Slide show/fundraiser - Thank You!!!!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the latest slide show on July 20th. We were able to raise another $550 for Learn For Life......this is amazing!!!!

Here are a few pictures of the people who were there. We all had a great evening.

New slide show July 20th

Domhnall and I will get together for another viewing of the slide show presentation of our Everest expedition. New pictures, new videos and new stories......we finally got together and discussed what actually happened on summit day!!! So come on out and join us for a great evening. The last slide show was a fabulous success.....and we appologize to everyone who was unable to get in.....we had no idea so many people would come out. This next venue is larger, so should accommodate everyone who comes out.
Date: July 20th - Tuesday
Location: Hudson's on Campus - 11113-87 Ave
Time: Doors open at 6pm,
Slide show starts at 7:30pm

Food and drinks available during the evening. Come early for supper, or enjoy food and drinks during the show.
We hope to see everyone there, and would love to celebrate our achievement with you. Please pass this on to anyone you think may be interested in coming and we will see you on Tuesday.

THANK YOU...THANK YOU....THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Last night was a fundraising slide show for Learn for Life. We had about 150 people in a venue made for 100 so it was standing room only, and due to the generosity of everyone in attendance, we raised $1270. This amount will pay for one year's tuition for one of the students.....awesome!!!! Thanks to everyone who came out for the evening. Some travelled a long distance, some came after working a 12 hour shift and there were so many friends that I haven't see for years. It was a wonderful evening. So many people made an effort to come out to support Learn for Life, see the slide show of Everest and visit with friends.
I also have to say a huge thank you and appologize to everyone who showed up and couldn't get in because there wasn't enough room. We will have a second showing on July 20th.....the location to be determined soon.....I think that we may have to find a larger venue than originally planned!!!!

Presentation June 30

Slide show presentation at Suede Lounge June 30th

Domhnall and I will be putting on a slide show presentation of our Everest expedition on June 30th at Suede Lounge in Edmonton. We have the whole place reserved just for us from 6pm till closing. There is lots of room for everyone, so bring your friends and family and join us for a great evening. The slide show will begin around 7:30pm to allow those working days to join us. Suede lounge will be serving their entire food/drink menu throughout the evening, so come early for supper and some socializing or enjoy some tapas during the presentation. Some of you have heard some of our stories, but come join us to see all the spectacular summit photos and hear all our stories. Location is 11806 Jasper Ave. Check out their web site at: http://www.suedelounge.ca/

Admission is free and there will be a raffle for some fabulous prizes in support of Learn for Life. Details can be found on the side bar to the right.

Something special came in the mail

The next time I am in Kathmandu, either one of these should get me a free meal at the Rum-Doodle. I'm looking forward to it.


On the medal along the top it says "Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) Summiters Medal" In the Center, a map of Nepal with Everest over top, and the date 29 May. Then along the bottom "International Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) Day".



The rear of the medal has the Nepal flag, with native script that I cannot interpret. I assume it says the same thing as the front.

Peace River

Today I presented my slide show in Peace River. Although we were a small crowd, every one was interested and asked many questions. After the slide show many stayed behind to ask more questions and look at my equipment. This was also a fund raiser for Learn for Life and through the raffle of a framed summit photo and donations we were able to raise $170!!!! This is about half the cost of the school books for one candidate for one year.
For those who would like to learn more about Learn for Life, there is a button on the right of my blog. Go and have a look, and if interested follow the links to the donations page. Learn for Life pays for the post secondary education for Nepalese children. Every year many volunteers from all over the world go to Nepal and donate their time and expertise. While this is great and important, it is also important to educate the locals as they will be staying and helping out their own.
I would like to thank Simonne for organizing this event, the museum staff for helping out, FCSS, and Gord from Tim Horton's for the coffee and donuts. It was a great evening made possible by everyone who came out.

I would like to take this time to thank all the teachers who have invited me to share my story with the children in their schools. All the teachers have done something different with their class, incorporating parts of my experience into their classroom, and it has been fun and interesting to speak with the teachers. I have met some fabulous teachers that will use whatever means they can to keep their students engaged. I have also been very impressed by the students that I have met. They were very respectful, staying quiet during the presentations, the questions that were asked at the end, and many thanked me personally for coming to their school or classroom. You have all made this expedition worthwhile by allowing me to share it with you.

I have always said that it is the journey, not the destination that is the most important. While the summit was spectacular and took my breath away, it was nothing compared to all the experiences that I had leading up to the summit, and all the opportunities that I have had since. I had no idea that so many people were watching and following along, wishing us well as we were off to achieve our goal, and this has made all the sacrifices worthwhile. I will be presenting my expedition to three more schools next week, along with one evening presentation for the parents, and then it is back to work and back to training for the next expedition.

Stay tuned for the date of the presentation here in Edmonton.

Michael A. Kostek School

Today I went to visit the Michael A. Kostek School in Edmonton. I found all the students to be very attentive and respectful. The entire gymnasium was full and I was able to make the presentation without the use of a microphone.

I have to thank Ms. Millican and her class for inviting me to their school, and for inviting the entire school. I was not aware of this, but her class followed my entire expedition, and in particular Amber would not let the school day start until they had checked my blog to see how I was doing.

St. Edmund School

I enjoyed by visit with the St. Edmund School this morning, and Ms. Taylor's class. I presented my slide show to 3 classes, and approx 75 students today. Thank you very much for the pen and school cup.

