Burleson

Click to hear Todd Burleson's audio dispatch recorded over sat-phone.
From Burleson's Satellite Call:

Greg Wilson

Hi this is Todd. I'm in Base Camp [17,500']. It's April 20th -- doing a call-in for The Mountain Zone. We will be leaving tomorrow for Camp I [19,500'], climbing up through the Ice Fall. Our departure time is about 4:30 in the morning. All six of the climbers (Burleson, Wally Berg, Charles Corfield,

Leslie Buckland

Eric Simonson, Greg Wilson, and Leslie Buckland) will be going up and at least a dozen of the sherpas will be heading up. Our goal is to go to Camp I, spend the night, do some further acclimatization up there -- go for a small hike around Camp I -- and then on the third day, move up to Camp II [21,000']. We'll spend three days in Camp II acclimatizing and then returning to base.

We'll be testing some GPS equipment while we're up there. [Click here to read more about the science being don on Everest this year.] And hopefully feeling good and enjoying some good weather. The weather has been pretty good here for the last couple of days. We had some wind two days ago

So, the status in Base Camp: a lot of the expeditions have already gone up a couple of times. Had one of the Indonesians over last night for coffee, and he said that they are departing tomorrow, April 21st, for their summit attempt. And as you know, Anatoli Boukreev is involved with that expedition. [Note: earlier reports of Boukreev sighted returning to Kathmandu were misinterpreted to mean he'd had a falling out with the team. New sources suggest he was just going down to get a tooth filling checked and is still fully involved with the Indonesian attempt.] And they're hopefully planning on summiting around the 26th of April. I think it's pretty early for us -- we wish them all the luck. It can be very windy at that time and also very cold -- often time the weather is unstable.

David Breashears is in Camp I with Pete Athans. They're working on their film project. Guy Cotter is up there for the New Zealand team. The Japanese -- the huge Japanese expedition supported by Neuvere (I believe it's called), a huge cosmetics company, and the man who owns it actually is on the expedition. He's 6o years old. He tried to go to Camp I yesterday actually wearing oxygen and did not make it and has canceled his expedition. So a huge Japanese expedition is departing tomorrow. So that's one down.

The Malaysians are here. I just had a talk with Rom Lee who is the leader of the Malaysian team. They had a rescue from Base Camp this morning via helicopter. Last night one of their staff had a bleeding ulcer that became quite serious. This morning, the doctor, another climbing member, and the patient were all flown to Kathmandu. We'll keep you updated on that status.

The 5-ladder section. Click for a bigger image.

Everyone else seems to be doing quite well. The acclimatization process has gone well. I guess we'll find out how difficult the Ice Fall is tomorrow. Sounds like it's a little harder than years past. There's a large five-ladder section that is difficult. [Five ladders have to be tied together to cross a large wall or crevasse. The more ladders, the more they creak and wobble with each step, and the more frightening the experience.]

We will give you an update, and possibly we'll even call in during the climb to let you know what's going on, but for sure from Camp I. We'll talk to you soon and hope everyone is well. Bye.

-- Todd Burleson, Expedition Leader