Team has reached the balcony 8500m

May 19, 01:50hrs NPT  Team has reached the balcony 8500m

Marty, Murad and Lee at the balcony 8500m, Kevin, Sean and Patrick are one hour behind them due their opted later start. If all works to plan they should meet on the summit together which is a great joy for such a tight team.

Next check in will be in about 3 hours from the South Summit.  Everything is going really well, no problems on the route whatsoever, everyone is moving at a good pace.

Tim 

Surprise for the team when they return

Tim checks in with me "hey Becky, a case of wine arrived at camp today- do you know anything about it?"

I ask him to not say anything to the team but you are expecting a special visit from one of only 300 Wine Masters of the world- James Cluer.  James will be doing a tasting of wine at base camp to see how altitude effects the tasting of wines, as he consults on buying to Qatar, the best airline in the world.

James is now in the valley and expected to be in camp the same night the team arrives back in EBC. He has timed his arrival perfectly. www.finevintagewines.com 

Tim in his youth used to pick grapes at a vineyard at his hometown in the Okanagan Valley in Canada to be able to afford gas for his dirt bike and buy climbing equipment so they'll for sure enjoy some good conversations on the topic of grapes.

Becky