Elmer S Gish School

Today was another school visit. This time I visited Ms. Saipe's grade 6 class. Time was a bit limited, but we had a good time and the students were very gratious thanking me individually after the class. Many of the students were able to get the tibetan singing bowl to sing the first try which was amazing as it took me quite a while to master. Thanks for the opportunity to come visit.

Trochu Valley School

Today I spent the afternoon at the Trochu Valley School.

The entire school was present to listen to my presentation of climbing Mt Everest. Not only did they listen attentively, but they also participated by asking some great questions. After the slide show, the school surprised me with a cheque for my charity Learn 4 Life, which they fund raised by collecting milk jugs. By the amount that was raised, there must have been quite a few truckloads of jugs collected!!! Way to go Trochu!!! The children of Nepal that are supported by Learn 4 Life thank everyone for participating, that was super.


This is Mrs Schmidt's grade 3 class that followed the entire expedition, and learned a lot along the way. They learned about geography and culture, but what I found the most surprising is that they also did some math related to my climb. For example if Lucille left at 4am, and it took her 3 hours to get to camp 2, then what time did she arrive? Brilliant. The entire class is shown here with the Canadian flag that I brought to the summit with me. After the presentation I had the opportunity to meet the students where they shared with me their own dreams. This was a special time for me....and thanks to everyone for all the hugs!!!!

Bastion School in Salmon Arm B.C.

Thank you to the grade 5 students of Bastion School for being such gracious hosts today. I presented a slide show of my trip and everyone was great, asking super questions. I had a great time. Remember to follow your dreams.

Merçi beaucoup à tous les étudiants de l'école Bastion à Salmon Arm. J'ai fait une présentation de mon sommet du mont Everest aujourd'hui et tous les étudiants ont participé avec des très bonnes questions. N'oubliez pas de suivre vos rêves.

Comments

I am just now sitting down reading all the comments that everyone posted and I am overwhelmed. Several weeks ago Lorraine and Ted prepared and sent a care package to base camp with Mike who delivered it while I was on my summit push, and included in the package along with brand new underwear and other assorted goodies was a copy of all the comments that had been posted on the blog until April 18th (the day Mike left for Nepal). I read all those comments when I returned to base camp using up quite a few tissues!!! Lorraine had also texted me quite a few comments in the week leading up to the summit, so tissues required on a daily basis.....but now that I sit down and read them ALL.....and yes it has taken me quite some time to read them all, I have to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who read the blog, and to those who took the time to comment. They are a keepsake of an unforgettable experience, making it that much richer.

Just relaxing

This was our reception at the airport. Thanks to everyone who came out and made it special for us. Unfortunately we were so tired, that we didn't go out with everyone for a drink, but just left them all at the airport! Maybe they went out and celebrated without us!!!!

Despite being home, and my summit is over, many of my teammates remain on the mountain, hoping for their own summit in a few more days. Two of my teammates, Pete - we climbed through the ice fall together several times and he is very strong, and Corrina - the first Finnish woman to summit along with one of the guides Hugo - also very strong, were successful in their summit bid a few days ago. I was happy to hear that they summitted and cheered when I heard of their success. Now we just have to wait for the next weather window on the 22nd and root for the rest of the team.

I will spend the next few weeks relaxing, spending time with Ted, and trying to get out and visit all the schools who participated and followed us on our journey. I will be contacting you in the next few days to set up a time.

I am also planning on doing a big slide show presentation sometime in the near future. I am still looking for a venue in Edmonton (preferably free or low cost), so if anyone has any ideas please let me know. I am hoping to do it within the next 6-8 weeks, soon enough so that the experience is still fresh, but enough time that allows me to reflect on the whole expedition. Keep checking back for details of the slide show.

Almost home!!!!!

Domhnall and I just spent a great day in Hong Kong. After only about 3-4 hours of sleep flying from Kathmandu we arrived at 0800 in Hong Kong, and we headed off into town and spent the day wandering around Stanley Market. No purchases but had a great tour of Hong Kong via the top level of a two decker bus. Then a bit of a wander before returing to the airport where we only have an hour or so before we board. See you all soon.

Celebration

Tonight we are heading out to the Rum Doodle restaurant. This is where all the mountianeers have gathered for years, and we will sign a yeti footprint that gets placed on the wall. Once we present our summit certificates, their pledge is that they will feed us for free....as many times as we go there. This is a tradition that Domhnall and I will not miss.

Above is our creation, and they placed it on the wall before we left.

Tomorrow evening I will be flying home, and it is with mixed feelings. I am so happy to be going home to see my family and friends.....but I still have ties to basecamp. The rest of the team is just starting their summit push and I know exactly what they are going through. Team one is dealing with the effects of being at camp 3. Difficulty sleeping, lack of appetite, lack of energy to do much. It is cold and probably windy there, and they will be living in their down suits until they come down after the summit. They will have a rest day in camp 3, but the move to camp 4 is long and cold. They will be getting up at 3 or 4 am, in the dark, trying to put on cold stiff boots, try to swallow something before heading out. I remember leaving camp 3, and travelling up one slow step after another slow step for what felt like hours when I looked over to the right and saw the tents to upper camp 3. I was so discouraged, and when I told this to Domhnall his response was "just look up, the yellow band is right there", and it was very close by, but I really needed a bit of encouragment at that time. Then it's just a few more hours (5 or so!!!) until the bottom of the Geneva spur, then up over the top, and just below is camp 4. Not too far, but when you count out 3-4 breaths for every step, it takes a while. So I am wishing them all luck, as I sit here comfortable and warm in Kathmandu......I know you all have it in you. Just keep taking the next step, and the next one and soon you will arrive at your destination.

