NOTE: DUE TO WEATHER I COULDN'T SEND THIS YESTERDAY. WE ARE NOW IN DINGBOCHE (4400m) AND ALL IS WELL.

Location: Himalayan Ascent Base Camp
Altitude: 5350m
Time: 4pm Wednesday 28th April
Conditions: it was sunny and warm this morning in EBC but it's now overcast and very cold (postscript: and heavily snowing; BC is white!)

Hello all it's Pat here, luxuriating in the (relative) luxury that is base camp. Oh how nice it is to be here after a week on the hill!

If you can bear with me I'll take you through the goings on of the past few days.

Ascending the Lhotse Face to Camp 3

We woke in Camp 2 to clear skies and little wind, and the call was made that Jangbu and I would climb up to C3 and spend the night, while the others rested in C2 (except Ankaji who did a carry to 3 and then descended to BC).
Camp 3 is about 500m up the Lhotse Face, at an altitude of 7150m, so it's a real slog. Jangbu and I left C2 at around 7am and we were at the foot of the face by 8.30am. To gain access to the face we crossed the bergschrund (the big crevasse which separates a mountain face from the glacier) and then strenuously scaled a 10m ice cliff before gaining the Lhotse face proper. The route up the face to C3 generally goes straight up but ocasionally weaves through some small serac bands. Our initiation to the face was quite quick as a few moments after crossing the 'schrund a rock came flying down the face from above and slammed into Jangbu's chest. He wasn't hurt but if it had been 20cm higher it would have collected him in the face and the outcome would have been entirely different.

After this incident we realised we needed to keep a good eye on what was coming down from above. We started moving up the face on the fixed ropes and got into a rhythm as we gradually progressed higher - maybe 5 steps and pulls on the jumar (an ascender) and then pant for a minute and suck in some thin air. Each anchor point of the fixed lines gave another good opportunity to rest and suck in some more air, and also joke with a nice english team who were moving up with us. About halfway up the face one of the english climbers was hit by a rock in the face and had to retreat.

The face was perhaps a little steeper than I was expecting, and most of it is hard blue ice which requires a lot of concentration and is generally pretty unforgiving in an accident. It was critical to ensure that each crampon placement was solid. After a few hours of upward slogging we could see the tents of Camp 3, although the final vertical 100m took well over an hour and was very exhausting (such is life above 7000m).

A run-in with a Rusky

Just prior to reaching our tent we passed a team of russians who have set-up their C3 under a serac. They have dubiously placed a safety line running from their camp to the main line, except for some reason they have not anchored their line in, rather they have just tied it into the main line.

As I encountered this safety line I had to move my jumar and safety above it, much the same as you would do when moving over any anchor point. I knew at this point that one of the russian climbers was behind me, probably about 5m away. After I had moved my jumar and safety above the knot, I felt a sudden grab from behind - the climber below had quickly moved up to me and untied from the safety line - as I moved up again the climber below slipped and grabbed hold of me, and started pulling me off the face! Fortunately we didn't fall any further but I was so surprised to suddenly feel somebody grabbing me from behind that I gave him some choice words about his lack of safety and his mother's questionable lineage (not really). But needless to say I was really angry at this guy for his dangerous and unsafe actions, and for putting both of our lives at risk. When I said to him "you could have killed us both", he responded in a thick accent "I could keel you whenever I want. I could keel you now, or I could keel you later". I responded by telling him that he was dangerous and an idiot, and resumed my upward climb, with his murderous threats ringing in my ears. I later looked over at him in his camp and he was waving a spade at me and shouting "I can keel you now if you like, come over here and I keel you!". So much for peace on the mountain (although I must say that apart from this minor indiscretion, I have really enjoyed the comeradery on the mountain - most people are very friendly and all lookout for each other, and I have met some lovely people).

Camp 3

The adreneline from the encounter with my ex-KGB friend helped me gain the final 50m to our tent, which is set on a small platform at 7150m with a steep and long drop down, and expansive views over the Western Cwm, Camps 1 & 2, Pumori, and beyond to Cho Oyu (at that moment covered in cloud) and other mountains in Tibet. To the right and above, we could look up and see the South Col and the route up the SE ridge to the summit of Mount Everest (there is surprisingly little snow on the ridge at the moment). The jetstream winds were howling over the summit, and there was a constant roar as the wind ripped through the ridgeline.

