Sent from Gorak Shep.
The following are several days worth of thoughts. This will help to catch you up a bit.
Saturday April 26. Everest Camp 1 6040m. 2:00pm.
I am right now sitting in my tent at Camp 1. It was a long time coming, but all 5 of us plus Lama Babu are here.
Our plan, as I have likely said several times, is to spend one night at camp 1, several nights at camp 2, and hopefully one night at camp 3 if permitted.
This morning we woke at 4:30am, got dressed, had some breakfast, and were at the base of the ice fall By 5:45am.
There were already many people on the trail ahead of us. They had obviously started out early to beat the crowds. We were at the tail end of this conga line, but quickly caught up. There were 20-30 people ahead of us and the going was slow, but reasonable. I am happy to say that some of the very slow climbers from our first trip up had grown in skill and speed considerably. However, there are always those groups and those people who can not move with the speed of the pack. They breathe down your neck, give you looks, sigh, and often mutter things in other languages to let you know how slow you are going. When there is a place to pass they speed (this is a relative term) past creating more issues as they try to make their way as far as they can and then bud back in line often not having gotten very far, but pissed off many in the process. These people remind me of highway drivers who speed down the on ramp to get ahead of as many cars as possible only to create a traffic jam when they try to slide in at the last minute.
Some of these climbers are truly fast and leave us in their dust, but many we find at the side of the trail 30 minutes later taking a break because they used all their energy passing. I saw a few people who passed us arrive in camp 2 hours after us. Patience is the key.
Anyway, the trip up was relatively easy even though my pack was pretty heavy. What made it heavy was food and batteries for my heated vest and my Hotronics(heated boots). I hope they still hold their charge when I need them.
I felt pretty good for most of the trip. However, I did have two coughing fits that took my breath away. I'm not exactly sure why this comes on, but it can be quite debilitating. I have a sinus problem that causes my nose to run. As the mucus runs down my throat I cough. When I am working hard the combination of my sinus problem and heavy breathing can bring on uncontrollable coughing. If I cough too much it can activate my gag reflex which is very uncomfortable. When this happens I need to stop and consciously breath in through my nose and out through my mouth for a couple minutes. This calms my breathing down and I am ready to go again.
Physically the trip up was easier due to the acclimatization and even with the congestion on the route it took us five hours to get to camp.
We are now all settled in our tents and it is quite warm. Although this will not last. We had lunch when we got here and have been drinking plenty of liquids, which results in frequent trips out of the tent to pee. Ryan just brought us hot chocolate, yummy pepper salami, crackers, cheese and cashews. Angus and I share a tent and keep busy with conversation and reading in between his mini-naps. It is so funny how he can fall asleep in the middle of a conversation. We'll be talking one minute and the next thing I hear is snoring, I wish I could fall asleep like that.
That's all for today.

Sunday April 27. Camp 2 6400m.
It is 2:00pm and I am lying in my tent at camp 2. The camp is built on the left side (as you are walking up hill) of the Western Cwm on top of a huge pile of glacial debris. It is a very unwelcoming place, although the Sherpa have done an amazing job of hacking out tent platforms and setting up a cook and dining tent.
This is the site where Babu Chiri Sherpa died in 2001. Babu Chiri was the most famous Sherpa of his time. He held records for the most summits, the fastest summit, and for being the only person to sleep over night on the summit. One night he stepped onto the glacier to take a photo and he fell into a crevasse. He was not found until the morning. I will not be wandering onto the glacier at night to take photos.
Last night was a pretty good night. I have determined that the Cwm is a giant reflector oven. With a white bottom and black walls on both sides it gets pretty hot. I find that the Cwm holds this heat well into the night.
After a nice mac n' cheese dinner I got ready for bed. My last night at camp 1 was a little cold so this time I would sleep in my one piece down suit.
This is the suit I will wear from camp 3 up. It is basically an over-stuffed down sleeping bag with legs and arms. It is very warm.
As I prepared for sleep I put on my suit and fluffed up my sleeping bag. I would sleep in my suit with my bag pulled over me like a duvet.
Unfortunately for the first few hours I had to sleep with the suit pulled down to my waist and the sleeping bag pulled to the side because it was so hot. When I woke at midnight it was cold enough that I needed to put the suit on my upper body and pull my bag up a bit. By 2am I zipped the suit up and actually got into my sleeping bag. Overall it was a pretty comfortable night and I was not too cold or too hot.
I suspect that tonight will be similar only colder as we are 400m higher. Right now it is quite hot in my tent, but there is a cool breeze.
The walk up here took 2 hours and we left camp 1 at 9am. The walk was much faster than I expected. The Western Cwm is a huge glacier flowing from the base of the Lotse face to the top of the ice fall where it continues sharply down hill. As you look up from camp 1 towards camp 2 the glacier unfolds infront of you. It resembles the gently rolling meadows of farm country back home. There are many small crevasses along the way that we just step over and there are a few huge ones that require ladders to span.
Even though the trail is relatively easy it is still quite tiring. This is I suspect because we cross over into the mid 6000m.'s The final 30 minutes was quite slow for me (as it seemed for most people).
Once in camp I unpacked my pack, organized my tent and went for lunch. Lunch was mushroom soup, chipatis, cheese and fresh hade coleslaw.
Camp 2 is a beautiful place. From here I can see the Lotse face (steep and scary), the trail to camp 3 (looks hard), the trail to the yellow band, the Geneva Spur and almost to the South Col. Camp 2 is also an ugly place with the remnants of old camps and garbage littered everywhere.

