Everest Summit 2010!

Yahoo! We are all back safe in Base Camp after a very successful summit on
May 23rd, 2010. We will keep this short as lots going on here in Base Camp.
But we wanted to get out the news that 7 members and 11 sherpa summited at
just after 9am in very good weather. Just a light wind, clear skys and
amazing views! We spent well over 30 mins. On top before starting down to
the South Col. Before getting back near the Balcony, we were caught by the
afternoon convective clouds with higher winds and snow with low visibility.
Back in Camp 4 it continued to snow and blow hard all night. More or less
shuting the mountain down, although we did hear a group made the summit in
poor conditions. Crazy weather, from super good to whiteout and blowing.
Anyways, were here in Base Camp, everyone is doing very well. No injuries,
no frostbite, no worries!

Lots more photos and stories on the way! Yahoo!

Scott Woolums reporting from Everest Base Camp.

High Winds in Camp 2!

5/19

Well its been an exciting day. Beautiful clear weather, just quite windy
this afternoon and tonight. We are planning to leave for Camp 3 tomorrow
morning, so hopefully we'll see less winds tomorrow for our trip up the
Lhotse Face. The weather forecasts have not offered a clear window this
year. Now we are trying to thread a needle (with several hundred other
climbers) between the Jet Stream, which is now very near Everest and an
approaching Cyclone in the Bay of Bengal that is heading our way soon. We
are looking at the 22nd now. Its going to be a windy climb up to the South
Col over the next couple days. We are actually in a very good position to
wait a day in C3 or C4 if conditions are unreasonable. We have lots of
Oxygen for any delays up high and one of the strongest Sherpa Teams on the
hill! Looking forward starting our summit push! Yahoo!

Scott Woolums reporting from Camp 2, Mt. Everest.

Waiting in Camp 2

Seriously high winds on Everest. Some of the strongest winds I have seen. We
can hear the jet stream just above us ripping at the summit right now. We
had plans to move up to C3 today, and onto the South Col on the 21st. So
much for that! The whole upper mountain is being raked by winds of 50 to 100
mph. We went for a short walk this morning with hopes the winds could drop,
but only 1 hour out of camp it became quite clear that we were only going
for a short hike and not to the top of Everest this time. Everything looks
better for the 23rd now so that's our new focus. Our forecasts are looking
like the Cyclone will be bringing moisture to the Everest region around the
24 and 25th now. So another rest day in camp 2 playing cards, listening to
the wind and getting ready for tomorrow. Quite a few people moved to
C3today, we counted over 50. Although the winds have definitely increased
now, so our guess is some if not most will change plans and come down today.
Camp 3 is disappearing in huge waves of blowing snow from the South Col all
the way across the Lhotse Face to Lhotse Summit. Very impressive to see, not
to be in!

Photos from below the Lhotse Face this morning.

Scott Woolums reporting from Camp 2, 21,500ft., Everest.

Ready to Go!

Well its been a long trip of preparation, planning, travel, trekking, and
acclimitization to be here and now. Everything is ready to go for Everest.
Now its just a little waiting till we have a solid weather window. Everyone
is watching our forecasts for some break in the high winds that have been
pounding Everest for a week. There is a forecast for the winds to drop
starting the 23rd om May. Right now the Jet Stream is park right over the
mountain and weaving back and forth near the summit. And Everest sits right
up in the Jet Stream so its been quite exciting watching the winds hammer
the whole upper mountain.

Life here in Base Camp is quite comfortable. Cocktail hour at 4 with
appitizers, 2 heaters going off. Supper good shower and lots of interesting
hikes in the area to stay fit and entertained. Today we went up to Pumori
Camp 1 at around 19,500 ft. Fantastic views across the Khumbu Glacier to
Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse. Could see the entire North Ridge on the Tibet
side as well. Perfect day down low here.

