Day #23

Location: Mt. Everest Basecamp
Altitude: 5364m
Local Time: 7:00pm / April 19
Weather: Cool (40's) windy/sleet

Today was an exciting day as we had our puja/blessing which now allows us to climb and sleep on the mountain. The entire ritual lasts about 2 hours and involves burning of pine, throwing/offering of rice to the mountain, ceremonial blessings of items placed on an altar, and sharing of food, drink, and friendship! At the end of the ritual prayer flags are erected on a pole and spread across the camp. It is quite beautiful to see these flags and the prayers on them being offered for our safety!

After the ritual we discussed our plans for acclimitization and following is a tentative plan:

4/20 - Basecamp-Camp 1
4/21 - Camp 1-Camp 2
4/22 - Camp 2 to base of Lhotse
4/23 - Return to basecamp
4/24-4/26 Rest Days
4/27 - Basecamp-Camp 2
4/28 - Rest day
4/29 - Camp 2- Lhotse Face
4/30 - Rest day
5/1 - Camp 2-Camp 3
5/2 - Camp 3-Camp 2
5/3 - Return to basecamp

The above schedule is tentative and is dependent on weather, health of individuals, and many other factors. It has been designed to try and eliminate as much time in the Khumbu as possible. As the schedule varies from the above I will let you know! Once we are done with the above schedule we should be ready for a push to the summit from basecamp once there is a weather window ... whenever that may occur!

Prayers and warm thoughts will be greatly appreciated over the next few weeks as we challenge our bodies at higher altitudes. Thanks again for all your messages and I plan to do my best to continue the blog as I climb to the roof of the world.

Pat :>)

Your Messages:

Carol:
Hi sweetheart. Loved our phonecall earlier today and am thankful that you are keeping busy. We have an aggressive few weeks ahead of us but you will be uppermost on my mind!
Love you and miss you terribly :>)

AORN Friends:

Kay ... thanks for the update and the continued desire to spread the word about my adventures. Hope I can have the opportunity to do an AORN Congress presentation next year!

Judy ... wow, how great to hear from you! If anyone needed inspiration for training all they need to do is to look to your rigorous training for marathons. How many have you done now? A lot of the climbers here use running as their training and I know that on my team we have a fellow climber who runs a 2:17 marathon! It makes my 3:10 marathon look like I was crawling!
Jumping the crevasses was nothing special, just adrenaline pushing me to a higher level. Thanks so much for spreading the word about the Summit Scholarship in your chapter meeting.
Thanks also for the warm smiles, thoughts, and prayers ... greatly needed! And don't be pushing yourself any harder than you already do ... take note of my mantra "Festina Lente" ... slow and easy :>)

Rose ... go to Paul Adlers blog on the same website and download google earth as per his instructions. There is another file to open that will allow you to see the route up the mountain. See blog above for itinerary. Hope this helps.

Canadian Friends:

Danny ... I may do some audioblogs from the higher camps if I am challenged by battery power for the pda so appreciate you keeping the account topped off! Is the high school following the blog as is St. Mary's?

Sherri, Mary, & Dave ... thanks so much for the contact. I always enjoy reading about home. We really don't have quite the creature comforts of home here, but we do make the best of our surroundings! Hopefully the avalanche scares are part of the past, yet more challenges loom!

Holy Name of Mary - Mr. Geuer's Grade Six Class ... thank you so much for your kind words and prayers. I was a student in the old St. Mary's school over 45 years ago and was in class with your teachers sister Wendy. I learned a lot of great values at St. Mary's that have shaped me into the person that I am today. It was teachers at St. Mary's and Almonte High School that got me excited regarding travel and adventure and here I am now climbing the highest mountain in the world! I, like Sean Egan, am proof that even though you come from a small town you can do big things! I look forward to visiting your class someday to share stories about my adventures. When you get a chance, go to www.findinglife.ca for more exciting news and videos on the legacy of Sean Egan and Mt. Everest.

Columbia Friends:

Deb ... yes, hopefully that will be the last of the adrenaline rushes, but I don't quite think so!

Cathy & Kev ... great to hear from you! No worries, I would love to have you paint a picture of me on top of Mt. Everest if you can do that from a photo ... if that is what you mean? Thanks for checking in and please share with Kev all of my adventures. I just spoke to Carol and she is going to forward to me via private email some of his comments. Call Carol when you get a chance, and give Kev a hug for me!

Palmetto Health Friends:

Sandra ... don't worry, I plan to have my list written in duplicate for summit day regarding what I need to do as I know that basic survival will be the uppermost goal! Thanks for your continued support and I have sent an email to Leisl at USC CON for an update on the contributions.

Linda ... thanks for the vote of confidence regarding outrunning avalanches. Please contact Kate Lincoln to see if she can get you one of the USC posters that were developed for the Summit Schoalrship (has my picture on it) and hang it in your office as Greg and others can give their corporate money to educational needs. Kate can contact Liesl at USC College of Nursing for the poster. I believe that Eric has already seen it at a leadership meeting!

Tim .... great to hear from you and thanks for the continued thoughts and prayers. Any updates from your company sponsorship? You can email my brother Danny with specifics whenever needed!

Bob ... great to hear from you and thanks for spreading the word to University of South Carolina Gamecock fans nationwide. My itinerary is posted in the blog above, and if you will review my response to Rose at AORN you can track the route up the mountain. When you do contact those fans ... please remind them about the Summit Scholarship.

USC Friends:

Liesl ... has there been any movement on the donation indicator for the Summit Scholarship? Am I going to make it to the top before the red line does? Could we create a race to the top?

Gene ... diidn't have many choices at the time of the avalanche. The fight or flight response kicked in and we were off to the races! What are you getting in elevators for anyway? Take the stairs!!!

All The Others:

Bill & Michelle ... sometimes this trip has felt like an Indiana Jones adventure as you never know what is behind the next icefall so always have to stay alert! Appreciate the prayers!

Jeff ... great to hear from you and am impressed with your travelogue. I thought I was well travelled with 53 countries ... but 192, wow! No doubt you will be here someday and I look forward to helping you with all of the things that I have already learned, and wish I knew before! I will pay heed to your wisdom regarding summit day. I have already promised Carol and all others that I plan to be extremely safe and will enjoy the journey. Look forward to sharing the adventure. Enjoy your travels.

Ann & Graham ... thank goodness for great conditioning as it was a combination of that and adrenaline that sped us across the snow!

MC ... back to basics for some is a challenge, but very refreshing as we are over-dependent it seems on technology! However, I do look forward to that technology on my return as the neigbors might question me laying clothes to dry in our parking lot!

George ... great to hear from you! Hope all is well in the great state of Texas! I do have fond memories of our catamaran races in Corpus Christ and remember the stressors associated with dealing with your lack of sailing expertise ... just kidding! One of my fellow climbers is a pilot for Air New Zealand so we get to hear lots of flight stories ... would love to hear more of yours from Southwest Airlines on my return! Gidy Up from the top!

Ken ... great to hear from another of my Fellows X colleagues. I am glad that Agustin has spread the word of my adventure and am hopeful that it can increase the awareness of the need for suport of the Summit Scholarship for nursess at the University of South Carolina. Hope you are doing well, and appreciate the prayers.

Kurt ... great to hear from you and yes we have to get down to basics here at times. Running skills and adrenaline did come in handy for the escape from the avalanche and hope that this is all behind me now. Say hi to the girls and appreciate the prayers!

Joan ... great to hear from you and thanks for the heads up on something we did not know about Mike. It all makes sense now why he was so comfortable with those yaks that came so close to us on the trail ... it must have reminded him of running with the bulls!