Sunday April 10th, 8pm. Everest Base Camp, 5,350m
(EST is 9 hours 45 mins behind Nepal)

We build an altar for a ceremony for Sean

It’s windy and cold, but bright and sunny today.

We watched some of the climbers going up the icefall this morning and then witnessed a huge avalanche on the mountain. It was pretty close to the people on the icefall but apparently everyone was safe. Last night we were woken by a major rock fall which sounded like a freight train right outside our tent. At night time the sound reverberates for ages and I’ve no idea where the rock fall was, but I know we’re in no danger here.

Sean, Harold and Dave have been honing their skills on the ice ladders to get ready to head out over the icefall in the next couple of days. Harold and Dave spent time practicing in their snow-covered Toronto backyards to prepare for this part of the trip. I imagine that this will be an entirely different proposition as they scale across the dark, bottomless crevasses and I don’t envy them at all.

The general health of the party has been improving although everyone is tired. I am very tired tonight. A portable shower has been installed but it’s a little too cold to use right now, in my opinion.
Today we had our first pot of fresh coffee for weeks which tasted as good as any I’ve ever had.

We hope to play the hockey game tomorrow, Monday, at 11am thanks to Gerry and Norm who cleared the “rink” They even buried a loony at centre ice in memory of the Canadian Olympic team victory.

I met a couple of fellow Canadians today. Gerry Rigault who now lives in Tennessee - he has worked at the University of Ottawa and has a lot family still in Ottawa. I also met Gabriel from Montreal who is climbing at the same time as Sean.

The research groups are continuing with their work. Dr Burgess’ research is going well despite the fact that the functioning of some of his measuring equipment at this altitude has been an issue. Ryerson University are also progressing although they too have run in to a challenge. Their research requires interacting with different teams on the mountain but they are finding that many teams are putting themselves in quarantine to prevent any chance of getting sick from any poorly-prepared teams. The Ryerson researchers, who are all healthy, are working around it though.

We spent a lot of time today taking sponsor photos outside our tent with banners and flags, climbers and hikers. It was like a Martha Stewart Christmas photo special (pre-lockup!) with all the planning and preparation that went in to it. It was very drawn out but it all got done and hopefully everyone will be happy.

A stone altar has been built on our campsite and tomorrow there is a special ceremony in the afternoon for Sean to wish him well and god speed. He still has boundless energy and strength but is very focused on the challenge ahead.

More later.
Terry