For further information and different perspectives on our expedition see coverage also at:
- capgemini.co.uk/everest2000
- mountainzone.com
- earthtreksclimbing.com (a perspective from Chris Warner, mountain guide)

As I start to write some of this dispatch (on 19th April) I'm unsure of how its going to reach you since in the last few days although the expedition is making outstanding progress on the mountain we have experienced severe technical problems with the computing technology supporting the dispatch of text and digital imagery and the reciept of incoming personal mail and also the extremely important weather data. In a matter of days, we have had two hard disks go down and a screen failure which has taken out 3 of our 5 computers. We are now back on line but a couple of mails have been lost and there has been delay in outbound dispatches. Please bear with us, although the human elements of this expedition are handling the minus 20degC up to zero temperature swings very wel,l the computing hardware is a little more temperamental.

15th April - Day 19
We are moving up from BC to Interim camp and then on to ABC in two groups. This will ease the logistics pressure on Russ and the Sherpa team who have moved ahead to establish these camps. The trekking members on the team will go in the first wave since they have a tighter deadline. So David Sayer, David Eaton and Natalia will be in the first wave. They had a long slog in mediocre weather taking 7.5hrs to reach interim with Natalia feeling the effects of altitude badly.
Meantime, down at BC the second wave where stripping tents in winds gusting 40mph which was fun. BC will remain in basic form with a store, comms. and cook tent so that we can retreat there during the expedition as needed. It is manned with radio cover in the safe hands of Rom, one of the sherpa team...

16th April - Day 20
Group 1 pull out of Interim camp to make for ABC at the same time as Group 2 head out of BC for Interim. Wisely, Natalia has decided that the AMS (acute mountain sickness) she is suffering due to altitude will best be treated by descent. Group 2 pass her enroute during their ascent to Interim in 5.5hrs feeling in good shape having climbed 300m to 6000m. Group 1, having left Interim early in the morning, makes ABC in 7hrs or so. All are well apart from the expected minor headaches. David Sayer and David Eaton do particularly well, maintaining a good pace. David Eaton is particularly thrilled he is the oldest member of the team achieves a lifetime ambition of trekking to both sides of Mount Everest.

17th April - Day 21
The second group heads up to ABC and completes the 22km hike from BC cruising in 5hrs. It's a hard 2 day slog from BC but we would expect the climbing team to be doing it in one day as fitness and acclimatisation improves over the next months. Enroute up the Rongbuk we have passed amazing penitentes, ice formations caused by the effects of wind and sun leaving 60ft high ice fins marching up the glacier with the 7000m plus Changste on our right. On rounding the last bend in the glacier and approaching the north col nothing prepares you for the awesome towering walls of the north ridge and the north east pinnacles of Everest first climbed by Russell Brice our expedition leader. Even though we are still some 2 hours hike away from the ice face leading up to the North Col, you have to crane your neck back at 45deg. to see the summit.
Russ and the Sherpas have done an amazing job levelling the moraine rock fields to create a platform for a cook tent, store tent, mess tent and comms. tent and space for 16 individual tents and a toilet. Back breaking work.

18th April - Day 22
A ropey night for most with little sleep. Minor AMS headaches are the order of the day and to be expected having reached ABC at 6460m. It is a busy day today which includes a puja, the trekkers departing, Russ and the team heading for the north col and the climbers establishing themselves at ABC.
The puja went very well with good weather and fine views of the summit of Mt. Everest. The sherpas led the celebrations, rice and tsampa was duely thrown and the prayer flags were raised on their pole. Our ice axes were blessed with yak butter and juniper smoke. Safe passage was requested on the mountain. We were immediately blessed with the good luck of two blackbirds landing on top of the prayer flags. David Eaton and David Sayer pulled out for their 10hr hike down to BC. It was a bit of an emotional departure as they had brought great colour and humour to the expedition (and not a little amount of whisky drinking!)
Russ and the Sherpas had a fantastically successful day putting in the basic route to the North Col at 7060m.

19th April - Day 23
The morning was spent tuning up climbing gear, reducing weight where possible and setting leashes on ascendeurs to the optimal length. This is in preparation for some of the climbing team making a first push to the North Col. Russ also gives us a full briefing on fixed rope technique which is very different to Alpine rope techniques. It is essential for the safety of the whole expedition that we all use the same methods.

