Mt. Everest 2005: Everest and K2 Summiter Waldemar Niclevicz return to Everest

Updates

23rd day of the 10 Years of Brazil on Everest Expedition

Base Camp (5,400 m)

We will start climbing!

Dear Friends! Holding an uncontrollable will to start climbing Everest once and for all, Irivan and I are enjoying a nice day today finishing the installation of our base camp.

Everything is ready, our kitchen (a bit barrack where Janak and his two aids work hard to cook), our dinning room (another great barrack with a table for eight), our latrine (feces are kept in a barrel to be later sent to a pit far from here), a "shower tent" (which we have just installed and we have just used to take a bath - we had to heat up water and put it in one of those camping showers), and, of course, Irivan has a little barrack just for himself, and there is another one just for me, where I divide the little space with the satellite communications equipment, two notebooks, cameras, video cameras, etc.

Well, all this structure here on base-camp is not just for Irivan and me, four Spanish and one Italian will come later, we share the climbing permit for Everest, required by the Government of Nepal, for which we had to pay 70 thousand dollars, which means 10 thousand for each one of us.  Our agency in Katmandu could gather our equipment, and we can imagine how the Spanish and Italian are, we will share base-camp, but we will climb independently.

Now that Irivan and i are ready, next early morning we will leave base camp to face for the first time the Icefall, a passage between base camp (5,400 m) and Camp 1 (6,100m) which is a real labyrinth of ice blocks that can tumble in any moment, that is why this part is considered the most dangerous of all the climb, so it is better to go there when everything is frozen, before the sun comes.

We have to stay in the superior altitudes two or three days, it will depend on how we feel with the thin air and how the weather behaves.  In this first try we will take the satellite phone, we have a lot to carry (barracks, food, fuel and diverse equipment), because of all that weight a little patience, we will only send news again when we are back in base camp.

We know that some expeditions have already mounted Camp 2 (6,500 m), we will hope that weather continues this good and that our progress is better.

Look at Irivan in the picture, analyzing the Icefall, we crossed this place several times in 2002 when we climbed Lhotse (8,501m), in the picture you can note the colorful prayer flags (there are mantras printed in them, the Sherpas say that when the wind blows them, the sacred words are spread, protecting and blessing the place, they are present around the entire base camp).

Below there is a detail of the Icefall, where you can see a group of 10 people, reduced as black dots.  Next there is a general view of base camp this afternoon, where you can see the barracks of other expeditions).

A big hug,

Waldemar Niclevicz

Translated from Portuguese by Jorge Rivera

Millet One Sport Everest Boot  has made some minor changes by adding more Kevlar. USES Expeditions / High altitude / Mountaineering in extremely cold conditions / Isothermal to -75°F Gore-Tex® Top dry / Evazote Reinforcements with aramid threads. Avg. Weight: 5 lbs 13 oz Sizes: 5 - 14 DESCRIPTION Boot with semi-rigid shell and built-in Gore-Tex® gaiter reinforced by aramid threads, and removable inner slipper Automatic crampon attachment Non-compressive fastening Double zip, so easier to put on Microcellular midsole to increase insulation Removable inner slipper in aluminized alveolate Fiberglass and carbon footbed Cordura + Evazote upper Elasticated collar. Expedition footwear for mountaineering in conditions of extreme cold.  NOTE US SIZES LISTED. See more here.

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