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Presents Ski Everest Autumn 2000 !

The temperatures have in Kathmandu these days risen to 32 d. C.; the monsoon does not yet seem to abate.

The local weather forecast remains unchanged for the following days. The heat, and the rain, will continue. Before noon and early in the afternoon we do see some sunshine, yet towards evening and during the nights we get rain again.

Andrej Kmet, who is in charge of the expedition's communications with Slovenia, today went on a panoramic flight towards Everest, shooting the conditions on and around the worlds highest mountain. As we could see on the video, there is plenty of snow on Everest; the mountain looks as if wrapped in white.

The expedition was busy doing the last chores in Kathmandu. We are now all eagerly waiting for the journey towards the mountain to begin. In the morning Franc Oderlap, the provisions manager, met the cook of the expedition. The two purchased the food which is now ready for carrying. Some basic provisions will be acquired later in Namche Bazar.

Other members of the team passed the time surfing websites of local and Slovenian newspapers. The local news includes updates about the conflict with the Communist rebels and about the progress of the Japanese encephalitis which affected the southern part of the country.

In the village of Pandures, Bajura district, an alleged Maoist was killed fighting with the police. A group of policemen rescued themselves from a station in Tamarang which was set on fire by the rebels. None of the police was wounded.

The latest data on the epidemic are more alarming than those made public yesterday. According to the Ministry of Health, 1016 people contracted the disease in the last two months; 103 of whom have died. South Korea and China aided Nepal by sending 225,000 and 500,000 ampoules of the serum, respectively.

Although the disease poses no threat to the Si.mobil Extreme Ski Everest 2000 expedition, the whole team looks forward to setting for the mountain soon.

Davo Karnicar, leader of the SI.MOBIL Extreme Ski Everest 2000 expedition, was this morning on an official visit to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, which granted him an official permission for the ascent of Everest.

Each Himalayan expedition which tackles any summit in the expedition category (elevation exceeding 6,500m) has to go through an official procedure at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. In this case it was the minister who granted the permission for the highest mountain.

At the meeting, a communications officer was named, who is to act as a contact person with the local people, and who sees to it that the expedition tackles only the summit for which the permission was paid. Our communications officers name is Suresh Acharya, employed as a flight controller at the airport of Kathmandu. Two members of the exhibition, Grega Lacen and Tadej Golob, have met Acharya already during the Slovenian 1998 expedition to Dhaulagiri (8,167m).

One day more till the departure from Kathmandu

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