HOME PAGE

NEWS - BLOGS

CLIMBING 

TREKKING

COURSES

SKIING

MOUNTAIN BIKING

NEPAL GENERAL

MEDIA

ADMINISTRATION

ABOUT US

Available to "ALL" climbers and travelers worldwide.

BEST RATES TO ANYWHERE FROM ANYWHERE!

  TRANSLATE PAGE

EVEREST TODAY    

OFFICIAL START DATE:  March 30, 2010' in Kathmandu

INTRODUCTION  - 2010' Team List  and  Who the heck are these people?

 Celebrating "25" safe successful summits: 10-participants and 15 sherpas!

Maintaining once again after 19 years in the Himalayas our 100% safety record!

Khalid  Sulaiman Alsiyabi - First Omani on the top of the world!

May 30, 2010: 22:45hrs (Nepal Time)

Everyone is accounted for and safe back in Kathmandu!!!... this marks the official ending of Peak Freaks Everest 2010. Everyone is so looking forward to reuniting with their loved ones at home. 

Thanks for following us, it's been an excellent adventure....   Tim & Becky Rippel

P.S. Still hinting for those summit shots to share...   

What's next?  Everest Training Climb on Mount Pumori October 4, 2010

May 29, 2010: 21:45hrs (Nepal Time)

Roll Call:

Everyone just about made it to Kathmandu. Mango, Brigid, Ade, Khalid and Angel are still in Lukla. They almost made it, last minute their flight was cancelled due weather so hopefully they will get out tomorrow. Everyone else is either in Kathmandu or on their way home.  

May 25, 2010: 21:00hrs (Nepal Time)

Just a quickie... busy doing post expedition details. Everyone is down at base camp except Angel and Fergus who are at Camp 1 and will be in base camp tomorrow. All members should be leaving BC tomorrow headed to Pheriche, then the next day to Namche Bazaar where they will get in touch.

I want to mention a great big thanks to all the members who did not summit. One of Tim's priorities that helps manage safety for all on this type of expedition is good dynamics and team work. It should be known to all our followers back home that the members that were wise and those whose health would not allow them to carry on, all played a very important roll in the success of the ones who were lucky and did manage to stand on top. 

Lifetime friendships, elements endured, fears conquered and lessons learned all created a positive vibe among the group- and that is the success of an expedition! 

Becky

May 24, 2010  21:00hrs (Nepal Time)

Roll Call:

Camp 2: 

1. Greg Jack

2. Fergus White

3. Angel Armesto

4. Khalid Sulaiman Alsiyabi

Base Camp:

1. Nasuh

2. Yilmaz

3. Ade

Members at Camp 2 are instructed by Tim to leave Camp 2 "very" early tomorrow morning to base camp, well before sunrise. The ice fall is proving to be very dangerous with warming spring temperatures. He reported that today there were two incidents. A sherpa from another team was hit and broke his arm and I think he said leg (?) The other one was a Mexican woman who took a fall with a chunk that let go. She fell 30 meters and walked away from it without injury. Wow!

Nasuh, Yilmaz and Ade will depart base camp tomorrow and head to Lukla over the next couple of days. The Camp 2 members will rest at base camp tomorrow then they will also start making tracks Lukla bound. There will be hundreds of climbers all doing the same thing over the next week. Lukla will be buzzing and so lets hope flights aren't hindered too much by the monsoon. If you don't hear from your climbers for up to a week from now that is because they are in between the crowds waiting for flights if bad weather sets in putting fog and cloud over Lukla's runway. They will get the flights in whenever possible. Tim has ordered earlier flights for everyone so it will be a wait and see. 

Our Sherpas are at Camp 1 and base camp after having brought big loads of equipment off the mountain. They rest tomorrow at base camp, celebrate with everyone, then go back up making one more push to clean everything off and more. 

I will continue to report here till the parties begin in Kathmandu. Stay tuned!  - Becky   P.S. I may have summit photos coming here soon too...

Summit List 2010:

1. Lucille deBeaudrap- Canada

2. Peter Solie- USA

3. Hugo Searle- USA/Wales (Guide)

4. Carina Raiha- Finland

5. Angel Armesto- Argentina (Guide)

6. Khalid Sulaiman Alsiyabi- Oman

7. Nasuh Mahruki- Turkey

8. Yilmaz Sevgul- Turkey

9. Dr. Greg Jack- Australia

10. Fergus White- Ireland

Plus:

15- Sherpas: Names TBA. Though we had more Sherpas, some didn't get the privilege to stand on top due to ferrying loads, carrying oxygen up to the South Summit and taking other climbers down throughout the expedition. They were all successful in what they do and we should not forget that. 

Biggest thanks goes out to our outstanding guides and sherpas for all their hard work and dedication to everyone's safety and success throughout this expedition. You're the best!

ROLL CALL: Khalid, Angel and Greg sleeping at C4. Yilmaz, Fergus, Nasuh sleeping at C2. 

Our Sherpas are also at Camp 4 resting in preparation for their last responsibility on this expedition in cleaning everything off the mountain. Then the party at base camp will begin.

DAILY BLOG  - THE SUMMIT PUSH IS ON!  Part 3

GREAT DAY!- May 23, 2010

NASUH MAHRUKI (Turkey) summited just after the last three and KHALID SULAIMAN ALSIYABI is the First Omani to summit Mount Everest at 12:30pm (Nepal Time) May 23, 2010.  Everyone is safely making their way down. Some members will go to Camp 4 while others will move to Camp 3 to get out of the wind.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!!..... They all worked very hard and were wonderful team mates working as a solid team throughout this expedition.

 Firsts this season for Peak Freaks is Carina Raiha-Finland, Khalid Sulaiman Alsiyabi for Oman and second summit, 15th anniversary of Turkey's First to climb Everest- Nasuh Mahruki.

Sherpa names will follow once Tim gets organized and has everyone back at base camp.

Proud and Happy- Tim and Becky Rippel

YILMAZ SEVGUL, ANGEL ARMESTO & GREG JACK-(Turkey, Argentina and Australia) SUMMIT!!...at 08:15hrs (Nepal Time) they call in from the top of the world.. Nasuh is about 20-minutes behind them. Khalid is at the South Summit expected to arrive in about 1 to 2 hours. He is doing really well and is strong. He had to take care of a Sherpa. The wind is starting to pick up on schedule but manageable. 

ADE, one of our long-time clients had his eye on Everest for sometime. By preparing for this climb he was able to heal and follow his dream. A crushed femur from a parachute accident during his military days set him back, but he never gave up. He is taking Everest each step at a time to watch the view unfold. He knows he won't summit but is enjoying the journey upwards till he meets his mates to congratulate them and go down with them. You make us proud Ade- good job! 

FERGUS WHITE -SUMMITS!! our Irish climber...just called in from the top of the world!!! He and 2 Sherpas are standing on top right now!!!- 07:00hrs (Nepal Time). The others are closing in from behind. Tim instructs him to take his picture and point those crampons down.... Stay tuned!

Our home... While the team have their heads down pushing towards the summit of Mount Everest, I decided to take this opportunity to introduce you to our home in interior British Columbia, Canada.  Our Sherpas are often amazed that in our country we do what we do here, because we love it. For them it is their only source of income for their entire year and they don't have choices up there. 

Take a moment to look around at why we love it. We have a log chalet that we built ourselves in the middle of it all. We rent it for both winter and summer activities. Skiing, biking, hiking, courses and much more. Enjoy the new issue: THE KOOTENAYS BEST TREKS!

• KOOTENAY GALLERY: 
• POWDERFUL PURCELLS: 
• RIPPEL'S WHITEWATER CHALET

May 22, 2010: 20:00hrs (Nepal Time)

ON THEIR WAY UP TO THE SUMMIT!  Angel, Fergus, Khalid, Ade, Greg, Nasuh and Yilmaz plus 11 Sherpas. Tim says they left an hour ago and everything is going well. The winds are nothing to speak of however they are expected to pick up around noon time. They are well aware of them and they aren't suppose to be extreme. Angel will call in once they reach the balcony. Tim estimates probably 80 to 90 going for the summit today on the south side. 

Here is a description of the four landmarks that the climbers will climb before reaching the summit.

THE SOUTH SUMMIT: Will be the climbers first small victory of the day, the South Summit is a ping pong table-size dome of snow and ice at 28,700 feet. From here the climbers can obtain the view of the final obstacles ahead of them: the Cornice Traverse, the Hillary Step, and the final slopes to the summit.  If it's late in the day or the weather is deteriorating, this is the place to make the all-important decision to turn around. 

THE CORNICE RIDGE: A 400- foot long horizontal section of rock and wind-carved snow, this is easily the most intimidating section of the climb. Climbers must carefully traverse a knife-edge ridge of snow plastered to intermittent rocks. This is the most exposed section of the entire climb, and a misstep to the right would send climber tumbling down the 10,000- foot Kangsung Face. A misstep to the left would send one careening 8,000 feet down the Southwest Face, were it not for the fixed ropes. 

THE HILLARY STEP: The most famous physical feature on Everest, the Hillary Step, at 28,750 feet, is a 40- foot spur of snow and ice. First climbed in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the Hillary Step is the last obstacle barring access to the gently angled summit slopes. Modern-day climbers use a fixed rope up here to ascend the Hillary Step. We marvel at Hillary and Tenzing's achievement in climbing this impressive mountaineering obstacle without fixed ropes and using what is now considered primitive ice climbing equipment.

THE SUMMIT!... the view from the top of the world.

STAY UPDATED... Tim will post immediately the summit of the climbers on Facebook. Once again I will be doing my ritual stress relief bike ride with the girls during this time but as soon as I get word I will race back to post here so I won't be that much behind. 

Cyclone Watch: Now lost it's punch and is moving eastward- yeah!... The monsoon seems to look manageable too. 

Photo: (1) Tim saying good-bye to Carina and Mingmar  (2) Hugo, Mingmar and Carina departing base camp in fine style. More photos coming as they are sent to me of the others...?

TREKKERS: They are all well on their way home now.. Sorry there wasn't much coverage. We kind of lost contact with regards to updates once Vanessa flew to Kathmandu with Yvette and then there were issues in Kathmandu with power etc. 

May 21, 2010 21:30hrs (Nepal Time)

SOUTH COL- CAMP 4 NOT LOOKING GOOD, for some teams that is.  The passing extreme winds trashed many teams tents. Lucky for us we decided to split Team 2 into two approaches making enough room for everyone last night. Some teams are reporting having lost everything. Our stoves, fuel, food and oxygen is all there. All our equipment thankfully is fine. Tashi Sherpa climbed up to Camp 3 bringing more tents with him as we learned of this. They will go up with Angel, Yilmaz, Nasuh and Greg and sherpas. Our Sherpas put the tents down and put rocks on them and the gear when they retreated on the 18th from the col, but the wind still managed to get underneath and do some damage. 

We are still on track with all that's been happening. We've tightened up the schedule considerably compared to the last push on the 17th. There won't be any laying around enjoying high altitude dreams this time. 

TEAM 2: 1st wave:  Khalid/Fergus/Ade and Sherpas are at Camp 4- they will stay there till the 2nd wave team catches up to them and lets them sleep till the evening of the 22nd, tomorrow.

2nd wave: Angel, Nasuh, Yilmaz, Greg are going to leave Camp 3 at 03:00hrs pulling into Camp 4 around noon. They will stay there, rest and eat till 18:00hrs which is the time all members will point their point crampons out the door and climb to the top of the world. The night of the 22nd is beautiful in the weather reports with wind picking up late morning early- afternoon of the 23rd. So like last time we want them down and out of exposed part of the climb before that time. 

In light of the condition of some of the other teams tents this might mean that the route will be quieter. Wait and see...  

You have to have a look through our friend and fellow Canadian climber/speaker, Jamie Clarke's video dispatches for Hainsbrand. They are really well done. Jamie and his cameraman Scott were just a few minutes behind our summit team on May 17 so you can see what it was like for our members at that time. Tim climbed with Jamie in 91' and 94' on the north side of Everest and they joined up on Pumori last autumn allowing them the opportunity to catch up. It's fun to watch and I like how Jamie manages to demonstrate that climbing Everest is not all about high drama, it also shows that these guys have a heck of lot of fun up there. CLIMB WITH US! 

Photo: Jamie (left) and Tim (right) on Pumori

Also for friends of Robert (Bob) Shepherd. His climb is over, his top of the world was the South Col which is an amazing feat for someone new to climbing. He is now on his way home.  Good on ya Bob... you have a heck of a lot of good friends, that I know :)

Hugo, Carina and Mingmar exited EBC village by helicopter today to Kathmandu, lucky them :)

May 20,20:48hrs (Canada PST)

CYCLONE TRACKING: That's my day today while the climbers sleep. Thanks to friends of the military and a test pilot, I have been turned on to a very cool tool to play with. There are actually two cyclone's, one named Laila and one Bhandu. Laila hit mainland India at about 1:40 killing 16 people before she moved northward around 5:30pm and then curved eastwardly over the Bay of Bengal again and will pick up speed once again before moving toward the Himalayas. The coastal areas of India evacuated 45,000 people. So in other words, the spin off winds that these climbers endured through the night were significant. I haven't heard from Tim yet but as the old saying goes "no news is good news".....

Here are two satellite images of the area to compare.

May 20, 21:45hrs (Nepal Time)

IT'S COMING!.. Tim reports lightening a big booms of thunder coming from the valley below created by the onset of the monsoon. It's a tad early and seems to happening that way more each year. That being our strategy trying to sneak in summits where ever and when ever possible because weather as seen all over the world, is changing. 

Now the big stress comes down on expedition leaders. We have a cyclonic monsoon and hundreds of climbers, the scenario we wanted to work around as much as we could and trust me, we tried! 

EVERYONE AT CAMP 3: We had a 3+ day window on the 15,16,17+. Tim got some figures today apparently from the Ministry reporting 92 summits during the latest window. Peter Hackett also tells Tim there were several cases of frostbite on the 18th so we are pretty happy with our climbers retreating and not going for the 18th, good call Angel and Tim. Tim's estimations are that possibly 300 climbers are on the push right now heading for the 22nd window and that's not counting Sherpas. He also said, "you should hear the squeal of the jet-stream up high". Angel reports it being super busy up there. For that reason we have split Team 2 to a sub-team. The more experienced and faster climbers will not move up to the South Col tomorrow because they don't need to live up there for 2 nights. They will stay at Camp 3, which is windy by the way and let the others move up and spend the two nights there allowing extra time to recoup their energy before the summit push. The four holding back are: Angel, Greg, Nasuh and Yilmaz. Then the next day these four will join at the Col with Khalid, Fergus and Ade and they will all push for the summit together the night of the 22nd summiting on the morning of the 23rd. 

NOW THE TRICKY PART.. Because of the monsoon approaching, basically all weather reports are changing by the second and we can only watch and try to dissect from it bits and pieces on how this will all play out. There could be lots of false starts in the next day or two and I think it would be safe to say that the season will be closed come the 26th. So this is it, another small window except now with way too many people. We'll give them their best shot for success, if it doesn't look good, we'll bring them home.- Becky

TA Loeffler says her goodbyes and helped plump up Team#1 and pump up Team #2 before leaving this  morning.  "Hi this is TA calling in from Everest base camp for the last time on this expedition.  We welcomed home our summiteers from all points higher than this, and hearing their stories, and seeing their pictures, and we are feeding them all kinds of new and interesting foods.  Not necessarily new to the expedition but new to them as they have not seen some of these foods in awhile, we are trying to get them all plumped up ....more" 

May 19, 2145hrs (Nepal Time)  GOING UP and GOING DOWN!   Tomorrow morning Team 2 will make the push to Camp 3 and base camp will be lonely for Mr. Social Tim Rippel. TA and friends, Martin, Hugo, Carina and Pete will be moving swiftly to Lukla to try and get out before the monsoon starts to hamper flights in and out of there, which happens every spring, and more so if expeditions are running late. It can get quite interesting when you get 300+ climbers all wanting to get out on one Twin Otter that might manage a small window during this time of year. Oh the stories we could tell from past experiences. 

