April 6, 2001

Hello to everyone from the Base Camp of Mount Everest. Unfortunately our power problems with the laptop persist and we’re only able to communicate by satellite phone. We have our hands full, the four of us, getting our gear organized for the yaks to transport it to advanced Base Camp. Hopefully, once we’re up there we will have some time to look over the battery situation and improvise something. Also, the larger expeditions have generators and we might be able to borrow a little power from them. In the meantime, we are continuing to take photos and hope to bring those to you soon.

When we arrived at Base Camp yesterday the weather was clear and we had spectacular views of the North Face. It was absolutely everything I’ve ever dreamed it would be — a truly amazing and humbling view of the Northeast Ridge. Climbing this mountain is a lifelong dream for all four of us. It’s surreal to be standing at the base of the mountain that I’ve only seen in pictures and that has consumed my interest since childhood.

Since then the weather has set in with extremely strong winds. Our large Base Camp tent almost blew away, but now with some extra reinforcement it’s doing well. I talked with Eric Simonson (Mallory/Irvine Research Expedition), who has been up here for a while, and he said until now the weather has been great. So we’re optimistic things will calm down.

With just the four of us and no other support, we’re working hard to get everything organized for the move to Advanced Base Camp (ABC) on Sunday. Right now we’re getting our oxygen canisters labeled and are distributing the tents, stoves, food, etc. Somehow we lost a tent in Kathmandu, but we have extras.

We are all doing well, only the occasional high-altitude headache. Depending on how we feel on the way to ABC we will establish one or two intermediary camps. ABC is at 21,300 feet so we will be feeling the altitude.

Wish us luck on this next leg of our journey.

Regards,
Tim Boelter
2001 British American Lightweight Everest Expedition