Thursday May 15. Everest Base Camp.
I slept well last night and woke to a cloudy day today. This is only the second cloudy morning we have had since we got here on April 9. It is common to have clouds in the afternoon, but the mornings are usually sunny and warm.
I watched "The Bucket List" in bed last night. It was a light and fun movie. One part really struck me in the movie. The two main characters are in Egypt looking at the great pyramids and Morgan Freeman's character tells the story that the ancient Egyptians believed that when you died and got to the gates of heaven you were asked two questions:
1) Have you found joy in your life? and 2) Has your life brought joy to others?
I thought these were two great questions we should all ask ourselves.
Yesterday was the NASA "Blast Off" reception. As all of our gatherings it was quite a success and I think Kellie and Bridie appreciated it. We had chicken and popcorn as snacks and made an orange juice & rum punch. We had about 25 of the usual suspects from Altitude Junkies, Project Himalaya, Jagged Globe, Korean Discovery, HRA Doctors, Peak Promotions, and Mountain Madness.
The dress code for the party was to dress as one of the characters from the NASA sentence comprehension test. This is a test that is done at base camp, camp 2 and camp 3. We carried a booklet of pictures up the mountain and Kellie or Bridie would read a sentence over the radio. We would have to say which photo the sentence related to. The characters you could choose to dress as were a scuba diver, a king, a nurse, a prisoner, a cook, a cowboy, a clown, a fireman, a dancer, or a witch. You could also dress as a NASA researcher (Kellie, Bridie, or Jim).
Not everyone came in costume, but there were quite a few great ones. I was a king with a crown made of serviettes, Angus dressed as bridie in all of her clothing, Ryan dressed as Kellie wearing her clothing, Bridie was a prisoner, Kellie was a cowgirl, Sylvie was a nurse and Al was a cook. Steve the Dr. from the HRA came as Jim the other NASA researcher. It was a great time and we had to ask people to leave so we could have our dinner.
Not really much else happened after dinner. We watch the usual LOST episode and retired.
This morning Kellie packed up and headed out. I think she had a great time here. I hope my kids have a similar opportunity some day. Bridie has decided to stay a while longer and be a base camp manager for one of the other teams during their summit push. Jim left two days ago and so missed the official send off party.

Message from Al B: Hi everyone, especially Darlene, Carrie and Jennifer and their families. Aslo to friends and family. I am doing well and excited to go on the summit push in a few days. Life here at base came is comfortable and fun, but I am still anxious to get home to see you all. I am feeling well, sleeping well and eating well. The food here at base camp is pretty good. I feel good when I am climbing and have found it quite exciting and educational.
I look forward to getting home and hiking with Chris and Barrette.
Thank you all for your support. I hope to be standing on the summit soon.
Al.

Messages:

Nick, great to hear from you. We are resting well, eating and drinking lots to get ready for the summit push. I'm glad you are enjoying reading my posts, but I don't think Jon K needs to work much about any competition from me. I especially hope not to have any stories to tell as exciting as in 1996.

Texas Jill, thanks for following and for your well wishes. I'm glad you do ot mind the long dispatches because I find it difficult to write too short because there is so much to say.

Biggest Fish, thanks for your well wishes.

Karen, Phil, Nathan & Maggie,
When we go to a new camp for the first time one of our Sherpa team is always waiting for us there to identify which tents are ours. Some of the companies stencil their name on their tents so people will know which ones are theirs.
Now to answer Karen's poo question. Yes it can be a little cold, but usually up here things are pretty lose so it is a relatively fast process. Our clothing is designed with a special trap door in the back so you don't need to take your pants al the way off.
Just stop reading when it is too much information. The way we do it at camp 3 is to use what we call a dinner plate. With a shovel we hack a dinner plate size chunk of hard packed snow out of the glacier. We lay that on the ground and squat over it. You do your business on the plate and then throw it down a crevasse. That way we are not messing up the ground. It takes a bit of practice to get your aim, but it is not too difficult. I do not like to leave much toilet paper behind so I use snowballs for the initial cleaning (kind of like a cold bidet) then use toilet paper for the finish. The snowballs and the toilet paper also go down the crevasse. How's that for too much information.