The plan for today is organization. I plan to organize up all my equipment, then I have to get a summit picture developed for the ministry so that I get a certificate that I summitted. Then it will be a bit of lounging around the pool. I only brought two pairs of pants for around town, but forgot the belt. With the weight loss, the waist is now below my hips, so I improvised with a kata!

Here are a few more pictures of us on the summit. I will be putting on a slide show when I get back, I just don't know the details of when and where yet, but I think that I have a story to tell, and I am hoping that everyone will attend. Keep checking back on this site for details.

Namaste everyone. I am now safe in Kathmandu. We got up at 0530 to be ready to fly out of Lukla at 0730. The airport is crazy with everyone milling around with backpacks on and large duffle bags. I had two large duffle bags of equipment, and when I approached the counter I was told that there would only be room for one, and I had to pick which one it was going to be. My reply was "I need BOTH of them". Heads were shaking, and I was told only one.....and why did I have so much stuff with me? Did I really need it all......my reply was......"I was on Everest, and yes I needed it ALL". Well Khaji worked his magic, and they both got on, seperate aircrafts but they both showed up in Kathmandu.

We decided that we would treat ourselves to a good hotel, so we checked into the Yak and Yeti, and even before dropping off our bags we headed to the breakfast buffet. 4 plates each later, (well the buffet closed before we could get a 5th plate!!!) we started to unpack in the room. Domhnall only has one bag, but my stuff is strewn about the place. After a 30 minute shower we met up with a friend, Natalie who was on the south side before our summit push, then went to the North side with her sister while we were on the mountain. She is planning to climb Everest with her sister next year so went to basecamps on both sides to check it out.

This is us enjoying some pre-lunch treats. We are feeling human again, and are glad for the luxuries of running water and sit down toilets, and the good food, and feeling warm all the time and, and, and! We are of course thinking obout our friends still on the mountain, and wish them all well.

Happy National Nursing Week

We are now in Lukla with access to a computer so can send a post.

When Domhnall and I decided to climb Everest together, we thought that there would be a good possibility that we would summit during National Nursing Week. As it turns out, the mountain was ready for us a little earlier than we thought, and we didn't want to waste the opportunity. We thought that it would still be a good idea to use the climb to highlight the week as it holds great importance to us.

The thread of nursing is important in both our lives, as we are both Critical Care Nurses, and it is through work that we met and started working towards this common goal. This is just as when we are working together with our fellow nurses on the unit for our patients.
I am still trying to upload the picture that I want, and will do so in a few days when we get to Kathmandu.

Mt. Everest 2010 #48

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #48

Namaste everybody from down the valley. Sorry I didn't make a Gabcast for yesterday. What happened was we left Base Camp at about 9:00 in the morning and made it all the way to Namche Bazaar which took me 11 hours. I'm a little bit of a slow walker but it was a long ways.

We're a little sad to be leaving Base Camp; happy too. We made a lot of new friends in Base Camp and we're wishing them all well as they're waiting for the winds to die down. Hopefully they'll be starting their summit bids soon. On our way out we stopped at IMG and I was lucky enough to talk to Mike and ?? . He was less than 1000 feet from the summit Labouche east. He was going strong so I am sure that he made it to the summit. I am sure that he wants to say hi to his grandkids Jamal, Quinton, Jesse and Hannah. So he was doing really well.

So that was on our way out. Made it to Namche. We're sure glad to be down the valley wearing some nice footwear. Our appetites are coming back and we ate really well yesterday and we of course slept really well. So today we are heading down to Lukla; we're kind of part way there already. We'll wait there overnight and then fly out to Kathmandu. Looks like we'll be flying home on the 15th. ?? so kind of keep an eye on things. We'll be doing some Gabcasts and I'll be uploading pictures as soon as I get to Kathmandu. I wasn't able to do it from Namche. There is one picture that should be uploaded on the PeakFreaks.com website of Domhnall and I on the summit. So have a look at that and I will be posting more pictures when we get to Kathmandu and I have access to my picture viewer and stuff. So thanks to everyone for listening and we'll be calling in soon. ?? to you all and bye.

Summit Photo

Mt. Everest 2010 #47

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #47

Namaste everybody from Base Camp. This is May 9th and it's been a couple of days since we summited and it really starting to sink in now.

I've been looking at the pictures, fantastic pictures. I'm leaving Base Camp tomorrow morning, so May 10th. It's a little hard to think about it, the team, everyone's still here, everyone's still kind of hoping that they're going to get a good weather window just like I did. And so, we're leaving tomorrow and I should be able to upload some summit pictures, of Domhnall and myself, probably in the next 24 hours so have a look for that. There are some fantastic pictures! You have a view of the weather, perfect weather conditions, nice and warm. So as it stands now, Domhnall and I are the only two westerners to have summited Everest so far this year. It looks like the next weather window is going to be somewhere around the 18th or the 20th. There's a possibility that there might be a short, very short, weather window a little sooner than that but it looks like the next summit will be around the 18th or the 20th and that's sort of what all the teams are kind of gearing up for. I wish everybody success and safety up on the mountain.

