Moving UP

Hi!! As usual I have to be quick.

Days of resting are quickly turning into a week of climbing Mount Everest.

We have two teams moving up to camp 3. I am on the second team. Although I climbed Lobuche, I only did it once as opposed to most everyone else, but I do feel well enough acclimatized. That could change up high but I'm hoping for the best. I've been recovering from this annoying chest muscle tearing thing.... the good news is I've had a lot of time to recover and I am leaving tomorrow morning with 13 other climbers and Sherpas.

Oh, we did have a fantastic party in the white pod a few nights ago - didn't get to bed until 1am. I haven't done that in a while. It was fun watching the Sherpas sing and dance (and some of the guides and climbers).

Today we hiked to crampon point (where we put on our crampons before heading into the Icefall), about 25 minutes away at the regular Everest base camp. I saw Asian Trekking and was lucky to catch Apa Sherpa for some tea. I climbed Everest in 2007 with Apa and Lhakpa Gelu's company (WRET) that I'm told by Apa no longer exists. It was great fun seeing Apa again and meeting some of their climbers - Will Cross (a diabetic from Pittsburg who reached the top of Everest in 2006), Mogens Jensen (who I've actually met a few times - he climbed with Himex in 2005-2007, summited, and visited our camp 2 weeks ago). Apa looked the exact same as he did 2 years ago. He will be attempting his 19th summit (the most ever).

Our schedule is to climb through the Icefall to camp 1 tomorrow. Then to camp 2, where we will spend 2 nights. Then up the Lhotse Face to camp 3 for a night (that will be tough), followed by another night at camp 2. I will either be back at base camp on the 6th or 7th, depending on how acclimatized I feel. Right now I feel good... but we have MUCH higher to go!

The report on the mountain is that our first group is doing very well.

I'll write again in May.