01:00 25th May (GMT) - They've done it!

Whilst we slept, David and Adele and the team crept up the SE Ridge from the South Col to the Top of the World. With a forecast for cloud and increasing wind due at 6 o’clock this morning, the Team were suited and booted and off from the South Col by 10 pm, last night. As usual, there was a strong wind over the col, which made the initial few hours to midnight searingly cold. By the time they were on the Balcony, they were well into their stride and climbing quickly under the light of the moon and a star-studded night.

Less than 3 hours later they were on the South Summit, the precipice of the Hilary Step, illuminated by moonlight, lying between them and the top. Having got away early, and having climbed very quickly, they were not ensnarled by others as had teams who had been here the night before. But, rock, ice, altitude, sub-zero temperatures plus a finite supply of oxygen provide more than enough challenge, best faced quickly, without the need for hanging around.

When David radioed a sitrep to base camp, Mara could hear Pasang distinctly imploring “bistari!” (slow down!) Normally, speed is of the essence but the vanguard of the team had been moving so quickly so far, that not only were they due to cheat the weather forecast, but the sunrise as well! The first people on the top were there by 5:30 and because of darkness, in no mood to linger. Even allowing for the height of Everest and the advantage of being able to peer further over the horizon, the night sky is jet black at these altitudes, and the sun couldn’t catch them before the front runners headed down to avoid the worst of the cold.

Meanwhile, still apace, Adele with the remainder of the team moved over the Hillary Step and took the last few gasping steps to the top. By 07:20, the outbound journey was complete – just the return, and often the most worrying part of the job to do! So, it was with some relief that, without incident, the team radio crackled once more and reported the team safely back at the South Col, complete by mid-day. Now to lie in their tents and at last to enjoy the sun!

01:00 19th May (GMT) - Everest: Ignition, countdown, engines on...

Greetings All,

It was a dark and starless night as the team set off for the final trip up the mountain at 2 am this morning. Ron, Ian, Graham, Martin, James, Tim and David enjoyed the last 1.30 am breakfast of the season and thankfully Graham supplied the banter for our film crew as the rest of us were too bleary-eyed to do produce much early morning wit. With blessings at the Puja from Nima and BJ the boys left for a two day stay at Camp 2.

After their departure, it was round two for me and the cook staff as Janet and Adele aimed for a 3 am start through the icefall and a stay for the night at Camp 1 before proceeding on to 2 tomorrow. Just before 10 am the radios crackled on with news that all arrived safely at the respective destinations and the cook staff and I finally stumbled back to our tents for a little R&R.

Its now just after 6pm local time here and having just relayed the most recent weather report up to David at Camp 2 it looks like we'll stay with our original plan for now. This means a rest day for the team at Camp 2 tomorrow followed by a push up the Lhotse face for a night at Camp 3 on Wednesday, and then the first foray to new altitudes for our team on Thursday as they make the long but steady climb to the South Col, Camp 4. Weather permitting, we'll see the team rest for the afternoon Thursday at the Col and then leave in the evening hours for the final push to the summit. This means we hope to get the radio calls from the summit sometime Friday morning.

For now it’s a quiet evening at base camp. Major Rana, Alex and Jeremy fired up the generator for a screening of "Letters from Iwo Jima" over dinner. I'm relocating the communications base here into the dining tent so that we can type away updates and monitor the radios from the comforts of a heated (and carpetted!) base of operations. It won't hurt to have the stashes of coffee and tea handy for the all-nighters later this week.

All the best from a snow covered base camp, Mara

09:49 17th May (GMT) - Everest - the Plan

17 May

Greetings friends and family,

We've got our eyes set on the final push now! Today is our last complete rest day here at base camp as we'll be leaving in the wee morning hours of the 19th to head back up the mountain a final time. As always, our plan is flexible given shifting factors of weather and line fixing beyond camp 4 but at the moment we aim to be in position to go for the top as early as Friday morning (leaving high camp Thursday night). Keep a close eye on the postings here as we'll have more definitive news as the week progresses.

For today, the clouds rolled in early. Janet and David should be making their way back into camp from down valley within the next few hours in the company of our high passes trekking team who'll be joining us for lunch.

