EverestNews.com will be posting full dispatches sent from Christine Boskoff
as they make their way in to Everest Base Camp, establish the various camps up
the mountain and the final ascent to the summit.
Dispatch One: Christine
Boskoff reporting for Mountain Madness from Everest Base Camp April 10, 2000:
It is approximately 1:00 PM on this beautiful day in base camp. Yesterday a
Llama from a village down below performed the puja ceremony, blessing the team
and the equipment in preparation for their ascent of the mountain.
This is a traditional Buddhist ceremony which was followed by a great party with
massive consumption of chang, a local alcoholic beverage. Peter
Habeler has earned the nickname "Mr. Chang"! Ray Yeritsen
will be delivering 2 liters of chang to Peter at Camp I tomorrow.
So far, Peter, Nazir Sabir, Ray and I have made it through the icefall. Both
Camps I & II have been established and the climbing Sherpas are real busy
getting things ready for our climb. Peter and I have both slept at Camp I and
Peter is returning there today for another night. The Canadian team, Ray
and I will again ascend to Camp I tomorrow. We plan to continue on to Camp
II and return to Base camp in a few days after acclimatizing.
The weather has been great and everyone is well. Until later, this is
Christine signing off.
Dispatch Two:
Christine Boskoff reporting for Mountain Madness from Everest Base
Camp:
It is a sunny Sunday at base camp. Today is my 3rd rest day in
camp and the fourth rest day for Peter Habeler. Ray Yeritsen will be
returning to base camp from Camp II after four days on the mountain. Our
Canadian crew, led by Ben Webster, will leave for Camp I today. Three
climbing Sherpas are at Camp II and will continue to Camp III to complete the
process of fixing lines for the ascent.
On Monday, April 17th, Peter, Nazir Sabir and I will climb to Camp
II. Peter and I hope to continue on to Camp III on Tuesday if we are
feeling well.
There was a big meeting
last night with all the expedition leaders to determine who was responsible for
establishing fixed lines above Camp II. So far, Mountain Madness has been fixing
the lines between Camp II and Camp III. The leaders also addressed the
order of approach for summiting the mountain. Peter and I are in line to
be one of the first summit teams this year.
We are expecting to summit around the end of April if all goes well.
Our chances at this time a really great!
Everyone is well and really enjoying base camp life. The
weather has been excellent. Until next time....
Christine Boskoff
Dispatch Three: I
had a call from Christine Boskoff last night from Everest base camp. I was
pleasantly surprised to hear from her. She reports that the team are doing
well. She had spent the last few days resting at base camp. It was early
morning in Nepal and they were getting their first "real" snow storm
since arriving at base camp.
Weather permitting, they will once again ascend to Camp III for another night of
acclimatization. She and Peter Habeler have both successfully slept at
Camp III. If all
goes well they hope to make their summit bid at the end of this week or next.
I know everyone here will be keeping their fingers crossed!
Our Mountain Madness
guide, Ant Chapin, returned from Kathmandu last week having completed the
support trek with a dozen clients. From his report it seems that the group
had a great time trekking in towards the base camp with six members actually
spending some time at the base camp with the climbers. Cary Craig notified me
that Christine had reported her name incorrectly from base camp and she hoped we
could fix it so her friends would know that she had made it. Well, Ant
says she not only made it to base camp but in great shape!
The support trekkers have
been a real asset to our team. Our first trek left the US on March 21st.
Two of our teammates, Lynn Snow and Brent Sullivan, agreed to take a duffle of
food and equipment to Kathmandu to support our climbing team. On the third
trip which left on Saturday, April 22, Chip Kessler took a duffle with
additional clothing for four of our Sherpas and special foods for our climbers.
We certainly appreciate all their support. Our final group of support
trekkers leave on April 27th.
In this group we have one
very special individual. Her name is Toni Lugger. She actually
signed up for the trip over two years ago. Nothing like goal setting!
She has been a terrific model for setting goals and achieving her dream.
She has visited her eleven year old son Nicolas' school, Pompano Beach Middle
School and Rickards Middle School to give presentations about going after what
you want in life regardless of your gender. Everyone who knows Toni knows
that going to Everest Base Camp has been a life long dream. She lies in
bed at night wondering what it will feel like to finally accomplish her dream.
