01:00 18th May (GMT) - Back down in camp 2

The boys are safely back at camp 2 this afternoon, having experienced blistering heat on the Lhotse Face on their descent. I'm off in search of bacon for their return down here for brunch tomorrow.

Simon and I may make a launch back up on Sunday. I'll be sure to take ladder shots of Captain Lowe for the website.

- Mara Larson, Base Camp Manager

01:00 17th May (GMT) - Summit news

The team are staying the night at the South Col tonight, since the weather is still calm after their windless and warm summit this morning. They arrived back at the col at around noon. They're in good spirits and will carefully make their way down to camp 2 tomorrow. Tom Lehane was climbing in aid of Save The Children charity. Check out Tom's website. The Sherpas on top were:
1.Pem Chiri Sherpa, Changkhu
2.Dawa Gelji Sherpa Changkhu **1st Everest summit!**
3.Pemba Rita Sherpa, Rowaling
4.Wangchhu Sherpa, Thame

Meanwhile, the Xtreme Everest Team are on their way up and all are assembled at camp 2 today. Various members have posted updates in their blogs today.

The Base Camp crew having been enjoying some rest today, having been up all night on the radios monitoring the progress of Iain, Tom and our amazing Sherpas. Congratulations to eveyone involved!

01:00 15th May (GMT) - Arrival at Camp 3

This morning, Iain and Tom arrived in Camp 3 (7,200m) very early at 8.30am (before base camp had even had breakfast!). They report on low winds and clear skies. One team in front of them have arrived on the South Col and, although it is windy, plan to go for the summit tonight. John Doble, showing gritty determination reaching Camp 3 earlier this season, is not proceeding higher on the advice of Iain. He remains in support of the team at base camp for summit push. Ron is still in base camp assessing his fitness. There are other teams in Camp 3 tonight, some of whom have damaged tents due to the strong winds last week, so we are offering up any space we have. So for now, Tom and Iain are tucked up and plan to climb to the South Col tomorrow.

- Mara

01:00 14th May (GMT) - Camp 2 update

There's a definite buzz around base camp now. Iain and Tom are enjoying a second day of sunshine and low winds up at camp two. One or two teams camped just below them round out the numbers also sitting out a rest day, and all seem posed for an early morning push to camp 3 tomorrow.

Earlier last week fixed lines were put in by a collective of Sherpas nearly to the Balcony, a three or four hour climb beyond the South Col. Now a day ahead of our team, a second crew of Sherpas aim to fix ropes from the Balcony up all the way to the summit a night before our summit push. This means we'll have solid lines, and hopefully some big footprints, to follow in.

No helicopters disrupted the blue skies this morning, and just before lunch arrived we were treated to a visit by Simon Lowe, who'll be supporting us here at base camp for the duration of our summit push. Our first stop was fresh apple pie at the base camp bakery.

-Mara

01:00 13th May (GMT) - The summit push begins!

The Summit Push Begins!

Well our holiday down valley was followed up by a week of snowy skies here at base camp. So the past week has been full of heaps of tea around the heater and afternoons of weather forecast analysis, re-analysis, and rampant speculation.

But now it's official! The Jagged Globe summit push is on! Ian and Tom set off from base camp in the pitch black hours early Saturday morning. Greeted by steady snow fall through the ice-fall they made camp 1 just in the midst of chaos higher up the mountain.

Camp 2 and 3 were hit by fierce gusts of wind, ripping away kitchens and sleeping quarters for a number of American teams settled higher up the ridge from our camp site. Luckily, a cook from a British team just below us surveyed the scene and radioed in that our camp remained intact. Nice work Nima & team!

This meant that after a few brews of tea and yet more boil-in-a-bag at camp 1, the team was off again for a mid-day climb through the Cwm and up to 2. Iain reports in just now that they've slept like logs and look forward to another rest day at camp 2 tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here at base the windgrams, jet stream models, and humidity models flood our inbox. Now that the summit push is in full effect, mornings begin with a cup of coffee and Nima and I huddling over windgraphs. Midday is spent comparing and contrasting our Swiss models with British and American models and the full report is sent up to the team at our noon call in.

Fingers crossed a narrow but promising summit window still looks promising late this week, so stay tuned.

