SKi8000 expedition 2004: Update

The weather has been bad the last few days. Lots of snow has fallen. Let's all hope that we get another "good weather window" the next 3 days! Keep our fingers crossed.

Greg told me that the night in camp 1 was extremely cold, but his cough has improved and he feels recovered from the first summit attempt. Today (Monday 26th) at 9 AM (we use Nepalese time = GMT + 4h45) the team will start the climb to Fugro camp 2. The climb will likely be hard, since nobody has been higher than camp 1 in the last 2 days and fresh snow has erased all tracks. The team has to brake trail again.

Herman and I will keep you up to date during this final summit attempt. For me it was a strange and sad feeling to wish the summit team good luck on Sunday morning. I felt strong and ready to go up, and all I wanted to do was grab my backpack and join Greg and the boys. But my eye's condition is still not improving. The first thing I do after opening my eyes each morning is testing my left eye by trying to read a magazine title... but no improvement so far.

In the meantime, Herman and I have no time to get bored in basecamp. I have become an experienced medical assistant. On Saturday we diagnosed the second case of Pulmonary Edema. The guy was carried down by Tibetians immediately. On Sunday we made our daily round and found out that Luis, the leader of the Spanish expedition (we treated him earlier for bronchitis) had also become snowblind. This morning he started his return trip to Madrid.

Finally, we have become the most active sales guys of basecamp. The most profitable business so far is selling rights to use our fixed ropes on the mountain. Currently, approximately 20 climbers have acquired the right to use the Dutch ropes. We have sold 3 bottles of our emergency oxygen (sales has boomed since word spread around that we saved a life with it) and we have sold one of our tents in Vicks camp 3 (pitched and ready to use at 7450 m, what a service!). More updates follow soon. Let's all hope for a successful and safe ski descent form the summit! Joost

Update 2: The summit team has climbed from OC&C 1 to Fugro 2 at 7080 m under very bad weather conditions. Tomorrow Greg, Pasang and Ang Pemba will attempt to reach Vicks 3 at 7450 m. We'll keep you informed, Joost

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Altitech2: Digital Altimeter, Barometer, Compass and Thermometer. Time/Date/Alarms. Chronograph with 24 hour working range. Timer with stop, repeat and up function. Rotating Bezel. Leveling bubble. Carabiner latch. E.L. 3 second backlight. Water resistant. 4" x 2-1/4" x 3/4" 2 oz. Requires 1 CR2032 battery. See more here.

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