It looks like I might be coming home somewhere around the 16th-we'll sort of see if there's time to sort out tickets and ?? and stuff. We're going to be heading down to Namche tomorrow. which is going to be a huge, huge day. Probably twelve hours of walking for me maybe a little bit more. I have a few blisters on my toes and so, from the summit day of course, and so ?? tomorrow and the following day is a little bit shorter from Namche to Lukla. I know that Mike is on Labouche right now. I'm wishing him success and hopefully they get nice weather. They're a little bit lower down and so hopefully the jet stream won't be bothering them. I don't know if he is going to be coming to Base Camp. I am going to be missing him. So it's kind of too bad: we're both in Nepal at the same time and we're going to miss each other.

I'm just getting a little anxious to be getting home. I've been missing a few of the luxuries like a mirror. I haven't look at myself for probably five weeks now, almost six weeks. ?? So look for some pictures in probably the next 24 hours or so. We start ?? pictures, I'll do my best to upload and if not, then I'll do it when I get to Kathmandu which will be in two days from now. So everyone take care. Talk to you all and thanks again to everyone for your support. Your well wishes and the congratulations that I've received. It's really been great. So we'll see you all soon and everyone take care and bye.

Mt. Everest 2010 #46

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #46

Namaste everybody! This is May 8th and just a few hours ago I did my last trip through the ice fall. It's a little hard to believe that my big goal that I've been dreaming about for so many years is, is actually finally over and I'm now back down at Base Camp safe and sound.

We climbed through the night and it's, you know, a little surreal, we pass the balcony, obviously places I've looked at pictures of, for, you know, hundreds of pictures for probably the last twenty years. So passing the balcony, the South Summit, ?? is beautiful, the Hillary Step, which wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be, and then the summit ridge and then the climb to the summit. It, it's a little, a little surreal. I was looking at the pictures today, and yah, I was actually there and yah it was really quite spectacular, quite, how do they say, quite memorable, but I have to look at the pictures to sort of remind myself, kind of what I saw, and kind of looking down and seeing all the wonderful sights and the wonderful people around here. And it really was a wonderful experience. I think of all the experiences that I've had leading up to this, helping me to reach this goal. I'm reminded about all that as well. It's really great... sorry, I'm still very overwhelmed, telling about it quite a bit today, but it is wonderful.

I will probably still make a couple more gabcasts over the next couple of days. There are still two things that I want to be talking about. Lorraine sent me a little care package with all the comments people have put on the blog, up until April 18th when Mike left and I'm overwhelmed by all these wonderful comments and all the wonderful friends that I have, so thank you very much for all of your support. It meant the world to me. So, everyone take care, and I'm thinking about you all tonight. It's great. I feel loved; I feel very loved. So once more, thank you very much everybody and we'll be talking to you soon. Bye

Some photos and videos from early in the expedition

Lucille sent a couple of memory cards out with trekkers and her sister Lorraine has made this photo album. They are more of the trek in and the first time through the icefall. Consider it a teaser for the full story.
http://gallery.me.com/myfriendlorraine#100057

Mt. Everest 2010 #45 - I did summit and everything's good!

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #45




Namaste everybody from Camp 2.

Sorry about the delay in ?? I tried to do that about 12 hours ago, I think I talked a bit too long.

Anyways, as most of you know, I did summit and everything's good. I'm feeling good now. I had a few issues. What happened was we got to Camp 4, Domhnall and I got there together, ate and drank and hydrated and stuff for about 5-6 hours. Got up at about 6 o'clock in the evening we got everything ready and ready to go by 7:30 and so headed up. I think I knew this but it is completely uphill: there is no relief, no traversing, the whole time it's uphill and so we started off, but at least it's in the dark, so you don't really know how much uphill it is and it's pretty straight uphill. So headed up. I was feeling pretty tired. I hadn't eaten a whole lot the day before, on the way to Camp 4. No breakfast, no drinking, so I was a little bit low on fuel. I was feeling quite tired and kind of slowed down the group.

When we got to the summit, we got to the South Summit just as the sun was rising so that was really nice. After the South Summit, it still took us a couple of hours to get to the real summit. The Hillary Step was a little bit interesting, not too bad, and then of course the summit ridge, which was long! And then you get to the top and all of a sudden, all of a sudden you're there! The view was the peaks of the mountains and a fair bit of clouds covering probably below 5000 metres. But it was beautiful up there, really, really nice. We didn't spend a lot of time up there. We took off our oxygen and my big mistake is that I shut off my oxygen and so it was frozen. So my sherpa, Tshering, was very nice and gave me his oxygen but then his mask was way too big. So after Domhnall and I kind of split up; he headed down 'cause the forecast was really nasty weather and we were trying to get down and quickly as we could. So I took off my oxygen mask and within, we were still pretty high we were about the South Summit. It didn't take very long that I didn't have any energy at all: I didn't want to stand up. So, we had a lot of fresh snow which made the climb up kind of difficult and long but so what I started doing was sliding down, and I've kind of torn up my seat. My poor sherpa Tshering didn't really know what to do. Tried to mount up a rescue but I was still talking, coherent, just didn't have much energy, and so eventually I put the oxygen mask back on and started walking down. We did some sliding, the both of us together, because it is so much faster than walking down. Anyways, we made it down, we made it down to the South Col where the other sherpa ?? met up with us and then we made it all the way down to Camp 2 last night. So it was a long way, a long day, a couple long days but certainly well worth it!


I want to thank everyone, everyone who's supported me, everyone who's encouraged me, everyone who's made comments on my blog, just everything. I don't know when I'm coming home. I'll probably be changing my ticket 'cause I'm coming home earlier than early June but we'll see. I'd love to stick around and see how the rest of my team does but I don't know how much longer I want to be staying here staying away from home.