The summit plan is as quoted below. Nothing has changed. We have been working our expeditions the past couple of years offering our climbers two nights at the South Col and have noted a few others are starting to do the same. 

The climb from Camp 3 to 4 (South Col) is pretty tiring on climbers. They are up there pretty high and doing it with low flow on their oxygen supplements. By the time they arrive at the South Col some can be pretty wasted. The body needs to recover and needs oxygen to do that. To allow for this our Sherpas have worked incredibly hard the past few weeks carrying extra food supplies and oxygen to provide this opportunity. They dig ledges for tents in sometimes epic conditions and end their day with their simple meal of choice, Dal Bhat (lentils and rice) and a card game. We managed to find this food for them in a "boil in a bag" to offer them the same quick preparation with the meal of their choice.

The muscle of the expedition- the Sherpas!!! Like I said before today's new way of climbing Everest quite simply wouldn't be without them. I love them to pieces and they are my heroes. They call me all kinds of things like sister -"didi" in Nepalese-and I was given a Sherpani name once but it was so long I forgot what it was. They joke to their wives that I am "boss". The wives chuckle because they know that means respect because they are "boss" too. The Sherpani wives are the money handlers, make business decisions and are the good woman behind all these men. Sherpa climbers are some of the most eligible bachelors in this part of the world and fast becoming so to western world's women too! Not at all surprising considering their work ethics and kind caring disposition. 

Photo: One more happy lady on the top of Mt. Everest this spring- Carina Raiha- Finland's First Female on top representing her country and her sponsor. Good work, great lady! Also a shout out to her for all her environmental involvement around the world. The WWF and more....  Hugo and Pete and Sherpa photos not yet received.

Photo: Ang Nima with his other boss Kami Rita in the kitchen of their lodge in Khunde. Ang Nima has trekked the Everest trail hundreds of times to pay for and build this lodge for their family. Kami Rita also runs a very nice store with Tibetan jewellery, Tibetan carpets, yak bells and more. The view from their location is breath taking. 

SATELLITE IMAGE: Here is a colourful link to a satellite image of the monsoon season coming in the direction of Everest.  http://www.mfd.gov.np/viewimage.php

There are six crux's to climbing Everest as we see it:

1. Getting flights and bags into Lukla

2. Crossing the icefall for the first time. 

3. Acclimatization rotations completed

4. Summit bid

5. Getting back down safely

6. Getting flights out of Lukla to Kathmandu during the monsoon.

May 18, 21:45hrs (Nepal Time)

Getting pumped at Camp 2: Team 1 has joined with Team 2 at Camp 2. Tim reports they are all having a great reunion once again and are getting pumped listening to Team 1's tales from the summit. 

Tim was busy today doing inventory on our mountain food lists to insure all camps have adequate supplies for the second push and talking with Team 2 members to asses their endurance levels and mental preparedness. Looking good.... 

After talking with some of the other operators it looks like there will be large numbers all pushing for the 22nd of May, leaving the South Col the night of the 21st. Though they are also splitting their groups there are the smaller teams that will likely go for the first window so it will probably be a heavy use day. 

Our team is comfortable where they are and are grateful they don't have to go through the icefall again till the home stretch as it's heating up pretty good down there. They are opting for the 23rd of May for their summit push hopefully once again dodging crowded ropes. This means leaving the South Col the night of the 22nd, a hopeful quieter day. 

TEAM 2- Summit Push Schedule:

• May 20: Climb to Camp 3
• May 21: Climb to the South Col, rest, sleep full day here.
• May 22: Summit push- night of..
• May 23: On the summit

Camp 2 is going to buzz with activity tomorrow as the crowds start checking in and Peak Freaks will be there to greet them. Tim also adds that wind at Camp 2 is non existent, it's calm, but you can see the jet stream is up on the summit. It should should be checking out of the area the morning of the 21st from our predictions. Now we have to watch the monsoon moving in on schedule and the snow it brings with it. Always a balancing act when it comes to climbing big mountains.

May 17: UPDATE: There may be more summit pushes tonight by other teams taking in the 18th window. Our TEAM 2 climbers are all down at Camp 2 looking at their attempt possibility as early as May 21. In the meantime they will hydrate, eat and sleep at C2. Nice place to hang out till the on coming winds pass over. We have a pretty sophisticated camp set-up there. Dinning tents, toilet tent, kitchen and hot meals prepared for them daily. 

May 17, 21:45hrs (Nepal Time) 

Tim checks in: Hugo, Carina and Pete safely down to the South Col and sleeping there for the night. Angel and team are at Camp 2 sleeping now as are a few other summit members from other teams. All is good. The high wind is expected to be pushed off the summit again May 21. Stay tuned!

Forgot to add that Mingmar Sherpa and three other Sherpas names TBA all summited too.

May 17, 11:45hrs (Nepal Time)

Hugo, Pete and Carina are now below the balcony and in excellent condition. 

Team 2 has made the decision to retreat and wait for a new window. Some are at Camp 3 right now and some are on their way to Camp 2. This one is now coming into the wind that we predicted during this window and it's best to see what the next one brings considering the teams movements thus far. I can now see the monsoon moving up the Bay of Bengal via satellite imagery and it's right on schedule. We haven't picked a summit day yet for the next push for the rest of the team but will keep you posted here. 

Vanessa reports from Kathmandu: Everyone is back in the capital city, the Maoist imposed strike is over and the streets are "very" quiet, hardly any tourists compared to her lasts trips. She is going to upload some photos soon. I the meantime some participants are going to do the Everest Scenic Flight to look back on where they have just come from. Fun thing to do after a trek up there.

Becky  

WE HAVE SUMMITS!!!!!!      Hugo/Carina/Pete on top just this minute...  19:23pm (PST CANADA) 08:10am (NEPAL TIME)... Carina is on the phone to the President of Finland in 2 seconds... CONGRATULATIONS YOU THREE!!!

They report quite a few people on top and the Finland Press and the other Peak Freak members TA and friends and Martin here at camp are tipping the beers....  Over and Out... Tim

Wait a minute, it's morning still, beer?  As we all know the climb is only half way, the real success is getting off the mountain. More to come as I get it on their progress and Team 2's plan.  - Becky

May 17,2010: 05:45hrs (Nepal Time)

Hugo checks in:  Hugo, Pete and Carina are at the South Summit and doing well. Three hours ahead of the safety net turn around time. Our weather report has been on the money so far since they left base camp so that gives me confidence that this will all work to plan. Tim predicts they will be on the summit in about 2- hours. 

Now we will wait to see if the afternoon wind will come that we have been observing and make further decisions on team 2. A possible change of plan if they are feeling up to it and can hunker down for the afternoon winds approaching. Nothing like adding an added twist to the tension....  the joy of watching instead of climbing.... 

Back to you soon... Becky

May 17, 2010: 02:30hrs (Nepal Time)  No news... this is a good thing.. they will only dig out the radios if there is something to report other than still climbing. 

May 17, 2010: 22:00hrs (Nepal Time)

Sorry folks for the late reply on such an important day. Tim just called in after organizing himself for the night beside the base station and was busy talking with Sherpas and the team.

Hugo, Carina and Pete are on their way to the summit. 

Angel's group is at the Col (Camp 4) but they were quite tired upon arrival and haven't recovered enough for what we would expect before a summit push. After a few conversations it is decided it would be too risky to move up not feeling 100% because there is a significant spike in the wind now showing for the afternoon and being late on getting out of the way of it is not an option so they would be turned around if moving slowly. A decision has been made to retreat and climb in the next window since we have allowed enough resources, oxygen etc. for two attempts. 

This works well for them now being super acclimatized for the next push having spent the night at the Col. They also have the option of picking up Martin again.  I understand that the Chinese team fixing the route on the north side has summited and there are quite a few others going for the push right now on the south side.   

We will keep you posted with the trio and their sherpas as they progress.  Keep in mind they have had two nights now at the Col so they are feeling terrific. - Becky

May 16,2010: 08:30hrs (Nepal Time)

Tim and Angel check in:  Angel, Fergus, Greg, Ade, Bob, Khalid, Nasuh and Yilmaz were at the yellow band when Angel called in to report that the weather is amazing, no wind whatsoever and everyone is moving up to the Col in good speed. 

Tim said Hugo hadn't called in from the South Col yet but is confident that the three of them, Hugo, Carina and Pete were probably busy boiling up water and likely feeling pretty good as they would have been sucking on oxygen all night. I will report on their status when I hear. 

Tim added that when he talked to Hugo last night he said there were surprisingly quite a few climbers up there with them at the col. TA also told Tim that she passed quite a few going up on the Lhotse face to Camp 3 yesterday when she was coming down. 

You have to remember that the blogs and regular posts you see each year are not the only ones climbing Everest. There are many independent climbers and teams from around the world that don't communicate with the outside on their climbs. This news combined with the higher winds that traditionally pickup around noon, we will want to make sure everyone is going down no later 09:00hrs. Tim has a good contingency plan to make sure everyone gets off the mountain and our team is working very well as a cohesive team and not just individually. By the time I post this all of our Sherpa muscle will have already arrived at the South Col....... Weather is looking good and the team is looking good!

So tonight sometime between 21:00hrs and 23:00hrs our team which will now be one, will be making their summit push and hopefully arrive around 06:00hrs if all goes well. 

I will keep you posted as we get news. Don't feel like something is wrong if there are long spells between posts, as in several hours of not hearing anything. Tim would get quite upset with me when I wanted to chat with him and he was climbing. It is very cold and standing still to dial a call is a very difficult task up there and we will keep the pressure off them to focus on the climb and staying warm. That's one reason SPOT is such a great tool. 

I am going to get some sleep now and Tim has instructions to wake me at anytime if and when there is some news to share. There really shouldn't be anything to report till they start moving in about 11 hours from now. But never say never.... good night!

Becky

TA checks in: 

Tim and Angel and Hugo check in:  Team 1 is all now Camp 3 minus one since our last report. Martin turned back on the Lhotse face due to cold hands (smart decision). Hugo, Carina and Pete are at the South Col and have decided to stay there and wait for the others and climb together tomorrow tightening up the team and our resources and do the push all together with all the members and Sherpas since there are no line-ups. The weather is good, the calmer winds have turned to a bit more wind for the evening. The team will report in the morning on how the night winds play out tonight. This will give them a good idea on what to expect for the summit push, tomorrow, May 17. There are other teams up for the same window, but manageable sizes.

Tim added that our members are smart climbers, there won't be anyone throwing themselves at the mountain for a summit and that there is another window available to them if things don't work out. They have options by taking advantage of this first window. 

I will add that not for one moment was this summit bid launched for the purpose of one climber's aspirations as we explained in an earlier report from the other Finn's supporting team, where they referred to a "gentlemen's agreement" that never was.

 Quote from our previous report below:   "I think it is clear or should be that each expedition operates independently. It would be ludicrous to suggest that we would compromise our entire teams chance at the summit and our logistics based on another leaders decision and a competition between two climbers."

Everyone is doing well, tired and tucked in for a good snooze. TA and Martin are now down at base camp. 

WEATHER REPORT:  Winds decreasing (fresh winds from the W on Sat afternoon, light winds from the N by Sun night).

May 15: MIDNIGHT IN CANADA: Since I can't seem to sleep worrying about how the families at home can't sleep because of Everest coverage sites reporting using the "dangerous weather" in reference to us leading their loved ones into danger, putting fear into those at home, add an email from very concerned wife doubting our credibility because of it, I came across Phil Crampton's explanation of how his previous report may have misled reporters. So if you're a family member burning the midnight candle with me, have a read, get a good night sleep and save the staying up all night part for Sunday and Monday to celebrate with us. Altitude Junkies-Phil Crampton.   Also read my side note at the bottom of our May 15 report.

May 15, 08:00hrs (Nepal Time) BEAUTIFUL DAY! 

Our reports are showing our window of opportunity to be gaping wide open. This is the same window we had our eyes on a week ago. If our members are able to stay strong they will be reporting a good stomp to the top with more than plenty of time to retreat in light winds, if not calm, all taking place over a 3 to 4 day span. I am really happy for them and pleased our predictions on the weather pattern is playing out for us. With the change of the winds comes precipitation in the form of snow. Typically this time of year precipitation doesn't reach high on the mountain. On the afternoon of the 19^th from what we see, it looks like the window may shut abruptly for a spell with the return of high winds. 

Tim confirms it is beautiful day at base camp and without a huff of wind at time of his call. Our teams up on the mountain are happy climbers. All except for TA who just called in to Tim from the Lhotse face to tell him her climb is very sadly over. We will let her tell her story when she's back down. Amazing woman with much to offer the world and this experience of hers will be yet another great chapter.  

Team 2 is currently moving to C3 and by the time I post this they will probably already be there. Team one is taking their time waiting for their arrival as there isn't any rush to move to the South Col till later. They will reunite and get each other pumped. Team 2 will sleep here tonight while Team 1 saunters up the South Col later on to try and get some sleep from now until about 11:00pm this evening. No rush to go earlier as the route is all theirs and possibly fellow Canadian climbers Jaime Clarke and his cameraman Scott Simper may be with them.

Next move will happen the same way for Team 2 starting tomorrow. They should be on top on the early morning of May 17. Both teams have plenty of time to get back down, even an extra day if needed.

Watch here for summit news on May 16 around 06:00hrs and May 17 same time, same place.  We don't have Spot on this one but we'll do our best posting as frequently as we can. 

WINDS: BC- Calm   Summit: May 15 afternoon average 15klm  May 16 average 15klm to 10klm  May 17 5klm to 15klm May 18 5klm to 25klm - beautiful climbing conditions! May 19 25k to 50klm upwards  .... 

May 14, 2010: 21:40hrs (Nepal Time)

Roll Call: 

CAMP 3:

• Hugo

• Pete 

• Carina

• 4 Sherpas plus back-up, Mingmar is Carina's personal Sherpa. Many PFE clients know him well. He is our top dog in safety and experience. He worked along side Tim during the rescue in 2008. We trust he will provide good guidance and not take unnecessary risks. He is well aware of the consequences and has lovely children he also wants to get home to. I'm sorry but I don't have the other 3 sherpa names at the moment. 

Camp 2:

• Angel

• Bob

• Khalid

• Fergus

• Greg

• Martin

• Ade

• Nasuh

• Yilmaz

• TA

The weather seems to be cooperating with the forecast so far. If it continues to read true for tomorrow the first wave will climb to the South Col, sleep on oxygen and push for the summit arriving early morning on the 16th. This plan puts the lesser of the winds on the way down which is the best case scenario for safety for both them and their back-up team.

I just read a post that Carina's competitor has been called down to base camp. I also read a couple of things we will clarify. 

Altitude Junkies leader Phil Crampton posted that there was a gentlemen's agreement that didn't work out suggesting it was between he and Tim stating both of them should start the girls at the same time from the South Col. I asked Tim about this. There was no such agreement, only joking comments on how that might be an unusual way to climb Everest. Another post from Alan Arnette's site posted that Ann-Mari's supporting Finns at base camp are calling deceit on our team. 

