April 19 update from base camp
On the surface things are normal here in base camp. Well, they are still searching for three missing persons. But everyone looks pretty normal and functions accordingly.
If I ask my sherpa-friends whether they know the people in the accident they talk about friends, cousins, in-laws, neighbors and other close people. So the impact on everyone is huge.
Personally I'm fine, the first day of rest in a long time, I need it. I showered. Showering means taking a bucket of warm water into a narrow stand-up tent with a shelf for the bucket, opening a tap in the side of the bucket and enjoying the drizzle. I washed clothes too. The weather has been beautiful and sunny during the previous days, but today it's unfortunately snowing and the clothes froze when I tried to dry them. But they will be ok.
I am wondering about two questions concerning the climbing:
- It seems there is more snow than normally, that could cause avalanches in surprising amounts or places
- To me it looks like there is more ice to come from the place that caused the avalanche, the bigger blocks are still left there
To do any serious climbing I need to understand these issues better and be sure that the risks are not abnormally high this year. Climbing Everest has become relatively safe in recent years, but understanding the risks and being conscious of which ones you take and why is crucial.
Otherwise life here in base camp is fine, I just had a yak-steak, I'm warm in the tent and physically I'm feeling good. Tomorrow we will go and practice on the glacier.
Happy Easter! I hadn't realized it was that time back home until I spoke with Tommi on the phone.