Canadian Mt. Everest 2005: We get ready for tomorrow’s journey through the Ice Fall

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Update: Saturday 23rd April, 9pm. Everest Base Camp
(EST is 9 hours 45mins behind Nepal)

We get ready for tomorrow’s journey through the Ice Fall

Diary by Harold Mah

This is the last update from Base Camp, before we start climbing again.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we will set off at 5am and we plan to get to Camp 1 where we will stay the night. Then, we will climb to Camp 2 where we will stay another night. Finally, we will climb to Camp 3, at around 22,500 feet, and stay one last night. The climb to Camp 3 is a 70 degree ascent, literally up the side of the mountain, to a precarious spot which will be our home for the night. This is my goal; my Everest. From there, we return back to Base Camp before Sean heads back to Camp 3 about a week later for his final acclimatisation before he makes his summit bid. We are both excited and filled with a little trepidation. Excited, because we will be climbing again after what seems like a long time at Base Camp. Filled with trepidation, because we have to go through the Khumbu Ice Fall once more and go higher than we’ve ever been up Everest. Apparently the higher camps have a lot of fresh snow and it’s quite a bit colder than it is at Base Camp.

Of course, when I return to Base Camp I will be bringing out the alcohol and having a party!

Today I chatted with fellow Canadian, Gabriel Filippi. He has over 10 years climbing experience and almost made it to the top of Everest in 2,000 but turned back 500 meters from the top because of bad weather. Last year he solo climbed Mt McKinley in Alaska (North America’s highest mountain at 20,320 feet) also known as Denali and was the expedition leader on a trip to Mont Blanc in France. He has climbed in Kenya and Russia and is an amazing guy, full of energy and determination.

The weather has improved and there was no fresh snow today after three days of snow. This morning, Sean and I had a snowball fight before spending more time slimming down our packs so that we take the bare minimum when we start the ascent tomorrow. The Ice Fall, in particular, is a killer if you try and carry too much, so every possible thing that we don’t need is taken out of our packs. I now fully understand why so many climbers are so dedicated to packing light-weight equipment. We also worked on the satellite equipment that we will be taking up the mountain and ended the day with apple pie. Last night we had Jello, for the first time!

I will continue to send in reports as we go up the mountain, so keep looking out for them.

More later Harold

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