South Col, including all the brain work. That is, if we get there?of course we will!

	Thinner boys!

Mike, Chris, Nigel and Sundeep all had a climb up the Lhotse face to get to Camp 3. The Lhotse face is another fairly dangerous place. Asked what he thought of it, Mike commented, that it was just another day that was longer than expected, harder than expected, with a constant barrage of little objects being thrown from above. This was a 500m slog up a hill at 45-50 degrees, with an arterial oxygen concentration 1/3 of normal. Fun! I think we are all a little surprised that Everest is a bit harder than expected. Armchair pundits, who say it is an easy mountain, should come and join us.

Anyhow, the rest of the Cuadwell Xtreme team were supposed to join the four lads at camp 3 yesterday, but our weather report told us to get outta there. Expected was 20-30 cm of snow, which makes the Lhotse face even more dangerous from an avalanche risk. So, as we had finished all the science, we had a rapid pack up of camp, the boys descended from camp 3, and yesterday morning we made a hasty retreat back to base camp. And here we sit in the glorious sunshine of Nepal. Not trying to be a sage or anything, but I did ask you to send sun, which is what we have. So not sure why we bothered with the weather report. A little stark reminder on the way down was of the dangers of this place. In the Western Cwm, Andre and Maryam were dusted by an end of an avalanche. The ?dust? is the sort of last bit of energy of an avalanche, much like a little snow shower. Respect!

On the ?sage? note, the ?Lama Weather report? is not favourable either, so better be down than have unhappy Sherpas. By the way, I know I go on about the remarkable Sherpas, but on the day our Xtreme hard men went up to Camp 3, the Sherps accompanied them, came down, and then went back up to help them evacuate camp 3 when the decision was made to abandon camp 3. Truly remarkable. There is actually a Nepali film crew in base camp making a documentary about this extraordinary group of people, and about time.

So to think that this is now wasted time is an incorrect assumption. We will again use this time down the mountain, to eat properly, rest and recuperate. High up at camp 2, it is relatively uncomfortable compared to base camp. I found it hard to eat, as did some others, due to loss of appetite and mediocre food. We had to christen Chris Imray ?Grumpy Old Man?, partly because he is the oldest climber ?only a few years ahead of me at second, but also because he was grumpy all the time. Pleased to say he is much better now. Up there more of the hardships of high altitude climbing start hitting home, such as harder beds, cold, food rationing, etc. So the ?luxuries? of base camp disappear. Still...this is what it is all about.

Thanks to all who have been sending messages. Really great to hear from you. We will be shortly off to a lodge down the hill for a bit more O2 and different food and try and beef up a bit. Until our return?.

PS: Happy birthday to my nieces, Jorja and Quinn who turn 1 on 5th May.

Patrick Doyle

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