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Ryan Ross and Michael Brown with Pumori in the Background |
"Up We Go!"
It has been great to get comments on the blogs. Thank you Gary, Doerte,
Heather, Chloe, Jason, Kelsey, Lori and a bunch of other friends and
family. Kay keeps a thick book full of blog comments and they have been
a big morale boost to the team. I have been so busy with the filming
that I didn't get to see the book till recently. I am very happy to see
friends leaving notes. I'll take a more careful look through the book
when I get down.
I am off at 4:00 am and I hope Ryan's alarm works and he wakes us up.
If he has the alarm, I can get a good night's sleep without waking up
every ten minutes to check the time. His tent is shouting distance or a
stone's throw from mine.
This will be our first summit attempt. There was a lot of celebration in
Base Camp today as other teams reached the top successfully. It gave us
inspiration to get going. There was also somber news as reports of some
loss as well. All part of being here.
On each of my previous trips to Everest the first attempt has always
been thwarted. Twice by weather and once by having to assist another
team that was in trouble. In all cases we managed to regroup and make it
to the top a few days later. This time we have time for another attempt
at the end of May but I sure hope we get it this time. I am really ready
to go home.
We will be in Camp II 21,000- ft (6,400 m) tomorrow night, Camp III
23,000-ft (7,000m) on the 19th, Camp IV 26,000-ft (8,000m) on the 20th
and 21st and going for the summit on the 22nd. Early morning (USA time)
on 22nd will be a great time to check in for updates. They will be short
and simple - just letting friends and family know as people make it
safely back to Camp IV. It will take us two more days till the 24th to
descend the 8,500 -ft (2,700m) to Base Camp - the real place and time
for celebration.
After that, Ryan and I will do a day or two of interviews, pack our bags
and head down to see something green.
Cheers,
Michael
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