by Michael at 11:03 PM (PDT) on April 19, 2005
This is just another quick blog to add to what Scott had just posted. It has been interesting living now for over a week at 6405 meters. I was actually thinking about work the other day as I was carrying a load to the North Col. It takes about 6 hours up and 2 hours down and it is a lot f*****g harder of a day than a day in the office. Of course, the views are better. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and anything you eat usually just sits in your stomach because your body doesn’t have enough energy/oxygen to digest it until you get back to ABC.
The morning ritual includes an extremely dry/raw throat and blowing out some choice bloody snot which feels great to get out. The bathroom facilities at ABC are unique as well. The wind often super cools your backend which is mooning the Finish camp across the way. The food is quite good but it is often hard to eat much. Last night we had a great chicken dinner. Unfortunately for Ryan (who was craving chicken), he missed it as he andAmbrose went down to BaseCamp to recover a bit. Ryan has been feeling okay just unable to sleep at ABC which has been wearing on him. They plan on coming back to ABC in a few days. This is a very common practice and we will all be going back to BaseCamp for probably a week before the summit push.
Brook has made a couple of posts to EverestNews.com and to his Ogawa-mtnadv dispatch page you may want to check out. There is a picture of our Sherpas, Lakpa and Dangima establishing the final ladder crossing near the top of the North Col.
We’ve been socializing a lot with a couple of other groups here who traveled here with us and some of the people share our ABC and BC meals with us. Their websites are www.alonetoeverest.com and www.sigridhammer.no. The websites are from memory so don’t be surprised if they don’t serve up what is expected.
When we are pushing higher on the mountain we will not be able to send email or make phone calls. Sorry, but the electronic equipment only goes as high as ABC.
Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks to Karin for helping out with the blog posts, hope you are surviving Mr. Pounders class. Rebecca, please give Justin a hug for me. I love all of you!
Take care! Michael