Cybercasts

Hello Everyone,

This morning at 3am Nepal time we left Basecamp for Camp 1 to begin our summit bid.  We had great conditions through the icefall again with minimal traffic.  We made great time, everyone making it to C1 in about 4 1/2 hours.  We have been relaxing all day here and at times overheating but it is finally now cooling down.  Looking up at the Lhotse face from camp we could see a couple hundred people (rough estimate) heading to the South Col.  This is what we were hoping for so hopefully when we head up there will be a lot less people.  We may end up taking a rest day at C2 to also help let these next couple of days Summiters come down the mountain before we head up to C3.  Weather is looking favorable for the 24th or 25th so far.

Thanks for following along,

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

The last couple of days have been very restful here at Basecamp after returning from our acclimatization rotation.  The weather has been excellent at Basecamp and it always feels much lower and warmer after returning from Camp 2.

Yesterday we went through the oxygen system we will be using once we leave Camp 2 for Camp 3 and to the summit.  After lunch we had the annual Everest Basecamp invitational Cornhole tournament.  For the second year in a row I become Champion with a new partner Lhakpa Nuru Sherpa (seems rigged:-)).  There was some tough competition though and it’s super fun to see how good our Nepali crew are at this relatively new game to them.  There was some good prize money which helped fuel a little more competition and good fun was had by all!

Today we are packing and organizing to set off for our summit push tomorrow morning.  On our summit push we will stop at all of the camps to give the team a greater chance for feeling better as we climb towards the summit.  So tomorrow we will spend the night at Camp 1, then C2, C3, and C4 where we will spend a rest day to get ready for the final climb to the summit.  The plan right now is a summit day on the 24th but we will have some options before we set off from C2 making sure that the weather and crowds will be reasonable for our attempt.  I will keep you updated throughout the summit push and look forward to sharing photos from the Top of the World!

Thanks for following along,

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday we reached Camp 2 under perfect conditions and zero crowds.  The team made good time with a relatively easy hike in the Western CWM to Camp 2.  It can be very hot sometimes in the CWM but we were blessed with perfects conditions and a slight breeze to keep the heat down.  After a long rest last night we woke to beautiful clear skies at C2 and after breakfast we went on a short hike towards the base of the Lhotse face.  Another day of no crowds and perfect weather.  Our Sherpa team left C2 after dinner last night and carried oxygen bottles to the South Col (C4).  We have a very strong team of climbing Sherpa and they all safely made it to the South Col and back to C2 before breakfast.  It’s a really long and tough climb and we can’t thank the team enough for getting this hard job done.  With high winds coming high on Everest our Sherpa team will leave again tonight for the South Col with their last loads of oxygen for our summit attempt.

Tomorrow morning our climbers will climb part of the Lhotse face to touch C3 for our high point in our acclimatization.  We will spend part of the night at C2 after touching C3 before heading back down to EBC early in the morning.

We also heard the great news that the fixing team made it to the summit of Everest this morning and we are thankful for all of their hard work in making this happen to open up the route for teams to start summiting!  Things are going well here!

Thanks for following along,

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

Well I think the winds were starting to calm last night but they have continued throughout today but not as gusty.  We went for a short hike today above Camp 1 and the winds were quite welcome to keep the temperature down while hiking.  Usually there can be a bit of a technical section leaving Camp 1 heading to C2 but not this year, it is actually a very easy hike out of Camp 1 into the Western CWM.  Memories can fade but I feel like mine is pretty good and can’t remember the icefall and route to C2 ever in better condition in the last 15 years.

We are back at camp resting and are looking forward to moving to Camp 2 tomorrow morning.

Thanks for following along,

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

Today we left at midnight from Basecamp and climbed through the Khumbu icefall to Camp 1 at 19,500ft.  With all of the talk about the route through the Khumbu icefall this year I thought this is the most straightforward and easy route through the icefall I have experienced in 15 years.  It’s never 100% safe but the route is not very technical this season so it makes it much more efficient to get through somewhat fast.  Our team did great and we didn’t encounter any crowds whatsoever.  We are tucked into our tents now after finishing dinner and the wind that was blowing a little most of the day is now dying down.  Tomorrow we will hike towards Camp 2 for a couple hours and come back to Camp 1 for one more night before moving to Camp 2.  Good night from Everest.

-Ben Jones