The boys have U2 playing in the dining tent as they patiently wait for the last round of boiled water for showers before the final push up the mountain. Jeremy and Alex, our camera crew, are busy powering up the batteries to capture the second round of Ryder Cup golf between our team and Team America. And otherwise it’s a lazy day around base camp as most of the load carrying and organization for the summit push is completed.

Up at camp 2 the team's got their layers of down gear, sleeping bags, helmets, and masks and regulators stashed. All we'll be carrying up this last round then are some chocolate bars for the Sherpas, our radios, and the loads of lithium batteries we'll use on the summit push.

So for now, Martin sits on the patio patching up his liner gloves, Adele's buzzing around camp hosting our trekkers, and Ian and Graham are organizing the next round of icefall tours for the new arrivals. Tim, as is custom at this time of the morning, is still snoozing in his tent! Ron, where are you Ron?? Ah yes, story telling on the patio with James, Major Rana, and Martin. At least there's some consistency to our days up here!

These next seven days will be filled with loads of excitement, tension, and focus up here, so keep sending your positive energy up this way.

Jagged Globe base camp standing by,

Mara & team

01:00 16th May (GMT) - Summit Preparation

Dear Friends & Family,

This morning the temperature registered 16 inside our tents as the sun hit around 7. A massive improvement on the average temperature earlier in the month and so this morning has been spent mainly outdoors.

Over the past few days the team has been resting at various places in the valley before the summit push just a few days from now.

Janet and Adele made the walk down to Pheriche two days ago, David and Graham left the following morning for a couple nights in Lobuche, and I'm holding down the fort here at base camp with Ron, Ian, Martin, James, Tim, Rana and our film crew.

Yesterday afternoon our team divided the day’s action. Some of the boys headed out to the icefall for a round of golf with the American team next door. A nine-iron, a three-iron, and a hardened plastic golf ball rounded out the kit and the Jagged Globe team came home professing a solid win.

I spent the morning in the kitchen with Roshan and BJ making crepes for an afternoon brunch with friends from around camp. The Starbucks coffee got positive reviews from our South American friends and the Swiss.

Today, it’s back to the standard frantic pace just before the summit departures. We're busy sorting out last minute oxygen carries up to the South Col with Nima, interpreting weather models from the Swiss Meteotest crew back in Bern (fantastic job so far guys!), and then updating power supplies as the cameras and the base radios start to chew up resources here at camp.

As for higher up the mountain, after a few days of meetings between the better organized teams, we've established a sound schedule for fixing lines up to the balcony. And we thank all the Sherpa leaders for helping organize the 1800 meters of rope, oxygen, and rope fixing team needed to establish the route above Camp 4 (above the South Col). With so little snowfall this Spring, its sure to be a rocky, icy route up high.

The clouds are rolling in so I'm shutting down the laptop for the moment.

All the best from the '08 team,

Mara & co.

16:53 14th May (GMT) - The Lhotse face - Camp 3 for a night

11th May

'Under the gaze of the Milkyway, we left C2 (6,400m) at 3am. The air was still and reasonably warm when on the move. We made slow but steady progress up to the base of the Lhotse face (a 600m steep face you need to climb to get to C3) where we donned helmets and clipped into the ropes. David (team leader) went first, with me second, Martin third, and the rest followed behind. The first section wasn't too steep and allowed me to get into rhythm with my feet and jumar (a device used to help ascend the fixed ropes). As I hauled myself up one rope, Sherpas from other expeditions came up the rope to my left, happy to exchange pleasantries with me whilst they paused for breath. There were a number of steep sections and on one in particular I met an American on his way down who “told” me that I was on the wrong rope. I didn't feel that perched on an ice cliff at 7,000m was a particularly ideal place for a 'spirited discussion', so I ignored him and kept my sorrow for his genetic make up to myself!

Our team found out the hard way that falling chunks of ice are a hazard on the Lhotse face. We all took pieces of varying sizes to the face or legs, but Ian was very unlucky to have some hit him near his eye, which kept him in pain for some time.