I think it is clear or should be that each expedition operates independently. It would be ludicrous to suggest that we would compromise our entire teams chance at the summit and our logistics based on another leaders decision and a competition between two climbers. They announced they were holding back for the late window, we opted for the earlier one based on crowd control strategies. Our intentions with the night flight was as mentioned earlier to lessen the pressure on our client. Though we knew she would still be clumped together with our support network at the end of the day, it helped relieve her anxiety to get out there on the mountain ahead of us and we supported her. It was the best medicine for her at the time and it seems to be paying off so far.

Photo: Mingmar Sherpa

May 14, 2010: 11:00hrs (Nepal Time)

Hugo checks in from Camp 3: They just arrived and with him is Pete, Bob and Carina. All is good, windy but tolerable. Carina was wanting to move to the South Col today but Tim explained to her there was no point. She wouldn't be able to go higher because of the wind which would mean she would be just sitting up there sucking on oxygen when she didn't need to and that she would be more comfortable with her team mates at Camp 3. She agreed. Ann-Mari the other Finn attempted to go to the Col but ended up turning around. 

Tomorrow Hugo, Pete, Carina and Bob will move up to the South Col. The rest of the team will move up to Camp 3. Everyone is feeling good and there are Sherpas moving up and down easily so the winds are not hindering things as bad as some reports have indicated. 

Photo: Peak Freaks Camp 2

May 13, 2010: PAPARAZZI.... dang it!..  YES OUR SUMMIT PUSH IS ON!

NARROW WINDOW: This word is bouncing all over the news these days describing the ideal weather window for a summit opportunity. If it is narrow, our thinking is keep the team small. Like Lucille's push for the summit with her friend Domhnall, no line-ups, no problem, she went for it. The small window was a good window, no wind as you can see in her summit photo holding three flags.  Most windows are small, the one we see right now is small but it works for us considering our size, who is also there and our large sherpa support.  

There are other factors of weather that should be considered with a weather report. Local factors, things like precipitation, lakes and geography. An example is the wind that hit base camp the other day came up and over from the Lo La pass. So our Camp 2 is in good shape and the Sherpas at Camp 3 haven't reported any problems. 

Our summit dates are set for May 16 first wave, May 17 second wave. Tomorrow Hugo, Peter and Bob are heading up to Camp 3, the rest will follow the next day. 

TA is up at Camp 1. It was iffy if she would be well enough to go for it.  Her friends Marian and Nadia showed up at BC so Tim put them on the radio with her to give her a send off and let her know they are there for her when she comes down.  

Keep in mind weather can change at anytime and so do summit decisions. Stay tuned!   - Becky

May 12, 2010: SUMMIT PLAN FOR "2010"

Now that the team have all successfully completed their acclimatization rotation and health issues for some have been resolved, we are able to lay down the plan for our Mount Everest 2010 summit bid.

We will run with two summit push teams. One will be led by PFE guide Hugo Searle from the US, originally from Wales. The second wave team will be led by PFE guide Angel Armesto from Argentina.  Hugo's group will be the first wave followed by Angel's. 

Both Hugo and Angel are loaded with all their ammunition to make Everest 2010 a hopeful safe and successful journey to the top and back again. Their med kits are loaded and their summit fever thermometers are ready for detection and rope rescue skills are dialled. 

To add to their expertise we have the super power who has everyone's backs and have demonstrated time and time again their dedication and sacrifices they make of their own safety to save a lives. We have 7 personal sherpas and 16 climbing sherpas.  Everyone will have 1:1 sherpa/client ratio on summit day and members who opted for a personal sherpa will have 2:1. In other words we are loaded. 

This makes up two teams, 2 western guides and 23 Sherpas, providing plenty of man power in the event of a rescue and to also provide extra staff for our annual contribution in cleaning up Everest from the past.  We tell our clients that when folks from home ask about the garbage on Everest, they can let them know that by climbing with Peak Freaks you are in fact cleaning the mountain off from mistakes made in earlier years. 

This plan puts Tim at base camp to better enable him to handle base communications in Sherpa with Ang Karsung's help and to better communicate with our western guides and clients throughout their summit push.  We waited to organize this plan till Tim had the opportunity to climb to Camp 3 with everyone to assess their abilities and speed and ability to endure. He is impressed with the teams movement and speed on the mountain and has balanced out everyone to make a workable plan.  His priority this season will be clear communications of the big picture during the critical stage of the climb, decision making and rescue should the need arise. All rescue plans in place and PRAXES Emergency Medical doctors will be on full alert when the summit push begins. Here's the line up:

TEAM 1:

•  Hugo Searle- Guide -USA

•  Khalid AlSiyabi- Oman

•  Peter Solie- USA

•  Carina Raiha - Finland

•  Robert Shepherd- Scotland/Australia

•  Dr. Greg Jack- USA/Australia

•  Fergus White- Ireland

TEAM 2:

•  Angel Anrmesto- Guide - Argentina

•  Ade Petitt- UK

•   Martin McHugh- UK

•   TA Loeffler - Canada (Pending health)

•   Yilmaz Sevgul- Turkey

•    Nasuh Mahruki- Turkey

OTHERS:

• Lucille de Beaudrap- Canada- Summited May 7- left for home.
• Dr. Amit Koetcha- UK- home
•  Nawal Saighal- UK- home
• Mark Mangles- AU- on his way home due health.

This accounts for everyone on the Everest 2010 list. 

TREKKER INCIDENT: Base Camp trekker Yvette Levielle was evacuated near Gorak Shep, just below Everest Base Camp to Kathmandu today. You can read Vanessa's report on the EBC Trek team page.  Mango and Nasuh happened to be in the area and provided their assistance as well, our partner Sonam Lama in KTM dispatched the helicopter and organized an ambulance to meet them at the airport. The entire rescue was complete within 4-hours. Good work everyone! 

BODY REMOVAL Removal of the three bodies took place today. One in the ice-fall and two in the lower fall/base camp area.  

FISHTAIL HELICOPTER EXTREME ATTEMPT- The new rescue helicopters we spoke of earlier attempted a lift of the deceased Russian Lhotse climber today up at 21,000 + feet. I'm not sure of the exact altitude but it was high. Their attempt was unsuccessful due to high winds pushing it around. They will come back in a day or so and try again. 

HIGH WINDS TODAY: Tim commented that base camp really got kicked by wind today around 14:00hrs Nepal Time. It has quit now but it created a stir with everyone running around securing camp. 

All in all a busy day today. - Becky

Photo: Hugo Searle

May 11, 2010: Texas Hold 'Em-  or rather Summit Hold 'Em... The card game of choice was full on this evening when my call came in from Tim and team. They were all gathered around laughing and throwing comments over the satellite phone to me, too funny!  

They are all so very grateful for the Sherpa mail they received today. I spoke to Ade for a moment and he sends out mountain size appreciation to his mom and for the letter, he says, "I love you mom"...  Martin said "thanks for the power bill" TA says she is feeling quite well now and is looking forward to meeting up with her friends tomorrow who are still in the area. Mango had Tim laughing so hard he could barely talk to me and Tim is apparently winning the game. The good thing is it sounds like they are all having a good time which is key during the waiting the game. Trekker Keith made it to base camp, yeah! The trekkers are all tucked in bed now and the climbers will burn the candle tonight till Tim takes all their money :)

The winds are intense right now even at base camp. We have Sherpas at C2 manning the tents up there to make sure things don't get torn up or blown away. It's near 100Klm per hour on the summit. 

Photo: Lucille's summit shot with her friend Domhnall on the Summit May 7th. Holding the "Learn for Life" banner, "Star" banner and of course the "Canadian flag".  

May 10, 2010: Trekkers arrived!!! "Everyone except Tania who retreated to Namche and Keith who needed to lay low for a day so. He's in Gorak Shep just below base camp. We are calling down tomorrow to see if he is feeling up to coming up tomorrow. If so, one of our Sherpa guides will go down and walk up with him.  So right now 11 of them are here and come tomorrow possibly their will be 12.  

Good job Vanessa!!!.. They battled the inconveniences in Kathmandu with the Maoist imposed strikes on business, communications and transportation. They battled some colds and managed to get around the Maoist rebels who were extorting money from the locals and tourists in the Khumbu. They battled headaches due to acclimatization and rightfully so are proud to be here. They will stay one more night allowing time for Keith to catch up and experience base camp with them and then retreat the next day. Some of the trek group members will take in a summit of Kala Pattar on the way down on May 12th.

Bodies from Everest... There is another one surfacing right by our camp. The authorities came over today to discuss what to do about it. We covered it with a tarp until some sherpa boys from below are organized to come and start working the remainder of it out of the ice and dispose it the traditional way by cremation. 

These bodies are from the old expeditions that were left here if they had died. You have to remember that many of the workers then were from below Jiri or below Lukla. It would have meant several days walk to carry a body out. It only made sense in those times to leave people who died up here. They were buried in the lower icefall crevasses. Many of the deaths were not so much climbing accidents but altitude and other illnesses. Ideally the Nepalese people would have wanted their love ones cremated at that time but there is no wood up here.

That's all for now, over and out.... Tim "

May 9, 2010: Learn For Life trekkers arrive tomorrow!!! This struck me as a good time to ask our followers to support the Learn For Life scholarship program that trek leader Vanessa Higgott and Peak Freaks partnered on to give back to this beautiful countries people. Year after year trekkers and climbers visit here and leave with deep heartfelt feelings inside of them that makes them want to help. We are hoping this will be an avenue in helping people do that. The good thing about this project is you get to see where the money goes. So much aid gets lost these days and we won't let that happen here. 

It just so happens that Lucille de Beaudrap is one of the L4L program sponsorship participants, you can sponsor in her name by clicking on this Sponsor Tag. Please consider helping us celebrate Lucille's summit by supporting the "Learn for Life" Scholarship Fund" she is very pleased to know that her success on Everest can be used in this way.  

Vanessa's Photo: Six ladies dancing

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL MOM'S AT HOME!!!  We love you, miss you and will be careful.

Tweak day!... "The Sherpas and our western members were busy today tweaking tents. Both the communal tents and their personal tents. Remember we are living on a moving bed of ice that is melting and shifting day and night and that we have been here for a month now.  It happens slowly so you don't notice till one day it occurs to you that your tent is oddly positioned on top of a hill that was once flat ground and your gear keeps shifting to one side and you on top of it. Or, you find yourself rolling out the door instead of crawling out. Time lapse photography proves to be interesting here. 

After the work was done other members went exploring, looking for more artefacts, bones and more.  Pete will know doubt have found more garbage to pack out of base camp. He is a renowned mountain garbage sweeper back home. His friends at home are commenting on how he always leaves for the mountains with a full pack and always comes home with a significantly fuller pack of garbage.

Lucille has made the decision to pack up and head home. She was torn wanting to stay and cheer the rest of the team on but is also very anxious to get home to her loved ones. On her way out she will be sending us her summit photo to share on the blog. We transferred a copy onto my disk so I can provide proof for her as it is now required by the ministry to obtain a summit certificate.  

Angel is back in the house and has brought news of the trekkers. He met with them on the trail and hiked with them for a bit. Everyone except for Tania will be checking into their BC accommodations tomorrow. Tania was not doing too well with altitude and has retreated to Namche where she will be more comfortable waiting there for the others. Over and out- Tim"

Extreme Quarantine now in effect:  We have news that some of the trekkers had colds and because of this potential and our willingness to want to share this adventure with others. We establish a dinning tent separate from the climbers at this stage of the climb. They have their own sleeping tents, toilet tent and shower that no one else will use. All the dishes will be hard boiled and everything that they may come into contact with will be scrubbed and disinfected and if it can't be it won't be used used again in the time remaining of this expedition. There won't be any hugging or even hand shaking and visiting will be outside in the open air only. This action is critical at this stage of the game. Exciting times ahead, Sherpa mail on it's way :) - Becky

Photo: (1) Khalid's photo high above Base Camp  (2) Fergus White - Our Irish participant (3) checking in from Pheriche.

May 8, 2010: (21:00hrs Nepal Time)

"Lucille de Beaudrap is back safe and sound at base camp. Our Sherpas who had positioned themselves at the south col met up with Lucille and Tshering Sherpa on their descent from the summit in the event assistance was needed. All Peak Freak Sherpas and western team members are safely hunkered down at base camp. 

The team enjoyed our first summit celebration party tonight. The team was anxious to be part of it so they all came back from Pheriche. Right now they are watching a movie and winding down for the night. 

We are in holding pattern waiting for high winds to pass clearing the way for our summit bid a week from now. So until then there isn't much to say on the climbing front. No one from the Peak Freak team is on the mountain." Over and out!  Tim 

Trekkers are at Dingboche now. Report coming later today.  

Photo: Peak Freak abandoned Camp waiting for the storm to pass.

Legends of the tall... there are few of them floating around the Khumbu this spring. You just never know.... part of the fun of being here.

TREKKER UPDATE, as promised: I have put a page for trekker progress as this page is expected to get very busy with climber news in the days to come. Enjoy!

First teaser for you is a photo of Ang Nima and our mid April private trek group with Dick Bass and team. Dick Bass for those that don't know is the owner of Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah and the first man to climb the "Seven Summits"  the tallest mountain on each continent

Vanessa and team now sleeping in Debouche, for photos and stories that will follow refer to the new trek page:

 MAY 1 - EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK.  

May 7, 2010: (20:45hrs Nepal Time)

A very tired Tim checks in:  Lucille is now at Camp 2 and feeling good. She is with TA who is also currently and a bunch of our sherpas at C2. Lucille said she wants to come down to BC tomorrow and Tim asked that she just gets a good sleep for now and they will talk about it in the morning. 

Lucille's husband Ted also very tired checks in with his report: 

"I just got off the phone with Lucille. She descended all the way down to Camp 2 and is surrounded by other members of her expedition and being congratulated left and right. She sounded excellent, in good spirits, and confirmed for me that all ten fingers and ten toes are all OK. She did not know her Spot was off, and will send an OK message soon. She will also call Gabcast later."

Anyways, this is the update we have all been waiting for. All is well. I'll leave the rest for Lucille to report."

Message for the rest of the team down the valley who are following the blog: You are requested to be back in base camp on the 11th.  Over and out-  Tim

Sorry trekker followers, you got bumped on the news during the Lucille summit push, I will be making it up to you later today- Becky.

May 7,  2010:  (11:30hrs Nepal Time)

Lucille is now below the balcony out of the wind and is very tired. Just a bit more for them to go then she can crawl inside her tent, get hydrated and some much needed rest.  

FIRST PEAK FREAK EVEREST 2010 SUMMIT SUCCESS We just received confirmation that Canadian climber Lucille de Beaudrap reached the summit just after 06:00hrs May 7, 2010 (Nepal Time) with her Personal Sherpa Tshering Sherpa. With her is her friend Domhnall O'Doughartaigh and his accompanying Sherpa climber. 

They are on their way down and sherpa support is on their way up to the south col should they need assistance. We don't know what happened to her Spot Tracker earlier. There is still a mountain ahead of them in getting down. I'll save tipping that glass of wine till I hear she is off the mountain. Congratulations Lucille, Tshering and the other two!!!

Trekker update will come later... please check back. They are well. I have some photos for you.

May 6, 2010-(20:00hrs Nepal Time) Summit push right now- live!!! 

SPOT TRACKER

Lucille de Beaudrap and Tsering Sherpa are going for the summit right now! We are carefully watching her on spot.  

ROLL CALL:  

Mango: Is still at BC. On May 9 he is going to go up to C2, then C3, down to C2 and push for the summit from there rather than coming down through the icefall to BC again. 

TA: Is at C2 and will be going to C3 tomorrow, she is doing ok.

Everyone else is either at BC or making their way back to BC from Pheriche.