I will continue to make podcasts, for the next, probably the next week or so and keep you up to date and maybe some more tidbits and about what happened. Keep listening.

Love to you all, take care. Bye.


(Ted) Unfortunately, the Spot tracking got turned off accidentally at the South Summit, causing many of us to worry a bit.

Lucille is 100% at Camp 2

I just got off the phone with Lucille. She descended all the way down to Camp 2 and is surrounded by other members of her expedition and being congratulated left and right. She sounded excellent, in good spirits, and confirmed for me that all ten fingers and ten toes are all OK. She did not know her Spot was off, and will send an OK message soon. She will also call Gabcast later.

Anyways, this is the update we have all been waiting for. All is well. I'll leave the rest for Lucille to report.

Summit Success !!!!!!!! The dream is now a memory.

Tim Rippel's Facebook page reports that Lucille successfully summited at 06:00. We will update more when we hear more.

Ted

11:30 Nepal Time - Lucille is now below the balcony out of the wind and is very tired. Just a bit more to go then she can crawl inside her tent, get hydrated and some much needed rest.

Mt. Everest 2010 #44-South Col (Camp 4)--GOING FOR IT!!

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #44

Namaste everybody from the South Col. or Camp 4.

We've been here for a few hours. We are hydrating, eating and resting on some oxygen. You hear a little bit of coughing and stuff. Hopefully we'll be leaving in a couple of hours, which would make it 7:00 our time, and heading up for the summit.

We had a good time, coming here. Everything went well. I was on oxygen the whole way, so was Domhnall, and our two sherpas are here with us as well taking good care of us.

So hopefully the next call will be from the summit if everything goes well. The forecast is still for some pretty nasty weather, but hopefully it's going to hold off until after we are down past Camp 3. So we'll talk to you in a little bit and follow the SPOT and thanks to everyone for listening.

We'll talk to you soon. Bye.

Mt. Everest 2010 #43-Camp 3

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #43

Namaste everybody from Camp 3.

I made it up here in about 6 hours. We are now resting. The word is, is that nine sherpas summited today when they fixed the rope all the way up to the summit. So that bodes well for us leaving the South Col late on the 6th. and hopefully summitting on the 7th. The weather looks like it will probably hold. It looks like there's going to be some strong wind on the afternoon or the evening of the 7th. By strong winds-we're talking about 150 km an hour. So if it comes true, that's what's going to be happening. Hopefully I going to be on my way down. Everything is well heere, I'm here with Tshering. He has made me some tea, he's made me some tea, he's made me some soup. We are hydrating, we are sitting, we still have an appetite.

I have a little quiz for those with medical knowledge. If somebody's vitals are: a heart rate of 114, the oxygen saturation is 70% and we're breathing at a rate of 26, where do you think we are? We are right at ?? acclimatizing at Camp 3 or above.

So I'm here. I'm not on oxygen. I will start, I will start the oxygen tomorrow morning, att 3:00 in the morning when I leave for the South Summit (Col) or Camp 4. So watch the spot and I'll call from the South Summit (Col). Love to you all and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

May 4 - Camp 2

Lucille had trouble connecting with Gabcast this morning, so she gave me, Ted, her report directly.

Everything is going to plan. She spent the day resting at Camp 2, and Domhnall joined her there as well. They had a little bit of snow, but not too much. The ropes have been fixed to the balcony, and it looks hopeful to be fixed to the summit tomorrow or the next day. Lucille will be moving up to Camp 3 tomorrow. After that, if the rope does not get fixed all the way, she plans to come down, as the weather forecast looks to start going the other way on the 8th. But otherwise, she should summit on the 7th. and be on her way down.

Of the other team members, she says TA is at Camp 1 and Mango is back at Base Camp ready to move to Camp 1. The two Turkish climbers are at Camp 3, and the rest at Pheriche resting.

Mt. Everest 2010 #42 - Base to Camp 2

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #42

Namaste everyone from Camp 2.

Today was kind of a difficult day. It started off pretty good, got up at 4:30, we left at about 5:15, just Tshering and myself. Made it up to Camp 1 in just over 4 hours, it was really good timing. It didn't feel like I was pushing it at all, everything felt great. And then from Camp 1 to Camp 2, which normally takes about 2- 2 1/2 hours, took me 4 hours! I had the tunes on, I kept taking breaks, but boy it was quite a slog. The last 2 hours, you can see Base, er, you can see Camp 4, sorry Camp 2, sorry for the last 2 hours we could see Camp 2 and it seems that it's never getting any closer. So you walk, and walk, and walk..aa, yeah.. it was a long day. Tshering came and found me just for the last ten minutes or so, took my pack and then when I got here, of course I'm the only one up here: everyone else is either down at Pheriche or at Base Camp; we have 2 team members that are up at Camp 3, the two Turkish guys.

And so instead of sitting in the dining tent all by myself, I asked the sherpas if I could sit with them in their dining tent. It is actually the cook tent, the dining tent, they sing in there, they tell jokes, they do all sorts of things. So I was allowed to go and sit with them and they were very nice, very polite, and I just had super in there with them as well 'cause I'm feeling a little bit lonely, kinda up here all by myself. But of course I get treated a little bit differently than they do. I got served some popcorn, and then some soup, and then I got served dhalbat, so dhalbat is, dhal, it's like lentils, bat is rice and some fried potatoes and some vegetables and stuff and they all watch me eat, and then, eventually, their food gets prepared and they eat pretty much the same thing that I do but mine was prepared specially so, which is really nice. I am getting treated really well here.

