Today, May 13, Bill is safely back down in Everest Base Camp, celebrating with the rest of the team.  A few of our Sherpa team members are still coming down from the higher camps, everyone should be off the upper mountain and back at Base Camp by the 14th. Everyone is very happy and with the success this season, despite weather and snow conditions that hampered the climbers throughout the trip.

Pictures and video will follow in a couple of days after everyone returns to Kathmandu.

The winds between the South Summit and the Main Summit were increasing in speed to approximately  80+ km/hr, so the last communications from the team indicated they were going to make a final decision whether to proceed onwards, or descend back to C4 due to the high winds. The radio communication between Base Camp and the summit ridge is challenging, we will post updates as soon as we hear more details from the summit team.

The team will leave C4 at 9 pm on May 11 and climb through the night on the southeast ridge of Everest. The weather has cooperated very well so far and all forecast look positve for May 12 and into May 13 before the winds start to increase in speed.

Team leader John Furneaux is stationed at the bottom of the Lhotse Face in Camp 2 monitoring the progress of the team as they proceed to the summit.

CWMS Trekking Guide Paul Head is in Everest Base Camp with the support team of Suresh, Adrienne and Christine. They will be staying up during the night along with the Base Camp staff to monitor the situation on the upper mountain and keep the Puja fire going.

Our thoughts are with the team during this next 36 hours as they make their way up, and back down safely.

Bill and Then Dorjee are doing very well at this point and feeling strong. The weather is cooperating, with forecasts showing that the jet stream will not be over Everest for at least a few more days – this means wind speeds will not be too high at the summit elevation.

John is planning on moving up from Camp 2 today to join Then Dorjee and Bill in C4 for the final summit push.

John and Bill have left Base Camp and are heading up to Camp 2 for today, May 8. Their schedule is:

• May 9 they plan to climb to Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face
• After a night in C3, they will move up to C4 at 7,750 meters, on May 10. They should arrive to C4 at the South Col in early afternoon on the 10th
• May 11 they will leave for the summit attempt late in the evening, most likely around 10 pm.
• Early in the morning of May 12th they hope to be on the summit of Mt Everest and then back to C4 for teh afternoon.
• May 13th they will descend back to C2
• May 14th back to Base Camp

This schedule is of course dependent on the weather. The current forecast looks good for the period from May 10-12, so we will all keep our fingers crossed!

Now they have descended back to the lower elevations, in fact all the way back to Kathmandu! After their stay at C2, they headed back to Base Camp, then hopped on a helicopter back to the Yak and Yeti Hotel in Kathmandu for a few days of R&R. This rest down at the lower elevations with good food, relaxing sleeps and oxygen-rich air is the perfect counterpoint to the days spent acclimatizing at higher elevations.

Helicopter arriving at Everest Base Camp

John and Bill heading back to rest in Kathmandu

Both Bill and John have been doing very well and feeling strong and healthy. The Sherpa teams on the mountain have been doing an exceptional job of getting the camps and fixed lines on the upper mountain ready for the summit push.

After a couple of days they headed back down the valley a ways and up onto a local training peak, Lobuche East. This is a wonderful mountain of 6,050 meters, providing a great chance to get out up into some thin air and work out the climbing systems before the real climb begins. Their ascent was without any problems, great weather on summit day. they left their high camp at 3 am and reached the top at 7:30 am, after a great climb on mixed rock and snow up to 70 degrees in steepness.

John and Bill on the summit of Lobuche East (6,050 meters)

Bill Borger, team Climber; Bill is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Bill has climbed extensively in North and South America, as well as Europe. This is Bill’s 1st Himalayan expedition.

John Furneaux, Team Leader and Mountain Guide. John is from Squamish, British Columbia, Canada.This is John’s 3rd Expedition to Everest, following his successful climbs in 2008 and 2010.

Raj, Expedition Sirdar and Base Camp Cook. Raj is from the Makalu region of the Nepalese Himalaya. This is the 5th Expedition that Raj had joined Canada West Mountain School on.

Then Dorje Sherpa, High Altitude climbing Sherpa. Then Dorjee is from the village of Pangboche in the Khumbu region of Nepal. He has been on the summit of Everest 7 times in the past, including on the Canada West Mountain School 2008 and 2010 expeditions.

Purbha Bhote Sherpa, High Altitude Climbing Sherpa. Purbha has climbed Everest many times and has joined our teams in 2008.

Dawa Finjo Lama, High Altitude Climbing Sherpa

Basu Pandit, Camp 2 cook. This will be the 3rd expedition that Basu will be joining us.

We will also have a team of trekkers joining the climbers in Base Camp in late April.

Paul Head, Canada West Mountain School trekking Guide. Paul is from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Paul has trekked in the Everest Region for the past few seasons, including leading a team of trekkers in 2010 in support of climber Rob Hill, on our 2010 Everest Expedition.

Suresh Sharma. Suresh is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Christina Smith. Christina is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Adreinne Morin. Adrienne is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Join us on this journey to Canada’s highest peak, Mt. Logan at 5,959 meters. Canada West Mountain School has been leading mountaineering expeditions up the Kings Trench for over 15 years, one of the classic routes of North Americas high mountain ranges. This moderate route up Mt. Logan is an excellent choice for mountaineers looking to experience a high altitude expedition in a remote and inspiring location!

Mount Logan is the 2nd highest mountain in North America, and is often compared to Alaska’s Mount McKinley as “a more spectacular mountain without the crowds”! Unlike Denali, Mount Logan sees very few ascents each year.