Pete got away from base camp to go exploring. He walked down alongside the glacier towards the lower end and came back with some photos and stories of his find. He came across a body that has melted out of the glacier. I asked Tim if he was sure it wasn't an animal? he said  "oh no, it has fingers, arms, clothes and Pete took some pictures. Pete was pretty excited about it and tomorrow Bob is going back with him to explore more. He also found antique tents pegs. "

Weather: High winds are expected to creep in on the 8th, very high winds and extreme wind chill factor for the 9th, 10th, 11th.. It is hopeful it will back off come the 12th or 13th. We are ready, all camps are loaded up with oxygen and food we just need the weather window now. In the meantime Tim has been circulating around the other guides trying to get an idea on who is going when as to not overcrowd the mountain with everyone going at the same time. The balancing act part of leading an expedition here.  

This season we have two climbers attempting to be the FIRST to stand on top of Everest for their country. Khalid Alsiyabi from Oman and Carina Räihästä from Finland. Both had competition this year for the title, Carina still does but Khalid does not. The other Omani climber who had joined with another team became ill. He went home about two weeks ago. 

Today we would like to introduce Khalid. We first met Khalid when he joined us on Pumori last autumn. He is doing everything right to make it happen. We are impressed.

Jangbu Sherpa from Solo Khumbu is his personal Sherpa again this year. They became good friends last season on Pumori and will hopefully share the summit platform together in the days to come. It has been a pleasure climbing with Khalid. We trust he will do well.

To read learn more Khalid and his aspirations to build a active climbing community in his homeland of Oman, please refer to his bio on our members page: KHALID ALSIYABI

KHALID LOADED A BUNCH OF PHOTOS TODAY. Check my Facebook to have a look.

Photo:(1) Khalid (yellow) and Jangbu Sherpa (blue) working it. (2) Bill Gates congratulating Khalid for his achievements thus far and wishing him good luck.

May 5, 2010: Route to the summit is complete- 9 Sherpas have summited!

"However they did run out time to fix the rope down from the balcony making it safe for the large numbers of summit bids that are expected in the next week. They need a rest and then will be back at it to complete it. We will keep you posted. 

Lucille is at Camp 3 and is planning on pushing up to Camp 4 at 02:00hrs, she will rest there, sleep on oxygen and then go for the summit. If all goes well for her she would summit the morning of May 7 and needs to get back down quickly as there are high winds starting to pick up on the 8th. 

The strongest winds are expected to hit on the 10th thru till the 13th. We are still looking at a window around the 15th to 18th for the rest of the team." - Tim

TA has made it to Camp 2 @ 6500m above sea level, all is well, feeling strong, wishes she had ice cream.

VANESSA CHECKS IN: Maoist now causing problems in the Khumbu!

May 5, 2010: Namaste from Namche Bazaar: Today's training hike was great, everyone is still doing really well. Yvette blazed the trail and kept a good pace for us to follow.

Just minutes above Namche, Ang Nima, Lhakpa and Dawa had built a Churung for Guy Leveille. Yvette and I along with Ang Nima, Lhakpa and Dagman climbed off the trail to see the beautiful stone memorial that they had built. Yvette pulled the mani stone out of her pack, I had some pictures of Guy, and we each had little notes that we had composed to him. As Ang Nima placed the mani stone with great care, Yvette and I each wrapped a khata around it. The gentlemen strung some prayer flags from the rock above, and we lit some incense, and had a good cry. They couldn't have picked a more beautiful spot, overlooking Namche, high on a rock above the trail, a truly fitting and awe-inspiring place, for a person who meant so much to so many people.  It felt so right to do this.  NOTE: Guy Leveille- Canadian climber and good friend to Tim and Peak Freak members far and wide, died on Cho Oyu while climbing with with another operator in 2008. His spirit still climbs with everyone today. We miss him dearly.

I am pleased to say that no one is feeling any altitude sickness, though there have been a few headaches

 including my own. The visit to the hospital in Khunde was great, everyone had their oxygen levels checked and we were all over 80%, some as high as 91 (go Hugo!).  We had a large duffle bag of donated supplies from Canada which they were happy to receive.

A visit to Ang Nima's house for a wonderful lunch was followed by a presentation of khatas to everyone.  I think the group was pretty pleased with that.  We then moved on to Lhakpa's where I was so thrilled to see his father, at 91 years old, was still there, smiling away.  We gave Tsiring, Lhakpa's 15 year old son, some clothes and colouring books.  Lhakpa was only too pleased to serve everyone tea.
When Tsiring started presenting everyone with khatas again, I know each of us was truly touched.  What a great afternoon!

The school in Khumjung has been shut down for fear of repercussions from the Maoists.  It will be at least a week before it is open, likewise in Namche.  I can't believe that these guys are literally shutting down the country!!!  If the market in namche is affected, so too will the Base Camp supplies...

Lhakpa tells me that the Maoists are up here in the Khumbu collecting 'donations' but they are covert, not wearing identifying clothes so you don't know who they are till they are extorting money.  He says they are making their way around base camp collecting from all the expeditions.

NOTE: Tim confirms there has been no sign of Maoists at base camp.

PHOTOS: (1) Vanessa and support team in Kathmandu, (2) Learn4Life Scholars dinner party with the trek team. By candle-light because the Maoist strike. 

May 4, 2010: PATIENCE!  When asked what does it take to climb Everest? My best answer is patience! I too get excited with the thought maybe there will be the chance for everyone to summit early and get back home ahead of schedule. Wouldn't that be grand? But after 19 years of doing this, it just never seems to happen that way. I can now safely say after all these years I am finally immune to buying into those thoughts. The route is not yet completed to the summit. There has been some winds slowing things down and some snow, but not enough to be of a concern. It will probably be completed day after tomorrow but there are no promises. The anxious climbers are scooting up in hope that all will work for them just as soon as the route is fixed. There may be a very small one or two day window, but it is not certain. We now need to pay close attention to the weather. It's bitter cold up there if there are high winds. It may feel okay at base camp, but you add a chill factor to -35c and it equals- a not so good combination. Especially if something goes wrong. We prefer less wind factoring in the "what if" something goes wrong. An example of that was the rescue that Tim did in 2008 of the climber who packed it in in the death zone. The only reason he and Tim are alive today is because it was a beautiful night.  

ROLL CALL:

• Camp 3:   Nashu and Yilmaz

• Camp 2:   Lucille

• Camp  1:  TA

• BC:          Ade, Martin, Mango, Tim, Angel, Pete. 

• Pheriche: Carina, Hugo, Bob, Greg, Fergus, Khalid

Today Tim met with Dr. Peter Hackett who showed up at base camp. He's the world's leading authority on altitude sickness and medicine. Tim reminded him of a conversation they had in May of 1990 while we were on Denali in Alaska, discussing symptoms over satellite phone at 14,200 feet to where Peter was in Anchorage, about a climber in trouble with signs of cerebral edema. The actions the team took to get the climber down as soon as possible to a lower altitude resulted in saving the climbers life. The team was acknowledge for their swift actions in Peter's book "Surviving Denali" I remember this well, or should I say parts of it, the climber was me. 

The other thing that helped was the fact that I was much more comfortable on skis than crampons having worked and played on skis for 180-days a year in a remote northern Canadian ski area. As a result I was able to ski the Kahiltna glacier with my squishy brain filled with fluid, while tied to Tim and a toboggan loaded with gear tied between us to a place below on the glacier where the plane could pick us up. We skied for five hours non-stop to get down to the landing area. At times I would lose balance and the toboggan would shoot ahead of us and take us both out but eventually we made it. I felt hung over for an entire week from the after affects from AMS. Tim propped me up in the back corner of our van, put sunglasses on me and drove me around Anchorage for a week waiting for the rest of the team to finish the climb....... SIDE TRACKED.... back to 2010', sorry about that.

BASE CAMP MAY TREK GROUP UPDATE:

The team had a rough start due to the annual ruckus the Maoists impose around tourists season causing  troubles in the capital city of Kathmandu. They intimidate merchants forcing them to close their stores and Internet shops intermittently. Speaking of immune, we are to these actions as well. Fortunately Vanessa knows her way around this kind of thing and managed to get everyone off and trekking. Be assured in the now 12 or so years of their protests, they have never targeted tourists. Sometimes for money at which they provide receipts, go figure? We just have to work around their actions and it's never a real problem.

Vanessa reports that they were extremely happy to get out of there and feel much better now that they have had a nice restful sleep by the river in Phakding. The sun came out today for their walk to Namche Bazaar. Two of the girls were quite tired trekking to Phakding but they learned today it had everything to do with needing a good nights sleep. They did well today. Vanessa comments that Yvette Leveille is doing awesome, very strong and taken over leading the pack, good on her.

They wanted to send some photos from Kathmandu but couldn't due to the Internet being disrupted. Hopefully they will send some from Namche tomorrow.   - Becky

PHOTO: TA Loeffler on Pumori with us in 2008 working it out for Everest this year. Visualization is a power-full thing. We highly recommend our Everest Training Climb for this reason. Check out the view of Everest!

May 3, 2010: EVEREST UP SCALE!... Things are really changing on Everest this year, and that's not just glacier melt! Yesterday we announced the first day of cell coverage and today Tim tells me there has been too much activity with helicopters flying overhead. 

As a result a meeting was called today among leaders at the HRA -Everest ER tent to engage in talks about what to do about it. The idea of bringing these helicopters into Nepal for high mountain tours and rescues comes with the potential for accidents. Tim says, "It's not like we have air traffic controllers up here" Fish Tail Air, a Swiss owned company has brought a second AS 350 B3 to Nepal, a multi-million dollar helicopter. One of them recently performed a long line rescue of a climber at 7000m on Annapurna. In order to afford these high tech machines they need an ongoing revenue stream. As a result, they have positioned themselves at Everest Base Camp this spring looking for climbers with deep pockets who can afford the luxury of a ride out to Kathmandu, check into a 5-Star hotel, oxygenate and fly back up for their summit push. I don't have the price yet but we are looking into it. You can be sure it will be well over the 10k mark. Right now a helicopter lift out of Pheriche for sick climbers and trekkers is 6k one way and about 8k one-way out of EBC.

The consequences of this luxury is causing some concern in air safety. Today the leaders talked about building a second landing pad for civilians further back from the glacier keeping the air space clear from the HRA-Everest ER heli-pad location that is prepared each season as the glacier moves. It is closest to the teams and icefall. Right now both helicopters are sharing this space, noisy, dangerous and debris getting tossed around.

Don't be surprised if there will be fly in tours offered in the future complete with oxygen bottles for when you arrive, because you will need them!!!... and then what would you do if weather or mechanical issues came into play? Be prepared to sleep on o's all night at a price of $400US per hour plus shipping till things clear- yikes!!!

Tim reports that the Sherpas were all wired today to their cell phones, good or bad?, we don't know yet.  

Climbers position: Everyone except Tim, TA, Angel and Pete at base camp. Lucille is at Camp 2, sneaking in behind the fixing of the route, Mango is at Gorak Shep tonight and all others are in Pheriche or lower.

Tim has asked me to keep an eye out for the up-coming weather report around May 15 to May 17. You know what that means!  - Becky

Photos: Fish Tail Air at work: Team Peak Freaks currently on vacation from Everest in Pheriche.

May 2, 2010: Update:s

CELL PHONE RECEPTION NOW OFFICALLY AVAILABLE AT BASE CAMP!!!!   Effective today!!! This is big news. It has been on the table for a couple years now but there were issues with permits. Two towers were installed at Gorak Shep and the Sherpas are extremely happy with the news they got today. This will benefit them the most, they can easily call home now to check in on their families to let them know they are ok. For us, not much difference as the rates for cell phones are higher than using satellite phones to phone internationally. Exciting times for the Everest community...

CLIMBERS:  Lucille is going up to C1 tomorrow to position herself for a summit bid. TA is also going up to C1 to begin her acclimatization routine and Mango is due to arrive in base camp later today. There will be two waves for the summit push. As before everyone else is in the same position, Pheriche and Base Camp.  - Becky

Please look at Tim Rippel's Facebook for larger version of these photos and more.

May 2, 2010: I have been in a communications black zone here in the Kootenays. I will be updating the blog at 08:00hrs Nepal Time when I expect to hear from Tim. -Becky

While waiting to talk to Tim I received some GREAT NEWS from Mango.

Becky,

Please pass on to Tim (and the web) that I am back!  I am 1000% on
what I was and should be back in Base Camp on Tuesday ready to climb. I guess the antibiotics and lower altitude worked.   I am currently in Dingboche and will overnight in Gorak Shek tomorrow so I can get some time on Kala Patar before heading into Base Camp.  Feeling good!

Also Brigid is doing well in Kunde / Kumjung.   She is teaching
computing to the Year 10 students at the Kumjung School and they are so eager that they come in their own time.  They haven't had access to the computing classroom for a long time (3 years?)  so they are making the most of it. One of the parents recognised me as I was leaving Kunde today as Brigid's husband and commented that she was vey happy
for her child to using and learning computers.  So it is having a
positive effect in the community.

Brigid (Mango's wife) is staying at Ang Nimas and Kami Rita's place in Kunde and they are looking after her.  Brigid is nearly part of the community.  Kami and Brigid get along well.

Thats about it.

regards
Mango

May 1, 2010 (21:00hrs-Nepal Time)

"Namaste from Base Camp... A big shout out to all the kids from Mr. Hammerich's grades 4/5 class at South Nelson School in Nelson, B.C. I hope you are enjoying reading "To the Top of Everest" about the Canadian 82' expedition and are learning all about where we are today and what it's like for us up here. When I get back I will come to your class and we can talk about it more. Get your questions ready and we'll have a good chat.

Things are looking good with the progression of the rope fixing up to the summit around the 6th of May and there are climbers currently talking of positioning themselves to follow in behind the Sherpas who are doing the work. Lucille de Beaudrap from Edmonton has made the decision to be one of them.

TA Loeffler from Newfoundland arrived back in base camp today from her get well time down the valley. Thankfully we have a Urologist on the team, Dr. Greg Jack from Australia who has played a valuable role in assisting both her and Mark (Mango) Mangles who also came down with a urinary infection. We haven't heard a recent update from Mark but I did learn that he may be reading the blog. Mango, if so, and if you are well, it's time to start heading back up here for an altitude rotation. 

At base camp today with me is; Pete, Ade, Martin, Lucille, Angel and Bob. Everyone else is down the valley. Hugo is currently down the valley and will be sending you some photos tomorrow and Angel is going down tomorrow to connect with everyone following in Argentina. 

Dr. Amit Kotecha from the UK has spent the last couple of days since his return from Camp 2 working out probably one of the hardest decisions he has had to make in his life. Amit has been very strong throughout this climb and proved to be a capable climber for success on Everest.  He's a father of three young children and is new to climbing and has pushed the boundaries of his risk tolerance. As everyone knows we are not happy with the condition of the icefall and it can only get worse in the days to come. There has already been several climbers withdraw from other teams this reason because of it. Even an entire team left after their first encounter with the icefall. I have nothing but respect for climbers who put priority on loved ones over a rock on this planet that isn't going to go anywhere. I have turned many times myself for the same reason in my climbing career. Maybe when the kids have grown and they are better able to understand his passion, he will return. Good man, wise decision! His fun loving spice for life and character will be missed.

As for the rest of the team, we are in holding pattern. The weather looks good for summits around the proposed route fixing date to the summit of May 6 and 7. Now the balancing act of crowd control comes into play. Some of the teams who arrived later are still in their acclimatization rotation so I don't think it's going to a problem this year up on the summit ridge. Looking good, stay tuned." 

