We’re HERE at Everest Base Camp!

We apologize that it’s been a good few days since our last update – rest assured no news is most often good news. We’ve simply been living our adventure beyond the reaches of cell reception or wifi on Lobuche peak.

After a great few days training at Lobuche base camp (approx 4,950m |16,200ft ) and acclimatizing at Lobuche high camp (approx 5400m |17,700ft ) we’re all feeling adjusted and great. Sleeping like babies and eating like royalty.

We are proud to announce that everyone who climbed Lobuche reached the summit in record time! (6119m | 20,075ft ) I think they even gave guides Tendi, Casey + Mike a good stretch of the legs at the pace they were all moving. This team is proving themselves stronger and stronger with each day. Lobuche is a great test for Everest and everyone passed with flying colors. It showed they have strong technical climbing skills that are being concreted down more and more with every training session. They are acclimatizing well and are fighting fit. We’ve had an amazing run with the weather and we’ve all pinched ourselves at the truly spectacular outlooks over the Himalaya every morning. Not to mention the incredible nights’ sky blanketed in countless stars framed by the silhouettes of the mountains.

The Team Move Across the Ridge – Photo Mike Hamill

We are now all settled into Everest Base Camp having arrived yesterday afternoon after a hearty 5 hour hike. I think everyone is happy to be settling into our home away from home. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our final Lhotse climber who is just a few days behind coming up the valley.

We’ve made sure camp is comfortable this year, with plenty of attention to detail in our CTSS set up. We have a carpeted, heated, custom made dining tent with a separate washroom so everyone can wash their hands before coming inside, a full catering kitchen (literally we have 3 stainless steel kitchen benches, a 3gas burner stove, sinks, and a full oven! Fresh bread everyday!) The kitchen is staffed by chefs who have been trained at 5 star restaurants and who have been fuelling us with the best meals we’ve had since we’ve been in Nepal. Lunch today was burgers on freshly baked buns with potato salad and fresh steamed broccoli!

The state of the art Communications Tent is set up, with a brand new radio base station to keep in touch with our teams as they move up the mountain, a carpeted Hang Out Tent with blow up couches perfect for movie nights on the projector. Each member has their own tent with a full mattress and pillow, insulation flooring and as many hot showers as they want! Not to mention a western style WC with a washroom to keep everything hygienic. So if they report home that they’re roughing it, you can give them a little grief!

We really believe that happy, well rested, healthy climbers have the best shot at the summit and sometimes the little luxuries of home, and the extra mile when it comes to hygiene, can make all the difference.

Today is a full rest day, with everyone showering, doing laundry, catching some sun and keeping up with the news from home. Meanwhile the leadership team has been busy consulting the forecasts, chatting to the Sherpa teams who have already been doing carrying loads, fine tuning the radio set up and planning out the schedule in more detail.

Catch up with you all soon, CTSS team.