Towards the final section of the ropes, the breeze picked up and I started to get very cold. It helped me move quicker, but all I could think of was when the sun would hit. As I reached the final ice climb, I saw Onchu (one of our Sherpas) on the rope to my left. I was pleased to see him and handed him half a Mars bar. Dawa Tashi was behind him and was the lucky recipient of the other half. David and I arrived in C3 (7,200m) with 5 minutes between us and after 5hrs of climbing (8am) – a good effort for our first time. Martin was another 5 minutes and soon we were all huddled in a tent shivering with our feet wrapped in David's sleeping bag, trying to bring them back to life! We were all very cold and there was still an hour before the sun hit our tents. At one point, it teased us, with the sun being both behind and in front of our tent, but blocked out by an ice cliff beside us. It was a fairly miserable hour, and shivering is really something to be avoided. But we weren't the only ones having difficulties. Graham and a one-eyed Ian arrived at 8.45am with Tim and Ron making good progress just behind. Unfortunately two members of the team were not acclimatising well and their pace was slowed by feelings of nausea. They arrived at 11.30am after a gruelling 8½ hours work. Their hard work was revealed in dramatic fashion when one of the pair threw up over another team going past our camp for some rest at C2!

For myself, Martin and David, the next 24hrs were rather uncomfortable. We were the only ones who had 3 people to a tent. Space was at a premium and with the amount of noises and smells coming from our bodies, it became a rather close affair! The nighttime was no better. David spent most of the night hallucinating. Martin and I took some Ibuprofen for our headaches, and then took it in turns to knee each other in the head as we slept tops to tails! Meanwhile, David monopolised his (and our) side of the tent blaming a slope! The tents were indeed pitched on a precarious slope, which made toilet activities a dangerous pastime! But nevertheless, Martin and I stood no further than 2 feet from the tent in order to whiteness the sun set over the Himalaya. As darkness ensued, members began making their minds up as to whether or not they would sleep with the aid of supplemental oxygen. We chose not to in the tent I was in, but others gave it a try. Janet reported the next day to having the best nights sleep since arriving in BC! For me, sleep was a mixture of back pain, breathlessness, anger at being slept upon by two grown me, and flatulence! (not mine!).'

Well you didn't think it was a glamorous lifestyle did you?? Now that we are all back at BC safely, we can rest for the next few days whilst the teams get together and try to form strategies that would ensure the safest way for as many climbers as possible to reach the summit. Having been here for over 50 days now, the length of the expedition has started to take its toll. My hair is now longer than ever, I've lost quite a lot of weight, and my throat has been damaged from a persistent altitude cough. So the next few days for me will include rest and eating!

Thanks again for all your support,

James (reporting for the Jagged Globe Everest Team 2008)

01:00 8th May (GMT) - Mad rush

We woke to the sounds of radios crackling all across Everest base camp. A team of trekkers arrived midday to celebrate the good news of the opening of the mountain above camp 2 with us [the Chinese summited from the North this morning - Ed].

We had a double celebration as we also celebrated Stuart's birthday with frosted cake and candles. I can't say the weather looked too pleasant up high, with lots of moisture and a shocking rainbow straight across the west shoulder of Everest, all the way to Nupste.

Apologies for the brief update but we are all in a mad dash here at base camp now. We're packing up and programming radios as we're heading up the hill late tonight to try and beat the crowds up to camp 2 tomorrow. It looks to be a ghost town down here for the next 2 days as about every team in camp is aiming to squeeze in a last acclimatisation push before the weather turns around on us after the weekend.

Pasang called down to say they've fixed ropes about 500 meters below camp 3, so we should have it all in place for a night up there before the end of this push.

I'll report in Sunday morning, as until then we'll all be nestled snuggly up at camp 2 enjoying Shiva's cooking and maybe improving our luck at cards.