All the best from base,

Mara

ps. A first sunny morning in a week up here brought an interesting sight: A Russian helicopter swept down and after two failed attempts, hoisted away the battered MI-17 helicopter which crashed back in 2003. A stunned base camp stood watch praying not to witness carnage like the original. Pictures attached.

01:00 8th May (GMT) - Forecasting and companionship

We recently went on a training/acclimatisation run to spend a night at camp three (23,600 ft) half-way up the steep, icy, immensity of the Lhotse Face. I arrived long after Iain and Tom, exhausted. We were settling into our shared tent, working out the food for supper (I was looking forward to Chicken Curry boil-in-a-bag). Suddenly the British team next door shouted a weather warning of an imminent storm.

Iain correctly decided on immediate descent. His guidance was critical for me as we abseiled most of the way down using a variety of new and old ropes, arriving at the foot of the face in darkness. Storm? It was overcast; there was a sprinkling of snow overnight. Since 1953 clothing, equipment, etc has been transformed. But forecasting can still prove unreliable.

Photography fails to convey the immensity of all aspects of this mountain. Photographs of lines of people ascending Everest, let alone of jams at the Hillary Step, give the impression of a crowded mountain. But given the vast scale, it is not. On our day on the Lhotse Face, there were probably around 60 people. Frankly, I found this companionable, rather than crowded. One begins to recognise the same people, the British doctors here for high altitude research, filmakers involved in the new Everest IMAX film, Omar bidding to be the first Egyptian at he summit, the spikey haired yound Swede organising his private expedition. The number are insignificant in the immensity of the mountain.

Each morning we see a few ant-like figures negotiationg the icefall. When we set out at night, one or two groups of climbers, winding up ahead of us with their head-torches, are like glow-worms in the immense shadows of the icefall.

On 3 May Jamling Tenzing walks into Base Camp, to lead the new IMAX production (due 2009). People rush to pay their respects, to shake his hand. The Tenzings are like royalty here. He wrote that wonderful book "Touching My Father's Soul", which explored the spirituality of the mountain. The Sherpas believe that the Goddess Miyolansangma, alternatively fierce and gentle, guards the summit. With its swirling mists, its icy banner in jet-stream winds, or its serenity on rare calm days, Everest is indeed a sacred place to a greater or lesser extent to all climbers.

In the sun most mornings at base camp, as we eat breakfast on deckchairs outside, we can appreciate the dramatic, glorious scenery of the vast moutain amphitheatre around us. It brings to mind the epitaph on Sir Christopher Wren's tomb. There are no need for monuments for those tragically illed here. "Si monumentum requires, circumspice"-- if you seek a monument, look around."

As well as the climbers, hundreds come to Base Camp each year. It strikes me that this is a form of pilgrimage. The Muslims have their Haj. Jews and Christians go to Jerusalem. But probably nowadays, worldwide, the number of people who appreciate the wonders of nature, whether or not they believe they are the work of a Creator God and who wish to get out and participate in outdoor activity, is probably greater than the number of adherents to any single religion. Once in their lifetime many of these wish to make ths pilgrimage through the homeland of the wonderful Sherpa people to the Sherpas' sacred mountain. So we should rejoice at, not deplore, the numbers coming to Chomolungma, Mt. Everest.

John Doble

01:00 1st May (GMT) - Camp 3

We got back from camp 3 yesterday (30th). IP, TleH, JD reached camp 3 on the 29th. We were all settled to spend the night when "Team Extreme" (camped next door) announced that they had just had a weather update which promised heavy snow for the next 6 days..... and they were going down ASAP!

By this time I had been in camp 3 for about 4hrs and poor old JD for less than an hour. However, if we were to descend the Lhotse Face before darkness fell we had to make haste...

We left what bits of kit we could in camp 3 and set off down the (rather tatty) fixed ropes with Tom reaching the Western Cwm just before dark and John and I joining him about 45mins later.

We stumbled back to a welcome brew at camp 2 feeling that all in all we had had quite an eventful day. Next morning saw us up at 5.00am again to descend from camp 2 to base camp in the cool of the morning. Today is a rest day and we will almost certainly drop down the valley on the 2,3,4,5 for some well earned rest and to re-charge the batteries prior to our summit bid (needless to say, I am writing this in perfect weather - so much for the 6 days of snow....).

