Everest North Side Expedition
St. Petersburg Everest - 2003 Jubilee Expedition

Dispatch One: 04.04.2003, Andrey Ershov: Our St. Petersburg Everest - 2003 Jubilee Expedition has started. On April 1 all nine members arrived in Kathmandu where our Nepalese partners of Royal Mt. Trekking met them. They were accommodated at the Harati Hotel and they prepared and checked their equipment, food and other necessary things on April 2. Yesterday they arrived from Kathmandu to Zangmu, crossed the border and spent a night at the Zangmu Hotel. Today they have continued their way to the Everest BC and have reached Nyalam. Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch Two: 4/5/2003, Vladimir Belous: Hi everybody! After several unceasing days of worries and moving of items.... it was the first day, when I understood how my satellite phone works with e-mail, but I did not check the inverse call to my satellite telephone yet. Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch Three: 4/6/2003, Vladimir Belous: Hi everybody! All is OK. Today, on April 6 we have started from Nyalam and have arrived at Tingri by jeeps, here is real Tibet, because we have crossed a pass about 5100 meters Tingri is much more better than Nyalam, it is a clean... Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch Four: April 07, Tom Masterson: Greetings from Tibet! I am with a Russian expedition from St. Petersburg: 8 climbers and one doctor. Our goal is the north side of Everest in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest and the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg. There are 3 climbers from St. Petersburg, 1 from near Moscow, 2 from Irkutsk, 1 from Germany (Nurenberg), and myself from Canada (Quebec)....Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch Five: Hello! Today at 9:00 we have started from Tingri and about 14:00 we have arrived at the Everest BC. On the way we have done a short stop at the very famous high-altitude Rongbuk Monastery. We have written our names on the paper sheets with prayers and local monks have done a church service for our expedition. Base Camp is located a little upper on the valley near the glacier, on the altitude about 5200 m. Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch Six: April 13, Marina Ershova: Hello! I am calling from ABC on the altitude about 6400 m. On April 10 we started our way to ABC with yaks, our cook and kitchen boy. The way to ABC is very long, the altitude is high enough and for the first time all this is hard enough. So we did not hurry and spent two nights on our way from BC to ABC... Check here for the full dispatch.

Three pages of pictures from the St Petersburg expedition: Page One, Two and Three.

Dispatch Seven: TODAY OUR TEAM HAS REACHED NORTH COL! Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch Eight: Tom Masterson: St. Petersburg English language Everest report continued Tuesday, 8 April 2003: Tingri to Everest base camp. Today we get an earlier start: breakfast is at 5:45 Nepali time or 8 a.m. Chinese time (Nepali time seems to have the sun nearly overhead at noon while Chinese time is set in Beijing and decreed to be the same for the entire of the country, and, yes, Tibet is in China). Check here for the full dispatch.

ST. PETERSBURG EVEREST - 2003 JUBILEE EXPEDITION: EXPEDITION PHOTOS, PART 6

Dispatch Nine: April 24, Marina Ershova: I am calling from BC - we all came down for rest after our second walk to the North Col and upper. On April 18 Oleg Nasedkin and me went up to ABC and reached it on April 19, the other members left BC and reached ABC on April 19. The next day we spent at ABC because of bad weather. On April 21 we climbed the North Col and found our Camp 1 destroyed, maybe, by wind. We were forced to install our tents again and spent a night on the Col. Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch Ten: Dispatch Ten: April 27, Andrey Ershov: The days of rest and recuperation at BC after the work on the North Col and 7500 are coming to the end. Marina Ershova and Anatoly Moshikov are in a good health, Tom Masterson is full of power and now the expedition team is ready to continue their hard work on the high altitude. The main goal of their third altitude trip is installation of Camp 2 on 7800 and portage of food, gas and other necessary things there. It is clear that without help of climbing Sherpas it is a very difficult and hard work. Check here for the full dispatch.

ST. PETERSBURG EVEREST - 2003 JUBILEE EXPEDITION: EXPEDITION PHOTOS, PART 7

Dispatch 11: Everyone in the group has now been above the North Col and slept at the North Col (~7000m). Our high camp is now at ~7800 m at the top of a steep finger of snow. We have one more camp to establish at ~8300 m before we can look for a summit bid. We are presently regrouping at BC. The group doctor, Dima, has been working hard to keep folks healthy. He is widely in demand by several groups... Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch 12: Tom Masterson:Tents at base camp were struggling to stay upright, and rumor has it that all sites above ABC have been evacuated. We have no accurate forecast on how long the winds will continue... Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch 13: May 04, Tom Masterson: Boredom in base camp (but the weather has a field day). Here in base camp, the winds were blowing 50-80 km/hr, with significantly higher gusts. Sand and dust screamed down the moraine. Check here for the full dispatch. 

Dispatch 14: Still the wind blows! We visit the British camp and the summit weather forecast is for 110 knots (130 mph, 190 km/hr) winds on the summit which will diminish only to half that value by Friday, North Col winds decreasing from 80 knots (95 mph, 130 km/hr) to about a fifth that value by Friday. Check here for the full dispatch.

ST. PETERSBURG EVEREST - 2003 JUBILEE EXPEDITION EXPEDITION PHOTOS, PART 9

Dispatch 15: Marina Ershova: Yesterday Nikolay Totmyanin, Vladimir Gaidamak and Anatoly Moshnikov reached Camp 2 on 7800 m, despite very strong wind could reinstall our tent and spent a night there. Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch 16: May 16, Tom Masterson: Starting tomorrow, Saturday May 17, we head uphill in three waves (Sat, Sun, Mon) hoping for an adequate window in the weather. Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch 17: St. Petersburg Everest - 2003 Jubilee Expedition Summits Everest!

Dispatch 18: May 23, Dmitry Pryutts: Tom Masterson and Vladimir Gaidamak will stay at 8300 (camp 3) due to high winds. Check here for the full dispatch.

Dispatch 19: ST. PETERSBURG 2003 JUBILEE EVEREST EXPEDITION SUCCESSFULLY REACHES SUMMIT!

Dispatch 20: One member of our expedition - Nikolay Totmyanin from St. Petersburg, Russia - reached the summit of Mt. Everest on May 22 without oxygen and without any help of Sherpas. Check here for the full dispatch.