Mt. Everest 2005: Waldemar Niclevicz: The time is coming!

05/17/2005

57th day of the 10 Years of Brazil on Everest Expedition

Base Camp (5,400m)

Dear Friends!

The weather here on Everest is the weirdest, yesterday we were excited to make our summit attack on the 23rd, full moon.  The weather forecast said 100 Km/h winds and 17% of humidity on the summit, but today, the new forecast, raises humidity a little to 23%, and warns of 100 Km/h winds for the full moon day.

Well, we radically changed our plan and we are waiting for a new forecast that will come from Spain tonight at 21 hours to take the definitive final decision.  This forecast we get from a Spanish weatherman costs 50 dollars each, but it is extremely reliable.  The cost of these forecasts is being split with our Spanish friends from Valencia, Haya, Jorge and David, we decided to join efforts with them and our enthusiasm is great to get together to the top of Everest.

The weather in the next days is not so bad, but is not so good.  The wind that this morning is blowing at more than 100 Km/h in superior altitudes is going to diminish considerably in intensity, even getting below 10 Km/h on Thursday, but humidity is going to increase a lot, even with the snow forecasts above 8 thousand meters.

We met here in base camp a while ago with several climbers, the major discussion was to climb Everest with little wind and big risks of snowfalls, or climb Everest in a dryer environment, but with stronger winds.  Opinions vary, I prefer a thousand times to climb with the risk of having some snow on my head instead of facing frozen winds.

I remember very well climbing Everest in 1995, the day that Mozart and I reached the summit, May 14, full moon, there was hardly any wind, and there was a big and pretty sea of clouds around 7,500m, which means that below our altitude it could be snowing and above there would be a blue sky with a nice temperature, thanks to the strong sun.

Well, the problem is that May is coming to an end, and in theory, the climbing license is due in June 1st for most of the expeditions that are around here.  Those who would like to have a chance to get to the top of Everest this year have to be ready to face more wind or snow than they would like.

In today's picture one of the moments of our sojourn to Lobuche, where we spent the weekend.  Haya, our Spanish friend, shot the picture, you can see Irivan and me in there, coming back to base camp, with beautiful Pumori (7,165m) in the background.

A big hug,

Waldemar Niclevicz

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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