Location: EBC
Time: 7pm Monday 10th May
Conditions: clear skies but very strong winds up high; Lhotse and Everest were again getting scoured by the jetstream today.

Stuff

Hello Team, it's Pat here. I hope you're still enjoying these updates, as repetitive as they may be. The exciting news however is that our forecast now indicates Sunday the 16th of May could be a suitable summit day with minimal winds, so we plan to head up from BC to Camp 2 on Wednesday 12th May, my 33rd birthday. A safe passage through the icefall would be a great birthday present. BTW Bronwen just in case I forget happy birthday for Wednesday! (Bron is my twin sister living in Melbourne).

So it's looking like tomorrow (Tuesday) will be our last day here in BC. If the forecast stays true, we'll rest in C2 on Thursday, climb to Camp 3 on Friday, climb to Camp 4 on the South Col on Saturday morning and leave for the summit on Saturday night, hopefully sumitting on the Sunday morning.

Trying to predict which day is the best day to go for the summit can really mess with your head - it's a bit like a dog trying to chase its tail. We were initially planning to head up tomorrow with a planned summit attempt on the 15th, but one of the forecasts suggests winds of 30 miles/hr on the 15th which is not very safe. I know of another team aiming for the 15th; their forecast obviously suggests otherwise, so who knows. This particular team however is trying to keep their plans secret, which is pretty silly if you ask me; I reiterate, climbing Mount Everest is not a race nor is it a cloak and dagger operation to be undertaken by punters. Anyway it's probably better that I don't vent my true feelings on this operator who I'm pretty certain will one day lose an inexperienced client/s on Everest - let's hope it's not this year.

What Did I do Today?

I kept busy in the morning by wandering through BC and visiting camps - I popped in to see AC and then the Sydney climbers, but no luck as they were either asleep or down the valley. Shortly after this however I ran into Namgyal Sherpa who lead the trekking part of the 2006 Ama Dablam expedition I was on. Namgyal is a lovely guy and I was thrilled to bits to see him again. He's leading the Everest Clean-up Expedition which you may have read about in the papers (although he's not planning on bringing down five bodies as was incorrectly reported in the media) - he and his team of 20 sherpas are planning on cleaning up old fixed-lines and other rubbish on the mountain above 8000m. They also have the consent of the family of a Swiss climber to remove the climber's body from the South Col. You can visit the expedition's website at www.extremeeverestexpedition.com.

I also ran in to Conrad Anker, a well known American alpinist. He is undertaking a project which is establishing a series of time-lapse cameras in the Khumbu area to record the impact of climate change on the Himalaya. When I saw him he was returning from Pumori where he had bolted in a camera above Camp 1. Unfortunately I've forgotten the web address for this project but if you google 'Conrad Anker' and 'climate change himalaya monitoring' or something similar I'm sure you'll be abe to find it and learn more about what this great project is doing.

I also ran into the true gentleman Victor Saunders and his Maltese team who were returning from a bouldeing session near Pumori BC.

In the late afternoon I went for another walk beyond BC to the point where the track leaves the glacier for the moraine wall and down to Gorak Shep. I like wandering through the moraine, listening to music and letting my mind also wander. Highlights from today's musical wanderings were The Escapist by The Streets and Great Southern Land by Icehouse.

Thoughts

The past few days of waiting have naturally led to much (too much) thinking and rumination. I really hope the weather is ok for our summit attempt, and that my body and mind are up to the task. I have put in so much hard work over the past decade and in-particular the past four years to be in this position, and more than a few times I have pretty much been broken by the effort. I do think however that this has made me stronger.

For Lakpa, Sumit, Jangbu, Angkaji and Ang Gyaljen (I got the spelling of his name correct at last!), the task ahead is pretty straight-forward - they know they can do it, no questions asked. For me however, I guess it's a bit different. I know I need to talk to myself in big words and to be mentally strong and tough, and I'm confident that I can do this, but I'd be lying if I claimed I wasn't afraid or had doubts. Surprisingly my fear is not of dying, but rather of failing - sometimes I wonder if I have set myself up to fail on a grand scale. But then I recall Theodore Roosevelt's words about the man in the arena and I feel better and prouder for having a go.

Part of the idea behind this blog was to be as honest as I could and not present just another Everest diary making it all seem rather easy and ho hum. So there you have it - I'm calmly confident and shit-scared in equal parts. To all the followers of this blog and to all of those who have posted messages of support I sincerely thankyou for joining me on this journey. I hope that I can do you all proud.

Website Usage

Thanks Annie for getting to me some figures relating to usage of the patrickhollingworth.com website - I have been curious to see if it is just the message posters reading each day or if there is a wider audience. I also thought that you the reader might be interested, so here are the basics (bearing in mind there will also be some additional visitors who view the updates through the myeverest.com website):

* the site receives between 100-200 visits per day
* last month there were 1551 new visitors to the website
* this month to the 9th May there have been 814 new visitors
* quite a lot of referrals have come through from Alan Arnette's Everest 2010 website (www.alanarnette.com)
* the most popular day for the blog was 3rd May

So there you have it, there are lots of faithful followers out there (thanks guys), although we still have a way to go to reach the 14,000 hits on the day that Paul Adler (from myeverest.com) and his wife Fi tried for the summit in 2006!

Messages

Scoonesy - yep still hanginig in there. What do you mean I'm not virtuous? Would love to be at KW's wedding but I'm still not sure where I'll be then... sorry for the uncertainty K-man. Scoonesy that's a bugger about your shoulder, I'm sure it'll be right for your European tour though - this must be a training event for the World Champs? Go Captain, you'll do Australia proud.

The Atkinsons - wow, messages from all three of the Ackos! Thanks for the ongoing support guys, as you know it means a lot to me (and watch those tears Jaime!).

Zane - hello mate I was wondering when you'd get round to posting a message! Given that you posted it on a Sunday, the content of your reading material sounds particularly heinous, especially if you're tackling it with a hangover after your CCGS celebrations (even if you didn't make it out with Hunty). A big hello to Piers and to your folks (they were keen followers and message posters originally but I think their interest dropped off when mum left!).

Bron - not sure what game they were playing in the photo but perhaps it was rummi? Good work on the cleats, that should make Tawonga Gap and Mt Buffalo easier next time. The thought of those kids giving Tez some stick still cracks me up!

Mike - hello in Indo Mike, bugger, if you're surfing green balls (and going rafting) it must be small, no beloved Balangan - what's next, art galleries in Ubud? Happy 50th to JB and I hope you score at G-land my friend.

Mum - hi mum, it's not our ice peak! Rabin said the best postal address for him is the Himalayan Ascent address in Kathmandu - if you can't find it I'll give it to you later. The weather at home sounds great!

Nat - hi honey, as you would have read, Ang Gyaljen made it back ok, just a little tired... xx

Simon, Jz & LT - hey guys nice work on Mt Wellington record auto ascent. Jez don't forget to return those books on time! Nice work Sime on escaping baby duties at home (hi Mands!).

Gav Wise - no plans for a book, just borrow one of Jez's (above).

Kate List - yep couldn't do yours, Jamo's or mine, if we're a day late perhaps Walshy's?