11 May

Summit Push Postponed

Dear Friends,

Thanks for warm wishes from Chua Cheng Tee, Mark and Lisa, Outdoor Specialists, Chris and Al Silva, Ken Kay, Nancy Blossom, Carrie Stewart, Russ Kohl and whole heap of others. Frank Katch: yes, we do have a physical evaluation before we go (had a max VO2 test in SIngapore, twice in the past 8 months). Calories-wise, we consume about 1,500 up high on the mountain – unfortunately we burn off about 4,000-8,000 daily when climbing hard. So when down in basecamp, we makeup for the deficits. Still, we will likey lose about 3 – 4 kg of body mass when we finish the expedition
MacCentral:
Our webmaster, George, informs us our hit count since the website’s launch in March 2000 has topped 1 million. We’ve also been featured on MacCentral. Macs rule! 🙂

SUMMIT BID:
We’ve had heavy snow all night and most of yesterday afternoon. Reports from the North Col say most of or tents are almost buried and there is some avalanche risk on the slopes to the Col. It’s back to a waiting game. We talked about it this morning and have decided to postpone the bid by a day at least. The weather forecasts suggest more snow for the next few days. Some of us are pretty antsy right now having been at basecamp for almost 2 weeks. But that being said, none of us here want to wind up a landmark on the mountain – 44 bodies still up there are testament to the seriousness of the route. Will keep you posted.

Ciao,
Dave