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Equipped with satellite communication tools, the team is sending dispatches
and photos back to this Web site. You’re invited to follow the climb
through written accounts and digital images. 
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Listen to Mike’s voice dispatch from the
mountain (1.2MB mp3 file)
April 16, 2001Tim and I have just got
into camp, and we’ve been met by a very, very severe snowfall. But we were
waylaid by the Columbian Everest expedition who gave us great hospitality. In
fact, we’re going to be having supper with them later this evening.The
day didn’t start very well at all. I was called up at about quarter passed
one in the morning by the World Summits expedition leader, Ian, to look at the
cook who had high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). And we had to treat him both
with dexamethasone (a steroid that decreases swelling) and oxygen. He would not
get into the Gamow
bag. Although we tried to get him in, he would not go into the bag. Eventually
we managed to send him down with the cook boy in the morning to lower levels.
We tried to find a yak so that he could be transported in a much more comfortable
fashion.We, on the other hand, had to make a load up to the North Col.
Tim and I set off just after eight. We worked our way up the East Rongbuk Glacier
to the base of the North Col, which is a terrific serac band -- big ice cliffs
with lots of run offs, spindrifts, snow falling down left, right, and center.
Tim managed to find the start of the fixed
rope. We were the first people up there today. In fact, we must have been
the first people of there for the last five days or so. We managed to jumar our
way up to approximately 6,900 meters.One of the characters who was also
climbing with us was one of the Columbian expedition. We had a little discussion
at the top and decided that the conditions were so poor that although we could
make the North Col we probably wouldn’t have gotten back without setting
off a very large slab avalanche. So we decided to cache by burying all the gear
-- tents, cookers, gas, etc. We then hightailed it out there by abseiling down
the fixed line, and then we walked out.It was a very, very long very,
very hard day. It was very nice to be comforted by the Columbian team when we
got back down to Advanced Base Camp, which has turned into quite a village now,
loads and loads and loads of different expeditions.
Mike Chrisp
2001 British American Lightweight Everest Expedition
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