Xixa BC hanging out

We are acclimatizing well, and most of the team are rearing to get higher

15 Sept: Xixa BC

Greg writes:

Today is day six at Base Camp for those who arrived on Saturday [Ed K, Simona and Jamie arrived Monday 12 Sept]. We've pretty much covered all the day hikes in the area and are awaiting the arrival of our yaks so we can get to Advance Base Camp (ABC) and get on with the climbing. It looks as though we will all finally be healthy as we head up higher: Warwick and Greg survived their illness along the way in, and Simona is finally recovering properly and feels like she'll be able to go when we leave for ABC tomorrow.

The weather at Base Camp has been great. Most days have been clear and sunny with occasional short blasts of snow; only yesterday was cloudy most of the day with a couple of rain showers. Most importantly, there hasn't been much wind - a situation we hope continues once we get up high. [And the forecasts say they will - Jamie].

Base Camp is on a large, grassy plain, but there are many ridges to climb and explore; the team has taken some long day hikes of up to 25km, and continued conditioning by carrying weight in our packs and gaining altitude up to 5500m. We've alternated hiking with relaxing in our tents, reading, playing cards, Scrabble, and lots of eating while our bodies adjust to the altitude. A few on the team are worried they'll gain too much weight before the climb from all the good food the kitchen crew are providing. As evidenced by the photos on this site, Bob and Mike are spending lots of free time taking photos and are the unofficial team photographers.

Chris, Scott, Mike, and Ed just left on one last day hike. Chris has been talking with some of the other groups in camp about having a soccer (football, to those outside the USA and Australia) game this afternoon. We figure that will be a true test of how well our lungs are adapting, if not a good opportunity to break something and avoid going up the peak :-)

Each morning and evening, we use a pulse-oximeter to measure our heart rate and the percent oxygen saturation in our blood. Most everyone in the group registers in the mid-high 80%'s on this scale. The medical professionals in the group have noted that saturations of 90% at sea level are cause for concern, and that ones in the 80's might get someone hospitalized. It just goes to show how different things are in this environment!

Jamie writes:

At the Base Camp altitude there is approx 54% of the air pressure compared to sea level, so 54% of the oxygen (and nitrogen etc), so our bodies significantly beat the straight percentage. Broadly the higher your saturation the better you feel, think, perform and recover.

The sherpas play lido, a hilariously vocal game - Jamie

Our team is doing very well, all looking strong; Simona is recovering nicely from a suspected E Coli 'superbug' infection. Currently we are feeding two Italians and Comilo, a Columbian living in Boulder, whose Thamserku kitchen crew haven't turned up. The Monterosa group headed up to ABC quickly and at least two Slovenians, and two others are back at BC unable to cope with the altitude. One was VERY sick, coming back on a horse because he couldn't stand. This morning he headed down and back to Kathmandu.

The mountain is loaded with snow as there is virtually no wind higher up. So aside from plenty of wading it looks like it could be a great season.

Shishapangma from base camp - Mike Teger