Heading Up - Looking Up...

Day 54/May 14, 2009 (Thursday)
Turbocharged and Ready to Summit

By Scott Parazynski

Four nights with an actual bed, much thicker air to breathe, and great meals --- including a sip or two of Syrah --- is a potent formula for success. Keith and I, along with friends Kamen and Petia from Bulgaria, and three members of the Singapore Team, passed the time very productively in Pheriche. Sleep, eat, read, nap, eat, sleep, repeat... My only minor complaint is that the hotel seems to discriminate against those of us who are anthropometrically challenged: I hit my head entering my room at least four times, but thankfully did not draw blood. Keith tried to act sympathetic to my plight, but I could tell he was really laughing at me... Anyway, I feel just great after the rest period, which ended this morning: I've hiked back up to EBC (6 hours of uphill), and Keith is in Lobuche this evening (he'll continue the rest of the way to EBC tomorrow).

The weather appears to be cooperating, as we had a beautiful, cloud-free morning --- and a typical EBC afternoon with clouds and light snow. Some teams have elected to head back up to Camp II early tomorrow, but our plan is to take tomorrow off, and head back up on May 16th. We'll then take a rest day at Camp II, and target a summit on or about May 20th (when weather is also expected to be calm and hopefully clear). As always, this too may change... I'm hopeful that several teams will try for their summits on the 18th or 19th, thus kicking in the route for us, and pulling up the snow-covered ropes that must exist up there! My main goal is to avoid traffic jams, so whatever day becomes the first major summit day of the season, you probably won't find me there!

On an unrelated note, I've sort of enjoyed not knowing what's going on in the world these past few weeks, as it's almost impossible to escape the media deluge anymore. Two topics that I'm really missing out on, though, are the progress of the Hubble Space Telescope mission (STS-125) and the Houston Rockets. My fingers are crossed for huge success on both counts.

Namaste from Everest Base Camp,
Scott