April 25 2009

Garbage Count = 1914Kgs (not including helicopter wreckage parts)

The animal that is base camp has become slow and sleepy. It slumbers all day and occasionally stirs or shakes with activity, then, it goes back to the same familiar droning. Everyday is a hot Sunday afternoon. Somewhere, seemingly far in the distance, location unidentifiable, a muffeld radio is playing some perky Nepali folk song and the occasional burst of laughter breaks the drowsy rhythm in the life of base camp. We are happy and oblivious to the confines of our camp, out tiny lives. We live in a ritualistic daze. We always have some small chore to keep us busy; cleaning our tents; washing our socks; testing radios; re-rigging our harnesses; resizing our crampons; finishing our 4th book so far.

Our purpose is stripped down to a basic existence and we only wait for the next time to go up the mountain. Climbing Mt. Everest is not a crescendo of thrill but a seesaw of highs and lows.
Strength and focus diffuses into our body and mind while we lay dormant at base camp. Suddenly, like the crack of a whip, we find ourselves crawling over and under the crumbling ice and rock. Our spirit is put to the test as it discharges all our strength and energy in a flaming burst of the climb. Then we return to our slumber at base camp. Waiting for the next rotation.

So it is that the Eco Everest Expedition members are now on their first rotation.

Mogens, Jesse, Yura, Walter and his group of 5, went up to Camp 1 on the 22nd. In fact, this was Walter's Group's and Mogens' second trip through the ice fall in as many days. On the 21st they had gone up but descending climbers brought the news that the ice fall had collapsed in a section of the route and there was no choice but to return. Not fazed by the news, only our legendarily slow (and stubborn) climber Will Cross continues up following the counsel of Will's personal Sherpa; "Nawangle the Wise". By the time he got there, the route had been repaired and the path was clear. The tortoise won the race and was rewarded with the prize of reaching Camp 1.
The day after Will went to camp 1, Apa and I went up together with the larger group. The exhilaration of being in the surreal beauty of the icefall and the frightening reality of deathly danger is a combination that makes my senses tingle. My senses are heightened and every inch of me feels alert. Life and Death, it is always around us but here it seeps into us. This is the simplicity of our lives.
Apa and I guided Bill through the icefall, as high as the football field after which we turned back. This was Bill's acclimitization trip and he did fantastic. The remaining four climbers, Bud, Nic, Krushnaa and Henry stayed in base camp, stayed at BC to strengthen themselves as they had been fighting some cold or other nagging illness recently.
Yesterday morning, the last of the group headed up. I was very pleased to get the radio call from camp 1 to tell me that everyone had made it in 6 hours or less. A great time for a first trip to Camp 1 at an altitude of 6100m.
Krushnaa, however, had a bad headache and nausea and returned back to base camp from the football field. Back at base camp, she is her old self again and looks as strong as she was. Since Krushnaa had arrive in Nepal a little late, she had walked up fast to join the expedition. So it may take her body a few more days than the others to acclimatize to the high altitude.
Our quiet, uber, bald Henry, hasn't been able to climb either. His cheek swelled up during the night and Pertemba took him to the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) clinic here at base camp. The antibiotics he received didn't help so on Thursday Pertemba and I advised him to go down to Namche. The good news, over the sat phone today, is that he is doing much better since the dentist removed his wisdom tooth. The bad news is that he no longer looks like a chipmunk so we will have to find another source of amusement. :)
The whole team will be back together in base camp in three days time.

 Dawa Steven