SO all is good, will be going up in the next few days and as soon as were
back down, will post hopefully some photos from the summit! This will be my
5th summit if all goes well!

Photo from up on Pumori today!

Cheers to All,

Scott

Waiting in Base Camp......

Back in Base Camp and playing the waiting game now. Have been following all
the forecasts closely. Back a couple days ago from a super good break down
in Dingboche. Right now our Sherpa team is also taking a well deserved break
before we all move up for our summit go. Everything on the mountain is
completely set to go. Very little for the sherpas to take up to be ready for
the summit. So everyone is ready. The team is healthy and strong. So we only
have a little bit to wait as the forecasts are starting to look like a solid
window starting around the 22nd and 23rd. We have no set plans at this point
as we have till 5 days before to commit on a date. Any plans farther out are
more just wishful thinking. So we'll stay here. Everyone here in camp is
looking at a small break in the high winds that have been hammering the
upper mountain starting around the 16th. It does look like a decrease coming
in the winds that may allow some smaller/faster teams to blast up in. We
feel its to small, colder, lower success and higher risk to try with our
team. Patience is important as there is a tremendous incentive to push after
being in camp for a long time. Many teams here arrived in some cases over 2
weeks before we did in Base Camp. That makes for a very long trip waiting.
Today is our first actual waiting day of the expedition. Theres been lots of
stories of destroyed tents up in Camp 2 and from over on the North side. So
things have been a bit on the wild side the last few days. Even here in Base
Camp we had a few gusts approaching 50 shaking things up. We took down our
C2 tents 2 days ago so everything in our Camp 2 is good to go. We have a
Mountain Hardware Stronghold Dome tent in C2 that has proven to be
incredibly strong.

So this is one of the tougher parts of the trip, waiting and watching as the
season gets close to the end. A lot of anxiety watching and waiting. It's a
fine needle to thread between the start of the Monsoon and the end of the
high winds of May. We are looking for the big fluffy pre-monsoon cumulus
clouds to start floating around Everest as the jet stream pulls back. Then
off we go! Stay tuned!

Scott Reporting from Everest Base Camp!

Everest 2010

Hi All!

Up here at Camp 2, 21,500 ft. Life is good. Just wanted to stay in touch
with everyone. Our team this year is looking solid. Right now we are
spending some time here to acclimatize on our second rotation up high. I
have been posting reports and photos at
http://exploreyourplanet2009.blogspot.com/ and
http://mteverest2010.blogspot.com/ .

The schedule is going well, only one day behind last year. The weather has
been outstanding so far! Expecting some changes with that in the next week.
So in the next few days we will be ready for our third and hopefully summit
go. Yahoo!

Just wanted to say hi to everyone back home and hope all is well. I should
be back around June 6th, hopefully after my 5th summit with any luck!! And
with 5 months off this time, and it will be summer! Missing being home in
Hood River and everyone there!

Cheers,

Scott from Camp 2 on Everest!

R and R in Dingboche!

Down to low altitude for some Rest and Recovery from being up high on
Everest for quite awhile. The team is good, everyone is doing super well and
being down to lower altitudes is just what the doc ordered. Photo of Doc
Peter Hackett, Bill and Scott having cinnamon rolls in Dingboche. We are
going backup to Base Camp over the next few days. Some of our sherpa team is
also down for a rest before the summit push. Everything is completely set
for the summit go rightnow. Over 70 bottles of Oxygen is now parked at high
Camp, Camp 3 is in and ready. So not much left to do but go for a hike up to
the top now! Stay tuned close as this is it and off we go!

Scott Woolums reporting from Dingboche, 14,000 ft.

Just down from Camp 3!

Wahoo! A huge day today. Up to Camp 3 at 24,000 ft.. Everyone did super well
up the lower part of Lhotse Face and back. Leaving Camp 2 here at 5 am, we
moved over to the base of the Lhotse Face and then started up. Good
conditions allowed us easier climbing up to Camp 3. Most everyone setting
new personal altitude records today. Very warm and no wind made for an
enjoyable day, at least as enjoyable as climbing above 7000 meters can be!

