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Just to fill you in, Pete and Bill did a splendid job up on the summit using the care packages employed and doing extra drilling, and it was just absolutely beyond all reasonable expectation. Congratulations to Pete and Bill and Jeff and Kelly and the superb Sherpa staff that we have here, that made everything possible.

Today, we are postponing at the South Col here for a second wave summit attempt, and Pete and Bill and Jeff and Kelly are down, coming through Camp III, packing up [inaudible audio] as they go; so we know where everything is on the mountain.

It has been a very exciting last few days, and we look forward to being able to cross some more t's and dot some more i's on the expedition. We've got an absolutely splendid... offering us hope from afar, and we still think there is more yet to come. So we're hoping that the weather will cooperate [inaudible audio] and also allow the trilogy peak to peak climbs over the next few weeks. So everybody's feeling literally on-top-of-the-world right now, and we look forward to giving you close dispatches as people come down the mountain and can tell you some stories sometime.

My own amusement was discovering that I have now, on several occasions, climbed more of this mountain without oxygen than I had actually intended and ended up climbing to the South Col myself, when my oxygen bottle had run out. It makes a better story in the telling than the experiencing, needless to say. However, it just goes to show that even though oxygen is very useful, it is not completely essential in climbing the mountain.

Let's see... on other notes, the weather down here is — it's kind of a breezy day. We're expecting a few [inaudible audio] the expedition to come in. One of them is a doctor. I think that my voice is going to be a patient in the afternoon.

We hope everything else is going well at your end. It's been great now that the B-terminal is up and running, and we've been able to get dispatches back and forth. Meantime, the very best from the Everest Millennium Expedition and this Trappist monk member of it, to all of you out there. So hang in there and take care. This is Charles Corfield at Everest Base Camp on the Everest Millennium Expedition signing off. And if anybody has a spare voice, please put it in an envelope and send it to me, care of the Everest Millennium Expedition, Everest Base Camp, Khumbu, Nepal, and it will be gratefully received. And please [inaudible audio] if your listening. Do not send me your old voice, since either I need a new one. That's it. Ciao.

—Charles Corfield, Climber

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