Author: Grant ‘Axe’ Rawlinson

( by SMS to David Lim) Made Camp 3 in just over 2 ours from Camp 2 his morning. Relaxing in my tent while sipping on supplementary oxygen. Camp 3 is the highest campsite in the world! Was disappointed not to have found any bars open. I could do with a Tiger Beer – or…

At 8000 – 8850m, the weather today will be see wind picking up to 15km/h in the morning to 20km/h tonight, with the increasing wind continuing to 25km/h – 30 km/h tomorrow, dropping down a bit in the afternoon to 25km/h. There will be more snow showers with 6 – 8cm of fresh snow (…

( by SMS through David Lim) Update just in at 0837hrs Singapore time: Large Chinese team who have some members(slow) causing bottlenecks yesterday. A little worried about getting stuck behind them tonight. Great sleep at Camp 2. A little cold last night though.. Also developing piles  ( Editors note: eat your oats, Grant!) which is…

( 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…

Hello all, attached is some photo’s from the last ten days. You can click on each image to to enlarge and also hover your mouse over the image to see the name or caption of the image (I hope!). Cheers! Axe

The following is a day by day account of my recent acclimatisation cycle up to the North Col at 7000m. I am currently sitting in basecamp recovering and enjoying writing this blog in the sunshine, but ever present wind. I would like to thank David Lim for updating my blog from the Thuruya Sat phone…

( by SMS vis David) My plan is to spend one more day here at ABC and then wander back for a rest before the 2nd cycle. On the 26th, we’ll wander up part of the way towards North Col ( 7000m) and then bomb back to basecamp – long walk – but all downhill..…

( by SMS to David Lim) Today has been a rest day here at ABC. Reading Hillary Clinton’s book. ripped it in half to share with Margaret. People can’t sleep well owing to the jump in altitude. Windy.. Some sherpas are resting too – even they suffer from headaches. 2nd death reported from the south…