Firat Eren

From a series of dispatches from the Alpine Ascents 2007 Everest Expedition team.

It’s 9:20 pm in Nepal. I’m standing at the South Col in front of my tent, with clear skies and a crescent moon. The team is all just crawling out of their tents and we are planning on starting out in ten or fifteen minutes. There are very low winds. We see a few people up toward the Triangular Face with their headlamps on, other people are getting ready. We’re looking forward to a good summit day. We’ll be in touch as we head up the mountain.

Dave Morton at the South Col

Also from Base Camp: the Base Camp team is assembled in the communications tent to give the Climbing Team a big send-off. I am here along with chief cooks Gopal , Padam and Deepak, our two liaison officers Narayan and Mukti, and our cookboys Sila, Kancha, Tshering Tenzing, and Lakpa. Nawang Thandup is outside lighting the juniper and saying prayers. I have incense burning inside as well. We will be taking turns all night listening for the radio and keeping track of the team. I plan to send reports in every 2 or 3 hours to let you all know how the team is doing. Outside we still have clouds, but we’re starting to see some stars peeking through above. It’s a good night down here as well.

Ellie Henke at Base Camp