We are all back safe in Camp 2 now, and will probably be up here for one
more night before heading down to Base Camp and on down lower for a much
deserved break from being up high for almost 2 weeks. So this is the end of
our second rotation before coming back up to summit. Now it becomes a
waiting game, watching the weather close and making sure all Oxygen and
supplies are in place. A tough job, but the sherpas are on it. Today
multiple loads went up to the South Col.

No hurry here as the fixed lines have not been put in above the South Col.
Also the weather has taken an unstable turn and continues to snow and blow
most afternoons. We are looking for consistent, low wind pre monsoon
patterns that normally bring warmer and more predictable weather to Everest!

Scott Woolums reporting from Camp 2 , Mt. Everest.

Off to Camp 3 Tomorrow!

Everything is set for our first trip to Camp 3 at 24,000 ft. A big day
actually. We climbed to the base of the Lhotse Face today to around 22,500
ft.. Tomorrow its up the blue ice of Lhotse Face to C3. All reports say its
fixed well with both up and down ropes. Now if we can get some good weather
as it has been on and off snow and wind here in camp today. All our Sherpas
are carrying loads to the South Col also tomorrow at 26,000 ft. So we are up
early, sherpas are leaving at 1am, we are leaving at 5am. Standby for
tomorrows report!

Photo from base of Lhotse Face looking up at teams moving today in poor
weather.

Scott Woolums reporting from Camp 2, Everest!

Storm in Camp 2!

Wahoo! Last night ws a bit rowdy with high winds and a lot of snow. No
sunshine this morning. FOrtunatly it was perfect timing as today is a rest
day for both us and the sherpas. Can here huge winds up towards the summit
right now. We have a very comfortable camp solife is ok, even with 30 knot
winds and snow.

Yesterday we came up from Base Camp directly to Camp 2. A tough hike, over
1000 meters vertical. Everyone was tired from that. Was incredibly hot
yesterday on the way up, quite a contrast to now.

Hope all is well at home with friends and family!

Cheers, Scott Woolums reporting from Camp 2, 21,500 ft., Mt. Everest!

Up to Camp 2!

The whole team is here in Camp 2 now after a windy trip up through the
Western Cwm. Beautiful day, just a cold wind as we moved up to 21,500 ft.
Our Camp 2 is located just below the SW Face of Everest, just about the
highest camp in this area. Everyone rallied today and are all doing well. So
now we wait for a few days to acclimatize. Planning to be back at BC on the
28th. So far the weather has been outstanding, with more on the horizon.
High winds forecast for a few days, then some clouds, but overall everything
looks good. Attached some photos through the icefall and just below Camp 1.

Scott Woolums reporting from Camp 2 on Mt. Everest.

Into the Icefall!

Just back today from our first foray into the Khumbu Icefall. Always an
interesting experience confronting ladders across large cravasses and steep
ice sections. The team did super well today moving up to the famous
"popcorn" section of the icefall. Huge multi-ton blocks of ice that can
resemble huge popcorn chunks! Our goal today was some more acclimatization
and experience moving quickly through the icefall. Everything went well, so
we are ready to move up to Camp 1 tomorrow morning early, then onto Camp 2
after a couple nights at C1. Everyone is feeling good, moving well and ready
to go! We are almost exactly on schedule. Today the sherpas moved 14 loads
up and were back in Base Camp around 10am, amazing. We will have a little
less ability for communications while in Camp 1 and should have ok comms
when we are in Camp 2. SO look for more reports in a couple days when we
move into Camp 2 for the first time this year! Still the route is not fixed
above Camp 2 so we are right on schedule for when that happens. Showers,
sunshine and great food by one of the best cooks in the Khumbu- Serki
Sherpa!