As mentioned at the introduction to this dispatch today was the day that our computing problems escalated. We lost 3 out of our 5 computers. Tony worked to solve the problems but in this case they were insurmoutable at this altitude without technical back up. The fall back is to bring up the Base Camp computer.
Meantime, Andy (one of the professional mountain guides on the team) and the sherpas do a load carry to the North Col. Andy is immensely strong and we suspect he is part yak and part sherpa. A small drama over dinner reminds us that this is a serious game we play. Indeed this is the second time in a few days that the Himex infrastructure has been called upon to render assistance to others in difficulty. Whilst at Interim camp our radio facilities where needed to help arrange the evacuation of a sherpa member of a French Canadian expedition.. This evening a cook with a Japanese expedition needs treatment in our Gammow bag to counter the effects of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary oedeama). The gammow bag is a double skinned inflatable plastic chamber that a climber can be placed in. When the bag is pressurised the effect is to reduce the apparent altitude by several thousand feet. The japanese team do not have a gammow bag, we have two.
As the expedition proceeds it becomes apparent that most other expeditions recognise that the Himalayan Experience infrastructure for communications, safety and medical cover is the best there is on the mountain. The problem is that some expeditions rely on it and consequently come under resourced and also put pressure on our resources.
This problem will manifest itself again. The installation of fixed rope is a perennial issue but more later.

20th April - Day 24
Chris Warner leads a team of Tony, Jean, Graham, Daniel and Mark Whettu to push to the North Col with a sub 5 hour target. Although ambient temperatures are about zero or less there is little wind and consquently when they get onto the ice and ropes on the slopes of the north col its necessary to peel off goretex down to fleece and then again down to thermal tops. The process is revealed as we gain height and the wind stength increases. It is a very hard sustained drive through snow fields, ice cliffs, traversing around seracs and crossing crevasses (which we feel will later need ladders as the warmer weather causes them to open.). We crest the col in 4.5hrs @ 7060m some 23,000ft feeling very satisfied with our progress and celebrate with some hot tea. The weather started to turn almost immediately, so we drop the load of sleeping bags and gas and head for a 1hr 45min. descent back to the relative comfort of ABC. Those that remained in ABC took a hike up to the bottom of the fixed rope starting up the north col. A couple of the guys are a bit under the weather. Dave is suffering a little with altitude and Ivan is on medication for a chest infection but not serious. Overall the expedition is performing extremely well and we have the best infrastructure with the strongest sherpa team.

21st April - Day 25
A relatively quiet day for the climbing team with yesterday's north col crew resting their legs. The sherpa's set off to put in the initial route from camp 1 to camp 2 at 7500m on the north ridge. Tony spent the morning thrashing around with the computer systems. We are now fully back on line.
Everybody makes use of the time to wash smelly kit and smelly bodies in the laundry with the best view in the world. Don't be getting any ideas about are washing machines up here. A wash is an outdoor splash in a bowl in subzero ambient temps. The trick of the day is managing to wash your hair with frozen shampoo and then somehow get the hair dry before it freezes and snap off!
Latchu our ABC cook has got the flu and will have to go down to BC but Korbardu still manages to throw together egg, beans and bacon for breakfast (although some of us did detect a few icicles in the beans, no worries.)
We have been adopted by a small bird (sort of fat bullfinch), which hops around cheekily close. We also get visits from the odd pacrat (looks like a small hamster). I chased one out of the comms. tent the other day - he was looking to nest amongst the wires. Also, whilst passing Jean's tent and closing it up to prevent snow blowing in, one jumped out of his sleeping bag and shot between my legs before I could enquire as to its intentions. Now we all check out our sleeping bags before thrusting our feet in - not wanting a furry surprise (well not this early in the expedition anyway!).
The pacrats looking for warm places and failure of our computer gear is all down to the same thing - its damn cold! In fact its unseasonably cold with night time temps dropping to lower than 20degC below zero. Our latest weather forecast from the Met. Office in Bracknell, UK tells us that the jet stream temps. on top of the mountain are lower than minus 35degC. The wind is getting up and the snow is starting to fall hard - it promises to be a cold and buffetted night. And we're all here of our own free will. Sane or what?


That's all for now folks more to follow in the next few days Tony Kelly