Good night from a happy base camp

- Mara

01:00 7th May (GMT) - Ready for final acclimatisation climb

The last 24 hours have seen the Jagged Globe team making the most of our rest period here at base camp. Yesterday the leaders and the sherpas sorted our latest arrival of base camp resupplies. This included 24 bottles of cough syrup, 360 bars of Snickers, Mars, and Kit Kats and an entire barrel of snacks straight from Sheffield. I think we may just make it through the end of May without a dessert dry spell! Of course, this will require the consent of our History Channel film crew not to raid the barrels while the team heads back up the mountain later this week. We're playing host to a team documenting the life at base camp and so they'll be filming here through the summit push at the end of the month.

Beyond cleaning house for the arrival of these additional members, we spent yesterday on various duties of life after 48 days on the mountain. Ian, Adele and David made the trek down to Gorak Shep for the morning, following in the footsteps of Tim, Martin, Graham and myself the previous day for some contact with the outside world and plates and plates of pasta.

Roshan's dinner of pasta and fried potatoes (my personal favorite dish) was followed by escalating rounds of charades. Team 1, comprised David, Janet, Ian, Major Rana, and James had much success with Entourage, Beowulf, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Be sure and ask Janet for a re-enactment when she returns to sea level!

As for team 2 composed of Adele, Tim, Graham, Martin, Ron, and myself, we struggled the most with Tim's Casablanca sequence and ended the night on a high note scoring points with Graham's Communist Manifesto. Maybe tonight we'll take it easy with another DVD!

The weather is looking relatively stable the next couple days and with luck on our side we may have lines in to camp 3 around the end of the week. This means we could have our final acclimatisation push done and dusted by mid-week next week and then its on to final packing and resting before the summit window opens. As always, fingers crossed.

Over and out from Jagged Globe base camp,

- Mara

01:00 1st May (GMT) - Relaxing in base camp

Greetings friends and family,

What an interesting few weeks its been up here! Hopefully Simon and Tom have provided some updates to the website keeping you posted of our progress while direct communications have been somewhat limited.

I'm writing you while the wind blows the dining tent about this afternoon. Ron, Ian, James, Graham and David sit behind me watching "Rendition" while the others are out sorting bits and pieces after descending back to base camp from camp 2 yesterday afternoon. It was an unexpectedly early arrival with the whole team reconnecting here at around 10 am, far earlier than the noon arrival we expected. Needless to say its a happy and fit camp relaxing at base camp the last 24hours.

The next 48 hours or so are somewhat up in the air from this end.

For the time being, we plan to take three or so rest days here. Then we hope for a final acclimatization push all the way up to camp three on the Lhotse face. This season the view with binoculars suggests an icy climb up to camp 3 as there's less snow than any of us have seen in years.

For now the skies remain clear, the winds continue to howl up high, and the team have put away the card games in favor of evening DVD screenings for the moment. The other highlight is securing the team roster for the post-summit football game in Kathmandu. Major Rana, our Nepali Liaison Officer, has joined the team as of 10 days ago. Already team captains have developed for a Jagged Globe vs. Nepali Army match post-season.

Off for a bakery run so all for now.

-Mara & the Jagged Globe 2008 team

01:00 29th April (GMT) - Up in camp 2

Everest base camp manager, Mara Larson just called in from the mountain...

The team are up in camp 2, having spent 2 nights there. This has been their 3rd acclimatisation climb. They plan to descend tomorrow (30 April) and have a break down in the Khumbu Valley, prior to their summit push.

Mara reports that everyone is going well.

(Due to restrictions on Everest this spring, we apologise for the lack of in-depth reports from the team. We hope that this will change soon).

- Jagged Globe HQ, Sheffield, UK

01:00 22nd April (GMT) - Team in Camp 1

We've just had the radio call at 10 am that all the team are settled in at camp 1 for the next two nights and feeling well thus far.

Here are some links to various team members' personal blogs:

James

Ian and Graham

Martin

01:00 21st April (GMT) - Back up to Camp 1 tomorrow

All members of the team will be making a second push up to Camp 1 tomorrow (Tuesday), with the aim of spending a couple of nights there, before continuing up to tag camp 2. The Sherpas will carry loads to camp 2 tomorrow.

- Mara

01:00 18th April (GMT) - Team in Camp 1

The team are established in camp 1 at 6,100m. They aim to spend the night there tonight, before a very early morning descent tomorrow back down to base camp.

