Italian expedition Everest/K2 2004 expedition

20 April 2004 - 20.00 base camp time (16.00 Italian time)

Very important day at the Base Camp on a relatively warm day, even though very windy. The first team has come back from the reconnaissance ascent to the Advanced Base Camp, 6400 m.. The team was made up by Soro Dorotei, the vice expedition leader, Silvio Mondinelli and Michele Compagnoni.

A small camp was set up right under the North Col.  The first reported impression was that of  finding too many people up there which might represent a problem when mountaineers will be engaged at the higher camps "There is a sort of metropolis up there "commented Silvio Mondinelli.

Further problems were caused by yak carovans which continually come and go transporting items. This camp is the higher they can  actually reach.  We still miss one barrel containing all the electrical materials, but we hope to get it, hopefully as soon as possible.

Michele Compagnoni achived his personal altitude record and said: ""I felt  my head empty at the beginning - he said - but then I started synchronizing my pace and breathing and felt immediately better".

Today, in the morning a new carovan of 10 yaks started out along with 9 mountaineers. Among them, Marco Forcatura, Paolo Comune, Claudio Bastrentaz, Mario Panzeri, Giulio Maggioni, Giampaolo Gioia.

Also the medical doctors were particular busy treating a young Nepali working in the kitchen whose name is Zangbu. The  sherpa was struck by pulmonary edema, probably consequent to a too rapid ascent from Kathmandu. The young man was carried back to Tingri.
My reconnaissance tour at the other 20 expedition tents set up near ours allowed for some interesting discoveries.  There are American , Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish expeditions.

A BBC group is filming an episode for  "Challenge" which  focuses on Tony Griffith's ascent. Another one will have our same objective: finding the body of Sandy Irvine, who disappeared on mount Everest in 1924, at 8500 m.

Russians are committed on a new challenge: finding a new road to the summit on North Spur while a Russian commercial expedition has two Italian members, both of them from Genova: Giorgio Profumo and Gianni Carbone.

 

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