Blume

Click to hear Freddy Blume's audio dispatch recorded over sat-phone.
Freddy Blume's Satellite Call:
Good morning everybody here from snowy Mount Everest Base Camp. Today, all climbing members rested and acclimatized at Camp II which is at 21,500'. The weather was very good this morning: warm, sunny, and slowly we had a little weather system move in to a point where we got a couple more centimeters on the snow down here at Base Camp and some more conditions up high.

Today was also the first trial run of the GPS-Radar apparatus that will be used to measure the true summit elevation and snow depths of Mount Everest -- sometime two to three weeks from now when we have our summit team acclimatized and ready to push up to the top. [Click here for a detailed look at the science to be done on Everest this year.] The 41-lb apparatus that you've been hearing about was carried up in five separate loads by sherpa climbers -- over the last couple of days -- to Camp II. It was assembled late this morning in a pretty short period of time (which was about 15 minutes, what we're hoping for up on the summit) by the team of Todd Burleson, Wally Berg and Charles Corfield (pictured at left with the summit rig) who will be primarily responsible for running the equipment at the summit of Mount Everest.

During the trial run of the summit measurement procedure, the equipment behaved quite well. Several operational difficulties were encountered by the climbers, but nothing that causes me any particular worry, and we'll have plenty of time to address these beginning tomorrow afternoon when all members and all of the equipment will return here for a five-day or so rest period. So I have no doubt that inspite of a less than perfect beginning here that our measurement program will be successfully completed as conceived by Dr. Roger Bilham, Brad Washburn and myself.

Today was also a rest day for all the climbing sherpas at Base Camp, and we had a very entertaining morning of trying to learn some sherpa folk melodies and trying to do some musical accompaniment to their singing. I wanted to try and tape them for you guys to hear, but they are very superstitious and refused to do so until they've all returned from the summit healthy.

So things are progressing slowly but surely here, and tomorrow you'll hear from the climbers as they return from 21,500' in their first five days up higher on the mountain. Take care everybody. Adios.

-- Frederick Blume, Team Scientist