Everest 2007: Climb High South East Ridge 2007 Expedition Progress update - Progress update - Climb High South-East Ridge 2007 Expedition in aid of Motor Neurone Disease

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Everest 2007: Climb High South East Ridge 2007 Expedition Progress update - Progress update - Climb High South-East Ridge 2007 Expedition in aid of Motor Neurone Disease

Progress update - Climb High South-East Ridge 2007 Expedition in aid of Motor Neurone Disease

28th April - News from Base Camp. David and his team were climbing up to Camp 3 as planned last week - when they heard that one of the porters on the Italian team had fallen off the Lhotse face (between camps 2 and 3) and been killed. They all felt they wanted to turn round, and I gather that teams are going up today to recover the body for the family; terribly sad.

They now have 4 - 5 days rest at Base Camp; David is thinking of going down the valley to one of the lodges (in desperate need of a shave, wash, and clean socks). They will then go back up to Camp 3 (around 3-4th May) - going up to the yellow band of rocks. It takes about 8 hours of walking to Camp 2, and a further 5 hours to Camp 3 - and is, in David's work '*!�* hard' Then it is back down again...I asked why they couldn't go to the summit now, apparently 200km winds are getting in the way - even blowing down the loot and shower tents at base camp.

Everyone is fine, apart from the dry, Khumde cough he has (I think our dog, Mocha has come out in sympathy). Apart from the winds, weather is fine, still varying between +30 and -10 on the Lhotse face (-2 at base camp).

Progress update - Monday 22nd April- News from Everest Base Camp

Climb High South-East Ridge 2007 Expedition in aid of Motor Neurone Disease

22nd April - David rang from base camp and told me about his team. There are only 4 of them in his expedition: Ishan, a Bangladeshi-American who is an Immigration Lawyer; Thomas, a Physics Professor and Christina who is an Italian research scientist from the Pyramid research station in the valley. Thomas and Christina are climbing Lhotse, so only David and Ishan are taking on Everest. David is delighted with his Expedition group, one of the others has 40 clients!

As I said last week, they have been taking kit up to Camp 2, had 2 days of rest in Phereche (6-7 hours down the valley - mainly so David could recover from a cold he caught from the Canadians!) and are now back at base camp for a couple of days. They will then go to Camp 2 with a view to climbing to Camp 3 around the 24th April.

The weather is rather amazing. It was +35 going to the Western Cwym and then dropped to -15 overnight.

He is well, only having the dry cough which is typical of that altitude - and for which he has an inhaler.

Otherwise, there is quite a lot of hanging around and he says he spends his time making lists of what he (we) are going to do when he gets back! Oh dear! ...I think this is the bit that we at home - and the surgery, won't look forward to so much!

All of his kit is working brilliantly - apart from his ipod which is a source of great frustration, especially during the rest days; all the hours before downloading his favourite tracks.....He is going to ring next weekend with the next update. I told him that he has now raised over �14,000 for Motor Neurone Disease and he nearly fell off the mountain!

Earlier: Climb High South-East Ridge 2007 Expedition in aid of Motor Neurone Disease

7th April � David (Dr David Ratcliffe) rang this morning having just spent his first night at Everest Base Camp. His pre-Everest climb was cut short - as the warm days and then cold nights had made the ice on the Cho-La glacier treacherous. David has met his guide, Nuri, and will meet the rest of this party today. He says he has met some Canadians from another expedition who are all really nice. Last night in his tent was freezing - waking up to ice inside, and even his suntan cream had frozen. I didn't ask about his pee bottle!

1st April

We stayed an extra day in Namche as the Yaks had not arrived, but are definitely off tomorrow. I think the plan may have changed slightly with the good weather ( I saw Everest today - very clear) so we may go straight to base camp over the next 4-5 days. Nuri has left today with the Yaks. Have gone to the museum today and seen the ``famous`` crashed helicopter.

31st March

I�ve just done an acclimatisation walk up too the airstrip in the next village by a school set up by Sir Edmund Hillary where Pemba went to school.

30th March 2007

Hi, I have arrived in Namche 3400m and we will have a rest day tomorrow. It is the main village in the valley and there is a big market in the morning. People have been coming in from all over loaded down with all sorts of goods. It's been very hot with bright blue skies and a 600m gain in height. We are to stay in a lodge owned by Pemba 's family.

Feeling OK but stomach playing up a little. We have been trekking up with a group of 5 Canadians some of whom are the distributors of the Sherpa Adventure gear.

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