01:00 13th April (GMT) - Into the Icefall

Everest BC 11.00 Nepal time Sunday 13 April.

Tea in bed at 04.30 followed by a 05.00 breakfast marked the start of the team's first early start on the mountain. A base camp cold has hit a few members of the team, so it was not a full complement of members that set off for the icefall at 05.30. The 'walking wounded' hope to recover in the next day or two and will then make their own early morning trip into the icefall.

Camp was in darkness when we entered the Mess Tent for early breakfast. When we emerged 30 minutes later, dawn had broken and there was a cloudless blue sky over camp. There was litte sign of life as we picked our way carefully along the boulder strewn path between other expeditions' tents towards the start of the ice. We seemed to be the only early risers today.

The first part of the route is quite convoluted and winds back and forth linking a series of long thin ice lakes that separate narrow ridges of ice. In the next few weeks these lakes will melt and the route will have to change, but for now they provide the quickest route into the icefall. Our aim was to climb for 3 hours and then return to Base Camp before the heat of day made travel unpleasant. After an hour and a half of weaving back and forth, gaining little height, we reached the start of the fixed ropes. Soon after, the first metal ladders were encountered spanning crevasses that were not very wide, but were impressively deep.

The route takes the line of least resistance through the jumble of ice blocks that make up the Khumbu Icefall. Most of the time steep or difficult sections are avoided but from time to time short steep sections must be tackled head on. We pushed on at a steady pace in the cool of the early morning and stopped by some prayer flags at 5,700m. We enjoyed some chocolate bars and a drink of water before getting ready to start down to Base Camp. At this point we were passed by six Nepalese Sherpas heading up the mountain. These were the 'Icefall Doctors' who prepare the fixed ropes between Base Camp and Camp Two on Everest. Four men were carrying long metal ladders, quite a feat in such awkward terrain. They told us that they hoped to complete the route to Camp One today.

This was excellent news as there have been rumours in Base Camp that the fixing of the route had been halted awaiting the arrival of Nepalese officials (Police, Army, Liasion Officers) in Base Camp. If it is confirmed later today that the route has indeed been prepared as far as Camp One then our Sherpa team will begin to move our equipment to Camp One tomorrow. This would enable the expedition members to move up and occupy Camp One in the next few days, given fair weather and good health among the team.

A meeting of all expedition leaders and sirdars has been called for 14.00 today to discuss how best the climbing teams can cooperate with the Nepalese authorities to ensure that the climbing restrictions being proposed by the Nepalese Govt for the 2008 season can be implemented with minimal disruption to the preferred climbing schedules of the expeditions.

- Mara

01:00 11th April (GMT) - News from the past couple of days

Wed 9th:

Today some of us got up early (6am) to trek to Kala Patar (5,646m) to get the typical "postcard" view of Everest and to see Sadhbh (who had joined us for the trek in over the last 3 weeks) off as she went on from Kala Patar, down the valley towards Pheriche, on to Namche Bazzar the following day, before heading to Lukla for the flight to Kathmandu.

Others in the team (who shall remain nameless) opted for the lie in (and listening to music and reading books on the "terrace" instead)!

The luxuries of base camp mean that we have our own private cinema for want of a better phrase, which although good for morale, is not always good for team unity due to disputes of what to watch. Last night however the guys were gents and allowed Janet to choose her first choice of "American Pie - The Wedding" - pretty much a chick flick.

Thur 10th:

Once again the Sherpas offered us silver service by waking us with hot tea at 7:30am. After breakfast we took our first proper venture into the ice-fall. It was great after nearly 3 weeks to finally use our crampons, ice axes and harnesses and get into some real mountaineering. The Sherpas did themselves proud by rapidly setting up a multi-discipline assault course for us, comprising of ladder crossings, ice-wall asents and abseils.

After lunch Luanne from the Everest Base Camp Clinic gave us an informal but informative talk on personal care at altitude (thankfully this is all of academic value to us at this point).

Tomorrow we will have our puja and in the coming days we will venture progressively further into the ice-fall.

