Mt. Everest 2005: Waldemar Niclevicz: The team is complete

04/19/2005

29th day of the 10 Years of Brazil on Everest Expedition

Base Camp (5,400 m)

The team is complete

Dear Friends!

Irivan and I are resting at Base Camp, after our successful first climb on Everest, when we could install our camp 2 (6,500 m) and get to 6,700 m of altitude.

On these days we saw the weather deteriorate a little, today after noon it was almost completely clouded, but now, at 18 hours, the sunset is the prettiest, the sky is blue again and the mountains are golden because of the last sunrays (the thermometer, outside the tent, reads -8ºC).

Since we came down from our first climb on Everest, we have had company here at Base Camp.  Three more Spanish and one Italian came; they are sharing the costs of the climbing permit required by the Government of Nepal (a total of 70 thousand dollars).  Dividing this elevated cost is a common figure these days among climbers who have already been to the Himalayas, the suggestion of dividing the costs among climbers is from the organizing agency which tries to gather those interested, as in our case. 

Happily the newly arrived are members of our expedition, we really liked them, they are experienced climbers, they have all already climbed at least two eight-thousand meter mountain, besides being very nice.  The Spanish are being sponsored by Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, they brought a number of equipment for research, like a weather station which was installed here on base and which registered -12.2ºC last night.

The bad news is that my throat is bad.  I left Brazil with pharngyitis, because I got wet with the rain in my last trainings.  I have had treatment, but with the cold and dry air of the mountains it has not been easy.  I was ok, but the frozen wind that we found on Everest punished me, and I came bad from Camp 2 again.

Yesterday we had the traditional "puja" here at base, the traditional Buddhist ceremony done by every expedition, asking for protection from the gods for our climb.  The Sherpas organize everything, a chorten is made (a kind of stone altar) where ginepro and incense is burned, our equipments are taken there to be blessed, and where at the end of the ceremony a mast is raised from where colorful flags with printed prayers hang.  Logically, I asked for good weather and safety for all our team, but especially for a healing to my throat.

Today we had our first accident here on Everest, a Canadian climber ended sticking his leg in one of the countless cracks between the blocks of ice on the entire Icefall, unhappily the inferior part of his leg was broken in two places, the rescue was done by a large group of Sherpas, and was witnessed from far by everybody here at base. Tomorrow morning a helicopter will come to take him to a hospital in Katmandu.

Look at the picture of the crevasse, our team finally complete.  The picture was taken today in our mess tent, during lunch, on the left Jorge Verdeguer White, 30, Irivan and the Spanish David Rosa Moñez, 31, on the right me, the Italian Zubani Diego, 45, and the Spanish Juan José Haya Sancho, 33.  As I had told you before, we are in the same team, sharing the infrastructure of Base Camp, in the beginning, Irivan and I will continue with our strategy, doing the climb independently, because we are more acclimatized than them and well into the mountain.

Look below at the pictures of the Icefall, where every care is little. There are a lot of improvised bridges with aluminum ladders to cross the crevassed, five of them were joined together to jump over a wall of ice of 15 meters that is located at the end of the Icefall, and the other picture gives you and idea of how deep a crevasse can be and how delicate it is to cross one of those bridges, they are unstable, the swing and tinkling in your tummy is unavoidable.

It is important to continue being confident, that the season will have an stable weather and that health comes back soon.

A big hug,

Waldemar Nicleviz

Translated from Portuguese by Jorge Rivera

Altitech2: Digital Altimeter, Barometer, Compass and Thermometer. Time/Date/Alarms. Chronograph with 24 hour working range. Timer with stop, repeat and up function. Rotating Bezel. Leveling bubble. Carabiner latch. E.L. 3 second backlight. Water resistant. 4" x 2-1/4" x 3/4" 2 oz. Requires 1 CR2032 battery. See more here.

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