Our preparations to date have gone very well with 3 ventures above camp 2 in addition to the climb to camp 3 described above; we have experienced only a few minor problems (Ron has a cold, John finds the days long) and we are all in good spirits.

Iain Peter, Expedition Leader

01:00 26th April (GMT) - Update

Well its been an eventful but also sobering week here on Everest.

Sunday saw the whole team--Tom, Ron, John D, Iain and myself off at a bleary 3:30 start for the final acclimatisation run. This meant a night at camp 1 followed by a 3-day stay at camp 2 for rest and preliminary climbs up the Lhotse face as our Sherpa team set out to fix a sleeping spot at camp 3 for the team.

Typically, this round of acclimatisation is broken up into two different sections, with a rest and recovery break at base camp between a camp 2 and camp 3 push. However, the state of the ice-fall this season has most teams minimising runs up and down the mountain. Wobbly ladders are usually my foe but this season its the towering seracs of blue ice which pose greater threats.

Our last push saw us two-thirds of the way through the ice-fall when a rumbling avalanche sheered off the west shoulder of Everest. I held onto Lakpa Tshiri in sheer horror but gained composure again minutes later as the avalanche proved only a dusting by the time it met the route.

Camp 1 and camp 2 were far less eventful. We woke to sunshine and blue skies and enjoyed boil-in-a-bag dinners before retiring to sleep at 6:30. The new moon glowing overhead makes these early nights an even greater difficulty.

Today, Thursday, the team enjoys a rest day at camp 2 before pushing on for a night at camp 3. This will prove the toughest physical challenge so far as Jagged Globe is one of the early teams up to camp 3, giving us the pleasure of kicking in steps in the blue ice of the Lhotse face ourselves. Biting winds and mass snow swirls greeted us when we climbed the first few pitches on Wednesday.

A somber moment came this morning as news spread of a Sherpa fatality on this section of the mountain. Our thoughts are with the Tamserku team.

-Mara

01:00 19th April (GMT) - Searching for camp 1

Climbing Everest is one of the less sensible things I have decided to do in my short life. However I find myself in Base Camp having completed the simple trek from Lukla and adjusting to climbing in the Glaciers of Everest. We spent two days climbing / acclimatising in the Ice Fall which is considered one of the more dangerous parts of the route and what immediately strikes you is that Base Camp is in the wrong place - it should be at the top of the Ice Fall! On our second climb we got to the top of the ice fall and returned to Base Camp happy in the knowledge that we had come to within a half hour of Camp 1 with just an easy flat walk across the glacier remaining, my kind of climbing.

On the morning of the climb to camp one we set off having triple checked everything but after 100 meters my torch battery decided to die. Then there was panic (by me) searching in my rucsack for a replacement battery. Once all the trap of modern technology had been overcome I set off on my way but by now I was way behind the mountain climbing hardened members of the rest of the group. Eventually after much puffing and panting I caught up and had a relatively uneventful and safe climb to the top of the icefall. Then I began to relax as I knew I was near camp 1. How wrong could I have been? Do not always listen to your Fearless Leader when climbing a big mountain, they can mislead you. I continued up and down ice falls and across crevasses for over and hour in the scorching heat of the morning sun with no view of Camp 1. I asked other climbers how far to Camp 1 and they just looked at me as though I was on the wrong mountain. I eventually fell upon an abandoned rucsack and I thought some other poor soul like me had passed this way and wondered at his fortune. I rested there and drank some water like a desert nomad as there was no sign of my oasis, Camp 1. I then mustered all my willpower and continued my trek and within five minutes there it was cunningly concealed, but of course our site was at the far end of the camp and I had to climb down and up two more valleys to get at it.

When I got there we had to put up the tents and then I had put ice around the base of the tent but I thought a well deserved little sleep was more in order..

The following morning we woke at 5:00am, having gone to sleep at 6:30pm the previous night, to the pleasures of hoar frost on the inside of the tent. We then had to go through our gymnastics session of making and eating breakfast while putting on our clothes without knocking the frost all over ourselves. At 6:00am we set off for camp 2 which was a two and a half hour enjoyable walk and within 5 minutes of we arriving there a young Sherpa passed us having left base camp at 5:00am and carried 30kg. This made me think that next time I should consider a beach holiday where I stood a better chance of competing with the beach bums.

