Mt. Everest 2005: Waldemar Niclevicz: Waiting for the final attack!

05/06/2005

46th day of the 10 Years of Brazil on Everest Expedition

Base Camp (5,400m)

Dear Friends!

This is our 6th consecutive day of rest, after our last climb to higher altitudes on Everest, when we spent a night in camp 3 (7,300m).

If you followed the events closely, I know you got to the conclusion that these were days that nobody would have liked to live here, in the end we had two deaths (one by heart attack, another by falling in a crevasse), and a sweeping avalanche that destroyed camp 1 completely (nobody wants to sleep there, what was left was a big scene of destruction, a big amount of snow and big stones scattered on the trail).

To make the scene even sadder, the weather is worst every day, with long and heavy snowfalls, that should recede in intensity beginning tomorrow, according to the forecasts.

Not even the strong Sherpas have resisted so much pressure and today they climbed down to camp 2, where they are waiting for the weather to improve.  Their expectative, and ours, is that they could climb to the South Col to finally mount camp 4 (8,000m).  They tried, went up to the middle of the way towards camp 3, but turned around scared because of the amount of snow accumulated on the Face of Lhotse, where they said there are up to 70 cm of snow in some points, which is a great risk of avalanches.

When I talk about "Sherpas", I refer to not just the Sherpas (high altitude carriers) of expedition, but to the Sherpas of all the expeditions, which make a team of around 150 or more people, who are working for the 23 expeditions of the Nepalese side of Everest.  The Sherpas, loyal to those who hire them, have a strong liaison with their peers, their work together, no matter which expedition they belong to, and they know when and how they can dare to pass the obstacles that are on the mountain.  Without their help, climbing Everest would be very different and much, much harder.

We are reaching a critical point of the season, a lot of teams, like ours, are already in conditions to make the final attack to the summit of Everest, what we need is that the mountain gives us this condition, that the weather improves so that we have a guarantee of a successful and safe final climb.

Unhappily, we don't know when the conditions will be favorable, so starting now, there is a great expectative to the arrival of weather forecasts, which basically depend of two important factors, the snow and the wind.  In these weeks we had a lot of snow and the wind was blowing.  For the next week, snow should be less, but the speed of the wind, the famous "jet stream" that blows in higher altitudes, should be over 100 Km/h.

Well, the challenge is to wait a little more, pray, bur incense, at the end, in this important phase of the expedition, any kind of faith is no exaggeration.

Today's top picture was shot by my friend Irivan, in which I can be seen shooting some pictures in our camp 3, in the background you can see the superior pyramid of Everest, with its culminant point 1,548m above our heads.

In the bottom, from far, the little tents of camp 3, ours in one of the higher ones.  In the middle a line of Sherpas that follow the Face of Lhotse towards camp 3.  Next, me and Irivan, after escaping from the storm we got into our tent in camp 3.

We count with your support. 

A 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.

Altitude pre-
   acclimatization

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Black Diamond

   Botas

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   CaVa Climbing Shoes
   Clearance

   Clif Bar

   Cloudveil

   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Garmin

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps
   Helmets

   HighGear
   Ice Axes

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kelty

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Lowepro

   Motorola

   Mountain Hardwear

   Mountainsmith

   MSR

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Patagonia

   Pelican

   Petzl

   PowerBar

   Princeton Tec

   Prescription Glacier

   Glasses

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Thermarest

   Trango

   Tool Logic

   Trekking Poles
   Yaktrax
   and more here