Pumo Ri

7 days into our trek to Everest BC we are at our final night in beds and indoors. Tomorrow we head to the first of our tent camps, Lobuche basecamp at about 16,200 feet. We will spend a couple of nights there before moving up to our true basecamp close to Pumo Ri. The good news today was that our last heli of equipment, along with the boss - Russell Brice - arrived in Syangboche and will join us in camp in the next 3 days or so.

8000 meter peaks always seem to have a waiting period, and this spring on Everest has been no exception. It is one of the hardest times mentally of the entire season, and the number of helicopters coming in and out of basecamp every day represent this. Every day it seems like a different climber decides to pack up, grab a 6,000$ ride, and go home. Either they get sick, or life stuff is going on at home, or they just can’t handle the idea of another week of waiting while jetstream winds pound the upper mountain.

The waiting game is finally over! After 12 days in and around BC, the weather models have finally settled and agreed on a good low wind window coming up. So it is time to go climbing. We are a final summit team of 42 climbers - 13 members, 5 guides, and 24 sherpa. All are healthy and excited, and have been spending today preparing for our climb. These final preparations include: oxygen briefing and practice, packing food for a week of climbing, making final choices on clothing and equipment for the summit push, and pairing members with their climbing sherpa.