Camp 3 however was quite protected from the wind, and upon our arrival we busied ourselves with water melting, rehydration and eating. Well actually Jangbu did most of the chores, working the stoves like a masterchef, while I lay semi-comatose and tried to recover my breath. Life above 7000m is not easy, and the smallest of tasks leaves you breathless and exhausted (unless you are Jangbu or any other sherpa/nepali for that matter).

After a bowl of hot soup I started feeling much better, and had enough energy to peer out of the tent and absorb the stunning views, and take waaaaay too many photos and video. Jangbu did the same, but not before he rigged up a safety line to enable us to leave our tent and go to the toilet without slipping down the Lhotse face - a terrible fate which has become at least one unfortunate climber.

From our tent the sunset was stunning, particularly as the distant clouds parted to reveal just the upper summit of Cho Oyu, and memories of the special 20 minutes that Lakpa and I spent there last year came flooding back - it is perculiar to see a high summit in the evening light, it looking so cold and distant and isolated, and to know that you have actually been there. A lovely moment, and we watched enthralled.

A quick radio call down to Sumit and Lakpa in C2 to let them know we were ok was followed by bedtime organisation. Stuffed into the bottom of our sleeping bags go our wet socks and other clothing (although we are wearing our down suits inside our bags), and filled water bottles, sunburn cream, food and camera batteries to stop them from freezing. A quick and careful-footed toilet break outside and a few minutes later our head-torches are out and it's time for whatever sleep we will be lucky enough to get. For me, in between gasps of air from the uncontrollable cheyne stokes breathing, I get maybe four hours of sleep before I wake at 1am with a crippling headache. I lay there thinking 'this is not good', as there's no way I will be able to descend the ropes of the face in the morning in such a condition. Although my desire is to go back to sleep and hope the headache will go away, I know from previous experience that this would be foolish, and so I reluctantly drag myself up (it is about -20 degrees C in our tent), drink one litre of water and swallow three panadol. I also make use of my pee bottle; going outside to take a leak is not an option. After about 15 minutes of controlling my breathing I can feel the headache start to subside, and I drift off back to sleep.

The Descent

The alarm goes off at 4.30am and Jangbu has the stoves going within a few minutes, and we start preparing for descent, our acclimatisation night being over. Because we are going to go all the way down to BC, we need to get an early start to ensure we aren't passing through the icefall too late in the day.

It takes 90 minutes for us to be ready; it's not just a matter of getting dressed in 5 minutes and then stepping out the door. Getting ready includes having a hot drink, pulling everything out of the sleeping bags, packing up backpacks (with things that we might need during the descent on top), deciding which gloves to wear given the freezing conditions and 400m of abseiling we will be doing, putting on socks, inner boots, harness, outer boots, and then leaving the tent, clipping into the safety line and then putting on crampons. All of this is done whilst it's around -20 degrees C i.e. really really really cold.

We start abseilling down the lines but the wind and cold are fierce, and because we've been asleep and our bodies inactive from sleeping, the blood in our bodies (or at least mine) is not yet circulating and our extremities are cold. After 10 minutes the fingers in my right hand have gone from being extremely painful to being numb, and despite wearing my very warm guide gloves I become concerned about frostbite. Lots of clapping hands to warm them up doesn't seem to do much, and so Jangbu urges me to get moving quickly, the benefits being twofold; firstly, the lower we go the warmer it will get, and secondly moving quickly will get the whole body warmed up and circulation happening. Of course Jangbu is right, and within 5 minutes of rapid abseiling I can start to feel my fingers warming up - only problem being that I'm now exhausted from moving so quickly, we are still at 7000m!

After a while however Camp 3 is getting further away and the base of the Lhotse face much closer and I am starting to feel stronger and warmer. By this time some sherpas carrying loads from C2 to C3 are on the face and just as we cross the bergschrund we here the call of "rock!" and look up and see a rock the size of two housebricks bowling down the face. The rock misses all of the sherpas until the last guy who is lined up to cop it square on. However, some deft manouvering from him at the very last second sees the rock miss him by about one metre - remember, this rock has fallen from a couple of hundred metres above and it is moving at full pace!

