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International
Mountain Guides (www.mountainguides.com) Everest 2002 Expedition
Lhotse
Face Plan - Or, World Peace Comes to Everest
April
19: Things
on the mountain are really moving now as more
teams get into position to begin work on the Lhotse
Face. On Wednesday we hosted a get-together of
all the expedition groups and were able to nail down
the strategy for the next week or two. I’m
pleased to say that this was one of the best
“expedition cooperation meetings” that I have
been a part of, on either the North or South Side of
Everest. In the past years it always seemed
that some groups boycotted such meetings, or
complained about the contribution that they were
being called to provide. This year, there was a lot
more unity and peace among nations and tribes.
The
Sherpas from the various teams were very
instrumental in making the plan. Starting
today (the 19th) each group will be responsible for
having at Camp 2 three hundred meters of rope, half
a dozen ice screws, and three pickets.
Starting tomorrow (the 20th) the five groups that
are “ahead” will send some of their Sherpas up
to start working on the route to Camp 3. These
five groups are International Mountain Guides (us!),
Himalayan Guides, National Geographic, and a
Swiss and a Korean team. Once the route to
Camp 3 is “in”, the remaining seven groups will
start working on the route to Camp 4 on the South
Col. These teams will be Adventure
Consultants, Alpine Ascents, Mountain Madness, the
Japanese clean-up expedition, Everest International,
the Russian Lhotse team, and the Iranian team.
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