Greetings from Gary Guller back at Base Camp!

I cannot tell you how nice it is to be breathing some thicker air and enjoying the few comforts we have at Base Camp: a better selection of food and drinks and, of course, the company of the TE '03 staff.

To give you a quick update of the status of our team and our progress higher on the mountain: the high altitude climbing Sherpa with the support of the entire expedition team have successfully established Camps 1, 2 and 3 high on the Lhotse Face, and have moved one load to Camp 4 on the South Col, approximately 950 meters (3,116ft) from the top of the world! Gary Scott, the climbing Sherpa and myself are all at Base Camp having a few days of much needed rest.

Five days ago, we ascended from Base Camp to begin the hard work of establishing the higher camps. There is an incredible amount of equipment and food that has to be moved up through the Khumbu Icefall and Camp 1 to our advanced base camp at Camp 2 (at approximately 22,500ft). The first time any of us non-Sherpa make this ascent, it feels like breathing extremely cold air through a mixing straw. (Some of you may remember trying the experiment at one of our presentations - running in place or around your auditorium and then trying to breathe through a thin straw.)

We have been very fortunate that Gary Scott was able to shoot some fantastic video footage of our team ascending through the Icefall and going to Camp 2. The ladders en route to Camp 2 are mentally taxing to say the least. There are a number of places where there are multiple ladders strung together over crevasses that appear to be bottomless and looking through the rungs is like looking into a sea of darkness. Unfortunately, just the other day, two ice walls collapsed while two Sherpa were on the ladders only 20 minutes in front of us. Hopefully, they will both be okay, but it hits home how dangerous this route can be. (If you heard on the news wire about me slipping on one of the ladders - it is true, but I can assure you it was minor and I am in 100% good health!)

We've established our Camp 2 just past the other expeditions. In all honesty, humans weren't made to live at these altitudes. But even though the conditions are extremely tough going, the beauty looking out over the great Himalayan Mountains, surrounded in the Western Cwm by Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse, I can only marvel at how all this was created. Until, that is, the wind picks up and the clouds appear and I am quickly reminded how inhospitable it can be. The cold just sucks the life out of you! This is when we draw most from the support we are receiving from home about reaching deeper within ourselves to succeed when perhaps it seems easier to give up. Team Everest '03 is all about doing the best that we can within ourselves.

A personal hello to our supporters and the team back in Austin, and all at CTD. I miss you and appreciate the continued support we are receiving as we enter into this mentally and physically difficult phase of the expedition. A big hello to the students at the Texas School for the Deaf, Dripping Springs (Hey Chris!), St. Mary's Hall (Hi Sharon Goodwin), Easthampton Middle School, and in Riga, Latvia! Hope you enjoy the pictures from our trip up and back to Camp 2. You can see how tired I look after a long day on the mountain.

We'll be re-ascending to the higher altitude camps for further acclimatization, but will write again from Base Camp before we depart.

Yours truly, Gary Guller