Graham (www.everest2008.ie)

01:00 10th April (GMT) - Puja Ceremony

In anticipation of the first forays onto the mountain proper, for both the Sherpas and Team Members, it was in blissful sunshine that the Jagged Globe Everest Expedition Puja ceremony was undertaken on Friday morning. Under the stewardship of Oncchu Lama, the ceremony was respectfully recieved by all in attendance including our Basecamp's newest member, 'Khumbu' the dog!

Nima and his team had shown their years of experience by reserving the best bit of Basecamp real estate for our team and it was shown to the fore as the main flagpole, resplendant in prayers flags, was raised onto the Puja stone making an awesome forground to the Icefall behind.

All team members' necks were adhorned with a red piece of string, blessed by a leading Buddist Lama in Kathmandu, this along with the blessings we received in Pangboche Monasetry means we have certainly covered all bases on the religion front. The Puja ceremony was brought to its useful conclusion with the throwing of flour and rice into the air, a few chants and the partaking of a small San Miguel and Chang chaser. This made for, well lets just say, a "relaxing" lunch! A great morning was had by all and we now look forward to moving to Camp 1 in the coming days.

Team Member Martin

01:00 8th April (GMT) - Team in base camp

Hello again friends and family,

A week long absence from contact with the outside world as we set off from Dingboche up a remote side valley last week. This put us sleeping at 4,700 metres in a small village of Chukkung. Village may be an exaggeration as it consisted of three tea houses, one rambling glacial stream and a horse tied up for emergency evacuation out front. Luckily the last wasn't put to any use during our stay.

Instead we managed three climbs above 5,500 metres, this time with views out to the popular trekking mountain of Island Peak and then the back side of Nuptse and Lhotse. Our last day in Chukung included a six hour trek across the Chukkung pass which had us again over 5,500 metres for a frozen lakeside lunch before navigating a dodgy descent down a scree mountainside and a finish across the great Khumbu Glacier.

We spent a luxurious night recovering at the Eco Lodge in Lobuche and then headed out early for our last trekking night in Gorak Shep.

I'm writing now from the breezy base camp. At the moment David and Adele are busy briefing the team on climbing equipment and sorting through the collection of gloves, mitts, and crampons we'll need for the first launch up the mountain.

Our Lama tells us that Friday is an auspicious day for the team puja, which means we'll be headed up the icefall only after this day of Buddhist blessings.

In the meantime its unpacking, digging out more solar panels for a steady supply of power here in the comms tent, and recharging of the DVD player for movie night tonight. "Anchorman" played to mixed reviews Monday night.

All the best from up on the glacier,

Team Jagged Globe

01:00 1st April (GMT) - Day 10 - from Dingboche

Good morning friends,

It’s been an exciting 24hours here in Dingboche, the highlight was the news from Adele just before dinner last night that our Everest climbing permit is now in hand! We owe a big thanks to our team on the ground in Kathmandu as they've been working round the clock to get this ticket in order for us!

In the meantime we've continued the acclimatization march and yesterday saw us breaking the 5000 metre mark on our climb above Dingboche. The whole team made it up to the rocky viewpoint where we had clear sky views of Ama Dablam, Lhotse, Makalu and a whole bowl of lower peaks here and in Tibet. That's also kept us going as our walk up to Chukung today is dusted with fresh snowfall from last night. We'll be off the radar for the next couple days as we climb up beyond "The world's highest internet cafe" as this place promotes itself here in Dingboche. It's a new feature to the village from last year and already the line snakes out the door!

As for a slice of the Nepali life here in the valley, we were treated to a traditional Buddist puja ceremony on Sunday high above the trekking trail in a village called Pangboche. The Lama tells us the monastery itself is 604 years old and the chanting and drum-beating throughout the ceremony gave us a nice window into the Sherpa traditions here in their home.

We "fast-yakked" a load of cold weather gear up for Graham and Ian this morning so should all we well wrapped for the high pass over to Lobuche in the next few days. Looks like we'll have the company of the Himalayan Rescue Association on the climb across, a nice trade of our breaking trail for some high altitude medicine tutorials.

