Month: May 2012

( via SMS to David Lim)   I’m now lying in Camp 2 ( 7900m) breathing oxygen at a flow rate of half a litre per minute. Feel great. Changed from a dead donkey this morning into a superman after some terrible sleep. I climbed to 7300m, and then turned on the O2 at a…

( by SMS to David Lim) Just in this morning around 7am Nepal time. Woke up to a nice day. Little wind at the moment. Terrible sleep at the North Col – as was expected. Leaving for the grind up to our Camp 2 which is now at 7800m.  Maybe take 8 hours   Axe…

( by SMS to David Lim) Wed May 16th 2012: At North Col. Quite tired on the way up ( about 600 vertical metres from ABC) carrying my sleeping bag, down suit, etc. Rest tonight and then tomorrow to Camp 2 at around 7400 or 7500m. Taking it day by day. Hope I regain strength…

( via SMS to David Lim) Left BC at 615am – arrived at ABC at 2pm. I hate this 17km walk. Hope its the last time. Few coughs in the team but everyone made it in their own times OK. Tomorrow – to the North Col. I feel good and cant wait for some climbing.…

“A ship in harbor is safe but ships were not built for that” Tomorrow we leave basecamp for the last time for the summit of the world. I am unsure of our exact schedule yet. But tomorrow we will make the long push, 17km and 1200m of vertical height gain from basecamp to advanced basecamp…

Summit day route Attached below is a zoomed up photo of the north east ridge of Everest – taken by myself from here at basecamp. I have zoomed in significantly on the high portion of the ridge and the route from high camp 3 at 8300m to the summit. Of particular interest are the three…

.Hi, As Grant gets to going down to BC after a successful 2nd acclimatisation round, I attach below an email I sent him exploring options. I thought it would be interesting for his legion of fans to understand how we ( as in Everest climbers) think about the days ahead. It’s a constant state of…

( via satellite telephone from Grant) Hot Off the Phone! Got a call from ‘da man’ just 10 minutes ago. They took about 5 1/2 hours from ABC to the North Col. A fine morning, leaving their tents at 8am and reaching the Col at about 120pm.  NO wind, but the afternoon overcast weather has…

( update by SMS via David Lim) Made in from BC to ABC in one day ( Friday) ! Knackering hike over 8 hours. Rest day today. Wind has stopped but snowing all day lightly. Tomorrow – we will aim to tag North Col. Poor sleep at ABC last night. Other then that, I  feel…

The most exciting thing that has happened to me in the last 5 days stuck here at basecamp is my pants caught on fire when I got to close to the heater. I can report there are no long term physical injuries except to my pants and my pride. I had been complaining for the…