EVEREST LIVE

May 17 , 2001

From: Didrik Johnck

Back in base camp again.

What!?!?! I thought for sure the next time I'd be here was after a succesful summit attempt. It's May 17th and I'm trying to keep myself from pulling my hair out. It feels like I've been here for years. Oh well. Yes, our summit attempt was thwarted by bad weather and bad weather forcasts. Many of the team were happy to go back to base camp for a few days, but I was not (until I saw the morning of May 16). I reluctantly agreed to head down with most everyone. While I was leaving Camp 2 that morning the sun was hitting the peaks around camp making me smile. (By the way, from my tent at Camp 2 I can't see any of the south col or summit ridge.)

So anyways, threw my pack together with the usuall travel necesities, leatherman knife, full water bottles, windstopper gloves and waterproof shells, gummi bears, oreos, jolly ranchers, ricolas, gore-tex jacket, lightweight down sweater, extra pair of sunglasses (snow blindness really sucks -- your eyes sting with the intensity of 1000 bees), my lufa, and my camera equipment -- 35mm still camera with two lenses (telephoto and wide angle), extra film and batteries, digital camera with extra memory card and batteries.

After cursing the absurd weight of my pack we bailed out of Camp 2 and headed into the western cwm. About 20 minutes out of camp, I turned around and saw the most sickening looking black sheet of clouds forming over the summit pyramid of Everest. The clouds were swarming as fast as the summer fog moves into San Francisco. I thought to myself, "Maybe it is a good idea to let this jet stream peter out before we head up there." With that we high-tailed down to base camp in about four hours.

Didrik