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Warm Visit with South Col Team
Gorak Shep - Saturday, May 6, 2000

DISPATCHES

Berg

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Hi Mountain Zone, it's Wally Berg. I'm calling you from just above Gorak Shep at 5:30 in the afternoon. I'm sitting up here with Pemba Sherpa who is what we call a special porter. He's the guy that throughout this season, trekking up and down the Khumbu, has been staying close by my side with a doko, or basket, full of Pelican cases which, of course, contain computers, satellite phones and all this other stuff that allows me to stay in touch with Mountain Zone.

Before Pemba and I walk down behind the group into Gorak Shep, I just want to try to describe to you what a great day we've had. We were very graciously received at Base Camp about 12 o'clock today by the entire team: Jack O'Donnell, Kevin Grant, Bryce Brown, of course Ellie and Willi, of course Vern and Al, and Lhakpa Rita and his entire Sherpa team. Everyone was there; we were thrilled at the opportunity to see them. And I'll have to say, having been around this Base Camp a lot the last 10 years, seven times over the last 10 years — seen a lot of teams, been on a lot of teams — this is an outfit that's looking really good.

In particular, I was happy to learn that Al and Vern had just come down from their overnight at Camp III, which I consider to be a critical step in getting the acclimatization you need to perform higher on the mountain. Al always does really well up there. I remember well, in 1995, as he slept soundly between Frank Fishbeck and I, when we had a rather long night, an uncomfortable night, our first night at Camp III. Vern said that he did just as well this time. Al Hanna looks great, folks, and he and I had a warm, I'll have to say slightly tear-filled, reunion. He's going to make it, and I've been proud to be part of his efforts on this mountain over the years

As I said, the entire team looked good. I've got to talk a little bit about Lhakpa Rita and his Sherpas. As you know, me being a little out of the loop down at Pheriche, I've been concerned about a lack of progress of those going to the Col. That's been moving quickly, as you probably already knew, over the last few days. Reloads have gone to the Col, and the Sherpas that are working for this team have done an outstanding job and things are in place. As you may know, I believe there's something like 32 collective summits amongst the Sherpas that are climbing with this Alpine Ascents team, and Lhakpa Rita's got an outstanding career — I'm sure the best on the mountain this year. And when they finally got a break and it was time to start moving up loads to the Col, it happened in a big way.

— Wally Berg, Alpine Ascents Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent

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