Irish Everest Expedition 2003
News From Base Camp
News Letter 1
4 April 2003

Day 21 of expedition.
All the team are now starting to acclimatise to the conditions here at Base Camp. At 17,600 feet the pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere is down to 50% of that at sea level. It typically takes three to four weeks for those of us who live at sea level to get used to the thin air.

The weather so far has been very mixed. Clear skies, cold, snow storms and winds which have caused some delay. All the team are in good spirits and are trying to remain patient; for success, we will need plenty of this.

Everest Base Camp is an incredible place as we chisel out our Irish camp site at 17,600 feet on a moving glacier that looks as if it has been attacked by hundreds of bombs from the air, leaving massive craters of rock, ice and frozen lakes. Our camp site is on the edge of one of those craters!

It is freezing cold as we try to erect the mess tent, cook tent, toilet tents and Sherpa quarters as well as our own tents, which will be our home for the next 60 days.

At the moment we are sorting out all gear, equipment and general food stuffs which weighed in excess of 6,000Kgs. We've had over 150 porters and yaks ferry all of these goods to us from a small air strip in the Khumbu Valley know as Lukla. It is a seven day journey through rough country side to get to base camp.

We are now ready for the next stage of attack on the mountain, the Khumbu ice fall. This is one of the most dangerous sections of the climb and one we'll have to negotiate numerous times in the course of our ascent.

We had to retreat today because of snow fall but plan to try again within the next few days. This is only a brief update from Base Camp. There is a more in depth look at what has been happening on the mountain and how the climbers are coping if you click into our web site:

http://www.irisheverest2003.com/news_updates/expedition_Update.htm

You can also see how Freddy T Bear is doing and follow his adventures on the web site.

http://www.irisheverest2003.com/educational/diary.htm

More News from the Team to follow soon.

Bye, Irish Everest Team.

e-mail. info@irisheverest2003.com