Day #49

Location: Basecamp
Altitude: 5364m
Local Time: 10:30pm / May 15
Weather: Cool (30's) sunny/windy

I will be posting the Summit Scholarship Update daily for the rest of this week as I realize that not everyone reads the blog daily and I want everyone to know how easy it has now become to donate to this scholarship!

If you are familiar with the details, please jump ahead to my daily message!

Summit Scholarship Update

Following is an update from Liesl:

The USC website for the climb
is now online at www.sc.edu/everest. The University of South Carolina team has created a comprehensive site
which includes many video clips about
your trek and your goal, links to news
coverage, great pictures, and how to make a gift.

Gifts to the cause have been coming in faster, competing with your climb, and we're now at $4,397! Recently, Palmetto Health Alliance made a generous Mount Kilimanjaro level donation. There are many other gifts mentioned even on this blog that are coming down the pike. Every gift helps us get closer to the "one dollar for every foot" goal. Let's continue to spread the word! We've been sending posters out all over the state and through the country, and are now
having more printed.

Online Giving:
https://giftsonline.sc.edu/contribute.asp
As of today, the Summit Scholarship is
available as a drop-down choice for
online giving. The new steps are more
simple:
Fill out all information as described. When you reach "Contribution
Information", enter as follows in the
drop-down categories:
1. Division/Campus: SELECT "Columbia
Nursing"
2. Category: SELECT "Scholarships"
3: Gift Designation: SELECT "Summit Scholarship Endowment Fund"

Last night in our guest house we met quite a cross-section of travelers and reinforced for me that this trip is all about the journey! We met a Canadian father and his two sons (18 & 21) who were trekking to basecamp, and then on to other adventures. They had a unique family relationship where they took adventure vacations each year as a family. It was very refreshing to see this type of family relationship and can only imagine how worldly these boys will be as they progress through life!
I also met a young Israeli who had just finished his required military service and was now traveling for a year before returning to university. Another gentleman was from California and was a veterinarian. In addition to his work with animals all over the world, he had done humanitarian work in Tibet where he helped mothers to better understand the birth delivery process and how to troubleshoot problems!
The list goes of unique individuals that we have met, and with each person I meet I grow a little, and this reinforces the journey aspect of our trip!

Today we departed Lobuche for our destination of basecamp. The hike lasted about 4 hours (all uphill) and the last 30 minutes was in a light snowfall. It was great to stretch the legs again and surprisingly felt quite well as we put the climb into basecamp behind us.

Hopefully tomorrow we can get up-to-speed with approaching weather windows and potential dates for heading up the mountain.

I wanted to remind all that part of our team is already up the mountain and you may be getting some audioblogs posted by either Bo or Ward. When our team departs basecamp for the summit I will probably be using the audioblog system to update you on our progress as it may be too cumbersome to send text updates!

Your Messages:

Carol:
Hi sweetheart. I am hopeful that you are safe and sound back in Columbia after your trip to California. I am so happy that you got to spend time with Kim and Dale and sound like they were great hosts! Look forward to hosting them at our place!
Just got back to basecamp and settling in comfortably! I was surprised at how much energy I had on the walk back to camp and am feeling 100% better than last week! Hopefully tomorrow will get some weather updates.

I love you and miss you terribly :>)

Pat :>)

AORN Friends:

Bonnie ... sounds like we have somewhat similar weather as it hails here daily, but thank goodness no tornados! I agree with you and Mat that I hope "the mountain is in a good mood for you". I need the stars to align, the weather to cooperate, and of course I have all the prayers and best wishes of my family and friends!
Thanks for all your support at AORN.

Canadian Friends:

Danny ... thanks for the update on the sat phone account. May need to revisit blogs as I noted at least 3 countries not accounted for (see message to Mr. Geuer's class).

Chris (aka gramps) ... great to hear from you and thanks for sharing your news from home! Sounds like Mother's Day was quite special!
Hope you have a huge time at Danny & Sherri's party ... wish I could be there! See you in July, and thanks as always for your support!

Grade Six Holy Name Class ... thanks so much for following up on this project! Great breakdown on the bloggers on the map and appreciate the statistics! I believe that a few countries are not counted (India, England, Finland) and we can revisit the blogs to update.
Hopefully before all is said and done we will have more of ther bloggers log on to let us know where they are from!
Thanks for all your help!

Columbia Friends:

Greg ... great to hear from you and thanks for the Jeff Gordon updates! Can't wait to get home and watch some races! So I guess you won't want any of your wedding presents wrapped in #24 wrapping paper!
I am feeling much better and ready for the push for the summit!
Say hi to Priscilla!

Deb ... your right, the party is over and now it's down to business! I appreciate the girls special prayers each night as they are well needed!
Now that Carol is back am sure you can get her back into the swing of tennis!

Palmetto Health Friends:

Beverly ... great to hear from you as I miss all my friends at Palmetto Health Richland. This climbing isn't for all, so glad that most can live vicariously through my adventure! Look forward to sharing stories/photos with all on my return! Thanks for your support!

USC Friends:

Liesl .. thanks again for the wonderful update. Hope you can visit the blog every other day or so with running updates as this may be over within the next 2-3 weeks!

All The Others:

Ken ... thanks for the weather updates! Where do you get your information, and how reliable is it! We look forward to updates here tomorrow! Thanks for your support!

Simon ... great to hear from you and glad that you get to read a little of my adventures, as more often we are reading yours!
Not long now and appreciate your support! Keep in touch!

Jean ... thanks so much for sharing your nursing story with us and am hopeful that this will help Bonnie to convince Cari to become a nurse! I agree that we as nurses need to do a better job of emphasizing the positives of our profession, as more often than not people will remember the negatives!

MC ... back in basecamp and as you said, close to "show time". Hopefully we will find out soon what our opportunities will be for a summit bid, knowing that weather is always going to be a major factor! Glad that you had a wonderul time enroute to Camp Muir ... brought back good memories! No worries about the sluggish legs, they will be there when you need them!
Thanks for the support!

Kurt ... glad to hear that you enjoyed very warm temps for Mother's Day (I miss the heat) and were able to celebrate Katelyn's birthday (happy belated wishes to her).
I am feeling much stronger and ready for a summit bid! Hopefully will find out soon what our opportunities are for climbing!
Thanks for the support and say hi to the girls!

Ann & Graham ... it's easier to smile than frown (and you use less muscles) so why not spread the cheer! Very happy to be here and glad I can share my enthusiasm with all!
Thanks for your ongoing support!

Jen ... thanks for your unfailing support as it is the "cheerleaders" like you that help us to move forward! It's been our pleasure and excitemeent to have family and friends along for this climb and we could not have done it without all of your support!

David (aka Demento) ... will have our MD listen to my chest with stethoscope tomorrow. The tickle is barely evident and was up high! Had great strength the past few days as ascended to basecamp. Feeling great compared to one week ago!

Mel ... Hi Mel, Thanks for looking up the airfare for Pat, not long now stay tuned for the action.

DD ...Hi DD, I must say I am a bit amazed about all the support and interest from work, didn't really think so many people would be following me, but really glad they are. I'm pretty focused, breaking it down into small parts so its not to overwhelming. Not guts no glory....... Mike

Mat ...Hi Mate, you are so right this is it, been along time coming. I am trying not to think about everything that I have done to get here and just concentrate on the week ahead. I am a little worried about getting sick but not a lot I can do but stay postive..... feeling strong and focused and I'm in a good space.....Bye for now MIKE

Penny ...Hi Penny, thanks for the note, nice to have all of you behind me, will have to have one hell of a party when I get home.... mike