The rest of the descent is pretty mellow by comparison - we get changed out of our down suits in C2 and with Lakpa and Sumit begin our descent down to Camp 1 and through the icefall - at the top of the icefall we noticed a few crevasses which have gotten considerably larger - 1m jumps over black voids. We move through the icefall pretty quickly, and despite the relatively late hour (midday) it doesn't seem too scary, apart from a couple of the big ice cliffs at the top of the icefall which are primed to go - we have to abseil down. Mercifully there is a crisp breeze blowing and we don't get cooked. I wear a helmet camera on the way down and get some great video footage, and about 45 minutes away from basecamp Ankaji greets us with toasted sandwhiches and cokes, which gives us the energy to get through the safe but monotenous lower section of the icefall and into camp. We are very tired after a 1800m descent, but happy to know that we are all healthy and have completed our final acclimatisation rotation with no dramas and that a week of rest awaits prior to us attempting to go all the way to the summit and back.

Thoughts on the last rotation, and when we plan to use bottled oxygen

This final rotation was a great success for us - our acclimatisation is obviously working and we feel that we are well placed for when the first or second weather window hopefully arrives in May. We were probably the second or third group to spend a night in C3, although I understand that many groups only touch C3 without spending a night there prior to their summit bids.

Having seen the route from Camp 3 to Camp 4 and then to the summit, I am very aware of how much harder these two days will be. C3 to C4 involves an 800m ascent, which at those altitudes (i.e. 7150m- 7950m) is a very serious undertaking, only to be backed up the next day by a 900m summit day at 8000m+! Of course for these days we will be breathing oxygen (here's your answer Bron). The intention is to start breathing oxygen when we arrive at C3 - I'll maybe sleep that night on a flowrate of 0.5 litres/minute. Then for the climb to C4 I'll use a flowrate of between 1-2 litres/minute. Lakpa, Ankaji and Jangbu will start using bottled O's from above the South Col (Camp 4) on the summit bid (Sumit hasn't decided about his use of oxygen yet). Above the South Col I'll be breathing it at around 2-3 litres/minute, with the capacity to use more if necessary (on Cho Oyu I used a flowrate of 1-2 litres/minute, and found it pretty tough).

The Plan from here

The plan from here on varies depending on who we're talking about. Ankaji and Jangbu will rest in BC for another 2 days (today they both went down to Gorak Shep), before heading back up to C2, from where they will undertake to carries to C4 at the South Col (assuming the route has been put up to the Col by then). Then they will drop back to BC for 3 or 4 days rest. Lakpa is heading down to Namche with Mingma; they will attend a buddhist festival at a monastery in Thame, which is a small village up a different valley from Namche. Sumit and I will head back down the valley to Dingboche, which is approximately 1000m lower than BC; the reason being the thicker and warmer air will help us recover from the past few week's exertions. We will head down either tomorrow or the day after, and stay for 2 or 3 nights, before returning. In Dingboche we wil meet up with Kerry, a friend from last year's Baruntse/Mera Peak expedition, who is coming to climb Lobuche East, a 6100m trekking peak located down the valley from Everest BC. After a few nights in Dingboche we'll head back up to BC, by which point in time we should have an idea of any weather windows due in early May, which we hope to take advantage of. The idea is once we know of an approaching window, we'll move up to C2 and wait until it looks ok to go for it. At the moment we're thinking of a summit date of around the 11th May, but of course we need to remain healthy,and the weather needs to cooperate - so who knows!

Today's Action

Today was a day of domesticity, lots of washing of smelly clothes and smelly bodies. The washing of clothes involves using any spare bowls and hot water, and the washing of bodies occurs in a small shower tent, again with a bowl of hot water and a jug - it might seem basic but it still gets you clean!

Pushkar the bicycle man, who is next door to us in BC, came over for a coffee this morning, and it was very interesting hearing his story - but more on that later, as this update is already far too long and I haven't even got to the messages yet.

Messages

A huge thanks to all of you who have posted messages to me - it is a real and genuine highlight everyday when I receive your messages. I was in Camp 2 and unable to get messages for a few days and was feeling a bit down and then when I did I was so excited to read them all and it bought amassive grin to my face! I hope you are enjoying reading these updates, and learning lots about high-altitude mountaineering! Just a reminder that it is better to post a message rather than send an email to the enquiries email address - those emails go to Annie, the site moderator (who is doing a great job, checking the site twice a day), rather than to my pda here on Everest.

