5/16/06

Doug reporting in prior to final push!

Summit fever has swept through Base Camp as a result of the increasing temperature, longer days, and reports that the monsoon is starting to form in the Bay of Bengal.  News of daily summits from the North is certainly causing us South Siders to grow a bit impatient!! It appears that the jet stream is lodged to the north of Mt. Everest, so teams are moving to Camp II and higher in anticipation of the summit "push." 

The ropes should be fixed to the Balcony today, so we are expecting summits by the early teams to begin on the 17th. Meanwhile, we have been parsing numerous weather reports to determine the optimal "window" for us.  As to be expected (I suppose) the reports are often in conflict and we may be better off reading the leaves in our tea mugs to determine the best days for a summit attempt. Nonetheless, based on the best evidence, here is The Plan (subject to minute-by-minute revision):

Tomorrow, May 17, we will climb from Base Camp to Camp II, with hopes that we'll be able to summit on the 20th, 21st or 22nd -- most likely the 21st. If so, our push will begin from Camp III on the morning of the 20th. We'll climb from Camp III to Camp IV (the South Col) that morning -- and should arrive in Camp IV by early afternoon. We'll rest in Camp IV until 8:00 p.m. and then climb toward the summit through the night.  If all goes well, we'll be standing on the summit within 12 hours, by mid-morning on the 21st.

The summit group will consist of Team No Limits climber, Doug Tumminello, and Asian Trekking affiliated climbers: Will Cross, Klaus Mees, Dirk Stephan, M. J. Kim, Julie Smith and Jeff Warden. The Sherpa team consists of: Apa Sherpa, Lhakpa Sherpa, Ang Passang Sherpa, Mingma Sherpa, Nawang Passang Sherpa, Passang  Temba Sherpa, Arita Sherpa, Passang Nuru Sherpa, and Furda and Gyalzen Sherpas. In addition, Myla Sherpa will support the team from Camp IV.

My plan is to use 10 bottles of oxygen (3 liters each), starting at Camp III, as follows:

Camp III - sleeping - 1 bottle - 1 l /min
Camp III - IV - 1 bottle - 2l/min
Camp IV - rest - 2 bottles - 2l/min
Camp IV - Balcony -2 bottles - 3l/min
Balcony - South Summit -1 bottle - 3l/min
South Summit -Summit - 1 bottle - 3l/min
South Summit -Camp IV - 1 bottle - 2l/min
Camp IV -sleeping -1 bottle - 1l/min

This plan should allow me at least 18 hours of oxygen from Camp IV to the summit and back again. So tonight we'll watch a movie on the laptop ("Memoirs of a Geisha"), and early tomorrow morning the fun begins with what should be the final ascent through the Icefall.

Please keep everyone on the mountain in your thoughts and prayers as the summit push begins!