Yesterday we shared a very good "Puja" or blessing ceremony with our Sherpa
Team. A very powerful and necessary event before venturing onto Sagarmatha,
the Sherpa name for Mt. Everest. This is a fun event that takes about half a
day where several lama's bless the sherpas, us and our equipment before we
actually start our climb.

Scott Woolums reporting from Everest Base Camp

Base Camp!

Hello from Base Camp! Everyone is comfortably tucked in here now. Very fun
trek up yesterday, and part of the team came in this morning. Perfect
weather, just a few afternoon clouds. Its been busy setting up our whole
solar power/lighting/communications system. And now, our first report out
from Base Camp! We'll be regularly updating things now. The trekking team is
here also tonight- Linda, Julia, Izabella, Robin and Jona. They will be here
a couple more nights before heading back down to the lowlands (and warmer
temps!). Jona plans to stay a little while longer to climb Lobouche on her
way out.

The climbing team is jazzed to be here and all feeling super good. We had a
meeting today with our Sherpa team, who will be a major part of our
expedition. This is the same Sherpa team that have been with me on many
expeditions now. Could not ask for a better team!

Hope all is good at home for everyone.

Scott Woolums reporting from Everest Base Camp!

On Our Way!

In Namche Bazaar now. The whole team is here after a great hike today up to
Khumjung Village just above Namche. To catchup, we flew in on schedule, sort
of. Only a 6 hour wait in the airport on the 8th trying to fly in. That's
Nepal, hurry up and wait! So we have quite a team, actually 2 teams here
now. The climbing team- Cindy Abbott, Vivian Rigney, Ania Lichota, Paul and
Denise Fejtk, also Bill Allen and myself. And the trekking team- Linda
Unwin, Julia Bell, Izabela Spero, Jona Price and Robin McGregor. Completely
fun group! We are definitely having a blast on the first couple days of our
trek into Everest Base Camp. All our equipment and supplies are now in Base
Camp with our Sherpa team. Enjoying this afternoon in the Everest Bakery.
Internet, lattes and good friends! We will now be posting regular reports
along the way. Scott Woolums reporting from Namche, Nepal.

Off to Lukla!

Tomorrow morning we are scheduled to fly into Lukla. Everyone is excited to
get out on the trek at this point after months of preparations and training.
Enjoyed a huge dinner out at the Roadhouse, a local favorite. Today we were
issued with our Everest expedition permit and an Liaison Officer. Always
interesting to meet the Minister of Tourisim for Nepal! So off we go! Scott
reporting from Kathmandu!

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Enjoying Kathmandu...

Namaste from Kathmandu! Scott here, starting our live Everest reports. We
will be posting reports as often as possible so check back for the most up
to date news following our teams progress. Life is dusty, exotic and busy
right now. Adjusting to an 11 hour time change, sorting lots of gear and
bags, double checking electronics, packing barrels. It never stops here.
Lots of friends to catch up with and going over hundreds of details before
we go into Everest. Its all fun but quite busy. Thanks for following the:
Mountain Trip Everest 2010 Expedition Reports!

Scott reporting from Kathmandu, Nepal

It certainly has been busy getting everything ready for our upcoming Everest expedition. Lots going on but everything is under control and on schedule. I am going over to Kathmandu March 30^th to prepare the last of the loads into Base Camp. Most of the team is arriving a few days later. Very much looking forward to another great season on Everest. So we will be posting reports regularly here throughout the expedition. So off we go…..  Scott Woolums- Reporting from Hood River, Oregon

 

 

Bolivia 2010

 

Some photos from our recent trip to Bolivia! Awesome country. Simply amazing what you can see and do in a short time there. Lots of rain in the wet season, but we managed to climb Huayana Potosi, 20000 ft. visit Lake Titticaca, do some rock climbing and visit the Amazon! Really great trip! Now next up…Mt Everest!  Scott Woolums- Reporting from Hood River, Oregon…for a few more days!