Rightio, I think I've covered them all, if you've left a message in the past week, please wade through to find your response.

Darryl & Sue - thanks very much for following. I really enjoyed catching up with you before I left, it meant a lot. I hope you are both well.

John Scott - hello mate, glad you are all following and I hope you liked the photo of the Scott Print flag in BC - all of the sponsors & supporters flags are hanging from our dining tent but at the momemt are under snow. Thanks again for your support. I hope the house renno's are going well/complete. I'm sure you've been getting heaps of waves too.

Mum - hi Mum, glad you liked the call from C3, a special treat for you guys. Please say hi to Verity when she arrives, I haven't heard from her or Matthew yet - I hope they are both well. Glad you had a nice time at the block. I love the idea that those prayer flags are out on the washing line, I like the thought of them fluttering in the wind, and also of Harry trying to jump up and get at them.

Morag - thankfully my nose has healed and didn't get caught again! Speaking of ANZAC Day, in C2 I was reading a book called Somme Mud which was written by a Digger who fought in France between 1916-1919. I thoroughly recommend this book to any Australian - it's pretty horrific what these guys went through, and it made me realise how easy we've had it by comparison. His description of his arrival home to Sydney after three years at war had me in tears.

Kate Minto - hello Kate I'm so glad you have mastered this technology - look out world! Trust you and Tez are settling back in to Melbourne well. Oh and just in case I forgot this year - happy birthday for July 5th (I know I will speak to you before then but I just wanted to prove that I remember!).

Carl - hope you won some money on the two-up! It's gonna be a quiet week or two with our acclimastisation over but I'll try and keep the updates regular and interesting - gotta keep it imaginative so I don't lose my regular audience!

Sharon & Al - howdy fellow mountaineers in crime. Rabin whipped up a dirty big rosti tonight which I had for dinner, while the rest of the boys are tucking in to dahl baht and curry as I write. I brought so much food from home that I reckon you guys will reap the benefits of on Cho Oyu later in the year - I hope you like NutriGrain! I almost took a photo of what came out of my nose this morning just to spite you, but now we have a primary school audience on board (see below) we must be responsible and mature. What I can tell you is that it was dark red, but it wasn't a tomato. Thanks for passing on the message to Kerry, we should see her in Dingboche in 2 nights time. Yes I hadn't thought that the photos might be making it look easy - as you know it aint. Passed on your message to everybody and I know they're all keen as mustard for Cho Oyu - Sumitand Lakpa have got a great team with Jangbu and Ankaji. Yours in funky western ice dancing.

Dad - thanks for reminding me to clip into a rope at C3! Jangbu's safety rope and improvised chest harness was A1 and so no falling, but if you dropped your morning tea you definitely wouldn't be getting it back in a hurry. I got a real kick out of ringing you and mum from C3, I was smiling for ages afterwards, as I realised that you perhaps more than anyone would appreciate it. I'm glad you've been showing the site to your friends, and if Steve Archer is reading please know that all is going well and every few nights I push that stomach layer of fat back from whence it came.

Mat Harvey - hey Mat that is a great question, nice one. I just asked Lakpa and he reckon's it is 14km. It's funny but it always happens on mountains in that I underestimate distances, as in I'll think, 'oh, we should be at the top of that ridge in half an hour', and two hours later we still haven't reached it. But it seems that this happens on Everest more than anywhere. On the first trip to C2 after our first glimpse of its location I said to Sumit, "it's only about 20-30 mins away". It took 3 hours. That's what altitude does to you.

Paul Newsome - hello mate great to hear from you. Thanks for the input re. tiredness and fatigue - you are on the money about feeling that way after a few lazy days. Over the next week at lower altitude I'm going to make sure that I'm active for at least an hour or two each day - just to keep the engine ticking over. I did bring my HR monitor but I haven't been using it because I have an altimeter watch which is probably more important to me. The same thing has happened to me as did last year on Cho Oyu - I've been losing muscle, but I think I've increased my body fat!? My body doesn't seem to have learnt how to use body fat as an energy source. Or it might be those double-choc tim tams I brought to BC. Great story about Thorpie and Hackett, but hey Michelle married you so it can't have been that bad. Also, I like the Dr Seuss poem, I read it out aloud at my twin sister's wedding.

