Too windy....
    
01 June 2005

Too windy....

Yesterday the members and sherpas rested all day on the S Coll. After some urging they got out of their tents and explored the S. Col a bit.

The South Col is located at the base of the SE Ridge of Mt. Everest and the NW Ridge of Lhotse. The elevation of the S. Col is just under 8,000 meters. In the early days everything above here was called the Death Zone and spending much tine above here was considered dangerous to one's health. These days with light weight cylinders of supplemental oxygen one often forgets were they are and believes they can live at the S. Col indefinitely. This is simply not the case. Your body quickly deteriorates and you become weaker by the day.

Most teams spend two nights on the S. Col as part of their summit attempt Our team will spend four nights as part of their summit attempt.

Last night after quite a bit of discussion the group decided not to go out in the strong winds and risk a failed summit attempt. They agreed to wait another day and then try with others on the S. Col tonight. At the moment there will be a strong team from AAI and a Singaporean team trying to summit on 02 June 2005.

We are all resting in anticipation of a long summit night.

Keep you posted,

Jim Williams