Everest 2014: Regrouping at EBC

Khumbu Icefall LaddersEverest and Lhotse climbers are getting down to business today preparing to make their first acclimatization rotations into the Khumbu Icefall or on nearby trekking peaks like Lobuche. The many trekkers who came along are now heading down valley with a lifetime of memories to share forever.

The communications situation seems to have gotten a bit better based on an increase of posts but the Ncell network still appears to be down and many people assumed it would be available and had no backup.

It has been snowing quite heavily at EBC, also hurting the ability to make a satellite connection. So we are back to the early days of expeditions where families said goodbye to loved ones and heard from them via postcard or letter several months later, if at all! I can tell you from personal experience that this is more frustrating for our climbers than for us back home. The last thing they want is for their friends and family to be worried.

This is a good case study for future expeditions in not counting on only one form of communication e.g cell phone or sat phone or Bgan only. If communication is important to you, have a backup system. I promise you that the Discovery Channel will have multiple backups to stream the wingsuit stunt next month!

So not a lot of new information to share today. This post from Andy James‘ home team sums it up for a lot climbers:

Andy has been struggling to get wi-fi and 3G coverage so I’m sending this little note to let you all know that I have spoken to him. He wants you all to know that he is safe and well in his wee tent in base camp.  Although it is snowing heavily he is in very good spirits and is acclimatising well.

The RMI group also captured the spirit of base camp:

Today was a well-timed rest day.  Following our recent daily pattern, it was sunny and calm in the morning and snowing and socked in by noon.  The team took the chance to wash up and get clean during the sunny hours, and then hunkered down within the tents for the afternoon.

While it may seem frustrating to have these down days so early, it is actually pretty normal and not any concern. Most teams will try to be be fully acclimatized by the second week of May targeting a summit push from May 15th on. Cold days with heavy snow are also fairly typical in mid April.

Remember, climbing Everest is all about patience. Smart climbers take advantage of this time to relax, regroup from the trek in and focus on taking care of themselves  by getting into routines.

Climb On!

Alan

Memories are Everything

 

 

 

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6 thoughts on “Everest 2014: Regrouping at EBC

  1. Alan …Greetings from the Cyber cafe in Pheriche. All is well. We hear that there are communication problems at EBC so posts to all blogs might be a bit sporadic. Thanks for all the coverage and support. Summit Climb members are doing well and plan to be in EBC in two days.

  2. Alan …Greetings from the Cyber cafe in Pheriche. All is well. We hear that there are communication problems at EBC so posts to all blogs might be a bit sporadic. Thanks for all the coverage and support. Summit Climb members are doing well and plan to be in EBC in two days.

  3. I saw the commercials for the wing suit jump off Everest. I thought it was so funny they had a specific date this was going to happen. Since weather on Everest is so fickle. It will be interesting to see how they will deal with trying to have a live event on a mountain that is full of surprises.

  4. Isaiah is our son. He is part of Eco Everest, Asia Touring. We know that they split the group. Is there any way to find out who is with him? Also he posted yesterday that they arrived at base camp. He had a good post.
    Gayle

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