To North Col

We plan to go to North Col, and will be out of touch.

Kirsti's photos

Check out some of Kirsti's recent photos.

1 May - Fixed rope exercise

Our expedition team trekked up to the bottom of the fixed ropes. It takes around 30 minutes or so to get out of ABC then "Crampon Point" takes another 30-45 minutes, and that is where you need to put on crampons, and from there it is less than 30 minutes over a gentle white snow glacier to the rope point, where it steepens. Basically we trek up here and time ourselves to see how we are performing. The Everest Expedition team is doing very well, with everyone performing at about the same rate.

Shehan en route to the Crampon Point - Jamie
Shehan and Marlon, both from Sri Lanka are building up to climb to North Col.

2 May - Anna leaves

This morning was sad, as Anna left for BC. Anna is Philippe's wife and was trekking to ABC for a night with us, and ended up staying a few extra days, "suffering the altitude for her hubby". She trekked down with Loto, one of our Tibetan staff, in 5 hours, a very respectable time. Now she is looking forward to a spa in Kathmandu (still a couple of days away)!

So this leaves our Everest expedition team here at ABC, and Marlon and Shehan, our Sri Lankan North Col climbers.

2 May - fixed rope exercise

We took a second trip up to the fixed ropes, everyone feeling good. We are ready for North Col tomorrow.

Our plans

Weather permitting, we plan to climb to North Col (7000m) and spend three nights there to acclimatize. We are just staying there, not climbing up to higher camps. In other words, don't worry. We are absolutely NOT planning a summit attempt. I (Jamie) will not be sending dispatches, perhaps Gavin will be sending brief ones. If there are no dispatches, DON'T worry. We are all fine, and will get a dispatch out only when we have recovered.

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