737 Leg 7 Everest - Day 146

Updates for 3 days below – sorry my phone has been a nightmare! Both Steve and I slept well at camp 1, 6035m, which is a great start to our acclimatisation and summit strategy. We left c1 at 6.20am and descended down through the icefall to base camp. I was blown away by how much it had changed over night! The ladder I'd spoke about had gone and crevasses that you could step over, now had to be jumped! Amazing! We arrived at base camp at 8am. We heard news that the Sherpa teams finished fixing ropes to the summit yesterday at 4ish and 4 people summited at 6ish making them the first of the season. It's officially open, let the games begin! I'm still working to the strategy we decided on, although we might tweak it. It's still one day at a time! The main Jagged Globe team are all back in base camp fit and well from their night at camp 3. It's good to be in camp together! Rest day today and tomorrow.

NOTE FROM 2011 JAGGED GLOBE TEAM’S DISPATCHES:

(Who are a couple of weeks ahead of Rich and Steve)

Our Sherpa team have been working hard and have placed most of the equipment needed for the summit push at Camp 4 (7,950m). The sherpas are returning to Base Camp today and will rest for several days before making their next trip onto the mountain. Following the example set in recent years the sherpas from the leading expeditions have worked together in recent weeks to place fixed ropes from Camp 2 to the summit. Several of our sherpas have contributed to this effort, carrying ropes and equipment from BC to Camp 2 and also from Camp 2 to Camp 4. Yesterday (May 5th) an 8 person fixing team reached the summit of Everest making the first ascent of the mountain in the 2011 season and opening the way for other teams to climb to the top in the weeks ahead.