Bron - yep you recall correctly, I did read out aloud the Dr Seuss poem (along with Matthew). I passed on your messgae of thanks to the guys. It was great speaking to you from 7100m the other day! Your weekend away at the prom sounds great (tell Terry I said he is a nerd for staying at home and studying), but I'm not sure why anyone would ever get up that early though, unless they had to go through the icefall! Great to hear this is how you start your day - it must be about midday by now, given the length of this post?

John Lyon - thanks for thinking about me every day. Glad you liked the audio from C3 and hopefully some of the photos from C3 convey the beauty of the place.

Eamon - don't worry I wasn't constantly thinking of you in the icefall, only when we came across frustrating parts... nah just kidding. Yeah dropping that crampon at 6500m and having to back-track for an hour was a daft thing to do, but I seem to pretty good at dong those kind of things... like when I left my passport on the plane in Thailand - but we don't speak about that.

Craig - hello Craig, yes that climb of Cho Oyu was long-haul, and getting through my 30 minute video of it is probably almost as difficult. If you are heading to Cho Oyu this year or next, let me know and I can put you in touch with Sumit from Himalayan Ascent. This is my 6th big-mountain expedition and I've tried a few operators and I really can't sing the praises of these guys enough - a trip run by Nepalese guys who absolutely love climbing, are all very experienced and have the BC facilities which match all the big names - plus, it's a great atmosphere and you'll leave possibly with the summit attained but definitely with a new bunch of friends.

Em - howdy trekking partner, great to hear you are enjoying domestic bliss but also acting on behalf of the Nepal Tourism Board. You, Nat and Mum have all commented on how good Mingma's chicken curry was. When I tell him this he just smiles his lovely smile and says "thankyou sir". Yeah I was surprised to hear you guys got split up in Lukla but I guess that how things go in Lukla when the weather's playing up. I'm not surprised to hear you guys hit up all the dodgy clubs and that Dave commandeered AGAIN a rickshaw. Thanks for wearing the Rinpoche's good luck charm - please keep following.

Abbe, Peter, Hartley and Remy - hi guys, I'm pleased to hear that I have inspired you! I have never done the cape to cape, primarily because I would want to carry a surfboard and I would probably only get a few km's along the track and then I'd just want to go surfing and eat a meat pie afterwards, like I normally do! Also, I can't believe how old Hartley and Remy are now - both in high school!?

Tony Breen - thanks Tony, hopefully we can.

Fletty - FD, howzit, dominating the lineups of Morocco are you? If only I could dominate the Everest line-up like you do out at Tom's and Mettams, then that pesky rusky wouldn't have caused me so much grief. I'm also looking forward to a parmy, but I tell you what, the chicken parmy that Rabin does here is probably better than the herdy! Keep finding the facts.

Terry - ha ha nice jokes, but I think I met that bunch of blonde climbers yesterday, they are the swedish national team. They climb in lycra. I still haven't managed to locate that yeti skull but I'm keeping my eyes open. You still haven't told me what those students did to you?!

Mike - ah that's a shame to have two dead cows, the flipside being that you got a few veal schnitzels out of them? Bugger, snapping your new eight-oh is dissapointing. I guess on the bright-side you survived a trip over the falls on a margies ten footer, so life isn't so bad. Have a blast in Indo and chat when you're back, say happy 50th to JB for me.

Special Group Messages

Wallaby Walkers - hello Wendy and all, I am glad you are enjoying our progress! What a great group leader you have in Sandy, she's very knowledgeable and enthusiastic isn't she?

Year 4A Emerald North Primary School, Queensland - last but not least! Hello to all of the Yr 4 students, it is a real honour to have you following our progress. Mount Everest is certainly a very interesting topic to be learning about, and perhaps one day one of you may travel to Nepal to be here. I imagine Emerald is very different from here - much warmer at least! Have you benefited from the rain which central Australia received early this year? If you needed it, then I hope so. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, as I'd like to help with your project!

PS
If you made it this far, you're probably wondering how long it took me to compile this update - 8+ hours! But no problems, it's much easier than climbing to Camp 3, plus it's nice and warm here in the dining tent, Sumit's had some great music on and it's given me something to do rather than lay in my sleeping bag listening to the snow fall all afternoon.