I've gone to bed now, it's 6:30 at night. I really didn't sleep at all yesterday, just being a little be anxious and not wanting to miss the, the um, 4:30 alarm and so I'm going to head off to sleep here pretty quick. The plan for tomorrow is for me to have a rest day here. Domhnall is going to come up from Base Camp all the way up to Camp 2, and we'll meet up, hopefully we'll be maybe sharing a tent so I won't be quite so lonely and then the following day if they start fixing the ropes, the wind has to die down for that, then I will head up to Camp 3 and Domhnall will spend the next day here, at Camp 2. The following day, when I move to Camp 4, he's going to go from Camp 2 all the way to Camp 4 which is a really long day for him and then we'll be poised for the summit push! So keep your fingers crossed that the, um, the ropes get put up above the South Col and that the weather stays good. And hopefully nothing is going to stop us. If it does, if the ropes don't get put up, then I'm going to spend an extra day here, waiting for that. If that doesn't happen, then I'm gonna go down, and then rest for a couple of days, and then do this all over again! So, which would be alright.

Everything's going well here. A bit of snow today, but everything was good. So everyone take care. Thanks for listening and I will call again tomorrow. Bye.

Mt. Everest 2010 #41 - Resting at Base Camp - How Many Days/

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #41

Namaste everybody for May 2.

I spent the day at Base Camp just kind of resting and sort of planning what I'm going to be doing tomorrow.

Now last night we had about 2 1/2 inches of fresh snow, snowman snow, nice sticky snow and we had some sherpas that came and brushed off our tents at about 4:00 in the morning, just to make sure that they didn't collapse under all the weight. So that was really nice.

Now the next question I'm going to answer is: How many days will it take you to climb from Base Camp to the Summit?
So it looks like I might be leaving for my summit push tomorrow morning. It is a bit early, we'll see. It looks like we might be getting a weather window somewhere around the 7th / 8th so my plan is to be hopefully be on the Summit on the 7th - but we'll see. Anything can happen from now until then. If there's lot of snow then that process is going to stop my summit push, because it's not safe going when there is so much snow: there is an avalanche hazard up there.

So right now I'm resting. It will take me four hours to get to Camp 1 and about another two to three hours to get to Camp 2 and I'm going to do that all in one day and then I'm going to rest another day in Camp 2, so I'll spend two nights there, and then from Camp 2 to Camp 3 that's going to take me about five hours and then I will overnight there, and then from Camp 3 to Camp 4 it's going to take me, oh who knows, it all depends on the conditions and how I'm doing but somewhere between seven and ten hours and Camp 4 of course is the South Col and I will be on oxygen that whole time going from Camp 3 to Camp 4. And then from Camp 4 to the Summit, then of course I'll be on oxygen. I was planning on taking about 12 hours and then once I, then I'll probably leave about 8:00 at night. So the time, from 3 to 4 that's about ten hours, I'll be resting for just a few hours and going from there to Camp, er to the Summit. And then if I do reach the Summit, then, I'll be returning back to either Camp 4 or 3 or 2 depending on how I do and then I might rest a day or two at Camp 2 and then come down to Base Camp. So that's sort of how things are going to be going. I'm going ahead of my group: I'll be going with Domhnall, and he'll be going one day behind me 'cause he's just going to skip Camp 3.

So that's the plan right now. It all depends on how much snow we get overnight. If we get a lot of snow, I'm going to be staying put. Looks like we might get the next weather window somewhere around the 10th or the 12th. So if I don't leave tomorrow morning, and just kind of follow the Spot, then you now that there's too much snow or too much wind and then I'll be delayed a little bit. The other thing that may delay me is that they haven't put the ropes up to the summit yet, and so they're planning on doing that the ?? here, weather-depending of course, and so if that isn't in place, then the oxygen won't be up there for me and then I won't be able to go. So that'll be the other delay.

So keep an eye on the Spot and keep checking in. I'll do my best to update daily. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks to all the schools that are listening and thanks to Austin and Keely ?? who are listening as well. And we'll be talking to you guys soon. Alright. Bye.

Mt. Everest 2010 #40 - Base Camp - Resting

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #40



Namaste everybody, this is the report for May 1.

I am down in Base Camp, doing my final rest before I do my summit push. I had a visit from Domhnall, earlier on this morning and he is doing well as well, staying at Base Camp, he went down to Gorak Shep to just visit with some friends for a few hours. Otherwise, about half the team has gone down to Pheriche, they are doing that as a bit of a rest before they do their summit push. Some people believe that going down you have better appetites, of course you're eating a bit more, you're sleeping better, you're healing any injuries that you have or any illnesses that you might have. My fear is that if I go down, that I might not want to come back up, becasue the grass is green over there, there are some flowers, that sort of stuff, so that's why I have chosen to stay at Base Camp here.

I wanted to say a special hello to Emilie who is back from Egypt, and I wanted to thank her sister Sam for taking such good care of her uncle Ted while I was gone and for house-sitting for us.

So, everything is good here, it looks like there might be a bit of a weather window in about a week, so I might be starting up my push a little bit earlier, so keep listening, and I'll let you know what's going on.

Talk to you soon. Bye.

A few Pictures and a video

Lucille sent a memory card out with the first group of trekkers, and Here is a small sampling of the images.

The first two are Dawa's tea house at Phortse, with Dawa standing in front.

This is from The Private Puja ceremony at Lama Geshi's house in Pangboche.