Monday April 28. Everest Camp 2 6400m.
Today I woke to the sound of a freight train passing over camp. All day the wind has been raging. Fortunately it is up high and only lighter winds and the odd gust hit our camp. The wind up high is easily 100mph or more.
Last night I was in my tent around 8pm. I read for a bit, but not for long as my eyes were tired. After I shut off my head lamp I laid awake for a very long time. I was hot in my suit, but I did not want to take it off. I was also very restless. You may have heard of restless leg syndrome, well I had restless body syndrome. I could not stay still. I could not get comfortable. My whole body had a mild ache from exertion and altitude. I think I finally drifted off around 10pm and slept well until 1:30am. At that point I woke up a little cold. I zipped up my suit, pulled up my bag and went back to sleep until 6:30am. Overall not a bad night at 6400m.
We were up for breakfast at 8:30am. Breakfast was cold cereal and no one was really interested. Sylvie ordered some noodle soup and that went over a little better. Our dining tent quickly heated up in the sun and we were soon stripping down to our base layer.
After breakfast we went for a walk to the top of camp 2 at 6500m. It took about 20 minutes and I was breathing pretty hard. I find that to regulate my breathing and my walking I take a breath in on one step and breath out on tne next step. If I am moving fast or going up a steep incline, I will take a breath each step. Overall I felt I was moving quite well. Several people were stopped and hunched over on the side of the trail gasping for breath.
When we got to the top of camp we were rewarded with an amazing view of the Lotse face and the route to the South Col.
The route up the Lotse face looks pretty spectacular. It also looks very exhausting. I look forward to putting my crampons on the face, but also know that it will be extremely challenging physically. Some people will start to use oxygen at the base of the face, but I will not use it until sleeping at camp 3 and at a low flow from camp 3 to camp 4. I know this will make it more difficult, but I also believe it will help me acclimatize better. I could see where camp 3 will be placed and it looks quite exhilarating (scary). It will be great to spend a night there to acclimatize, but it will also be nice to move on.
After our walk it was rest time, reading time, and then dinner. A few of us forced ourselves to stay up until 8pm. We sat in the dining tent talking with the Sherpa. Our tent is quickly filling with oxygen cylinders. A sign of what is to come soon.

Tuesday April 29 - Wednesday April 30. Camp 2 - BC.
This morning I woke after a pretty good sleep. I am getting used to sleeping in my one-piece down suit. Our plan today is to head back to base camp. Last night we got word that the mountain will be closed on May 1 & 2. All climbers must be off the mountain.
Our plan is to go back to bace camp today (Tuesday) and spend several rest/waiting days there. We will then head back up the mountain and go direct to camp 2 skipping camp 1. We will spend two nights at camp 2 and then climb to camp 3 for a one night sleep. We will then descend all the way to base camp, rest and be ready to go for the summit. Dates are unknown at this time.
It was a drag that we did not get to sleep at camp 3 on this past foray up the mountain. That would have saved us an additional trip through the ice fall and saved some energy as well. As much as I would rather have gone to 3 on this past trip, I do think this new schedule will produce greater acclimatization. This, I hope, will translate into better summit success.
The walk down was pretty easy. I am quite familiar with the ground by this time and we did not meet many people coming up. There was a steady stream of Sherpa heading down, but this did not cause us much slow down.
The trip from camp 2 to camp 1 only took 45 minutes. Once we got to camp 1 a very strong wind picked up. It only lasted for about 10 minutes, but was strong enough to push us around and I even found it made it a little difficult to breath. This also could have been the altitude and exertion.
We left camp 1 and were making good time down the ice fall.
About half way down there is this one ladder bridge that is particularly unnerving. For the most part I am used to the ladder crossings and while I always go slow and move cautiously, they are not a big deal. This one, however, is another story. It slopes up hill on about a 20 degree angle with a slight lean to one side and a good bit of wiggle from side to side. It is stable, but seems far from it. Going up it is intense, but not too bad. Going down on the return trip is another story. The first time I went down I crawled backwards on my hands and knees. It felt stable, but I'm sure I looked a little silly. Regardless of how I looked, I felt safe. I watched other climbers walk down it forward and backwards, always very shaky and with a slight look of terror in their eyes. Except, of course, the Sherpa who bound across it like they are on a sidewalk.
On this trip through it appeared that the crossing would be a bit better. Two very tight hand rails had been added to make the crossing less precarious. As I approached the ladder I took a look at the snow stake on the up hill side. This was the primary anchor for the one hand rail and it was tensioned as tight as a piano wire. It was so tight that is had twisted and bent the aluminum snow stake. I looked at the anchor and through it looked very scary. At no other time in my life would I consider using an anchor of this dubious quality. It was just a hand line, and I guess a safety line if I fell, but there were two of them and I thought it was an acceptable risk.
I clipped onto both safety lines and backed onto the ladder. I slowly walked backwards and soon enough I was across to the other side. The rest of the trip down was pretty easy after this.
So, I am now in base camp. We had a nice dinner and watched LOST last night. I went to bed at 9:30pm.
This past Sunday was Amy's First Communion. It makes me sad to know I was not there. I'm sure she looked beautifu and did a great job with her reading. Congratulations Amy. I am proud of you. I also heard Colin looked very handsome in his new clothes and was a great help getting ready for the party.
At least things here are going well. We have had to deal with a very unpredictable schedule, but it has not been too bad as it has not affected our chance of success too much yet. As a team we are getting along pretty well. I am healthy and feeling strong. I am eating and sleeping well.
Today I had a shower and a shave. It feels great to be clean, although it will not last long.
After lunch today we had a very exciting game of Monopoly (mountaineering edition). It went on for a few hours and I eventually won. Fun in base camp.
That's all for now.

