Science of Everest

Our team plans to work our way up the mountain and try for the Summit during the third week of May, around the 21st or so. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty about the weather here in Basecamp. There are numerous forcasts from at least four different countries.

Today for fun, I visited a camp of a team of 24 climbers. All of the climbers are still in Basecamp, even though many of them announced they would go up a week or more ago and Summit today or tomorrow. I guess they changed their minds.

To begin the conversation with this team, I enquired as to the status of equipment we had contributed to the common cause. I asked if they had fixed any of the rope we had given them to aid in joint efforts of climbing the mountain.The answer was no.

I asked if they had used the oxygen we had given, so their sherpas could climb safely and fix rope on oxygen. The answer was no.

I asked if they knew where the oxygen and rope was. They said they thought it was in the high Camp, which is 1 Camp above where we had given it to them in Camp 3.

I asked if any other teams had contributed. I was told that one other team had given them rope and oxygen in Basecamp, but there was no way to carry this particular contribution of rope and oxygen above basecamp.

Then our conversation moved on to the weather. They said the weather was expected to be good now or on the 20th. They can fix rope then. Commenting that the weather was
supposed to be calm on the 21st, and they might go for the Summit then. Informing us that according to the Sherpa calendar, the 22nd is an unlucky day. Also, the wind is
supposed to start blowing after the 24th.

So it seems there is not a lot of certainty about when to climb Everest. It seems to be far from an exact science.

We will keep you informed about our progress.


Sincerely,

Dan and all of us at Summitclimb