Mt. Everest 2005: Alpine Ascents Everest 2005 Dave Morton writing from Namche Bazaar

Update: March 31 Namche Bazaar
    
Namaste from the spectacular village of Namche Bazaar in the Khumbu valley. All of the peaks are out today under clear skies but brisk winds. We weren't able to get a dispatch out yesterday but we'll give you a brief recap.

Yesterday morning a group of 10 of us were able to get out in the MI17 and made it into Namche just before the weather shut down. Our second helicopter had to wait until this morning to bring in the rest of the climbing expedition. A third just passed overhead with the remaining gear from Kathmandu we believe.

I took the group who arrived yesterday for a stroll up to the villages of Khunde and Khumjung and we've just reunited with the gang who flew in this morning. Soon the trekkers who flew to Lukla will show up here in Namche and our group of 30 plus trekkers, climbers and guides will be reunited. We have many family members of the Everest climbers along in our trek group. It's a wonderful journey for everyone to experience the Khumbu region and spend time together before the climbers get in to the serious task of tackling Mt. Everest.

I'm sitting in the spacious but cozy and warm Panorama lodge with our good friend Lhakpa Doma with the summit of Kongde Ri right out the window. The views from Namche rival any in the world and it's a great place to spend the next few days. On Saturday we'll start making our way to Thame, Lhakpa Rita's home. The conversation in the group is already heading towards the gutter which really just means the group is already starting to gel!

The whole team wants all to know out there that they are doing great. We also want family and friends to know that the team members won’t be receiving emails until we reach basecamp which should be around April 10. Please keep that in mind.

We're sending along a photo from our walk today. As you can see, it was a stellar morning!

All our best and we'll be in touch.
Dave and the team

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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