Climber Update

By 6:00 p.m. last night, all of the climbing members of the NFB 2001 Everest Expedition made it into camp two at 21,500 ft. healthy and safe.  Of course they were tired and needed their appetites taken care of, but they were in great spirits none the less.

The weather was wonderful the entire night.  Temperatures were 10 below zero, and an occasional wind gust would pay them a visit.  Also, during the night, the lower GI gods paid a visit to Big E, a.k.a. Erik Weihenmayer, and he made a quick exit from his tent, waking everyone up.  It must have been the buffalo meat in his stew!

We got a pretty scary vision of what all of the climbers looked like and smelled like at our 9:00 a.m. radio check-in.  Taking the cake in the beauty category was Brad Bull, with his hair finally out of place and on the slick side.  For those of you that know Brad, his hair is a combination of the Ken Doll and Robert Redford and never out of place!!!  In the smell category, they all win!  Jeff Evans and Michael Brown got into a wrestling match and the team said it ended in a draw. And finally, Eric Alexander burned his down suit while sitting next to the heater during dinner; nothing a little duct tape can't repair! In short, everyone is doing well and in good spirits. 

Speaking of (or should I say singing of) good spirits, climber Mike O'Donnell's daughter, Katie, had a birthday yesterday and climber Jeff Evan's father, Bob, has a birthday today and the team sang a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday to them.  Enjoy! 

Today, all of the climbers made their way to the bottom of the Lhotse Face.  This trek up the Western Cwm took about two hours.  They returned to camp two around 2:00 p.m. and everyone was feeling strong and healthy. Two of our Sherpa made it up to camp three today and cut out tent platforms for the seven tents that need to be set up.  Tomorrow will be a rest day for all of the climbers.  The following day, they will all be up bright an early and will continue to put fixed lines up and carry loads to camp three. They are also working with the Russian and Italian teams fixing lines and sharing rope.

All of us here at base camp want to let you know that we are doing our best to keep all dispatches and emails up to date the best we can.  We apologize for some of the delays but our technology has been very stubborn at times and a nightmare at others.  If you can only imagine dealing with technical problems at 17,600 ft. in the middle of nowhere, with the temperatures hovering around zero degrees, it can be a challenge.  We have enjoyed the hundreds of emails we have received the past two weeks.  Please keep them coming remember they keep our spirits high and the positive karma rolling.

Make yourself a great day!