Friends and family - Sorry for the absense. I did do a post just before we got to BC, but the 'Chinese' Blogger had an error and obviously never made print. The altitude is slowly working its wonders (both good and bad!) and I have forgotten things like my checking account #, ATM PW, etc...I still know who I am and why I am here, although the last part is a bit in question.

I believe Ryan has been pretty regular about the sat phone updates to Everest News and I will get in on the action once we get back to BC tomorrow. I have been blabing about 'Shegu,' but it is actually 'Shigar' and was also the staging location for all 3 of Mallorey's expeditions befre they went up the Rongbok glaciers. I just finished reading the 'Last Climb' and it was a treat to see images and hear about the Rongbok Monestary, main Rongbok Glacier (it has retreated quite a bit since the 1920's) and East Rongbok Glacier to the North Col - this is of course the exact route that these gentlemen Brits took back then! I almost feel guilty in my poly-pro and down - they were a tough bunch and struggled with the BC to ABC trek as we have.

Our group made 2 treks to ABC with the second run our Camp 2/North Col goal. 5 of our members made it to NC and higher and spent at least 1 night there at ~23K'. I manged the latter, but scampered down after an awful wakeful night. it was for me and Neil, personal altitude records. I will stoke up on the diomox and don the 'summit suit' on this next go around, weather and health permitting. I have some great pictures of us going up to the NC and was pretty fired up about finally doing some real climbing with crampons. Russel Brice (the 'king of the North side') coordinated the fixed rope efforts with his and other of the best Sherpas. These ropes are now fixed all the way to Camp 3 with the final summit rope to be in place one the weather clears. All the teams will pay the Tibetan Mountaineering Ass. and then Russel will get his due from there. They have done an excellent job - we just 'rail' on the ropes with our acenders and go up.

We have quite enjoyed our little 3 day respite here in Shigar with the tasty Sheshan style food, warm beds, and hot showers from 8-12PM. Hopefully we are all putting on some weight to make up for what we have lost (it is hard for me to look in a mirror!) - oh well less to carry back up! Hanging with some of the other climbers, kicking around the soccer ball, hiking in to town, reading, andf doing laundry are our pasttimes. With the warmer weather and less wind, Shigar has been much more enjoyable this go around.

It will be with some reluctance that we will be off tomorrow, but it will be good to see Ryan and the rest of the staff with the new food provisions and anticipation of the summit window. We are anticipating a similar mid May window to last year, although will be lucky to have it last as long through early June. Frankly, we all hope to be done by some time around the 20th+ of May.

Unfortunately, Rikard the 'other Swedish' climber came down with 'gastrointestinites' which forced him to bag his earlier strong efforts. Both the Indian and Russian doctors were kind enough to tend to him and get him mobile enough for travel. We put him on a Land Cruiser 4 days ago and he should be back on HK by now. Steve continues to struggle with his cronic cough (which we all have to varying degrees, due to the cold dry air - called the 'Kumba cough' on the south side) and weakness at ABC. He is hoping to feel better up high after our recent rest.

So, this will be the last internect update until we come down from our final session. I will of course call up on the sat phone during our summit scrambles. Thanks again for all your good thoughts and vibes - I hope that all is well with you all.

Note to the Cornice Gang - one of the MP3 players died at BC, but the other one continues to charm and I have great pics of my Sherpa, Dhawa enjoying tunes at BC as well as Frederik, the Swede, and Toto, the Brassalian climber. I also go some pics of the Cornice banner on the NC wipping in the wind.

Belated Mother's Day wishes to my Mom.

Namaste, until then, Bob