Berg Adventures 2013 Everest Expedition Dispatch
April 18, 2013 – Life at Camp II
View of Camp II surrounded by ice
Part I
Thursday evening, we just got off the radio scheduled call with Camp II here at Everest Base Camp. We got our 50-watt radio working up at Camp II now and we’re really settling in, sounds like the real deal up there. The guys are living really well, they’re healthy, feeling the altitude of course, but this will be their fourth night in the Western Cwm and they’re doing really well. Jatha who is the Camp II cook and has just recently got positioned here to do his job, served rice and spam for dinner tonight. I’ve had Jatha’s quite a bit of Jatha’s rice and spam before at lower altitudes. Steve reported to me that it was really good and I know what he means.
So, I’m happy to report that our team is really strong. Right now besides Jatha cooking up there, there’s Dawa (Danuru), there’s Steve, Todd, and Daniel. The fourth night at high altitude in the Western Cwm. They’re going to stay there one more night after tonight, come down on Saturday and I expect they’re going to be happy to be in lower altitude but they will have gained a great deal of acclimatization by this trip up high. So, we’ll keep reporting what the team’s progress is. The weather is about the same we’ve had. Some moderately high winds, up in the Western Cwm, up to about 30 miles per hour. But mostly good weather, light precipitation, nothing very dramatic and as I keep saying the guys are doing really well.
Listen to Wally's call
Part II
Just a quick postscript to the report I gave you on Thursday. While I was talking, Ang Temba and his staff were busy packing loads. It’ll be carried up to Camp II where the guys are tomorrow. The Sherpas will leave very early. That’ll be A Rita and Tashi and Tshering.
So loads are being packed, after I got off the radio talking to the guys Jatha got on and talked to Temba for a while. He ordered four stacks of Pringles potato chips. So we quickly put that on top to load, the loads that have already been packed to go tomorrow and I have a feeling those guys are going to enjoy the Pringles. Life’s good in Camp II as you can tell. The boys are doing very well adapting to high altitude. That’s the report from Base Camp on Thursday and we’ll keep you posted tomorrow and every day from now on as the guys getting ready to climb higher on Everest.