Mt. Everest 2005: Alpine Ascents Everest 2005: Everest Camp Ii

Update: May 18 Camp Ii
    
Namaste,
Sitting in the relative comfort of the tent that I am sharing with Dave, we both start talking about the possibilities we have for our summit attempt. Yesterday, the team left basecamp to move all the way up to Camp 2. When we passed Camp 1, we could observe the remains of the big avalanche that destroyed it . It took us 12 hours of a continuous push, to reach Camp 2. It was a long day for all of us. After checking in, we had dinner and not long afterwards, we were all in collision course with our sleeping bags.

This morning, we saw a huge plume coming from the Everest summit. The wind was roaring up high. Not a good indication. Willi confirmed us the bad news in the afternoon: the weather forecasts are pessimistic for the upcoming days, the jet stream will be hitting Everest with strong winds and very low temperatures. We have no other choice but to retrace our steps towards basecamp. If we spend several days at this elevation waiting for the weather to improve, the altitude will take its toll on us. We will deteriorate. So to avoid the later, we will be descending to basecamp tomorrow in order to spend a few days down there before returning up weatherwise.

Hoping the weather to improve and thinking of you all back home.
My best,
Jose Luis.

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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