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

Camp 3 rotation complete- Lhotse route concerns

Our team had an early morning start getting in under the extreme winds that have now moved down lower on the mountain tonight hammering Camp 2 pretty good. We are happy with our action once again playing with what we're given up here in this extreme environment. In particular we are all very happy with how Marty and Joshua have been providing fantastic support to the team. They're solid team builders offering encouragement and go above and beyond in making sure everyone is safe, I'm very proud to have both of them onboard with Peak Freaks this season.

Marty has already made several laps up and down between camps on each climb they've been out. This is not new news to anyone that has crossed his path, if you were to add the vertical feet of Everest from base camp to the summit and back, he's probably already done that this season and then some. Then there's Joshua, also a professional mountain guide who is not only an exceptional technical climber who I witnessed on Pumori two years ago scoot his way up to the summit in very difficult conditions, he's also a chef, a graduate from culinary school in Ecuador, the two skill sets make for a perfect marriage in this industry.

Route/Weather: The winds we are experiencing here now should be pulling out around May 3rd with a pretty good window for fixing the rest of the route. The South Col is still not fixed but the rope is up there just above the yellow band. Once that gets fixed our Sherpas will start hauling oxygen, tents and food to Camp 4 while our team members rests.

Leaders Meeting: Another one today- some concerns have been brought forth about the condition of the route up Lhotse for those who will be climbing Lhotse this season. As it is all over in the mountains today, some deterioration of the route has presented itself. The rocks underneath that used to be glued by ice and snow are popping out creating hazards up there. The fixed line will need to be re-routed out and around the danger zone and some cleaning by kicking off rocks before anyone should try climbing in there.

What's next? Our team will come back down to EBC tomorrow and go for a well deserved vacation in the village of Pheriche. This will be their opportunity to rest, oxygenate, hydrate and load up on energy before their summit push. I've made their reservations and they are stoked to go where things are living, touch grass and that sort of thing.

I'll be out tomorrow rousting up some Sherpa climbers who were committed by their leaders at the initial leaders meeting to get their schedules underway for the rest of the work that needs done up on the route. I've been around this base are so much now meeting with everyone on various issues that I certainly don't need my map anymore. I've managed to get to know my neighborhood well throughout this expedition.

I'm looking forward to having the team all back in dinning tent tomorrow to hear their stories, it's always a pretty good night, one of those rewards of being here doing what we do. Over and out... Tim

Changing terrain, avalanche aftermath and helicopters..

Our team is sleeping peacefully at Camp 2 and as per our weather assessments it's only slicing with wind above them and not at camp. The higher winds are at around 7500m and has put the rope fixing to the South Col (Camp 4) back a bit but our team should still be able to get up to C3 tomorrow and hang in there for a bit to acclimatize to the altitude before the big rest. The rope is at the yellow band but the team of Sherpas had to retreat out of the jet-stream and will get back it when the wind is right for the task.

Changing Terrain: Recently someone asked us if the big earthquake that happened here last year had any affect on the mountains? 

Today I had a good chat today with Damian Benegas about this very topic. Things definitely seem to be altering up here in an eerie way and we are now wondering if the quake has something to do with it? Up the Chukung valley avalanches that have never been seen in this area previously had come down. Makes us wonder what we can't see, things like what's under our feet or over our heads on Everest this year? These new avalanches seem to be pulling out ancient ice so you know it's not just global warming. 

All these things are good things for consideration on our movement up here. It's better for our team to endure a little wind now climbing u to Camp 3 and less time in the ice fall having to go back and do it again in calmer conditions. To add to the mix of possible shifting in the rock mass, the spring warming has begun as well. As things warm up up here you can hear the water under your feet gushing faster and louder each day. We listen, we watch and we pray that we have it right in this life of loving mountaineering. 

Avalanche Aftermath: The stories are all starting to be shared of what it was like up there during the recent avalanche. We'll save those for telling once the team regroups back at EBC. 

Helicopters???? what the heck is going on this year? Everyday morning till afternoon it's buzzing up here. This morning as early as 06:30am one came in waking everyone up. I'm told it's climbers going home sick or other, not sure but it's certainly not the quiet mountain environment it used to be.
Over and out... Tim

Everest AVALANCHE update

At about 9:30am I was alerted when I could hear a bunch of Sherpas yelling up on the mountain, at first when I looked up I couldn't see anything then a monster cloud came barreling down the slope towards base camp. The avalanche came off the north side of Nuptse in to the Western Cwm towards Camp 1.

I made contact with Peak Freaks lead guide this year Marty Schmidt who was up at Camp 2 about the situation and he bolted down to Camp 1 to see if anyone needed help. Hugo Searle was in the area and was slightly buried and his camp cook was thrown about 150 meters into a crevasse by the force of the wind from the avalanche. The Sherpa cook was rescued from the crevasse and flown out by helicopter, he's ok.