Photo: Our well known Mingmar Sherpa resting up for the big push.  

April 30, 2010 (21:00hrs-Nepal Time)

Nothing but blue skies! Everyone from the Peak Freaks team is off the mountain now and making plans to spread out over the next few days. Some are going for a walk down to Pheriche to oxygenate, while others are taking this time to rest and save burning calories.  

The weather is clear right now but I am starting to see some clouds developing for May 5 or 6 but not much in the way of wind, so this is a good thing. No cyclones in the mix this season so far. Tim says the fixing of the route to the summit may be completed as early as May 5 to 7. I'm hoping the precipitation will stay low as it has the past few weeks and the wind will maintain at it's current speed if not lower in the days to come. So far it looks very promising and summits may start as early as late next week. - Becky

April 29, 2010 (22:00hrs- Nepal Time)

The team enjoyed showers, journals and a roasted chicken dinner with baked potatoes, assorted veggies and banana pie. A nice welcome home from the altitudes above. Our cooks really know how to make a hungry climber happy. Mind you, after the energy they have put out anything would seem like a 5-star meal to them right now. Now that most have acclimatized hunger will start to set in. During pre-acclimatization it is hard work up an appetite but that won't be a problem now.

From this moment on Ang Karsung and team will be cranking out high protein foods and appetizing foods to help the climbers preserve muscle mass. Once the fat is gone your body will start to consume muscle and we certainly don't want this to happen. 

Here's Roll Call:  

• Village of Pheriche: TA, Mango (Mark) recovering from illness

• Base Camp: Nasuh, Yilmaz, Tim, Angel, Pete, Amit, Greg, Lucille, Bob

• Camp 1: Ade, Martin

• Camp 2: Carina, Hugo, Fergus, Khalid

What's next: Rest, eat and hopefully send some more photos to me!!!...  Tomorrow a couple of our Sherpas are heading up to start fixing the route to C4. Once C4 is in, the route to the summit should come shortly thereafter and once all the oxygen in place and the weather is right, it's a go. I don't have a time-line on this yet. The original date was set for May 10 by Russell Brice estimations. It might be earlier, or later, no telling just yet, but probably closer to earlier.  

That's all I've got today folks- Becky

April 28, 2010 (21:00hrs-Nepal Time)

Almost everyone from the C2 list made it up and back from (C3-7400m) today. Because Carina just arrived yesterday she needed one more day of rest before moving up. Hugo will be staying up to support her along with Khalid and Fergus. Though Fergus and Khalid have been to C3 they wanted more time at altitude to prepare for the big day. Amit was not doing so well so he went down to base camp with his personal Sherpa. Everyone else will be retreating to base camp tomorrow morning. 

Trek leader Vanessa Higgott is currently on her way to Kathmandu (with the Sherpa Mail), arriving in the morning. Her team of support trekkers have been in Kathmandu for a few days ahead of her working with the "Hopeful Home" orphanage in Kathmandu. They have been busy teaching the children cross-stitch and making bracelets for fundraising back home. Peak Freak trekkers will meet the scholars of L4L (Learn For Life) on May 2 for dinner, so they can MEET the kids that they have been raising money for.  What a great connection that will be.  And the kids will see who these folks are over in N America that have been working so hard to give them their chance of a lifetime. 

We at Peak Freaks have given our profits from this trek to the L4L program and are very pleased how the pledges are currently picking up momentum. We are overwhelmed with warm fuzzy feelings on the excellent response to this program. 

For anyone interested in participating or pledging a support trekker you can log onto the Learn For Life page and get involved. L4L is a registered charity with the ability to issue tax receipts. 

We will be following their progress as they trek to Everest Base Camp to meet with our 2010' summit team.

SPONSOR A TREKKER NOW!

Photo: Scholarship recipients

April 27, 2010 (21:00hrs-Nepal Time)

The majority of the team is now gathered at Camp 2. Everyone who is there will move up to Camp 3 for lunch, hang out, let their bodies adjust to the new altitude and then return to Camp 2 to sleep again. Next day retreat down to base camp for their final rest pre-summit.

ROUTE FIXING: The route is taking longer than planned to be pushed through to the South Col (Camp 4). Peak Freaks has the largest number of Sherpas again this season so we have just contributed more to get the job done. It's a balancing act not wanting to burn out our Sherpas. We need them to have reserved energy for the summit push. We need to make sure they are in top-notch condition to care for clients and carry oxygen at the most critical time of this expedition. We always calculate this in our requirements and employ extra. Without these guys, quite simply there wouldn't be an expedition, no shortcuts are taken in this regard. Sherpa List

Since the team is starting to spread out a bit I asked Tim for a detailed "who is where" account to share. 

TA is still fighting a urinary infection and has moved down to richer air to heal. Tim was happy to see Carina pulling into Camp 2 late in the afternoon.  She has been fighting a throat infection but then she came across something while resting down in Pheriche that gave her a push. I must share this with you. It was written by an 83 year old women who pined it on the wall at the lodge she was staying at.

"LIFE'S JOURNEY is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit, what a ride!" 

April 26, 2010 (21:00hrs-Nepal Time)

Tim checks in from Camp 2- Day 2: Today was a restful day for the four of us, myself, Pete, Lucille and Angel. The others are at Camp 1 tonight and will start the climb up here to join us tomorrow very early in the morning. The day after tomorrow, allowing the new arrival time to rest, we will head up to Camp 3, have lunch and retreat back to Camp 2. The rest we will play by ear pending weather. 

Mountain Conditions: The Lhotse face is very dry, nothing but ice, no snow. If we get some precipitation in the form of snow we may have to adjust things to allow time for it shed snow before we move up. All is carefully being considered. We will keep you posted. 

CAMP 3: Nasuh and Yilmaz have already spent one night at our Camp 3 location the night of April 24. The camp is ready is ready for the rest of us. Looking good!

Photo (1): Lucille with Peak Freaks guide Angel Armesto from Mendoza Argentina on the summit of Aconcagua in 2009. Angel just guided two back to back expeditions on Aconcagua in January and February and then came straight to Everest so the altitude doesn't seem to be affecting him at all and he is very strong. Lucille did Logan not too long before coming here and Pete? well let's just say he's one of those guys! His friends have been writing in telling us he has proven to do extremely well at altitude but to not let him lead anything as you may get lost :) - power house!

Photo (2): Tim and Lucille, putting in some tent time and sharing some good laughs. Tim says he's impressed with Lucille's strength and speed compared to her slower pace on Aconcagua. She is doing awesome! Way to go Lucille!!!

Stay tuned for information on the arrivals of the team from Camp 1 to Camp 2 tomorrow. So exciting!

April 25, 2010 (21:30hrs-Nepal Time) 

Tim checks in from Camp 2:  He is at Camp 2 with Pete, Lucille and Angel and the rest of the team is at Camp 1.   Nasuh and Yilmaz are sleeping back from Camp 3 at Camp 2 as well. The duo will go down to base camp tomorrow. Doug, TA and Mango aren't feeling very good.  TA is weakened from taking antibiotics from her infection and Doug's test up to Camp 1 didn't work out so well. Doug has made the decision that this year Everest just isn't going to work for him. So sad, for some reason he is not able to acclimatize. It appears to be respiratory thing, or haemoglobin issue, he's not able to absorb enough oxygen.  It happens, we feel so bad for him. Like Nawal he will go home with fond memories and a bunch of new friends.  He will be missed by the team. I don't know if he will wait at base camp to say his good-byes to the team or begin his journey home. I will keep everyone posted. 

I am on the road right now, home tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some photos by then to share. -Becky  

Here's an excerpt from Carina's write on the 20th of April that describes her climb in the icefall. Enjoy!

I never thought climbing Everest would be an easy challenge. Quite the contrary: Everest represents the biggest challenge for a mountaineer, after all, it is the highest mountain. Now that I have climbed up to Camp 2, where I could see Camp 3 on the Lhotse wall, Camp 4 on the South Col and the Everest summit right in front of my eyes, I realize what kind of a challenge I will be up against.

Climbing Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1 was less intimidating but harder than I had expected. We started the ascent early in the morning before sunrise. Climbers' head lamps and the stars were lighting our way. Right after the sunrise the heat started draining us and after a while, even a lightweight sports shirt wasn't cool enough. The sun burns with such intensity on the glacier that skin needs to be covered from head to toe. We crossed larger crevasses on ladder and jumped across the smaller ones. We climbed up and down in the middle of huge blocks of ice using jumar (ascender), fixed ropes and rappelling gear. It was great to ascend and descend in the middle of the perpetual ice, which is nearly one kilometre in length. It was hard to think about the hidden dangers. All I could think about were the beautiful surroundings and how much I enjoyed climbing. We also passed the point where a few days ago a large block of ice had collapsed in front of a group of climbers. The group had decided to call it quits and head home.

Don't forget to check out SPOT. 

April 24, 2010 (21:00hrs- Nepal Time)

Tim checks in to say everyone is tucked into bed at base camp minus one. Due to health concerns our eldest climber Nawal Saigal's climb is sadly over. He left camp today to begin his journey home.  It's hard on the team when someone leaves as they have come a long way together working as team towards a common goal. Nawal says he is happy with his accomplishments as far as his health has allowed him to go. He got to climb in the Western Cwm, a lifetime dream. He will leave here with many good memories, photos, experiences and new friendships he will cherish for a lifetime. We wish him a safe journey home to his loved ones.

Tim, TA and Doug haven't been up to Camp 2 yet but are ready to go tomorrow with the rest of the team starting at about 3:00am. They are going to make home at Camp 2 and work up from there to Camp 3 in the next few days. Camp 3 is currently being built by our Sherpa climbers so it won't be much longer before the team will be heading up to their new height of 7400m. Tim suggested that the route to the summit will be fixed with rope in about 10 days from now. This will allow them time to come down to BC or lower and get energized before the summit push "IF" the icefall is cooperating which it seems to be.  

Yesterday TA, Doug and Tim went up to ABC of Pumori to gain altitude and for Tim to check out how they were doing with the new altitude and that their previous health concerns checked out okay. It's a go for them. Nasuh and Yilmaz are moving up to Camp 3 tomorrow. The rest of the team is doing fantastic, loving every moment of it and are remain strong. Whenever I ask Tim something like; what about Bob?, and what about Greg? and Pete? and so on.......Trust me I have gone through the list several times.  I always get, "oh ya, no problem, the team is strong and doing great".  - Becky

April 23, 2010 (20:30hrs-Nepal Time)

Just another day at base camp doing what we do here.- eating!!! Some of the schools who are following us up the mountain this year asked what we eat? While at base camp we eat fresh local food. Vegetables and small amounts of fruit from the valley below. Apples are used mostly as their only choice for fresh fruit this time of year  otherwise it's tinned fruit but our veggies are fresh. We have  assorted cheeses, salami, eggs, chicken and buffalo for protein. Ang Karsung bakes cakes, bread and pies. We eat potatoes cooked in various ways, pasta, rice and sushi is a Peak Freak's all time favourite. Up on the mountain at Camp 2, we  provide much of the same foods as we do at base camp except some of the baking items get cut back. From Camp 3 upwards we provide organic boil in the bag meals and lots of fish which includes an abundance of smoked salmon and tuna. The boil in the bags are things like curries, lentil stews, chili, lasagne, chicken casseroles, hash brown with bacon, beef stew, bean stews. They seem to go down well at altitude and the preparation is simple. Our Sherpas prefer to eat noodles up at the high camp, Ichiban style ones called Rara noodles. It's what they are used to and crave after a days hard work.

Breakfast we have sausage and eggs, pancakes, toast, museli, oatmeal. Base Camp lunch the climbers are fed provided with another hot meal much like dinner. Today we had buffalo burgers, fries and salad

MOUNTAIN CONDITIONS: The temperatures at night seem to be getting colder right now. Over the past couple of days our night time temps have been around -12c and last night it was -16c. 

Everyone is pretty happy about a big chunk that fell down up on the route leading to Camp 2. It had been teetering and causing some concern. Not anymore! Fortunately no one was around when it let go. 

Our Sherpa boys will be heading up to Camp 3 tomorrow to start staking out and building our Camp there. Looking good!   - Becky

April 22, 2010 

"All is good, everyone is resting, taking hikes, visiting Gorak Shep, Pheriche and doing emails. The good news is that the Sherpas were just short of fixing rope all the way to Camp 3 today. Tomorrow morning it will be in for sure. Nasuh and Yilmaz are in the same sync as the Sherpas so they will be tucking in behind them. 

I put some photos up on Facebook and will have more coming soon. Not much else to say other than everything is moving along better than planned. Over and out"- Tim

SPOT NOTE-  If you're logging on to SPOT and nothing comes up, do come back again when the team starts moving.  Lucille turns it off after she reaches her destination and it will start up again when her and the team move again.  

April 21, 2010 (20:45hrs-Nepal Time)

Catch up day! .. The team is happy to be back enjoying the comforts of base camp. Showers, laundry, some music, games, visiting and for some checking in with home. The two Turks, Nasuh and Yilmaz are however anxious. They are currently back up at Camp 2 holding out for Camp 3 to be established. All our Sherpas are now up at Camp 2 tweaking things. This year we are taking the big orange dome up so it will be a nice home for everyone to work out of with the new plan. 

The Plan: This year we are approaching the icefall differently. Tim wants to get everyone up to Camp 2 and stay there till summit push time eliminating time in the icefall going back and forth. 

On or about April 24 or 25, the joint effort of six expeditions Sherpas, including ours, will be pushing the route through to Camp 3 and then a short time afterwards to Camp 4- the South Col. After the Col is in, the Himex Sherpas will fix the route to the summit. During that time our Sherpas will rest, then it will be time to organize summit bid waves, weather permitting. 

It's kind of early to be making ummit push plans but the weather has just been so darn good. Let's hope it holds. - Becky

Photo: 

• Team at base camp

• Amit in the icefall   

SHERPA MAIL ON IT'S WAY! - Thanks everyone!

April 20, 2010 (21:00hrs-Nepal Time)

Celebrations and a reality check!... Everyone is back at base camp safe and sound. One by one Tim greeted them as they walked in congratulating them on their new height. The first arrivals were around noon and everyone was accounted for by 2:00pm. Everyone was pleased with their accomplishment. After dinner the mood was quickly dampened when Tim began to express his concerns about the condition of the glacier and the teams slow movement through the icefall. 

"You have to be swift moving through there, the Sherpas don't want to be there and you shouldn't either. It is something to be feared and never taken lightly or for granted. It should be approached as though you are being chased by a wild animal and not a walk in the park."

He tells me that he went on to explain to them that when the temperatures start to soar in the next week or so, things could really start to move in there and he was concerned. Global warming is certainly doing a number on the world's glaciers. I told him that it sounded as though he was scaring the hell out of everyone. He reminded me, "I have to... I want to be perfectly honest here and share my knowledge and feelings. That is what they pay us for. It is important that they have this information to evaluate their own personal tolerance for risk." 

What's next?  The team will rest a couple of days at base camp or take a hike down the valley to breathe some richer air and energize. On April 22nd and 23rd our Sherpa climbers will be working to establish Camp 3 and on April 24th establishing Camp 4, the South Col. Oxygen is already on it's way up starting tomorrow.

Nasuh and Yilmaz are heading out any day now to Camp 2 then Camp 3.  I will keep you posted.  - Becky

PHOTOS: 

• Team gathered for lunch at base camp.

• Tim tweaking the solar panels. 

Tidbit: We are a 100% solar powered camp. 

