Safe and EBC but a bit sketchy & a day with Pu Temba.

April 30, 21:00hrs (NP) Team Peak Freaks did a fantastic job climbing and had safe descent back down to EBC today. There were a few rocks that seemed to have come out of nowhere but the team managed to dodge the bigger ones, not a good thing.

We've proven we are a solid team with everyone holding their own while looking strong and staying healthy. The climb up the Lhotse face to Camp 3 is a real tell tail on how well a climber will do come summit push. Since they do this section without oxygen it's a good indication how well one will be able to perform when things get difficult. If they can't get to Camp 3 in good form unfortunately they won't be going higher.

Tomorrow team Peak Freaks will be will be on vacation in Pheriche, except for myself, Marty and Ben who will hold up here and keep and eye on our Sherpa climbing teams who are still working very hard up there in the wind.

I went around EBC today to gather up support for getting the mountain ready and most were good about it but there's still a few here that expect to just slide in when everything is laid out for them and climb on the backs of other teams. It's not the best position to be in but...... just how did I get this job again this year anyway?

I did have a good ally with me to help. I got to know Pu Temba Sherpa. Pu Temba was the first Sherpa to summit the South Face with Chris Bonnington's team in 1975. He knows all about what it takes and the number of workers required to climb this mountain, the expeditions in the day were huge. We approach the climb today as one big team with our shared rope costs and leaders meetings so we are still huge but with less of the old school Sherpa climber power per western climber. The balance can get thrown off quickly and more burden is put on the teams that do pull their weight in making sure to hire the appropriate number of Sherpas to get the job done.

Bumped into David Breashere's who arrived today, after he gets his display dusted off for another annual showing he'll be popping over to our camp so we can catch up.

What's next? Weather watch looks good for winds dying down on May 3rd, Sherpas will be pushing higher with equipment to Camp 3 and eventually the South Col.

Tomorrow we'll be introducing another team member. Check back with us to learn about Andreas Breiftuss from Australia, he's the one that seems to be spot on with Spot tracking this year... link to Everest 3D

Over and out.... Tim