Mt. Everest 2005: Alpine Ascents Everest 2005 Team Dave reporting in

Update: Lobuche
    
Namaste everyone. The climbing group is here in Lobuche at 4930 m/16,200 ft. relaxing in the warmth of the afternoon sun. We've arrived at the part of the journey where the trekkers and climbers are working on a slightly different schedule.

This morning Willi took the trekkers on to Gorak Shep where they will spend the night and then head out for basecamp tomorrow morning. Jose Luis and myself will leave Lobuche with the climbers a bit earlier than Willi and hope to meet at basecamp for an afternoon lunch and goodbye celebration.

Todd and Lakpa took off this morning from Lobuche destined for basecamp in order to do some organization and review of our supplies and gear. It will be a great regathering and goodbye before the climbers get to the exciting task of moving into their new homes and rooms for the next 7 weeks. It's kind of like moving into your dorm room freshman year in college. You have to organize the posters and decorations just right! I know everyone is looking forward to it- it will feel like our own semi-permanent homes. On expeditions of this length it's essential to have somewhere to escape to at times. The group cohesion and commraderie is improved by getting away occasionally!

This year we have a spectacular basecamp setup with a new dining tent complete with padded molded plastic chairs and carpet. I'm certainly looking forward to the comfy environment. Lakpa Rita even pulled out his inner Martha Stewart and brought some nice plastic flowers!

We had a slow and relaxing hike this morning. Just enough to get our bodies moving a bit. We climbed the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier to gain a nice view of the glacier itself and towards the site of basecamp and the Khumbu ice fall.

As you may have noticed we didn't cybercast yesterday the 7th. Our main computer has gone down. This means you won't be reading this until a day late. We will continue cybercasting on time but those family and friends emailing please note that we may not receive email until early next week.

We'll be in touch soon.

All the best, Dave

Dispatches

Vern Tejas, Willi Prittie, Dave Morton, Jose Luis Peralvo, and Lakpa Rita Sherpa will lead the Alpine Ascent team on Everest this Spring. They will attempt the standard South East ridge route.

GUIDE STAFF (BIOS)
Lakpa Rita Sherpa Senior Guide & Sirdar	Vern Tejas Senior Guide	Willi Prittie Senior Guide
Dave Morton Senior Guide	Jose Luis Peralvo Senior Guide	Ellie Henke Base Camp Manager
CLIMBERS
Nigel Clark	Esther Colwill	Ron Farb
Kevin Grant	Cathy Groninger	Kent Groninger
Mostafa Mahmoud	Jeanne Stawiecki	Dianette Strange-Wells
Tony Van Marken	David Liano	Danielle Fisher

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