Basecamp, Mt. Everest (via satellite phone)
Elevation: 5110m/16,761ft
Sunny, low of 16 degrees, windy
8:20am

Eric Brown, Settled In At Basecamp

This is Eric Brown, for Patagonia Mountain Agency, Everest North Ridge Expedition 1999, calling from base camp, Mount Everest. Today is April 16, 1999, time is 8:20 in the morning. We are at 5110 meters which is 16,761 feet (plus or minus). The weather right now is sunny, blue skies. The low this morning was 16 degrees and since we arrived in base camp, the weather has been clear although yesterday we had winds over 50 miles an hour from the south, so it was quite gusty.

We arrived at base camp in the afternoon on April 13 after a bumpy ride, but beautiful. Luckily the tires on the Land Cruisers are 14-ply! After Ryszard picked our rocky home for the next month and a half, we and the Sherpas started unloading our food and gear from the truck. Tadek was quite upset because his gear was not in the delivery but it soon turned up hidden in another gear bag. The mess and cook tents were soon put up and everyone picked a place for their own tent. Anchoring is very important here because of the strong winds as we experienced yesterday, which are normal to base camp, so we all have big rocks surrounding our tents and also being used as anchors for our tie downs. Some of us have short rock walls all the way around also. Kalu, our cook has lived up to Ryszard's and Jacek's claims.

So far our dinners have been tasty and filling...spaghetti, salads, soups, moo-moos (which is a Nepalese dish--kind of a steamed dumpling), vegetables, potato pancakes, et cetera. Wednesday's lunch was especially good, at least to me. We had French fries, grilled cheese, tomato soup, slaw--umm-umm-good! Before breakfast, between 7 and 7:30 every morning, two of Kalu's helpers go around to each tent with cups of hot milk tea--a nice way to wake up in the morning. The mess tent is the social gathering place here since it always has hot water or milk tea on the table and is a good place to escape from sun or wind. In the mess tent, we also have a small stereo set up and also our radio base station which will be in contact with our group as they go up to ABC and higher. We have a generator which runs several hours at night, for dinner mainly. Speaking of dinner, after it, Omar and I have taken to recreating scenes from the Star Wars trilogy, much to the dismay of the Polish members and other members--complete with sound effects, of course. Other personal tidbits, Barbara and Rysiek hiked to old camp 1 at 5600 meters which is the original Mallory-Irvine camp. On Wednesday, Witek and Masaru, our other Polish climber and the Japanese climber, arrived yesterday from Tingri so our team is now complete. And Ian has taken to wearing a Viking cap, with horns of course, and the yaks have noticed.

Today, most of the group leaves for advanced base camp which is at 6400 meters. Also with them will be about 24 to 30 yaks with all the gear and Pasang and Pema Sherpa will be going along. Staying here at base camp to man the radio and watch over equipment is myself, Talli, and Kalu, the cook. As I said, food and gear for the advanced base camp and higher camps will be loaded on yaks and they'll start the trek. Tonight they won't make it all the way to advanced base camp, they will spend the night at IC, which is intermediate camp, at 5600 meters. Then on Saturday, on to Advanced Base Camp for one night, then they'll return to base camp for additional rest after that period of higher-altitude acclimatization.

Everest is in our view constantly and quite imposing. It is very snow-free this year with much of its rocky faces exposed. Oh yea, other expeditions in base camp: a Ukrainian-Chinese expedition, French-Swiss, the Simonsen (Eric Simonsen) Mallory-Irvine archaeological expedition which we can see from our camp, a New Zealand expedition, a Georgian expedition (not from USA, but Georgia the country), and an Italian expedition.

That's about it. We'll probably have another dispatch in 2 days. I'd like to remind you to take a look at our sponsor page because we are indebted to them because we're using lots of gear, coffee, warmers, meals--you name it--medical equipment. So check them out again. From Everest Base Camp, this is Eric Brown reporting...talk to ya'll later.

Jacek Maselko, PMA Guide, Reporting on Climbing Conditions

JAMES: "What do the conditions look like right now, this year?"

JACEK: "Well, it looks like there's a lot less snow than the previous years. And that should make for a little bit better... (pause) Well, it's good and bad. The good thing is, is that it will probably make it a little bit better going lower down. However, up above the 8200 to 8400 meter camp, which will be our Camp 3, it makes it a little bit harder to set up camp. There are a lot less places to set up camp, so we'll have a little more difficult time there. But aside from that I think it will make it, actually, a little bit easier getting up on the mountain. That's kind of Ryszard's summary on that as well. So, that's what he figures. So, you know, we're looking good. The other day here was a little windy but that's to be expected here at base camp and higher up, too. It's a windy mountain here on this side. But, you know, everything is looking good so far."