Lucille at Base Camp.


A short video from the Base Camp Puja ceremony.



A sample of the Ice Fall route.

Mt. Everest 2010 #39

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #39



Hello everybody, Just wanted to thank everyone for all the birthday wishes.

We just had supper, and there's a nice big birthday cake there, with some candles, and some cards from home, which was really nice. Lorraine and Ted had everything ready, and of course Vincene and the flying club, it was a beautiful card. Thanks again everybody for all the birthday wishes, I just had a great birthday. The weather was great, spectacular scenery, and I got to just kind of lounge and relax on my birthday.

So, everything is great, and I will talk to you tomorrow. Thanks, Bye.

Mt. Everest 2010 #38 - Happy Birthday Lucille.

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #38



Namaste everybody, from Base Camp. It's the report for April 30th., and I wanted to thank everyone for their really nice birthday wishes. I'm receiving texts, you know who you are. Those were wonderful and so great to receive this morning. It made me cry a little bit, which is great, but it sort of gave me a boost.

So, I'm down here at Base Camp, we'll probably spend the next week here, just kind of resting, eating, trying to get strong. I'm trying to stay healthy for the summit push, which will probably start somewhere around the 7th., that's all weather dependant. The entire team is now off the mountain, a couple are still down in Pheriche, and there will be a group that will be leaving tomorrow to head down. They just feel that the thicker air, a little bit more oxygen, and maybe a little bit better food, that they will do a little bit better. I'm feeling that I'm doing well at Base Camp, so I'll probably spend my time here.

Domhnall came down off the mountain this morning, so he was at Camp 2 last night, down off the mountain this morning. He's a little bit tired, I think. What he did the day before was he went from Camp 2, all the way up to Camp 4, and that was his last load carry. So, he's got a couple of bottles of oxygen, a little bit more supplies, so his Camp 4 is now fully stocked and waiting for him to go for his summit push. Probably, hopefully, we will be doing it together, and starting in a week, and maybe a little bit more. My Camp 4 will be stocked for me by some sherpas, and they will be starting that in the next couple of days. They will be stocking up to five bottles of oxygen for me, one will be left at Camp 3 and the other four will be at Camp 4, and they will be putting up a tent up there for me, actually it's not my own tent, but a team tent that will be there, and some fuel and a stove.

So, that's about it for now, everything is going well down here at Base Camp, we are eating well, and having a lot of fun. So I will talk to you again tomorrow. Everybody take care, and thanks again for all the birthday wishes. I'll see you all. Bye.

Gabcast - April 29 - Back to Base Camp

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #37

Namaste everybody from Base Camp.

Today is April 29 and it's Simonne's birthday, my baby sister so everyone who knows her, just give her a call and wish her a happy birthday.

So today was another really good day. We got up at about 5:00 in the morning, quickly packed up all my gear tried not to wake up my tentmate, Carina, because her plan for today is to go up to Camp 3, what we did yesterday so I wanted to let her sleep in a little bit. We ??? and ???, packed up all our stuff and headed back down to Base Camp. So it wasn't very long to get from Camp 1, er from Camp 2 to Camp 1, and I was moving pretty fast 'cause I was pretty cold. We probably left around 7:00 by the time we got to Camp 1, the sun had started to hit the tents and and stuff and hit the area so it got nice and warmed up and waited for a couple other teammates to come. I got some nice pictures on the ladders and stuff. It's amazing: you know I can't change a light bulb in the house, I can't step on a step ladder in the house and yet I'm kind of flying across these horizontal and vertical ladders. Of course I do have some ropes on the side, so that does help. As we started down into the icefall though, there was a small avalanche just to our right and so we just waited a few minutes for things to settle and then everything was good.

And so headed back down, got down to Base Camp probably at about 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning - enough time to wash up, do a little bit of laundry and have some good food, and breathe in the really oxygen-rich air down here. So we had a kind of a lazy afternoon and then we watched a movie.

So it's about 9:30 at night right now so I'm heading to bed and I will call you tomorrow. So everybody take care and see you then. Bye.

April 29 - Back to Base Camp

It looks like Lucille might not be calling in today. From the spot track, they made it back down to Base Camp as planned.

Mt. Everest 2010 #36 - Visit Camp 3

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #36

Namaste everybody from Camp 2. It's April twenty-..oh,I don't even know..I think it's the 28th today.

We had a fantastic day today! What we did was we went all the way up to Camp 3 and came all the way back down. The weather was fabulous! We got some really good shots, you know the summit doesn't look all that impossible anymore, not like it has been looking impossible for the past couple of weeks, so that's kind of a big bonus. The Lhotse face that we went up, of course it's all roped, down at the bottom the big bergschrund that was a bit of a challenge today to get up and over, but I was able, and then parts of it, parts of the Lhotse face are just solid ice, solid, solid ice so it's really nice to have the jumar there to have a little bit of backup there when you are crampons slip off the ice. We got up there and had a bite to eat, stayed up there for about 45 minutes or so and then we came back down. Got back down and it was starting to snow and clouding over and stuff and cooling off. So we had some food, our sherpa boys up here have some nice warm food for us and some hot liquids.

Now I'm in my down suit, in my -40 bag. I know I did the same thing last night but I only lasted ten minutes because I was just way too hot. I took off my down suit but I think I would last a little bit longer it is quite a bit colder tonight. At the beginning of the season it was quite a bit warmer and ?? unseasonably warm. So now it's quite a bit cooler and so that's just the way it is.

