Monday May 3, 2010
Preparation Day
Got up this morning about 730 am with the sun shining and heating up my sleeping bag. Slept well and was warm and had a good breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, bacon and of course my coke that they bring to me every morning at 7 am. I was hoping that the weather would be good today for me to shower but after about 1.5 hours of sunshine the weather turn to crap with snow and wind.
Made a few phones calls to people before I am to leave tomorrow and started getting my stuff together.
We have left stuff at camp 1 and camp 2 so I will not bring much stuff up with me this time. I will put the top on my backpack, take a thicker pair of mittens and a few more shirts and that will be it.
Got my boots refitted with my crampons, got my harness refitted so I am good to go.
The BEGAN Satellite is not working so I hope I will be able to send this out before I leave tomorrow.
We just had a helicopter land with a few people ( The Italian team( Simone Mora) climbing Lhotse and Everest) who have come back from a few days off in Katmandu. (Rest and relaxation)The client that is climbing Everest, is a really rich Industrialist from Italy. With the Helicopter grand entrance today plus his offer of $25000 extra to spend up the process of establishing fixed lines last week, this “excess” showing one’s of wealth is beginning to bother the “old faithful”, they are starting to complain of the use of the air strip for personal use. Of course, the Sherpa’s are going as fast as they can but due to the weather on the top they have been held up, so the $25000 doesn’t mean much if you cannot live by putting in the fixed lines. Interesting to see how people react to these types of things. Even on Everest money talks even when it might not be appreciated. Funny!
The fixed lines are complete to the Southern Col right now and with the weather clearing in the next couple of days I am sure the Sherpa’s will complete the task by week’s end.
If this happens, I am sure the Russians will be on the summit right behind them as they have done nothing but complain from almost day about the fixed line even though they did not offer to help install them.
I am off until the weekend Take care and have a great week
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i love you papa! hope you have a safe climb.
ReplyDeleteG'Day Steve. I find reading your adventure so interesting. like your point about taking experience of life/adventure before we die. I won't complain for a while about things not being quite right in our normal life of work and home etc. Your conditions make our lots seem like a comfy dream run - and we do take everything for granted. I used to be fit in my younger days and envy this fantastic experience of yours. As muscles get harder and fat goes, I remember it somehow makes you feel real good about yourself and happy. Heard about the BP oil spill in USA's gulf - lousy luck. You are a good writer. What do you do about human waste passed? Sounds like your latest best friend is your sleeping bag, Once you get back to the warmth of BKK, that bag will feel neglected. Cheers, Graham.
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