Hello from Everest Base Camp

Well, we’ve been at Base Camp for a few days now and are getting settled in and acclimatized. Sorry for the delay in updates, we’ve had lot’s to do here over the past few days.

We arrived in a snowstorm on the evening of April 6th. Everyone was pretty excited to get here, we were one of the first teams to arrive. Since then teams have been steadily flowing in, so now there are dozens of camps established and hundreds of climbers and Sherpa staff here. Quite a social atmosphere is developing, many of us are meeting a lot of old friends and acquaintances from previous climbs.

Everyone on the team is acclimatizing as well as expected (we are camped at over 5,300 meters, after all!). Our trekkers have all left us – Jeremy went down early after one night at Base Camp, and Paul Head, Christine Dennstedt, and Louise MacDougal all left yesterday after a hike up to their high point of Kala Patar at 5,590 meters.

Paul would like to pass on “Many thanks to his family, friends, Fitness World and Trail Trekkers for helping him reach his personal summit of Kala Patar. Prayers and good energy sent to all of you!”

Christine sends a “Happy 90th Birthday to Nana from Everest Base Camp”.

Louise added “Mom and Dad – the feet were a little cold in the flip-flops, but I survived Base Camp!”

They are all off to trek over Cho La pass into the Gokyo Lake region, and up to Gokyo Ri before descending back out to Namche Bazar and on to Lukla.

As for the Everest Climbing Team, we are awaiting our Puja Ceremony, where a Lama will come up to bless our team before we will venture onto the mountain. This important ceremony is a critical part of climbing this mountain, as no Sherpa will set foot onto the mountain until the blessing has been completed, and most non-sherpas are also very content to wait for this blessing before heading up. Our Puja Ceremony will take place on Monday, April 14th. After this we will start on the next leg of our journey up Everest by heading up the Khumbu Icefall to Camp I for more acclimatization.

The route through the Icefall is now almost complete. This is established by the “Icefall Doctors”, a team of full-time Sherpas who only work on establishing and maintaining the fixed lines and ladders through the Khumbu Icefall. This allows the climbing teams to move quickly though this terrain and focus more energy on there logistics and climbing.

So, all is well here in Base Camp land, we’ve been ice climbing, relaxing, practicing with our gear and systems and generally getting healthy and used to the altitude. Dave Sarkany lead a small team down valley to the small village of Gorak Shep today to track down some cold beers (his stated objective at least!).

Thanks again for following our progress!

Brian Jones
Canada West Everest 2008 Expedition Leader