23rd April
Good morning from EBC! Where the skies are blue, the cappuccinos are delivered to your tent steaming and frothy…
We welcomed the Western Guided Team (Bruce, Ben, Schuyler, Jay, Nick, Sam with Guides Robert & Quique) safely back to camp after a really successful rotation. They spent 2x nights at Camp 1 and successfully made their way up the Western CWM to tag Camp 2. They reported a longer, but good route through the icefall and made good time. They were welcomed back down with Guide Tomi’s famous ‘Pizza night’ where he shakes off the Guide uniform crampons and commanders the chef’s hat from Marc to take over the kitchen. Tomi’s pizzas are famous and as much fun as they are delicious as everyone gets involved.
Before dawn this morning, many of our private 1:1 climbers started out to begin their first rotation, above Base Camp we have Roberto T with Guide Pasang Tendi, Julie with Guide Tendi, Jen W with Guide Big Pasang, Matt B with Guide Kami, Rajat with Guide Pega, Lisa B with Guide Prakash, Taylor G with Guide Naren, Olivier with Guide Casey, Ott with Guide Dorjee, Tracy with Guide Mark Postle. They’ve got great weather today and are at the time of writing, pulling into Camp 1, where they will spend their first night. They each have custom schedules, so we’ll keep you updated on their various movements over the coming days. Being able to customize the schedule to how each individual is feeling is one of the greatest advantages of our 1:1 programs.
Hot on their tails, Zukey & Guide Vinay, Tom L and Guide Tomi, and Kevin and Guide Ashish are taking a rest and prep day today, they will spend the afternoon packing and their plan is to head out early tomorrow morning to begin their first rotation too.
Our personal sherpa climbers; Ludivine, Rohan, Damian (Lhotse climber) and Jan, are taking a short hike into the lower part of the icefall today as part of training. Meanwhile our 40 Day speed ascenders (Travis, Martin & Justin) are spending time doing ladder crossing training drills to get familiar with crossing the aluminium ladders the icefall doctors span crevasses in the icefall with. It’s a bit of a skill to make sure your crampons fit securely (but not get stuck) between the rungs of the ladder so practice makes perfect.
Finally, we are looking forward to welcoming in our final team members Kirstie, Rob & Neil who are on our 30 day speed program as they make their way into Base Camp over the next few days.
All is well and everyone doing great.
Cheers
CTSS Team