We got back to Camp 1 that day and descended to Base Camp yesterday without further incident.

We did however manage to take some photos of the ice fall and the mountains but they do no justice to the scale of the scenery here which must be the most beautiful and dramatic in the world.

Tom Lehane.

01:00 13th April (GMT) - Everest Base Camp

Everest Base Camp and the ice fall are extraordinary places, although they have become a commonplace with so many coming here. The BC is surrounded by awe-inspiring cliffs and glaciers, above all the icefall, on three sides, none of the major peaks are visible; but they are tantalizingly close, albeit accesssible only thorugh, what seems from here, near superhuman effort. Thanks to superb Jagged Globe planning we are well-acclimatised and extraordinarily comfortable. Each of our little tents has become a cosy home, whether in the hot morning sun or in afternoon wind and flurries or the bitter ouside temperature at night.

As one relaxes, the ice cracks and groans as it moves below us, yak trains jingle past, avalanches roar down with the sound of summer thunder in England and at night the canvas rattles and slaps in the wind, as if one were below decks on a schooner in a stiff breeze, sailing to the land of Nod. Indeed I have never been more idle, snoozing in blissful suroundings one day, or more shattered the next.

We went up (me almost) to the top of the ice-fall and back in one day. Familiar from any media descriptions, people tend not to give the icefall the respect, the wonder it deserves. Falling imperceptibly, it changes utterly every year. Now here is a level area half way up, bisected by a three foot crevasse, which one has to jump, likely to widen daily, surely soon to need a ladder crossing.

A wide low ice bridge sure to collapse before long, pray God, when no one is walking under it. Mallory, first looking into it from the slopes of Pumori, considered it utterly impassible. It would indeed be, were it not for the tour indefatigable, incredilby brave, Sherpa ice-fall doctors, who each year explore and fix with ropes and ladders, a zig-zagging route up some four kilometers, re-checking and re-fixing it before dawn each day. Confident in their expertise, we amateurs can enjoy what is perhaps the most exhilirating adventure playground in the world.

-John Doble. April 13, 2007

01:00 8th April (GMT) - Happy Easter

A happy Easter from Jagged Globe in Everest base camp,

It's a blue sky morning here at our third day at base camp. Tom and John are apparently tired of slaughtering the rest of us at Bridge, so the team finally put aside the playing cards in exchange for crampons and jumars.

This morning Ian and the Sherpa team set up a rope course in the ice fall so all members had a fill of laps jumaring up and abseiling down, topped off by a first foray at crossing some wobbly ladders. All are now back in camp in time for an Easter lunch of baked beans and chapati!

We'll wake early tomorrow for the team Puja and then the real fun begins.

Best to all at home,

Mara Larson, Base Camp Manager

01:00 29th March (GMT) - Arrival in Namche Bazar

So far a textbook journey. After a crazy Heathrow T3 the flight to Kathmandu was a breeze. For a Nepal virgin like me the reputation of Kathmandu certainly didn't disappoint - bonkers! After the customary Puja we have a day at rest before the Twin Otter flight into Lukla; leaving the smoggy Kathmandu Valley behind for the stunning high mountains and equally stunning mountain airstrip.

It's a 2 day trek to Namche which follows the Dudh Kosi River with it's many highwire bridge crossings. For me, after the unfamiliar surroundings and culture of Kathmandu and Lukla it's back to the familiar territory of mountains and trail. There's much to marvel at en route; the scenery which just gets better and better, the first distant glimpse of Everest which fills us all with excitement, and sadly the odd sight of young children portering heavy loads of beer to the higher villages. It's also a great opportunity to learn more about the other team members - there's lots of character - so we've all agreed to leave the hot topic of fox hunting to later on in the expedition...

Here at Namche (3,400m) it's a chill out day which is so vital for acclimatising to altitude. A market town surrounded by stunning peaks that anywhere else would be visited for this reason alone. It's off up to Deboche in the morning but not before rumour of a party with the medical expedition who are also in town tonight though!

JB, team member