Thursday May 1. Base Camp Waiting Day.
Not much new or much going on today. It is almost unbearably hot in my tent, but the afternoon clouds are moving in and it is cooling off.
I slept well last night, although a little cold. I woke around 7am and went for breakfast at 8am.
After breakfast I went for a walk to the Altitude Junkies (another expedition team) tent to borrow a book from their library. I chose "Alexander the Great". I figure I may as well learn something while I am here. I chatted with the Junkies for a bit and then went to the Base Camp Doctors tent and met with Dr. Steve.
I do not have any real health issues, I just figured it would be good to get a check-up while I am in base camp. He checked my oxygen saturation (86%) and my resting heart rate (85bpm). I told him about my cough and he listened to my breathing and looked at my throat. My lungs were fine, but my throat was red with a few soars on it. He thinks I may have a mild virus brought on by the cold dry air. Pretty much everyone has it up here. It just affects some more than others. I am a medium case. Not bad, but could be better. He said to wear my buff over my mouth at camp and to sleep with it. He also said to get a bowl of steaming hot water, put a towel over my head and breath in the warm moist air. Other than that there is not much to be done.
I did purchase an inhaler from him that I will use leading up to and during my summit push. Once in the morning and once at night. It may or may not help, but it will not hurt. It could possibly mean the difference between success and failure. For a small fee I felt it was a good idea. He said they are almost sold out of them as returning climbers know about them and have been snapping them up.
On my way back from the Dr. I stopped once again at the Junkies tent (it is on the way) and spoke with Dr. Jim who was over there doing some testing. While we were talking a huge avalanche released from the west shoulder directly above the ice fall. It rocketed down in a huge cloud. I could see 4-6 climbers directly in its path. It kept going and I saw the climbers (little black dots) run for cover and gather together as the avalanche overtook them. By this time it was just wind and powder, but I'm sure there were a few tense moments up there. The snow settled and the climbers continued on their trip. No one was injured. It was really more dramatic than close.
If I had been in my tent I could have taken a great photo as the back door of my tent opens onto a great view of the ice fall. But unfortunately, I was not in my tent and I did not have my camera with me.
The rest of the day will be spent doing very little. Reading, walking, talking, maybe a game of Monopoly or an episode of LOST. We"ll see. Ill write more if anything interesting comes up.

Love to Susan, Amy and Colin.
Scott out. SS

Messages:
Thanks to everyone who is sending messages. I can't get them on a regular basis right now, but it is always great when I can.

Phil, Karen, Nathan and Maggie. I wish I were at Disney World as well. Everest is one of my favourite rides. The line to get to the ride looks just like Kathmandu. Happy Birthday Maggie.

QE gang. Thanks for following. Sorrry I can't be more consistent. Maybe in a week or two things may ease up a bit.

WP, things just keep melting here. I suspect it is pretty normal for the last few years, but quite different from 20 years ago.

Jill, thanks for following along. I think Susan already told you that LO is short for Liaison Officer. I have not heard any more about his condition, but I'm sure he recovered quickly once he got to lower altitude.

Michael, Miney, Ethan & Lucas, thanks for feeding and entertaining my family.