April 19, 2010 (21:00hrs-Nepal Time)

HUMP DAY!  Today we will call "Hump Day" for Everest 2010'. Meaning: halfway to a perfect day for a summit bid if they are to summit the same day as last year. However, Tim is optimistic that there may be some early summits this year. The weather is pretty warm and not much wind on the horizon or storms brewing- looking good!  

RESCUE PLAN: Tim met with Russell (Himex) and Jangbu (IMG) today. Tim first met Russ and Jangbu Sherpa in 1991 on the north side of Everest when Russ was just starting the commercial concept of climbing Everest. Tim was on a Canadian Everest climb. The next year Russ hired Tim as his lead guide for two consecutive expeditions before we made the decision to start our own operation both having the confidence, skills and experience to make it work. We were slow starters because of family obligations, but we wouldn't have wanted it any other way. 

Russell is shooting for May 10th as the date the rope will hopefully be fixed to the summit. Together some of the veteran leaders discussed rescue procedures. Tim is a mountain rescue professional and exercised an extreme rescue in the death zone in 2008 of a climber who was completely out of it and not able to walk. He made a modification of a system he instructs for the Canadian government provincial emergency program, this modification allowed him the ability to lower his client down to safety. Something that had never been done before in the death zone. Today he took a drawing of his rescue plan and discussed it with the leaders, they liked it and together have organized to get 17 copies of it made to share with the other leaders and climbing Sherpas. 

MOUNTAIN CONDITIONS: As before the route seems to be sticking together pretty good. Thankfully the serac that was hanging off the west shoulder last year which claimed a life when it came down is not a problem this year as it is cleaned off now. This year Nuptse is causing some visual problems. Tim said a big chunk came off Nuptse today sending dust down covering the icefall and base camp. The good thing is the debris field from this aspect of the mountain is far from the route, so this is good. It will just continue to make noise and cold smoke when things start to move. Good reminders to everyone to stay on their toes. 

TEAM LOCATION: Most of our team members made it up to Camp 2 today. Some got close but turned back as they were running out of time. They are all back at Camp 1 sleeping and tomorrow they will be back at base camp. 

PHOTOS: 

• Team members setting up to practice rope rescue procedures earlier this week near base camp.

• Tim rope rescue at 27,000ft of client in 2008. Tim gold suit front, Mingmar blue suit back. 

• Avalanche coming down near base camp.

• Team member Doug Stuart's buddies from the Oxnard Fire Department wishing him luck.

April 18, 2010 (07:15hrs-Nepal Time)

CAMP 1: 6100m  Everyone is currently on the move to Camp 2. Check out SPOT you can watch they as they move. They left really early in the morning to get up and down again in good time and to avoid the day time heat. After lunch at Camp 2 the plan is for them to retreat back to base camp. Nasuh and Yilmaz are already acclimatized to Camp 2 and will be ready for Camp 3 which we are expecting to be in place as early as April 22.  

The weather has been amazing. Hardly any wind to speak of and mostly dry. Nothing in the forecast for the next while either so it will be full steam ahead for the Sherpas putting everything into place. The Sherpas will be starting to ferry oxygen up in the next few days. 

Tim commented on Facebook that it took the team ten hours to get to Camp 1 compared to the normal time of five. This is because there are more ladders than normal to negotiate and there are also a lot of Sherpas on the route moving equipment at this stage of the expedition. Some expeditions are just now starting to pull into base camp and because of this each day seems to get busier. 

TIDBIT: Some of our climbers asked why we have a helmet on our gear list? They wondered why because when they watched the Discovery Channel Everest Series this year of the 2009 expeditions on Everest, no one was wearing helmets. Yes, it's a new thing, and why wouldn't you? Things are crumbling more and more than ever before up there due to global warming and if there is anything we can do to help make it safer for our participants, you can be sure Tim will implement it. 

Don't forget to check out SPOT - Becky

April 17, 2010:

Sorry folks! Come April 17 I will be taking some time out with the girlfriends for a bike trip. I won't be updating this site till late the evening of April 18. Unless something of great interest goes down I will do my best to keep you informed. In the meantime be able to get updated via Tim's Facebook on April 17 and Lucille's SPOT link.  Have a good weekend! - Becky

April 16, 2010 (20:00hrs-Nepal Time)

EXPEDITION LEADER MEET TODAY!- 

FIXING THE MOUNTAIN: "With Himex camp being located furthest down the valley and our camp being closest to the icefall, a midway camp put everyone in the IMG camp for today's meeting. We managed to organize six Sherpa teams including ours, to fix the route between Camp 2 and Camp 4 - the South Col. From there we voted that the Himex team fix the route from the South Col to the summit. 

ROPE: This year the main commercial operators kicked in to buy good quality rope getting away from the  Korean rope that used to be used. Eric Simonson purchased it in the US and it sent over. Now we have the task of going around and collecting from teams that come here year after year at our expense to help make it fair. Books, records and receipts have been organized to show the other teams so everything is upfront. 

HUMAN WASTE: This was our time to take the floor. As many of you know or may have guessed, we have been pushing for climbers to stop pooping and dumping on the mountain for quite a few years now. Thanks to Internet and exposure, we are happy to say that the teams have all agreed to follow our lead. Dawa Stevens from the Asian Trekking Eco Expedition clean-up did show up with poo bags this year. But unfortunately for some they didn't get the biodegradable part that we urged them to research. We are putting them in touch with our supplier of the biodegradable ones. They have to be these!!! The ones in the foil insulated bags and plastics with chemicals is not environmentally acceptable. We are happy to see that everyone agreed. I might add there were a few that seemed to grumble a bit, but by the end of the meeting they too agreed. 

There will be policing in this regard, in an effort to put an end to brown snow. Pictures will be taken and teams will be shamed. FINALLY!!! this is the new way to climb in the Himalayas- happy :)

Here is a photo of David Breashears set-up. I recall meeting David back in 1995 on Everest North Side.  He was building a plaque for Mallory at that time and couldn't find any sand, I came to the rescue and together we got this thing in place. When I reminded him of that he said "you're the guy". It was interesting talking about the old days and how much the glacier has changed even since then.   

Tomorrow we rest and then up to Camp 1 to sleep. All is good, over and out! "  Tim

20 of 32 of our happy Sherpa team members his season.

April 15, 2010 (20:00hrs-Nepal Time)

Hydration is important! Yesterday after the team spent the day climbing in the icefall, Doug Stuart started to not feel so good. Tim and Angel took rotation checking in on him. This morning Tim walked him to the Everest ER tent to confirm that he was indeed suffering from dehydration. They loaded him up on electrolytes and water and are happy to report that he has bounced back this evening chatting it up in the dinning tent. 

Today was rest day for our Everest 2010 team at base camp.  While doing so they came across a display David Breashears has set up there to show people the comparison of photo he took in 2008 of Mount Everest and its surrounding glaciers with one taken in 1921.  Below is a video of his presentation.

Congratulations out to Dan Butterworth for a successful summit on Island Peak!!!

Tomorrow- it's a go for Kala Pattar!  - Becky

April 14, 2010: (11:45hrs- Canada PDT)

Earthquake- all is good! When the earthquake hit the Sichuan province in China in 2008 it was very close to the same time as now. Our climbers felt nothing. Same thing this year with the recent quake on the Tibetan plateau, they felt nothing. I apologize for the late blog as I know some of you were concerned they may have been affected. Unfortunately my schedule this morning conflicted with Tim's call in and there wasn't time to post till just now.

Today the team worked on skills higher up in the icefall and retreated to BC. Lucille continued on to Camp 1 and is now back at BC. Nasuh and Yilmaz are currently sleeping at Camp 1. 

Icefall: Tim said the icefall was holding ok and he felt comfortable. He added that there has been a lot of traffic through there the past couple of days with Sherpas hauling loads and everything seems to be sticking together pretty good in the path they are following. 

Tomorrow is a rest day for everyone and then the next day (April 16), the team will going up Kala Pattar (5,545 metres/18,192 ft). A non-technical peak offering magnificent views of Everest and neighbouring peaks.  It is pretty close to the elevation of Camp 1 so this will give them some altitude gain and eliminating having to make two trips to Camp 1 reducing their time in the icefall. Plus it works as a very rewarding mental preparedness manoeuvre. When the climbers are at base camp you can't see Everest. By going up Kala Pattar they will be able to have a good look at the icefall. They will also see their base camp allowing them to put everything into perspective on just how small they are- yet how close they are- and the summit of Everest.

Weather: It's a good thing they are getting Kala Pattar in before the 17th. I am seeing more precipitation on the horizon. It's likely it's the spin off from the cyclone that just hit India.  - Becky

Photo: The view of Everest from Kala Pattar.

April 13, 2010: What's next?

Tim didn't leave a message as to what was on their agenda so I will tell you what's on mine. Taking bookings for our October climbs and treks. Anyone interested?

• Everest Training Climb- Mt. Pumori 7145m- Oct. 4, 2010- 34 days $6700US- just a few spots left.

• Island Peak - 6189m- Oct. 4, 2010- 21 days- $3560US

• Everest Base Camp Trek- Oct. 4, 2010- 17 days- $2700 (Including Base Camp stay, expedition style in tents for 1-night, Kala Pattar, EBC and Pumori BC)

April 13, 2010: (20:00hrs Nepal Time)

On the money! I missed Tim's check in this morning but I didn't miss on my weather prediction. He said I was on the money, meaning I called it right. The precipitation arrived dumping 15 centimetres of snow on base camp earlier today. The day time warming melted most of it but tonight it has started again.

His message also said they had a good day working in the icefall and everyone is doing well and looking good. He didn't say what's on the agenda tomorrow so we will have to wait and see. - Becky

Photo: Practice run on the ladders in the icefall.

April 12, 2010 (20:00hrs Nepal Time)

Base Camp Puja today! The location of our Stupa this year is situated at the mouth of the Khumbu icefall. It was pretty intense with the sound of avalanches, both rock and ice, Lama Da chanting, drums pounding and with the glacier speaking the loudest words; literally a moving experience. . 

Everyone that caught the cold circulating our team so far has managed to get over it rather quickly, myself included, so this is all good. 

After our Puja today we strung out some rope, inspected everyone's personal equipment and went  over crevasse rescue procedures in preparation for our skills review on the glacier tomorrow. We will be working in the lower icefall allowing participants their first go at some of the ladders that have been erected by the icefall doctors. The icefall doctors is the name given to the team of Sherpas who are organized and paid by all expeditions to fix the route through the icefall. They stay here throughout the climbing season adjusting and tweaking ropes and ladders in sync with the daily movement of the glacier.  

Our Sherpas did a carry to Camp 1 yesterday and we are happy to report that everything is moving along just fine. We are getting more photos organized for you soon. Over and out, Tim "

What is the temperature at Everest Base Camp?

Many folks back home are surprised when they start hearing reports of heat stroke from Everest climbers. It is actually harder to stay cool climbing Everest than it is keeping warm. Technology has provided us the ability to stay warm, electric socks, down suits and so on, but the climbers are on their own when it comes to regulating their body temperature on those +40 days up on the glacier. 

April 11, 2010 (20:00hrs Nepal Time)

Tim checks in to report that the team is starting to share a cold that is circulating among them. The good part is that it is happening now. While the route still appears to need some tweaking through to Camp 2, they can nurse their colds and for those who don't have it yet, to get it, and be over it before the real climbing starts. Tomorrow is Puja day so that might be a good day to start sharing the bug :) Tossing rice, chanting and for some a smidge of chang (rice sake Sherpa style) but it's best to stick to beer at this point in time. Save the chang for on the way home. - Becky

Carina's comments on her feelings: The view from my tent door is unbelievable. I can see for nearly a kilometre's length of the notorious Khumbu Icefall, which is surrounded by Nuptse and Lola mountains. When the sun hits the tent at 8 a.m., the gloominess disappears along with the darkness and the coldness of the night. Suddenly, the daunting icefall with its huge blocks of ice and crevasses begins to seem inviting. It feels inexplicable to think that in only a few days I will be climbing up and down in the middle of those huge, apartment-building-size blocks of ice and the enormous crevasses. During the last days and nights, I have been watching and listening to several avalanches and rocks coming down the mountainside. However, in daylight the place looks intriguing. According to the leader of our expedition, the so called ice doctors have yet to figure out the safest route to cross this unpredictable icefall and we have to wait for a couple of days before we can start climbing.

On the other hand I am glad I don't have to climb just yet. The cold that started bothering me four days ago has gotten worse and it changed from me having an extremely sore throat to having a runny and stuffy nose. Eating is hard and getting better in these altitudes seems to take forever. I guess I have infected the bug to some other members of our expedition as they are feeling quite sick as well. I am happy to say that I am getting better and I expect to be feeling normal in a couple of days. Just to be safe, I will visit the Himalayan Rescue Association today. It is the Base Camp hospital.

On our way to Base Camp we passed by the stone memorials, which have been founded on the mountain in memory of those who have lost their lives on Everest. Some fell silent and some even shed tears. For me the place was more of a majestically beautiful final resting place. Though half in jest, I meant every word when I told the leader of the expedition that would like to be buried here on the mountain if I should die on this journey. Amidst the climbers, it has become a tradition that if you die on the mountain, your body will be placed into a crevasse so that it will be close to the mountains which the deceased loved so much.

Although there are risks in sight, nobody thinks about the worst. On the contrary. Everyone looks at the challenge seriously but at the same we feel easy about it. We are trying to save our strength and humour works in our favour. During the day, while we are relaxing in our tents or outside enjoying the sunshine, it is hard to think about the real challenges that we will be faced with on the mountain. We will be facing the reality in the Sherpa Puja ceremony, which is a religious ritual that is held before any Sherpa will climb the holy mountain. We will be attending the ceremony tomorrow. Besides us, our gear will also be blessed in the ceremony. In the ceremony, the Mother Goddess of the Earth i.e. Mount Everest, will be asked for a blessing for a safe and successful climb to the top.

Although reaching the top is our goal, we are knitted together by the idea that the most important thing is the journey to the top rather than reaching the top itself. Of course I will be disappointed if my journey ends in me getting sick, for example. However, the journey would have been worth the effort. I already know that I have not only wonderful experiences to take home with me from this journey but many great friendships as well. The beginning of the actual climb is at hand and I can't wait for the greatest challenge of my life to start so I can push myself to the limits. - Carina

April 10, 2010 (19:45hrs Nepal Time)

 Time to get to work! . 

Tim and I did our weather test and he reports that I once again passed. I predicted wind yesterday at base camp and it happened. Now I am watching some precipitation on Thursday April 15 .This will be my second test. Precipitation and wind will determine their movement on the mountain so its pretty important stuff.

Dan, Sylva, Paul and Stephen all departed today and are looking forward to hitching up with Nadia to see how she has adjusted while in Pheriche and will join Dan and Sylva up Island Peak or not. Once they all tap knuckles Hugo will boot it back up to base camp and report on her status to Tim.

Blake made contact with me and he is safe and sound in Namche. He took the trip down nice and slow from in Dingboche arriving 2 days later in Namche. He is enjoying his rest there and looking forward to rejoining with his team mates late tomorrow afternoon when they arrive in Namche. 

MAIL COLLECTION: Each year I like to surprise the climbers with old style letters from home typed or handwritten is fine. Except over here we call it Sherpa mail instead of Snail Mail. Anyone interested in sending a note or printable photos, scanned drawings from kids etc. Please email them to me before April 20th at the very latest and I will send it over with our 2nd wave trek group led by Vanessa and Ang Nima to hand off to your loved ones. They will really appreciate this at the time it will be received. It usually works out that this happens the night before they head off for their summit push. It has to be in my inbox no later than 3pm, April 20th or it won't get there so sooner is better.  Pssst.... don't tell them it's coming :)   Becky- becky@peakfreaks.com

Photo: Angel making his own down-suit. Good on him!  He always wanted to do this and he did. So now I know what he did with those pigeons that were tearing at his new house in Mendoza, ah!  