All the best from 4300 meters,

Mara & the JG team

01:00 31st March (GMT) - Full permit issued!

Jagged Globe's was the first full permit to be issued this morning by the Nepalese (see photo of Adele Pennington). Thank you to Kit, Sangey and all the team at Summit Trekking for their efforts over the past 3 weeks. Also to Adele who has anxiously remained in Kathmandu this past week. Expeditions are required not to move above camp 3 until after 10 May, when the Chinese would have hoped to get the Olympic torch to the summit. Adele will now catch the rest of the team up, who are currently on the trail to Dingboche.

29th March - Namche

Hello friends,

Was a relaxing few days of R&R here in Namche where we took in acclimatization walks up to Kunde and Khumjung, checked out the Sherpa museum, and enjoyed the first views of the big peaks from the Everest view hotel.

Making the best of a rainy afternoon yesterday, we had a sound defeat of the Irish at the hands of the Scots at the Namche pool hall. Today brings a walk down to the valley floor before a 600m climb up to the Tengboche monastery where we'll spend the afternoon.

The next few days have us acclimatizing in Deboche with views of Ama Dablam and then on to Dingboche where again we'll spend an extra few nights adjusting to the thin air.

All our best to you at home. And to Adele still working on permit details in Kathmandu, a very happy birthday to you!

-Mara

27th March - Day 5 - Namche

A big hello to friends and family.

Greetings from Namche Bazaar, our third day of mountain air at the start of the Everest season. Caught in the eye of the permit storm these past few weeks it's with relief we finally hit the trails Tuesday morning in Lukla. Daily updates from Kathmandu suggest that final details are in the making for securing climbing permits on Everest this season. Though the news out of Lhasa keeps our thoughts on the continuing struggle on the other side of these peaceful peaks.

This afternoon it’s a hopeful team checking out the Sherpa museum and whiling away time shopping for last minute fleece layers and liner gloves here in the last major outpost of the Khumbu Valley. We’ll spend another rest day here tomorrow with an angle to some higher altitude walks up to the Sherpa villages of Kunde and Khumjung.

This year’s team is full of energy and excitement so we thought it best to introduce the cast of characters here in Namche where we’re all still fresh, clean, and itching for some more up hill hikes.

Steering this ship is our leader David Hamilton assisted by Adele Pennington with Mara Larson managing base camp. Filling out the team are a happy blend of Scots, Brits and a load of Irish members aiming for the top. And finally Sadbh and David’s partner Claire are along accompanying us on the trek in.

Individual members are listed below, along with a helpful introduction they thought they’d add: star sign, handedness, favorite expedition tune, and most recent climb. We look forward to keeping you current through out this rollercoaster Everest season! Enjoy—

1. Martin McGarvey: Pisces, righty, “Ain’t no mountain high enough” (Diana Ross), Cho Oyu 2006.
2. James Balfour. Cancer, lefty, “Hotel California” (The Eagles), Mt. Vinson 2007/8
3. Janet Pickett: Cancer, righty, “Flower of Scotland” Vinson 2007/8.
4. Sadhbh Bayle (pronounced Sive, rhymes with five): Cancer, righty, “Bring me to life” Evanessence. Most recent climb? “This is my high point….of many more…”
5. Ron Rutland: Leo, right, “Bat out of Hell” Meatloaf, Makalu/Shishapangma
6. Timothy O’Connor (The tank): Pisces, righty, “Highway to Hell” AC/DC, Aconcagua.
7. Mara Larson: Gemini, lefty, “Will Travel” Tom Petty, Ama Dablam 2007.
8. Ian Taylor: Virgo, righty, “Move on Up” Curtis Mayfield, Aconcagua.
9. Graham Kinch: Cancer, ambidextrous, “500 Miles” The Proclaimers, Aconcagua.
10. Adele Pennington: Aries, righty, “Love of My Life” Queen, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma double-header.
11. David Hamilton: Pisces, righty, Muztag Ata.

01:00 26th May (GMT) - More photos from summit day

Here are a couple more photos showing Janet Pickett, who completed her Seven Summits (all of which she climbed with Jagged Globe (except Elbrus))