Mt. Everest 2005: Mountain Madness Expedition: Chillin' at base camp!

Update: Today we went over to the glacier and practiced crevasse rescue with the Sherpas. We simulated a full on rescue. The scenario was a climber fell in crevasse and broke his leg. Our Sherpas were able to rappel down to injured climber, splint his leg, raise the injured climber out of the crevasse, set up a makeshift stretcher, and carry the victim to safety. This took our Sherpa team 30 minutes!

The weather reports still indicates strong winds at the summit. There is a small window on the 21st where the winds will abate slightly. A Korean and British group plan to attempt the summit on the 21st. Unfortunately the winds will jump back to 60 to 80 knots after that. We wish the groups good luck.

The majority of the climbing teams are waiting at base camp for a better summit window. We hope this will occur sometime after the 25th.

Cheers, Christine

Dispatches

Since 1994, Mountain Madness has led 29 team members on successful expeditions to Everest's summit.  This year's Everest expedition will approach the mountain from the Normal Route--ascending through to the South Col from the Khumbu Glacier, and continuing to the summit via the Southeast ridge.

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