Speaking of Mendoza, a family from our hometown here in Nelson started a winery in Mendoza 3 years ago and they took a bunch of awards by storm this year at the annual Mendoza wine festival. Cantinian wines didn’t just win. They achieved a huge victory, receiving a medal for each entry — a gold for their Malbec/Cabernet Reserve 2008, a bronze medal for their 2009 Malbec and another bronze for their Cabernet 2009. Proud!

April 9, 2010 (20:00hrs Nepal Time)

Everyone is thinking about you! "Now that we are getting comfortable in our new home our minds are starting to drift home with thoughts of family and friends. It has been 2 weeks since we started this journey and we have been getting amazing support from all of you at home and we thank-you. Everyone sends their appreciation and love home to all of you, too many to mention, but in time we will.

Today after the trekkers said their good-byes, I took Dan and Sylva up to the icefall to practice climbing skills for their Island Peak adventure. It gave me the opportunity to look into the tonsils of the icefall. Though we only barely touched the mouth of the glacier, I was still able to have a look at how fast things are melting and how the ice blocks are forming. Its hard to give an assessment till we get into the guts of it. This won't happen till after Monday- April 12th. Our Puja is set for that day. Sherpa climbers will not start climbing until their climbing equipment has been blessed by the Lama. This will be our last Puja party before we begin to climb. 

Our Sherpa boys have been busy building Chateau Peak Freaks while we trekked in. Tomorrow morning a bunch of Sherpas will be heading up to Camp 2 to stake out their teams real-estate for this season. Our Sherpas won't be going up till after Monday's Puja but we have connections so our piece of the glacier will also get staked tomorrow. In the meantime we will start sorting mountain food, laundry and get acquainted with our neighbours. 

Temperatures and Weather: "It is warmer than last year at this time and apparently warmer than it was a couple days ago. The wind moved out of here a couple days ago according to Becky's weather analysis. Phil Crampton also said it was bitter cold up here till day before yesterday. We have good timing. It is relatively calm, just a few clouds drifting around and I'm not hearing the roar from the jet-stream we usually hear this time of year. Looking good!     Over and out from base camp- Tim"

Many of our past trekkers and climbers have been asking for an updated photo of Sera Jangmu, Ang Nima's grand-daughter. Isn't she beautiful? Proud grandpa :)

April 8, 2010 (20:10hrs Nepal Time)

Honey we're home!  Namaste from base camp to everyone at home. Tears and cheers, it's  pretty obvious everyone is happy to be here and happy with their new home. We have secured our favourite spot, butt up next to the glacier with a convenient water source nearby. It looks different though, the glacier is continually moving and it has made some significant movement since we were here last year at this time. We are happy with the bowl shape it has taken on this season. 

Our super Sherpas have been working hard turning it into flat ground, for the time being that is. We expect it will shift considerably over the next 50 or so days that we are here. For me it was exciting to see all the new tents we invested in this year set-up. I'm impressed and will get some photos out soon. Remember we are the leading "green guys" up here so all our tents are made in Nepal, keeping it local and giving back. 

Tonight we had one of my favourite dinners, roast chicken, started with sushi. I am proud to say the only thing we import from Canada that we can't get here is smoked salmon. I filled two duffel bags of my allowable baggage of 3 on Thai Airways with just fish. We will be eating this at BC and throughout the climb and up on the mountain. Becky thinks it's an important food to consume while living in this harsh environment.

Right now I am tucked into my tent, my home away for home for quite a few years now. It's cozy, we provide foam sleeping pads for all our participants, solar lights inside and out, heat in the common tents. We have music, DVD player, games, books, solar power, toilet tents, showers- life is good. 

Tomorrow the trekkers will leave and start making their way home. In the next two days the Island Peak climbers will head out so our numbers will start to dwindle and the climbing team will tighten up. Tomorrow the climbers will be showering, shaving, arranging their gear and getting used to their new home. I will be taking the IP climbers out tomorrow to work on mountain skills required for their ascent up Island Peak and make sure everyone is on the same page with safety. Over and out from 5340m- Mount Everest Base Camp... Tim

TA Loeffler 's comments on base camp: " Hi this is TA and Marian calling in from my very own base camp tent, here at Everest base camp located very close to the Khumbu Ice fall in the Peak Freaks base camp at about 5340m.You should see our amazing Sherpa staff, they are absolutely amazing in all the work they have done to transform the glacier into our home for the next two months. Some of the stone work, they have levelled platforms, the kitchen tent is absolutely amazing, we are marvelling at their work, and humbled by their strength. Pretty excited to be here, big smiles all round as people realized their goal of getting to base camp as trekkers or getting to base camp to begin the climb as climbers, so big day, exciting day." TA

Update on Nadia and Blake. Blake will go to Namche and hold out and Nadia is in Pheriche. She was planning on climbing Island Peak so time will tell if she is adjusting and the other members will collect her on their way through in a couple days.

April 8, 2010 (12:00hrs Nepal Time)

We just arrived in Gorak Shep for lunch. I sent today photos to Facebook while waiting for lunch to be served. We are just 45 minutes to one hour from base camp, yahoo!  Check my Facebook. 

April 8, 2010 (08:30hrs Nepal Time)

Oh so close!..."We are in Lobuche now-minus three. Blake and Nadia were not doing so well so it was determined they should not go any higher. 

PF Everest Guide & Paramedic; Hugo Searle has escorted them down to where they will wait for Ang Nima to return with the trek team from Base Camp on the 9th or 10th. They are in good hands. Blake's pulse is high and if it doesn't show an improvement he should probably go even lower, possibly to Namche Bazaar the next day. Neither are at risk and will enjoy themselves much more once they have retreated. By now they should have started to absorb a richer does of oxygen and feel re-energized. 

Unfortunately they have reached their wall and are not showing the ability to acclimatize at these elevations. It happens. It has nothing to do with fitness, it is entirely a haemoglobin thing. Also it should be noted that your chemical make up can also change at anytime. One trip you do well, the next not so well. One really can't rely on previous experiences that much, most of the time you can- but not always. Today  Pat Morrow (from the 1982) Canadian Everest expedition and Austrian climber Reinhold Messner both claim to suffer symptoms of AMS when returning to altitude. It's a tricky thing. Remember it was Austrian Reinhold Messner that was the first to successfully climb Everest in 1976 without the use of supplementary oxygen.

Then there are people who break the rules of "going slow and only rising the recommended height per day". Seems each year people either ignore these important recommendations or are misled. Last autumn we had to organize an Asian women who hired a local guide. The guide broke the rules- buyer beware!... Sometimes local guides hired off the streets in Kathmandu or Lukla don't understand the importance of an acclimatization schedule or a client may insist that the job offer comes with a fast schedule. In this case the client wanted to push higher faster and it came close to costing her her life. She was shutting down on the trail. Had we not intervened and organized to get her out, it is quite possible she would have passed away. Her pulse was 110 and her oxygen saturation level was 58%, she couldn't stand and her eyes were rolling back. I organized a porter with a basket, put her in it and sent them down the trail immediately. It was late afternoon and they needed to drop elevation quickly and before dark. I found out later that she survived the night and eventually made it safely back to Kathmandu. 

Tonight we had a great dinner, Ang Karsungs cooking in a clean and comfortable environment. Tomorrow is base camp and everyone is getting stoked.... Over and out, Tim.

Don't forget to check out our location on SPOT.

April 7, 2010 (08:30hrs Nepal Time) 

ICEFALL IS FIXED and ROUTE TO CAMP 1"Namaste to everyone back home! Today we accomplished our acclimatization hike above Dingboche to the top of Nangkar Tsrang- 5010m/16,432ft. We are still all together at the end of the day but we are now watching two trek members who may have to hold back tomorrow or drop down to a lower elevation.

We also got the lowdown on the status of the icefall doctors progress. The icefall has been fixed and the route has been put in up to Camp 1. Nice work!

Tomorrow we move up to Lobuche. We have reserved the entire house this year and our cooks will be doing the cooking with our equipment in the kitchen of the lodge. We did this to quarantine our climbers and make sure their food doesn't get contaminated. This area is not inhabited on a regular basis, it is seasonal. They are not Sherpa homes therefore cleanliness is left up to the hired help and they tend to be a litte reckless with hygiene. To deal with this Ang Karsung and the cooks are now there doing a cleaning and have brought down our food and cooking equipment from base camp to prepare for our arrival. 

We have two firemen on this years expeditions who say they can pretty much confirm there is a fire in the area creating this haze we are seeing up here. Possibly from the lightening storm that hit Kathmandu two days before we flew up here. 

The good news is that day after tomorrow we are in base camp.  Over and out- Tim"  Photo: Team on Top of Nangkar Tsrang.

Photo Gallery Hint:  To enlarge photos and get them before they are posted here. Join Tim's Facebook.  

April 5 & 6 2010 (08:30hrs Nepal Time) 

Puja- "Yesterday and today was one of three spiritual events that happen on an Everest expedition. The first one is when members arrived in Tengboche  yesterday and experienced the action happening around the Tengboche Monastery. The second one is the private climber and Sherpa puja blessing we receive at Lama Geshi's house in Pangboche. The third one is the main expedition Puja at base camp that will include all of us and our climbing Sherpas who are all mostly  now at base camp.

We made a quick visit to the information centre in Tengboche to learn about life as a monk and Buddhism. Then we, as a team made our way down to Debouche. Our trekkers used to split from the group and stay in Tengboche for the convenience of visiting the monastery in the morning and to join in on the morning chant with the monks. The lodges have become not so nice these days there, so instead we now drop down to a nice lodge in Debouche, towards Pangboche, situated in the rhododendron forest. It is here we (the climbers) split with our trek group. They sleep here and we continue upwards to Pangboche to Lama Geshi's house.  In the early morning the trekkers will go back up Tengboche and participate in a morning chant with the monks and the Everest climbers will wake up in Pangboche to participate in our Puja with Lama Geshi. 

Our Puja today had a very special affect on everyone. The emotion among the group was heavy. This is a time where for some, they realize they made need a little help in a spiritual sense and confront that fact head on. They acknowledge they are about to engage in something that may throw obstacles at them that will be out of their control. Lama Geshi's blessing helps give them the tools to deal with this and offers prayers for safe passage."

April 6- afternoon: "We are all together again, trekkers and climbers in Dingboche (4410m/14500ft). We will spend two nights here to allow our bodies to acclimatize. Tomorrow we will hike above Dingboche to gain more altitude pushing our acclimatization into gear and then retreat to sleep at Dingboche once again. The golden rule for acclimatization- climb high, sleep low-."  Tim

Altitude isn't for everyone. One of the gals on the trip has been suffering. She has had a headache since Namche Bazaar. Tim has been monitoring her condition. She is not at risk, she's trying Diamox now, and if by morning at this elevation she hasn't been able to kick it, she may have to drop down 300m and hang there to allow her body to adjust and move up again only if her condition improves. 

This is the elevation that most will start to feel the affects of altitude. It is a critical turning point. Some people take a little longer and some hit the wall. We are happy to say everyone seems to be doing fantastic so this is a very good sign. Though tomorrow will tell as this will be their first night at this altitude so there may be some more headaches in the morning. It's normal for everyone to have them but eventually you should be able to kick it. If you can't, you should not rise higher till you do.  Stay tuned!

New photos in the gallery!

April 3, 2010 (21:00hrs Nepal Time)

Yak Fight!!! " It was pretty scary! We were on our way up to Khunde and Khumjung. Namche Bazaar is situated at the bottom of large horseshoe bowl feature. There are only two main trails up the 300m/1000ft cliff filled with boulders leading to the the plateau where the twin Sherpa villages are situated. It gets a little busy this time year with yaks heading out to work for expeditions combined with trekkers going up and down sightseeing, children sprinting up and down to the Hillary School and supplies being shuffled throughout the valley. There are a couple of other factors that can make a congested area even more dangerous this time of year. Yaks are extremely gnarly because they have just come out of winter, a bit hungry from not being able to graze, and it's rutting season. 

Add a yak herder tossing a stone at them without seeing what or who is below slowing the flow down. Add a crack with a stick and you have trail rage. We were about half way up when two yaks started to go at it. You don't want to be there when this happens. But we were, and I was right in the middle of it. At one point I thought they were going to charge the group. Everyone was pre-warned what to do if this happens so everyone on queue scattered. Keep in mind it's pretty steep up here and not many options to take refuge. We all survived without incident. My tender rib probably took the worst hit."

Trouble in the air: "There is something troublesome in the air this year. You will see from the photo that there is smog in the valley below. I have never seen this before up here at this elevation. Pollution from Kathmandu and the cities below is making it's way up to the highest place on earth. I had trouble seeing the mountains today for the first time in 19 years on a sunny day." 

Photo: Team at one of the refuge points on the Namche/Khunde-Khumjung trail. Namche Bazaar below. More photos in the GALLERY and SPOT shows their circle trip today. 

SPONSOR A TREKKER 

Easter weekend is probably a good time to introduce this exciting event and to ask for your help. Beginning May 1st, 2010 a group of 12 trekkers led by Vanessa Higgott, founder of "Learn for Life Nepal" scholarship fund, a very worthwhile project, will be making their way to Everest Base Camp. This is a project that we support whole heartedly. We know exactly where the money goes and you get to see first hand as a trekker the results. If you can't be a trekker this year, why not pledge someone who is and then consider putting the same trip on your bucket list for the future. 

PLEDGE  NOW! 

Photo: Vanessa and her girls

April 2, 2010 (21:20hrs Nepal Time) 

Quiet in Namche:  "We are in Namche Bazaar (3444 m/ 11300 ft). We are all nestled in at the Zamling Lodge and everyone is doing really well. TA and the gals are having a pyjama party in the gompa for the two nights we are here. This is Becky's favourite thing to do when she treks with a group of girls. 

Tomorrow we will make our visit to Khunde and Khumjung, home of many of our climbing Sherpas. Have lunch at Ang Nima's house, visit the Hillary School and nip in to have a visit at the hospital. 

The Hillary school is where Brigid from Australia, climber Mango's wife, will be spending 2-months while he is climbing teaching. She will be teaching English and computers. Each year we are lucky in that we seem to attract someone with skills and time to share. She will live at Ang Nima's house in Khunde and walk to Khumjung each day. 

It's pretty quiet up here because the flights have been intermittent out of Kathmandu due to weather. Half our bags have now been flown by our private cargo arrangements from the village below Jiri and are now in Lukla. Because they don't need to acclimatize, they will be in base camp by the time everyone arrives. Everything seems to moving along nicely this season. Over and out from Namche Bazaar", Timalaya 

Photo: Arriving in Namche Bazaar

We now have the photo gallery up for this season. Have a look- PHOTO GALLERY.  And don't forget to have a look at GPS-SPOT today.

April 1, 2010 (21:00hrs Nepal Time)

WE ARE THE LUCKY ONES:"Everyone is safe and sound in Monjo, including Nawal who has now joined with us. It is here that the team will enjoy their first good sleep since their arrival in Nepal. We sleep by the river tonight and breathe the fresh mountain air. There is mist in the air and it feels good.  

"We were lucky to get in. We were one of the first wave of flights and shortly thereafter two more flights got in and then the skies closed.  Due to the most recent storm, a backlog of climbers are now being held in Kathmandu waiting for weather. There is probably no less than 100 people who have been affected."

