Mt. Everest 2005: Alpine Ascents Everest 2005 Camp One

Update: Camp I
    
It's 5:30 pm and we're all settled into our tents at Camp I in the Western Cwm. I'm catching the last few rays of sun hitting my tent before it drops below the steep ridge of Nuptse.

Wow, what a day. We had a spectacular journey through the icefall today and the entire team is now at Camp I. Ladder after ladder attached to one another in order to span crevasses and ascend serac faces. A journey through an immense broken glacier is a breathtaking experience. Gigantic towers of blue ice and multi-story serac walls make up what feels like an ice forest. I know everyone had an exhilarating experience.

So now we're "relaxing" in our tents waiting for our bodies to say 'uncle' and give up for the day. It's hard to really relax the first afternoon and evening at another high point- approx. 19,500 ft tonight. Slight headaches, queasy stomachs and a lack of appetite are common. The team did an excellent job of getting down some calories an hour ago. We've had some on again off again wind since we arrived at CI and it's just kicked up a bit as the sun is now dipping below the ridgeline.

Tomorrow we'll spend the day around CI- maybe get out the mp3 player and speakers and pretend we're in the tropics if it's sunny. We'll definitely be thinking of those of you back home.

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

Built to handle a myriad of different climbing pursuits, the Ultralight Universal is our best selling crampon. This crampon lives for trekking, glacier travel, or steep couloirs and snowfields. Totally adjustable Zytel straps make this crampon durable and easy to use. Fits everything from moon boots to flip-flops, our lightest crampon available. Weight: 590g Points: 10. See more here.

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Atomic

   Black Diamond

   Botas

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   CaVa Climbing Shoes

   Chaco

   Clearance

   Clif Bar

   Cloudveil

   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Exofficio

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Garmin

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps

   Hestra
   Helmets

   HighGear

   HornyToad
   Ice Axes

   Julbo

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kelty

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Life is Good

   Lowa

   Lowe Alpine

   Lowepro

   Millet

   Motorola

   Mountain Hardwear

   Mountainsmith

   MSR

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Patagonia

   Pelican

   Petzl

   PowerBar

   Princeton Tec

   Prescription Glacier

   Glasses

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Salomon

   Scarpa

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Teva

   Thermarest

   Trango

   Tool Logic

   Trekking Poles
   Yaktrax
   and more here