Everest 2006: Everest Expedition to help feed the children of Nepal: Although the weather was great

May 8th: Although the weather was great and I was required to descend along a very familiar route, I found it tiring to head back to Base Camp. It was likely because of the strain of being at 7300 the day before. Thankfully though the hard work has been done and today is the beginning of a few days of real rest. The plan is to now wait until we have recovered to full strength and for the weather to provide a safe window for a summit bid. I will take the next 3-5 days off and hope that the winds up high abate and clear skies adorn the mountain. Most of the team will head down to lower altitudes to take advantage of the thicker oxygen. I will head off tomorrow and meet Ingrid at Periche as she is on her way up to Base Camp. I look forward to Coke, some chicken and a foam mattress.

May 7th: It was a freezing night at Camp 3. I would hate to stay at this place when the weather is bad. Apparently we had pretty good conditions. Putting on crampons and a harness etc in the morning was horrendous on the fingers. Pommy has copped some frost nip and is not able to feel the tips of his fingers. It only took around 1.5 hours to get off the Lhotse Face although we were totally on edge the whole way down as one slip would have been fatal. We are dependant on our crampons biting in or over we go. Although a safety line will save us from falling more than 40 metres, one does not want to test the rapidly deteriorating Chinese ropes. Once at the bottom, I relaxed and began to feel the exhaustion brought on by the climb yesterday, lack of sleep and adrenalin filled decent. I enjoyed the challenge but at the same time can see my strength being used up

Dispatches

Background: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest food aid provider. WFP is actively striving to ensure that the United Nations Millennium Development Goal, namely, the halving of chronic hunger world wide by 2015, is achieved. One such advocacy and fundraising campaign to assist WFP with its efforts is the Walk the World initiative.

This is a global event that involves groups comprising of civic organizations, corporations, other humanitarian organizations, Government members and the public at large, walking a short distance along a visible or prominent location within their local region. It is expected that Walk the World 2006, to be held on the 21st of May, will see over 750,000 participants walk within 100 countries across the globe.

In support of the Walk the World 2006, Mark Squirrell (Squiz) will climb to top of the world in order to raise awareness and funds for WFP Nepals School Feeding Programme. It is expected that Squiz, WFP Nepal’s Field Security Officer, will summit Mount Everest within days of May 21st. Although the expedition is not a WFP initiative, it is supported by WFP.

The culmination of preparation, hard work and physical effort will be realised in late May but the benefits will be felt by thousands of children for months to come.
 
Preparations are well underway. Squiz has recently conquered the arduous peak of Ama Dablam and is now gearing up for Mount Everest. Your help with the next journey would be much appreciated. Make a donation.

Update: On the way to Pheriche I met up with a few fellow members of the ICE8000 Everest expedition team. Great timing, as they were planning to head off the beaten track to visit a Tibetan Lama in order to get his blessings for our summit attempt. This traditional ceremony lasted about an hour and involved a lot of chanting, rice throwing and words of wisdom. Lama Geshe shared many valuable and inspiring verses, including the following request for all sentient beings on the planet:

Give up all intention to harm others from your heart And do your best to benefit them all If each and everyone feels the universal responsibility to do so, We will all enjoy the feast of peace!

To be continued....

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