All looks good I am going to be heading down to basecamp tomorrow morning. Domhnall came up here to Camp 2. Came up today, I didn't see him, he just left a message for me and then his plan is to go up to Camp 4 and carry some oxygen bottles and then come down to Base Camp so I'll be seeing him the day after tomorrow.

And speaking of oxygen, we have about 130 bottles of oxygen up here at Camp 2 that the sherpas will be bringing up to Camp 3 and Camp 4 in the next week or so. I just.. I can't, can't imagine how they can get that done. I can just barely get myself up there and then they can carry four bottles at a time, so, looking at about 30 pounds or so ??

Anyways, that's it for today. I will call you from Base Camp tomorrow.

Thanks, take care. Bye.


Photo is a view from Camp 3 taken by Domhnall during his 2009 Lhotse expedition.

Mt. Everest 2010 #35 - Camp 2 - Bergschrund

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #35



Namaste everybody, from Camp 2. Everything is going well, today is April 27th.

So, what we did today was we rested this morning, we waited until the sun hit the tents before we got up. It came at about 8:20 - 8:25, which is kind of a nice time to be getting up. After lunch, what we did was we walked up to the bergschrund. So, that's kind of the tallest crevasse, the crevasse that's kind of at the highest point on the mountain. So, that's where we walked to, which is the base of the Lhotse face. And so tomorrow, our plan is to get up early, and go all the way up to Camp 3.

So, what I saw today was the Geneva spur, the yellow band, it was right there, we were so close, I know it's still about 600 - 700 meters below us (editor: above us)
????. It feels good to be here, so it's all great.

It's going to get cold tonight, I'm in my down suit, inside my -40 bag, and just starting to warm up. It's a little bit cool with all the wind. But all is good, I was a little bit nauseated this afternoon, but I fought that, and so I'm drinking well, and yes I am hydrating, eating well, so that's really good. I tried to send a spot message a couple of days ago, but it just wasn't working. We are too close to the mountain here on Camp 2. But I will turn it on tomorrow, and we'll see how much it tracks all the way up to Camp 3, hopefully it does.

Love to you all, and take care, I will talk to you tomorrow. Bye.

Mt. Everest 2010 #34 - Rest at Camp 2

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #34 - Camp 2 - Rest Day

Namaste everybody from camp 2.

Today is April 26 and it's Ted's birthday so happy birthday sweetheart, love you lots.

So today was a rest day. We had a pretty quiet day. Not a whole lot going on. There were four of us that were already here and the rest of the team made it up from Camp 1 to Camp 2 today. We still have three team members who are down in Base Camp and their plan is to leave early tomorrow morning and make it either to Camp 1 or Camp 2.

So tomorrow is going to be another rest day so I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do. I might walk down to, walk all the way to the bottom of the local base. So we'll see how things go. Everything is fairly quiet. The sun has just left and it's pretty chilly so we're all in our down sleeping bags trying to keep warm.

So that's about it for today. Everybody take care and I will talk to you again tomorrow. Bye.

Mt. Everest 2010 #33 - Camp 2 - Brrrrrrr

Gabcast! Mt. Everest 2010 #33



Namaste everybody, from Camp 2.

I'm all bundled up in Domhnall's -40 bag, and trying to stay warm, it's a little bit cold here. So today, I got up at 3:00 in the morning, was ready to go at about a quarter to 4, and ...ahem... excuse me, made it all the way up to Camp 1 in about four hours, so that's really amazing time. Then I continued on to Camp 2, whick took me about three hours, which was really long...I just died, and was just kind of struggling. It's been kind of a mixture of a day, really great this morning, and kind of feeling tough, kind of, in the afternoon. And then I found out that a couple of the friends turned around just part way up the icefall, it's because they weren't feeling very well. So, that's really too bad for them, and I'm sad as well. The rest of the team, two of us climbed, made it both here to Camp 2, along with Tim and Angel, and everyone else is at Camp 1, apart from the three that didn't make it all the way up.

Domhnall, the update is that he is down at Base Camp right now. But what he did yesterday, was he left Camp 2 at about 8:00 in the morning, went all the way up to Camp 3, that's a thousand metres up, he went really fast. Touched Camp 3, stayed up there for a bit of time, and then scurried all the way down to Base Camp, and came to see me just after I had done the GabCast. So, that's the update with Domhnall, he's going to be down in Base Camp for a couple of days.

My plan is to stay 2 nights here in Camp 2, so tomorrow is going to be a rest day, which is much needed, I could have gone further today, but I'm sure glad I didn't have to. I have a new personal sherpa, his name is Tshering, and he is just amazing. So, he followed me up through the icefall, picked up my water bottle that I had dropped unknowingly, so thankfully he recognized that it was mine, brought it to me, and I had some water, so that was really really good. So as I said, two nights here in Camp 2, and then we will go up to Camp 3 and touch it, and come back down, rest day, and then depending on how things are going, we might go up to Camp 3 and spend the night. All that is weather dependant. Usually we have uh, the reason why we go through the icefall so early is that the sun comes up and everything warms up quite a bit. That did not happen today, I froze all the way out to Camp 2, my hands were so cold, face was cold, my whole body was cold even though I was moving. It was really windy, but the wind has calmed down now, probably have a really nice day tomorrow. It might be a little bit of a chilly night, but I have enough clothes, and with this -40 bag I should be toasty.

So, hope everybody is well in Canada, and everywhere's else, and I'll talk to you tomorrow. Love you all. Bye.