Resting up, Looking ahead
I've spoken to Peter several times over the past few days. In fact, proving just how far-reaching technology can be, he reached me on Saturday as Soren and I were out with friends on Mt. Saint Helens! I had my phone in airplane mode most of the day, but randomly turned it on in camp to figure out if I was going to be able to call my Mom for Mother's Day. As soon as I powered it up, I picked up a connection and then heard the distinctive ringing of his call via Facebook Messenger! Amazing. We talked for 30 minutes while we were setting up our tents.
Soren and I on Mt. Saint Helens, smiling big after talking to Peter.
Peter is now down in Pheriche at about 14,000 feet. He's with Don from the US, one of the guides, and another climber from his expedition, Jake from the UK. After leaving base camp, they spent some nights in Lobuche and Dingboche before settling in Pheriche. Not everyone on their team hiked this far down.
He's staying at the Edelweiss hotel. (You can find the hotel Web site here if you're ready to make your own reservations!) Continuing with being incredibly hygiene-focused, he talked at length about how pleased he was at how clean this hotel is. Mandatory hand-washing stations upon entry, lots of social distancing, and other thoughtful touches There have been other hotels along their route that looked nice at first, but they were too busy or not being as careful as Peter wants to be right now. Obviously, COVID is what everyone immediately thinks about with these details, but since they are so close to such a big climb, they want to avoid getting even the sniffles from anyone they might meet. They'll rest here and move slowly back to base camp before the summit push.
He told me that he's been sleeping a lot. Sleeping well at night. Napping during the day, waking up feeling fully refreshed, and then falling asleep again for another nap. He said after a 2-nap day, he was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep that night, but he slept soundly. So great to hear that he's getting such solid recovery time.
They expect the summit push to begin in about a week. When that starts, once they leave Everest Base Camp, the roundtrip summit bid generally takes about 6 days. In the meantime, their Sherpa team is continuing to supply their high camps.
Peter says his team is really strong. Five climbers, all fit and capable, plus 2 leaders. They have had 9 climbing Sherpas on their team, but I'm not sure how many of those will be on the summit attempt.
Outside of his team, I expect to see summits soon. In fact, based on the schedules I've seen, I think it is very likely that there are people on that last section climbing for the summit as I write this. Estimates that as many as 150 people could be somewhere en route for summits over the next few days, with more potentially to start soon. This is very good news, having the ropes set early and a long weather window will make everything safer and more comfortable for everyone.
Oh, and in other news, 6 of the 12 Sherpas who fixed the ropes to the summit of Everest 3 days ago, have now fixed the ropes to the summit of Lhotse. Those guys are incredible!
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