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Turns
out the tent that was blown away was Jim's old North
Face VE-25 expedition tent, a tent that has served
him and a few of the rest of us very well on Denali,
Aconcagua and several other places. Although old,
the team thought it would be okay to use it as their
Camp 4 tent. They had it anchored very well with
snow pickets and other types of anchors. The wind
was so strong it actually broke the old anchor
cords, taking the tent and everything inside it off
the side of the mountain. We both felt that the
tent's final trip and demise on Everest was a
fitting end; just wishing it had not happened,
taking their other gear with it. Health:
Jim said all three of them feel pretty good, but are
not over their colds, raspy throats, etc.. He
confirmed they will really not get any better while
they are at high altitude [remember, ABC is at
21,300 feet]. Laptop
Problem: The laptop computer is completely
inoperative now and the problem(s) cannot be
resolved on the mountain. The only resolution at
this point is a replacement unit. Scott's parents
(Mike and Linda) have already emailed the
manufacturer of the laptop, Sony, to see if they can
provide any solution, such as a replacement. Jim
said just about any laptop will do as long as it is
has the operating system up and running and has
Internet Explorer and Outlook Express running on it
and of course, has a configured and working modem.
I
asked Jim about the logistics of getting a
replacement laptop to the team and he thought it was
doable. The
team has found one team that has a couple of
laptops, with a DSL-type satellite phone connection.
This team will sell time to our guys for $10.00 per
minute, so worse case it looks like they may be able
to have limited email access while at ABC, but with
a very sharp reduction in emails to and from the
team, as well as a big reduction in the excellent
expedition pictures they have been sending. Weather:
There was around six inches of snow at ABC over the
past day and the high winds continue to cause a lot
of damage to tents, not only at Camp 4, but also at
ABC. Jim said the tent he is in at ABC [brand
unknown and supplied by Asian Trekking] has suffered
damage from the winds and he woke up yesterday to
snow inside his tent from a zipper that was damaged
by the winds. He described the winds as sounding
like a freight train as they approach and sweep
through ABC, buffeting the tents severely and making
sleep virtually impossible. Food:
The Asian Trekking supplied cook at ABC is the worst
Jim has ever seen on an expedition anywhere and Jim
confirmed Scott's earlier dispatch about the food
being barely edible at times and not edible at other
times. He said he was very glad the team had taken
along so much extra food to have at ABC, such as
ham, cheeses, etc..
 Dispatches
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| The
North Col before the storm... |
The
cook... |
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