Mt. Everest 2005: Team Alongi 2005: Latest new from the north side of Everest - Team Ogawa 2005

Our team has officially established camp 2.  Our team of climbers and Sherpa have stocked the North Col camp with all supplies needed to push up the mountain, excluding our climbing oxygen.  We only have 2 High Mountain Sherpa for our team of 6, so some of us have carried our share of loads to C1.

3 of our team members have been unable to carry to the north col, because the altitude has been getting to them.  Currently, these three climbers are in BC resting in the thicker air.  Hopefully, they can pull through and acclimatize, otherwise their summit will begin to slip away from them, slowly.  They are supposed to return in about 5 days and help carry some oxygen bottles up to the North Col, before our team returns to base camp, as a group, and rests for the summit push.

The majority of the loads have been carried by myself, Michael Frank, and our excellent Sherpa: Dangima and Lakpa Rangdu.  This may seem odd if you read the last dispatch, where I noted we had 4 Sherpa.  Technically we have two, the other two I spoke of in the last dispatch belong to a group of Norwegians who are using my base camp services.  Scott Street carried his first load to the North Col yesterday, he seems strong.

Here's a brief list of what we've hauled to C1 to help put our work into perspective:

11 tents

11 webbing nets to secure tents in wind storms

12 stoves

12 pots

12 wood stove platforms

Various team kitchen supplies: bowls, cups, etc...

50 pickets

10 ice screws

1 bottle of medical oxygen/mask/regulator

1 EMT kit

60 fuel canisters

120 meters of 7mm rope (we don't need much due to the rope fixing team this year.)

Food for the entire climb from C1-summit-and return (over 120 pounds for the team and sherpa)

Still to carry up the mountain from ABC:

7 oxygen masks/regulators 30 bottles of O2!

Personal sleeping gear (carried when you move camps)

I'm here in advanced base camp resting for a few days.  After which, I'm going to move up to the North Col for about 4-5 nights.  While there, I plan to at least push to camp 3 at 7900 meters.  From there we just have to get Camp 4 (8300M) in place and stocked with O2 for the summit push.  Michael and Scott have not decided on a definite plan, it depends on how they feel. Once our camps are in place, we're going to head down to ABC as a group for some important rest.  We're shooting for the first weather window around May 10th for our summit bid.

From Mt. Everest North Side ABC:

Brook Alongi - Team Ogawa Leader

Ogawa Mountain Adventures

Dispatches

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