May 21, 23:10hrs (NPT) EBC Celebrations minus Kevin & Tashi
Late check-in today as the Chinese satellite was kicking the Thuraya Satellite off this evening. Everyone is down minus Kevin and Tashi who are at Camp 2. The glacier is super hot in the heat of the day and it's not necessary since we have Camp 2 and Kami Sherpa there waiting to accommodate them. They're going to come down first light when it's cooler.
The ice-fall doesn't have any obvious hazards near the route but it is certainly getting quite slushy during the day and the heat is unbearable.
Tomorrow morning at around 09:00hrs Lee, Murad and Marty are flying out to Kathmandu by helicopter (weather pending of course). The rest of us will have one more night waiting for Kevin, then we'll be out of here at 08:00hrs May 23rd for the great walk back to Lukla, and then (fingers crossed) pending weather we would like to be in Kathmandu on May 26th if all works out.
Our Sherpa crew will make one last trip up the ice-fall tomorrow to bring down camp supplies from there and then they go home to their families and celebrations will get underway there. We stop in and see many of them along the way and catch up on their lives and all things new while they were away.
There were quite a few summits this morning but complaints of how cold it was, it's even colder here at base camp tonight. It will be nice to back to the land of living after 2 months on this glacier. Personally I'm looking forward to playing with grandkids on the sailboat before it's back to the Himalayas in the autumn for more mountain adventures.
Everyone else has similar wishes on their list of things they learned to appreciate more back home. Funny how that happens after being here on a major expedition in such a hostile environment for such a long duration. We miss everyone we meet after a climb and we miss everyone at home while on a climb.
Thank you everyone for your social internet interactions on the tools we are given today. It's really great to get so many people involved on so many levels.
Over and out.. Tim
Photo: Sean Mooney on the summit. First to summit-first to get a photo out holding his www.righttoplay.com soccer ball.
Top-Tim and Marty.
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