She tells me she will feel like a million bucks....No, much more! I feel
certain that when Toni reaches the base camp our climbing team will welcome her
positive energy and will appreciate the message she has delivered to the young
folks in the US. Good luck Toni!
Until we hear from
Christine....
Patty Flanagan Mountain
Madness, Inc
Dispatch: Christine
Boskoff reporting for Mountain Madness from Everest Base Camp April 25:
It began to snow here
yesterday at base camp. It is truly our first winter (spring) storm.
On the 24th the Sherpas came down off the mountain with many of the climbers.
The rest of the climbers descended to base camp today. On Monday we had to
say good bye to one of our teammates, Ray
Yeritsen. He has
sustained a back injury that will prevent him from going to the summit.
We got a weather report
yesterday predicting a couple days of bad weather then clearing on Wednesday.
However, the winds are expected to be picking up. We are not sure when we
will be going for our summit attempt. A recap of the past weeks events: on
April 17th Peter Habeler and I climbed to Camp II and slept. On the 18th
we went up high on the Lhotse Face, returned to Camp II to sleep. On the
19th we remained at Camp II and went up to Camp III on the 20th and spent the
night. April 21st brought us back to base camp where we have been resting.
We will continue to rest at base camp until the snow lets up.
Until then.... Christine
Dispatch:
Christine Boskoff reporting for Mountain Madness from Everest base camp for
April 26th: Tomorrow, April
27th, Peter Habeler and I will climb to Camp 2. We will be
picking up weather reports from base camp and if
the reports are favorable we will begin our attempt on the summit.
If the winds continue to be high we will stay
at Camp II until the weather improves.
Rolf will be sending reports from base camp while we are up on the mountain.
Until later.....
www.mountainmadness.com
Dispatch: This is
Christine Boskoff reporting for Mountain Madness from Everest Basecamp on May
1st: It is early evening here at base camp and we just polished off a
terrific pizza! Last Saturday, April 29th, all of our climbing Sherpas,
Peter Habeler and I returned to base camp from Camp II due to very high winds.
Because of the high winds we were unable to continue on to Camp III.
We have had a weather report and there appears to be a window of opportunity
opening and remaining open until May 5th. Our climbing Sherpas left today
for Camp II. They will go up and establish Camp IV tomorrow on the south
col at 25,919".
Kili Sherpa, the Director of Operations in the Mountain Madness Nepal
office, will be attempting the summit with our team! Following is our
strategy as we make our summit bid. On Tuesday, May 2, Peter, Nazir Sabir,
Kili and I will head up to Camp II. On Wednesday we will go to Camp III,
Thursday Camp IV and if all goes
well, the SUMMIT on Friday, May 5th. We will be the first team on
the summit this year. We will have four climbing Sherpas with us and will
be fixing lines above the balcony.
We hope to be successful but if not, we have plenty of time to make
another attempt. We will be in touch as we move up the mountain.
Update: "Hi
this is Chris Boskoff calling from Everest Base Camp on May 07. We tried
for the summit last night but we were turned back due to high winds. We
descended to Base Camp and Nazir and Kili are safely at camp two right now. This
is just a quick note as tomorrow I'll have a longer dispatch with everything
that has happened the last few days. This is Chris Boskoff signing off and
there'll be more tomorrow. Bye.
Update:
Update: Chris
Boskoff dispatch received 8pm on May 12
Hi, Chris Boskoff reporting for Mountain Madness at Everest Base Camp
on May 12. Here's an overview of the last few days On May 05 Peter, Nazir and I
climbed to C3. In the middle of the night Peter had some problems with his
breathing and went down to BC at 5 in the morning. Nazir, Dorje,
(unclear), Kili Sherpa and I continued to climb to the South Col and C4on May 06
It was a windy and stormy night at C4, there was also a Canadian team there
trying for the summit. Due to storms our team stayed in our tent. The Canadian
team and their Sherpas (unclear) and decided it was hopeless.
Our team descended at 7 am on May 07 in whiteout with high winds.
Dorje and I broke trail from C3 to BC unburying fixed lines. Dorje and I went to
BC The others stayed at C2 for the night. Nazir and Kili decided to descend to
BC the next day on May 08.
Today Peter and I spent 4 days at BC. Today we plan to plan to
climb to C2 and try for our next summit attempt. We'll try to do dispatches.
Peter Habeler says hi to everyone.
That's it from Chris Boskoff.
Update 5/13/200:
