NOVA Online | Everest Quest | Newsflash: April 25, 1996

Report from Base Camp
by Audrey Salkeld
April 25, 1996

Our climbers have now been on the mountain for a week in order to work and accustom themselves to sleeping at Camps 2 and 3. Unfortunately the weather has remained unsettled. Today, they were going up to Camp 3 again, but it was misty and cold and they decided to stay put for another day. We do not expect them back in Base until Saturday or Sunday. Another expedition's (Rob Hall's) Sherpas left Base Camp today with supplies of rope for fixing the section between Camp 3 (on the Lhotse Face) and Camp 4 (on the South Col).

In Base Camp, apart from a few brief sunny spells, we have had sprinklings of snow over the last few days, and it has been cold enough to sit around in our down clothes almost all the time. No one has felt much like taking a shower or washing clothes. mountain peak

A few nights ago we saw lights in the Icefall. It was a group from Scott Fisher's expedition assisting down a stricken Sherpa. It being impossible to get a helicopter in, he was transported on to Pheriche, from where the news is still ominous. He is still critical with pulmonary edema and possibly pneumonia as well, as he has barely responded to the reduction in altitude. We have been told that he requires ventilation and round the clock nursing.

Among the personalities in other camps is a young boy wanting to break the record for the youngest person to climb the mountain and the veteran American climber, Pete Schoening (hero of K2 in 1953) who would like to break the record at the other end of the age scale.

May 27, 1996: Interview with David Breashears
May 24, 1996: They Made It! (Update)
May 20, 1996: They Made It!
May 16, 1996: Emergency on Everest
May 10, 1996: Taiwanese Victim
May 9, 1996
May 5, 1996
May 2, 1996: Team Returns to Base Camp
April 26, 1996
April 25, 1996
April 21, 1996
April 19, 1996

Photos: (2) courtesy Sumiyo Tsuzuki.

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