QE Letters:

Dear Chris, thank you for your letter. I too think it is pretty cool to be climbing Everest. I have been working towards this for about 20 years and it has been quite a challenge to make it happen. I made it a priority because I felt that if I did not make it happen now, it may never happen.
I wanted to climb Everest because it is the pinnacle of mountaineering. It is the highest in the world. It is also a continuation of a personal challenge. Over my years of climbing I have always gone to bigger and bigger mountains. Everest was the obvious ultimate challenge for me.
I don't really know what I am most scared of, but if I had to pick one thing it would be the summit day. We will be climbing in the "Death Zone" for an extended period and many things can go wrong.
As you go through the ice fall there are many, many ladders to cross. Some of the ladders fit my crampons really well, and others do not. I have had my crampon get stuck a couple of times, but never as bad as Shaunna's.
We climb the ice fall early in the morning when the ice is still quite frozen from the night. This helps to reduce the possibility of being in the ice fall when large chunks of ice topple over. However, as the summer gets closer and the air becomes warmer, the frequency of avalanches, rock fall, and ice towers falling over, has become much greater.
Thanks again for your letter.
All the best, Scott.

Dear Josh, it is not as cold on Mount Everest as I thought. During the day, base camp usually warms to around 10 degrees Celsius, at night is gets to about -5 degrees Celsius. I have a big down expedition parka that I have never even worn. Camps 2 & 3 are colder, but it is still not too bad. If there is a strong wind it does make it feel much colder. I expect the summit to be around -25 degrees Celsius. That will be cold, but it will feel colder because of the lack of oxygen in the air. Oxygen in our blood helps us to stay warm.
I climbed Mount Logan (Canada's highest peak) in 1999 and it was much colder than we are experiencing here on Everest.
When the sun is out the Western Cwn can get very, very hot. The heat can become oppressive and make it very difficult to continue climbing.
Thanks you for your best wishes. Hopefully I will be standing on the top soon.
All the best, Scott.

Dear Alysha, I am glad you are finding my climb interesting. Learning about Everest and Nepal can be quite fascinating. It is a very interesting country with interesting people, geography, and culture.
The first time I went through the ice fall I was a little scared. I had heard so much about it and how dangerous it can be. My first ladder crossing was a little nerve wracking, but I found it to be not as bad as anticipated. Now that I have done it many, many times it is not such a big deal.
This is just like many things in life. The first time we do them they are scary, but after a while we wonder what all the fuss was about. This is like doing new things in school or getting a new job. It is always a little scary, but usually not as bad as we thought.
Some of the crevasses we cross are very deep indeed. Sometimes all I can see is a black hole. The crevasses can be hundreds and hundreds of feet deep.
The Lhotse face also turned out not to be as scary as I anticipated. It is steep, but I have climbed steeper. As long as I go slow, concentrate on what I am doing, and remain confident it is a fun place to climb. I think this is partly due to my experience of climbing for over 20 years around the world.
Thank you for your letter.
All the best, Scott.

Dear Skylar, I'm glad you are finding following my climb interesting. Perhaps you can do something similar some day and post your stories on MyEverest for others to follow. I would not consider myself brave, but thank you for the compliment. I feel that if I have trained properly I do not need to be brave, because I have the skills to do what I need to do.
The ice fall is statistically the most dangerous part of climbing Mount Everest. Many, many, people have died here over the years. To help reduce this danger we try to go through the ice fall as few times as possible and to go early in the morning when it is most stable.
The summit day is the next most dangerous part of climbing Mount Everest. This is a time when we really need to work as a team and support one another. Rescue from the summit ridge is almost impossible, so we need to look out for one another and make smart choices.
Keep an eye out for a summit photo sometime between May 21-25.
Thank you for your letter.
All the best, Scott.