Lucille de Beaudrap's SPOT is now tracking. Here's a sneak preview of what you can expect to see daily from here on out. Please click on the SPOT icon on the right hand side of this page to watch her and the teams ascent minute by minute. This is great fun!  Location number #1 is Lukla and #9 is Monjo. You can zoom in pretty good too and actually see the dirt trail. The Hybrid option is the best way to view it. Enjoy!

April 1, 2010  (08:00hrs Nepal Time) 

Clock work! "We have just now arrived in Lukla. The weather has cooperated and we are off to a good start. Just looking around this very moment for TA and gathering up bags to head'er up the trail. It's a beautiful day :)  Talk to you later"- Timalaya

March 31, 2010:  (21:00hrs Nepal Time)

And we are off!   "Let the adventure begin!.. Here are a few of us wishing everyone a Happy Easter back home. A special shout-out from Bob to his son's, Ryan, Steven, Ben, Callum and Lucas, and the grade seven students at West Running Brook Middle School who are following our adventure this year. I understand you are learning a lot about climbing Everest. 

One question you asked was: How long will it take to get to base camp? 

From Lukla (2800m) to base camp it takes 8-days. Some climbers like Nawal opted to walk in from Jiri. Jiri is the village where the road stops in this region. From there it is a 7 day walk, for most.  It could be done quicker but we have to follow the golden rules for attaining proper acclimatization and stop and sleepover after a rise of about 300m. If we rise 600m, like we will on day two heading up to Namche Bazaar (3800m), we will have to sleep there two nights to allow our bodies time to adjust, we will never rise more then 600m at this critical stage of staying healthy. 

Wish us luck! We will be thinking of you nice and warm in your classroom when we reach the South Col. It gets a little chilly up there at 7980m. 

Tomorrow morning at about 05:00hrs everyone will meet in the lobby and we are off to Lukla. The flight takes about 40-minutes in a twin-otter. Upon arrival we will be met by Ang Nima, porters and eventually yaks when members expedition bags arrive. The walk tomorrow will be a short one, only 3 to 4 hours to a village at 2780m named Monjo. We will be staying at Chombi Sherpas house. Looking forward to seeing him and the rest of Sherpa gang. Over and out! -  Timalaya "

Information on Acute Mountain Sickness can be found here(AMS). 

March 30, 2010: (21:00hrs Nepal Time)

Let there be light! "Bolts of it that is. Here I am quickly getting an email out before the power fails again. Just as we're gathering for our expedition briefing in the garden this evening, I noticed an ominous cloud forming over the city. A quick call was made to the Third Eye to postpone our rooftop dinner till tomorrow night. Good thing! It is pouring rain and the lights are still trying to recover from the bolts of lightening, the thunder is deafening. 

The last three participants of this years first wave, trekkers Sylva and Paul and climber Martin arrived at the hotel just moments before we were about to begin. Cheers and a hardy welcome was waiting for them. They felt like they are off to a good start.  We are now complete, all totals trekkers and climbers 31, plus 32 Sherpas.  All but seven Sherpas are up in the Khumbu, their homeland. We will join with them at base camp. 

One more day in this noisy- busy city. By now everyone has had enough and ready to get on with this adventure.  Nawal reported in. He took the walk in from Jiri and is now in Lukla. Anxious and wanting to push up to Monjo tomorrow.  TA is closing in from the village just below Lukla and will be there tomorrow. Over and out from Kathmandu! - Timalaya "

March 29, 2010: (21:00hrs Nepal Time) 

The more the merrier!  All our climbers are now in Kathmandu except for Martin from the UK. He and three trekkers from Canada will arrive tomorrow, after that, the family is complete. Tim was giggly tonight after meeting up with everyone. He said, "he has a very good feeling about this years expedition. All we need now is weather and health to work with the team."

Permit: He also reports that this years permit processing was the fastest he has experienced in years. Some hand shakes, a signature here, a quick swearing in there, a cup of tea and off he and Angel go- papers in hand. 

So, Plata it is! Tim has organized a truck to Jiri with expedition personal bags. They made the decision to not even bother trying to get bags into Lukla during the busy wave of climbers and trekkers all trying to do the same thing. Instead he is sending up a couple of Sherpas with a truck to a place near Jiri. From there they will be carried by porter to a place called Plata. From there, the bags will go in a "cargo only" plane and flown to Lukla or village above Namche Bazaar named Syangboche (3841m/12598ft) if weather permits. 

Power in Kathmandu: Kathmandu has for years had power conservation issues. Their conservation routine has made a change for this year. They used to shut the power off at high use times 5pm to 8pm, on for an hour then off again for the night. Also off in the morning for a couple of hours. When the power would go out, the generators for the hotels and shops would fire up- ugh!... But this year, no generators at night! The hotels started running their generators at night to keep their freezers working, which is good. But it is also very annoying for tourists so they are now running the power at night to keep it quiet. The off switch makes it pretty difficult for factories and in particular our Everest Hardwear down suit seamstress team to do the final stitching of suits. As a result, Kathmandu factories now have a night shift. Speaking of suits, everyone is happy, fitted and all items (bags and suits) in their hands tomorrow.  

Photo: Kathmandu (Thamel)- roof-top homes.

March 28, 2010: (21:00hrs Nepal Time) 

Fun times: This is the fun time for everyone. Some are meeting climbing partners they last saw in Nepal on a training climb, and for some, they are meeting their fellow team mates for the first time. Good energy is in the air. Angel has arrived, Mango, Brigid and Doug. Fergus hasn't been spotted yet but should be here later tonight. Island Peak climbers Daniel and Blake are here too.

Tim commented that it is nice how everyone is arriving slowly on different dates. It gives him and the others time to get acquainted before heading out on the trail as a whole.

We have started a bio page on some of the climbers who provided one. Check it out! Not much to say because the team is busy right now gathering up last minute items and getting acquainted. Tim and Angel will be off to the Ministry to complete the final formalities for the permits.

The weather in Kathmandu has improved considerably, no rain, flights are getting out to Lukla now.

EARTH DAY -Founder Todd Sampson (Canadian) - Peak Freaks Everest summiteer 2001- cool ey?

Peak Freaks message to other teams is working. We were happy to learn that at least two commercial operators, so far, have advised us that they will be using the same bio bags we use for Human Waste disposal this year on Everest. Still not happy with their plan of disposal in the crevasses, wish they would bring it down like we do, but it's a start.

March 27, 2010: (22:00hrs Nepal Time)

CRAZY BUSY: Kathmandu is a buzz with climbers and trekkers now arriving for the 2010 Everest climbing season. Our hotel is turning people away in crowds trying to to find accommodation. Luckily for us we have been using our base hotel in Kathmandu for 19 years and are given priority when things get crazy. It can sometimes get complicated and backed up in the city when a person books for 2-nights, then the weather turns bad and flights can't get out to the mountainous regions as planned.  

TA and Marian managed to get out to Phablu today and Tim is currently looking into options of a charter flight drop area below Lukla to see if we can dip down there and drop personal bags and porter them up instead of relying on Lukla flights. When it gets busy people have priority over personal expedition bags. They can always follow later. All our expedition supplies are not an issue, they are already at base camp and have been for a couple weeks. Each season it's always a balance between weather, people and bags. The good thing is that somehow it always works out.  

Other arrivals today were Hugo, Khalid, Jacintia, Nadia and Natelle who all joined Tim for dinner this evening. Carina is also now in Kathmandu and meets up with Tim in the morning before she heads out for a few days on her WWF mission in the Terai region.

March 26, 2010:  (09:00hrs Nepal time) 

ROUGH START: Bad weather in KTM has delayed TA and Marian for their flight to Phablu, a village below Lukla. You know it's bad when they can't get into Phablu. 

The other rough start is Tim's current condition. For those of you who were following our Pumori training climb this past autumn, you may recall that Tim cracked a rib when a chunk of ice landed on him while in his tent. As bad luck would have it, on March 23 he had just one more thing to do before I took him to the airport. We had a display at the Nelson Museum which included a porter basket, oxygen bottle, trump line, helmet and crampons. On the way we stopped and he went to put it into our storage location which is still in winter conditions, slippery and sloped. He was in his runners and took a winger and cracked back on a stump- shoot!!!... He had a huge welt across his back when we jumped on the plane. He now thinks he may have re-broke the rib. Time will tell, he is very optimistic he will be alright. He says his breathing is fine, he is just pretty sore. 

Tonight Khalid is scheduled to arrive and tomorrow will be Hugo and Carina. Bit by bit the team is emerging on the capital city of Kathmandu. 

March 25, 2010:

Team making their way to KTM:   Over the next few days climbers and base camp trekkers from all over the world will gather in Kathmandu to be part of our 2010 Everest Expedition. Many of our members have already climbed together on one of our training climbs while some will meet for the first time. First to arrive this season is Nawal Saigal from the UK on March 19 followed by TA Loeffler who arrived today- (Nepal time). Nawal has started his walk in from Jiri to Lukla, a seven day walk. TA will be walking in from a village below named Phablu to Lukla. She will do a slow walk in to Lukla and meet the team there on April 1. She reports from Kathmandu today that Kiran has delivered their tickets and her and Marian will be on the plane in the morning, weather permitting. The flights to Lukla have been cancelled the past two days and her flight from Delhi to Kathmandu was delayed due to the low ceiling currently hanging over the Kathmandu valley. 

March 19, 2010:  

WEATHER REPORT FROM THE KHUMBU: We asked our Sherpas up in the Khumbu for a weather report to give us an idea on snow pack on Everest this year. This is what we got back.

"More snow has fallen this time than last year (same period).  There is new snow on Everest at present. We had thunderstorm, hailstone in Kathmandu 2 weeks ago and up in the mountains there was fresh snowfall.  There was snowfall up to Namche which remained for about a day (snow melted quite quickly once the skies cleared and the snow melted rapidly). Again 2 days ago we had thunderstorm in Kathmandu (windy conditions & scattered rains in the valley).  Up in Khumbu there was fresh snowfall again which came down as far as Namche.  There is fresh snow up in mountains (the snowline has come down).  Now, however, everything is clear and sunny weather up in the Khumbu."

March 12, 2010:  Lhakpa Gelgan reports that base camp is established. Oxygen has been delivered to Namche and is on its way to base camp in the next week. Food supplies were sent up February 10th. 

As some of our readers may already know we are the "Green Team" in the Himalayas, we buy everything we need local eliminating the measures in tonnes of cargo supplies flying overseas to provide for our expeditions. All our fresh food is bought and brought up from the valleys below, giving back to the land and the people who have served us well. 

All we need now is our climbers and the expedition will begin. Our official start date in Kathmandu is March 30th. Some climbers have already started making there way there. Stay tuned for updates coming here -very- soon and provided daily live from the mountainside.

MEET OUR 2010' CLIMBING TEAM AND WESTERN LEADERS an EXPEDITION PARTNERS

Expedition Leader- Tim Rippel	Guide- Angel Armesto	Guide- Hugo Searle	Trek Guide-     Vanessa Higgott	The Boss- Becky Rippel

CLIMBING TEAM MEMBERS 2010'     

1. Tashi Tuhundu Sherpa - Khumjung -(Climbing Sherpa)
2. Palden Namgay Sherpa- Phortse -(Climbing Sherpa)
3. Mingmar Sherpa- Okhaldunga- (Climbing Sherpa)
4. Jangbu Sherpa- Khotang - (Climbing Sherpa)
5. Ang Phinjo Sherpa- Khunde - (Climbing Sherpa)
6. Lhakpa Bhote- Makalu - (Climbing Sherpa)
7. Redar Bhote- Makalu - (Climbing Sherpa)
8. Ang Nima Sherpa- Solu -(Climbing Sherpa)
9. Pasang Sherpa- Okkaldunga -(Climbing Sherpa)
10. Mingma Nuru Sherpa- Khunde - (Climbing Sherpa)
11. Tshering Nyamgya Sherpa- Kumjung -(Climbing Sherpa)
12. Lhakpa Thsering Sherpa- Khunde - (Climbing Sherpa
13. Pemba Nuru Sherpa- Solu - (Climbing Sherpa)
14. Chowang Karma Sherpa- Solu - (Climbing Sherpa)
15. Shere Sherpa- Solu - (Climbing Sherpa)
16. Pemba Sherpa- Khumjung - ( Climbing Sherpa)
17. Ang Tashi Sherpa- Khunde - (Climbing Sherpa)
18. Dendi Sherpa- Solu - (Climbing Sherpa)
19. Tshering Sherpa- Khumjung - (Climbing Sherpa)
20. Nima Sherpa- Khumjung - (Climbing Sherpa)
21. Climbing Sherpa name TBA
22. Climbing Sherpa name TBA
23. Climbing Sherpa name TBA
24. Climbing Sherpa name TBA
25. Pemba Sherpa - (Camp 2 cook)
26. Tenzing Sherpa - (Camp 2 assistant cook)
27. Karsung Sherpa- Base Camp Manager
28. Lhakpa Gyalzen Sherpa- BC Cook
29. Nawang Nuri Sherpa- BC Cook
30. Dawa Sherpa- BC Cook
31. Des Dahadur Rai- BC Cook
32. Ang Nima Sherpa- Trek Sardar
33. Trek assistant: TBA
34. Nima Sherpa- Climbing Sherpa- Island Peak
35. Island Peak assistant: TBA

WESTERN GUIDES

1. Tim Rippel-AKA- "Timalaya"- Expedition Leader/Guide - Canada
2. Angel Armesto- Guide- Argentina
3. Hugo Searle- Guide - USA

ISLAND PEAK TEAM

1. Daniel Butterworth - Canadian from Manitoba
2. Blake Elliott- Canadian from Ontario
3. Sylva McCormick- Canadian from Ontario
4. Nadia Schenk - Canadian from Newfoundland
5. Paul McCormick - Canadian from Ontario
6. Stephen McKay- Canadian now living in Japan.

BASE CAMP SUPPORT TREK TEAM - First wave- March

1. Maria Anna Wissink - Canadian from Newfoundland
2. Jacintia McGrath- Canadian
3. Natelle Tulk- Canadian from Newfoundland
4. Bill Cottrell- Canadian from British Columbia
5. Heather Owsinaski- Canadian from British Columbia
6. Brigid Mangles- Australian from Queensland

BASE CAMP SUPPORT TREK TEAM- Second wave - May

1. Vanessa Higgott- Canadian
2. Marcey Rivers-Canadian
3. Yvette Leveille- Canadian
4. Hugo Fortin- Canadian
5. Vonda Van Rooyen- American
6. Patrick Van Rooyen -American
7. Mark Shepheard -Canadian
8. Clare Vassos- Canadian
9. Alexandrea Vassos- Canadian
10. Lois McEwen - Canadian
11. Keith Mashinter - Canadian
12. Tania Dowzansky - Canadian
13. Dana Nicholls- Canadian

Sometimes calling 911 just isn't an option!

In addition to being a contributing supporter to Everest ER, Peak Freak members will also be covered 24/7 on all our expeditions worldwide this year, including EVEREST- thanks to Praxes!

PRAXES Medical Group (PMG) is a Canadian company supporting remote work teams with:

• 24/7 - 2 minute global response to health emergencies - specialist emergency doctors provide immediate advice for health care workers/first-aiders
• Internet based technologies that equip remote health care teams and first responders with web based clinic and search management software 
• Medical training for the Canadian military

www.praxes.ca 

24/7 - 2 minute global response to health emergencies. PRAXES supports the Canadian Coast Guard, Navy, Search and Rescue, Arctic fishing fleets, oil rigs and Peak Freaks!      

Current time on Everest

Sometimes calling "911" just isn't an option.

-Peak Freaks- Supporters of Everest ER

Tools to follow with