May 16

Viesturs & Whittaker Arrive At Camp III, Arnot Battling Illness At Camp II

Everest Dispatch #56
May 16, 2009
Everest Base Camp

By Seth Waterfall

Today is our fortieth day in Base Camp. Everyone is still hanging in there, mentally. Mostly due to our huge store of snacks and games. I won’t lie though, living in a tent for this long is a tough prospect, even for seasoned mountain guides.

Soon enough we’ll be heading back up on the mountain for our summit bid. Erica, Dave and I are getting pretty excited for it. Our last rotation on the mountain presented some challenges but we’re all healthy and in good spirits. After a few more days of rest we should be all set to go for it.

For now it’s all about resting, hydrating and eating here at BC. The trick is to get a good rest without letting the legs stiffen-up too much. We do this by going for little hikes around camp. It always ends up as a tea-fest though as whenever you go by a friend’s camp they invariably invite you in for a cup and a snack.

Today camp has finally started to thin out. The weather is starting to look good for summit bids and every morning a few more teams have headed up. This works to our strategy as we are trying to summit after the main push of climbers. This is so that we avoid big traffic jams on summit day. It’s all a timing game for us now.

So until we leave for the summit it’s going to be an endless stream of candy bars, Scrabble, card games, potato chips, iPods and sleeping. Not necessarily in that order. Soon enough we’ll be heading back up, leaving the luxuries of Base Camp behind. It won’t be too tough for me. I really can’t wait to get a shot at the summit. All we need is a bit of good luck and some nice weather.

Comments

doverpro
May 16, 2009 at 9:08 am

Gods speed and take lots of pictures! “two way trip”!
doverpro
May 16, 2009 at 9:20 am

OK for all you watching I just did the calculation of when they are planning on summating and 8 AM on the 18th of May in Nepal is 11:00 PM the 17th of May Sunday Central Daylight Savings Time. The calculator says 11:15, not a whole hour, so Nepal must have some kind of official standard that is different then that the US uses. Melissa, I hope you get well and can finish the climb.
sunis
May 16, 2009 at 11:10 am

Get feeling better Melissa. Good Luck to all of you, I have been glued to my computer everyday waiting to see all the amazing things you are doing, what an inspiration you all are! Amazing!
T-Dawg
May 16, 2009 at 3:12 pm

Hope you are feeling better Melissa. Take some vitamin C and kick that bug out the tent! Stay safe up their and we here at Eddie Bauer, in Rapid City, SD are behind you all the way!!
liquidsky
May 17, 2009 at 7:22 am

Melissa, we’re following you, with you, and hope you get better !!! Vitamin C PLUS mind over matter ?

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