22 April SummitClimb Dispatch

Today is meant to be a rest day, but nothing prepared us for how true this would be. We awoke at our usual hour (7:30am) to an eery silence. Upon unzipping the inner tent door, we noticed the outer door bulging inward. As we unzipped the outer door, snow cascaded inside. We shoveled the mound away, opened the door wide, and were greeted by a full-on snow blizzard. Silent, white, and thick. Blazing the trail to the mess tent, we note there are 18cm / 7in of fresh snow on the ground with more falling. All members and Sherpas are safe in camp, so we spend the day huddling inside tents and occasionally skipping out to measure the latest accumulation. By evening, clouds have parted, snowfall has ceased and the moon is skating high above us in a silver black twilight sky framed by puffy white receding clouds over an incredible mountain landscape blanketed in a thick white crystaline cloak.

(Amy note: while they didn't confirm it here, I think this description is from Camp 1, where they were scheduled to be. A lot of teams are reporting on this heavy snowfall. Since it had been forecasted, most of them decided to wait it out at Everest Base Camp where I saw reports of 12-18 inches of new snow, but a few others made a plan to get to Camp 1 and wait it out there.)

This amazing photo was posted by the IMG expedition after the snowfall at Everest Base Camp.