Meanwhile, the Peak Freaks team had a really nice day at Camp 2 today. It was quite enjoyable, moderate to low wind and not too hot. The big winds are still up high but not at Camp 2. Because of that just to make it more enjoyable going up to Camp 3 they will rest one more day tomorrow at Camp 2 before heading up to C3. The winds are looking even better the morning of the 29th so that's what we'll do.
Over and out ..... Tim

Avalanche above Camp 1

Major avalanche above Camp 1 and that everyone in our Peak Freaks team is okay. There was a partial burial of a westerner and Sherpa shoved into a crevasse but are all ok. More to come as I get the details. If I'm correct this would be the aspect the team had been keeping their eyes on over the past two weeks. More later..

Team at Camp 2, rope fixed to Camp 3.. good work team!

Joshua reports calm and clear skies and that everyone is tucked in except for Marty who turned around with Travis to Camp 1. Travis was experiencing mild AMS symptoms which is quite common up here and the safety measures are to retreat till he adjusts. Most the time a retreat to the elevation the climbers was last feeling good for one more night is all that's needed to kick start the body in to acclimatizing to the new altitudes. He'll be fine, he's already been to C2 without problems, he'll just back by one day and that's all good, Marty is with him and high winds that were showing on the 28th now show backing off till a little later so they'll have time still to get their C3 rotation in. I can hear the wind up high so as reports would have it, it's kicking up at 8000m and above. 

Camp 3 (7300m):
Tomorrow Palden and Tashi Sherpa who work with us year after year on all our Himalayan expeditions will be heading up to fix camp while our team takes one rest day at Camp 2. The next day the team members will move up to Camp 3 and hang out for the day to allow time for their bodies to adjust to this altitude. 

South Col (7900m) Camp 4:
The fixing team will rest tomorrow then fix to the South Col on the 28th. The weather reports look spot on to play into our annual fixing to the summit dates of around May 2 or 3.... perfect!
Rescue Kits and more... There's a lot of organizing going on between some of the regular teams this year. We've been establishing rescue kits to cover all camps on the mountain, no more having to beg borrow and steal equipment should something go down. Between all the mountain guides here on Everest we've got the mountain well covered. Today I took over a rope rescue kit to IMG who's collecting things that will go up to Camp 3. It looks like Mountain Trip, Himex, Peak Freaks and IMG have it covered while Georgie at Patagonia Brothers keeps all the lists coordinated for everyone.

I thought everyone following at home might enjoy a map of our little village here at base camp that I prepared for another reason. When I was out instigating the first leaders meeting of the season I thought it would be a good opportunity to map our village. 
Well that's it for tonight, everyone is sound asleep now or trying to, so I'll sign off till tomorrow. Over and out ... Tim

TEAM AT C1- Meet Travis McPhee

Team at Camp 1- Everyone is tucked in and I'm back at EBC after a day of chores and organizing equipment for carries by our Sherpa teams.


Route
Phu Tashi Sherpa is working on the Lhotse fixing team and we will have two other Sherpas working on either the Everest summit fixing team or the Lhotse summit fixing, names TBA.

There's quite of bit of social going on around base camp these days, dinner parties, birthdays and so on. I manage to get some photos organized to post to Facebook, met with a couple expedition leaders talking logistics and just catching up. I had dinner tonight with fellow Canadian and long time friend Gabriel Filippi and his team while our team is being entertained by Marty and Joshua at Camp 1 at which they all did pretty good in moving up today.

Weather

: It's not going to be calm up there, we are showing wind lofting in and out and just how it will impact Camp 2 we're not too sure yet. This will be a little taste for the team if it picks up on what to expect the higher they go. Right now it's completely calm and the stars are out. Photo: Some of our Sherpa team members resting in their dinning tent.

Travis McPhee is now wearing the Peak Freak SPOT tracker but umm, I think he forgot to turn it on, do'h!... radio call in the morning we'll fix that up. Andreas and Ben are on track.

Travis set a goal to summit Mount Everest while raising money for charity. Choosing the right charity was very important to him, and after careful consideration, he decided on Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and Area. "We all have mentors in our lives, and I have several in my live today", says Travis. "BBBS really resonates with me, and I feel motivated and inspired to attempt this climb not just for myself, but also on their behalf as well", he adds.

"I can't pin point the exact moment that I realized I want to climb Mount Everest but I was young- maybe early teens. I remember flipping the pages of National Geographic and looking at these epic pictures of the Himalayas, I was in awe at the raw beauty of the peaks. I would read the stories of men who climbed Everest and I admired them for following their hearts and making their dreams a reality. I too wanted to be one of these men, but at the time it wasn't clear on how this would be possible — I was a ski racer, not a climber."

That's two ski racers on Peak Freaks team this year, Andreas Breitfuss from Australia is the other. It's interesting to see the make-up of teams year after year. We have two bankers as well, John Stephens- (Canada) and George Andreou- (Cyprus).

To learn more about Travis and to donate to the Big brother and Big Sisters of Calgary, here is a link to his website. Travis McPhee