Wally Berg

	Hear Wally Berg's call from Base Camp Click for [RealAudio] or [NetShow]
Satellite phones for Everest cybercasts provided by MVS/USA

Magic mushrooms in base camp [click to zoom]

Busy time of the expedition; a lot of planning — agonizing, you might say — about the next move is certainly taking place now. For myself, after spending two nights at Camp III and a total of four nights at Camp II, I came back down, watched and monitored via radio and voice contact around base camp as various things fell into place, and in particular, with my team as the last Sherpa carry, a few days ago, stocked the South Col. completely for our summit bid.

We had to plan a summit date. The one I set sometime ago was actually May 13th. When we set summit dates a lot of things are factored in. The Sherpas look at a Tibetan calendar for auspicious days that might involve any number of things and certainly the full moon that began the 11th, as I mentioned earlier, is a big deal for them and any number of things factor into what they consider what is a good day. We have our own ideas as well. May 13th had a nice ring to me, logistically. Also for a number of years it's been a special day for me because it was on May 13th that Scott Fisher and I went to the summit of Lhotse together in 1990. Probably the main reason that I remember that isn't so much that it was the day that Scott and I went to the summit of Lhotse together, but I remember very much in Scott's mind and heart and in our conversations prior to that summit attempt and that day, it was the fact that it was Andy Fisher's birthday. So, I've always remembered that about it, May 13th, back from the summit of Lhotse on May 13, 1990. It was the first announcement that I made into the radio as I called down to our team to let them know: that it was Andy Fisher's birthday and also that Americans had finally climbed Lhotse. So, it's a sentimental special day for me, and I'm thinking of Andy as that day approaches.

Things as usual, you lay your plans, and you modify them as the situations dictate. Here's pretty much what I can tell you about the summit attempt this year. I think our team will be first. I sense that the strength we have is something, in terms of perhaps establishing a route and breaking trail, is something that our teams are willing to divert to. We've talked a great deal with the Tom Whittaker team from the United States about a cooperative summit attempt together, first on May 13th, and now we are moving it back a little, and we still tend to think that way. So, May 13th was our day assuming we were probably going to be a first team.

The other thing that is factored into this besides our being ready to undertake the science we are going to undertake on summit day and having everything in order is of course weather. We do get weather reports out of London, via email and direct SAT phone contact. We know we had a forecast that the jet stream was going to drop down from the north and get positioned right over us, in other words, right over the summit of Everest yesterday. In fact, that did seem to happen, and we're looking at evidence of very high winds up high, and in addition, we have a forecast out of London that has — at this point anyone's best guess — not changing through May 14th. So, day to day we set it back; these guys will do a forecast four or five days out; they'll push and speculate a little beyond that. At this point we've decided to call the 15th our day. Meaning the day after tomorrow, May 11th, we'll move up to begin getting in position for the summit. I'll keep you posted on all of this as it gets closer.

The other thing I should mention probably, quickly is, I say quickly, it's a whole world of goings on around here. The E3 team, folks from MIT/Yale and elsewhere are a very gifted and talented group of engineers and medical people are here undertaking a great deal of research and checking out some new equipment, some of which you've heard about: the weather station which we've already installed on the South Col, and more of which you'll hear about as we undertake our goals on summit day. This seems here, we've enjoyed having their company, and I personally have been very impressed by their level of commitment and ability. As time gets closer, we're going to work more and more with these folks.

I had the great thrill and privilege as part of this project about 24 hours ago, about 5:30 last night, of having a video tele-conference which included folks from Walter Reed Hospital, from Yale, from MIT in Boston and of course myself and some others here at base camp. The real thrill of this, I've got to describe to the Mountain Zone people, is that Brad Washburn and I had a wonderful discussion. I watched Brad and I assumed he watched me on monitors there at MIT in Boston. We talked about the plan for the expedition and gave one another our fondest regards, and it was really an amazing experience for me to sit here at base camp and watch and talk, live, to Brad Washburn from MIT. So, the science that we are involved with continues to be impressive for a guy like me, fascinating, and the marvels of getting to talk to our honorary leader live around the world is something that gave us all a moral lift and was a great thrill to be a part of.

I'm going to close for now and continue to keep you posted on our evaluation of the weather and our preparations for going up. It's a very exciting time on the expedition.

— Wally Berg, Expedition Leader

DISPATCHES

COMPLETE INDEX OF DISPATCHES