Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Moving forward

Hi all,

Kat posting for Pat here...

Summit Climb, the group that Pat is climbing with and lead by Dan Mazur, is making plans to continue climbing. Today they attended the wake for the fallen Sherpa, held at Everest Base Camp for everyone to attend. Here's a photo of the meeting.



The team will be leaving for Lobouche to continue acclimating to the altitude, but they have to wait for more porters to help move the tents, food, etc. that might take a few days. It sounds like they will be attempting the Khumbu Ice Fall next week, after their Sherpa have the Puja ceremony to bless the climb. Here's a photo Pat took, annotated by his friend Sam to show where the avalanche hit:



In all of this, Pat says that their leader Dan has been the picture of calm and cool headedness, which is sorely needed during trying times. Apparently rumors are flying around Base Camp about who is staying and who is going, and throughout it all, Dan calmly says "Let's wait and see what happens." For now, it looks like the climb is on, and only one of the big teams has pulled out. That team lost 5 of their beloved Sherpa, one of whom was a cook with that team for over 15 years. The Sherpa are like family to these teams and the loss is great.

I'll see if I can get a few more photos up, but for now, here's one of my favorites: it's Alex, Neal and Pat cheering on a yak and some Sherpas to thank them for their help. Pat said they were yelling "You're in third place! Go Go Go!!!"





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