Tonight will be the next to last night at BC.  I leave in the morning for C2 and eventually the summit, I hope.  When I come down I will probably spend one night in BC to pack and then I will begin the long walk home.  It seems surreal after all this time.  I’ve spent most of the day packing and putting equipment together.  I hate moving.

There have been quite a few teams moving up today and a commercial expedition we have been told is planning to summit the 21st as well.  But it only appears to be one large group.  We had heard the Indian Army expedition was going the same day but they have moved their attempt to the 23rd.  Right now the forecast for the 21st is 20 to 30 knot winds and about 15 degrees below zero.  Those are not ideal conditions but they are pretty good.  Winds will increase on the 22nd but hopefully not too much for our second wave.

Base Camp is falling apart around us.  It is easy to forget when you first get here that we are camped on a glacier because all the ice is covered with a fine layer of dirt.  But now the ice is melting everywhere where there is not a structure to shade it from the sun.  When we got here a month ago the “ground” was level with the mess tent.  Now the mess tent is sitting five feet above “ground level”.  When I got back from my trip down valley my first tent had been condemned by the “tenting authority.”  Half of it had collapsed into the Taiwanese camp.  My new tent is next to “Highway One” so it is a little noisier but at least I don’t need to worry about waking up in a different time zone.  Some of the team members now have to climb to get into their tent.  A few minutes ago a giant rock fell into a new stream (because of the melting they are everywhere now) we have between us and the next camp..  Everyone cheered – I guess because noones tent was under it.

In another sign the season is coming to the end, The Everest Bakery is closing tomorrow.  There are actually some people who have set up a tent at BC and have offered a limited selection of pies and cakes.  I have no idea how you manage to cook at this altitude in a stone kitchen but they have done quite well.  That may be more a measure of the boredom here than the quality of the food but I thought it was pretty good.  That is probably the best indicator it is now up and out.

I will not be writing these posts after today until I come back to earth.  What I will be doing is calling my wife each day with updates.  She will try and keep the site updated with where I am at and what is happening.  I want to thank everyone who has sent messages and encouragement.  Although there has been no way with my limited technological resources to respond individually I have been blessed and encouraged mightily by your messages.  My wife has also told me of our many friends who have encouraged her.  I really appreciate that.  Our employees and subcontractors have worked hard to keep business operating and productive in my absence.  Finally, my church family at Solid Rock Assembly of God and Pastor Jay Bailey have been a great encouragement.  I appreciate your prayers.  I have never prayed that God would let me summit – that seems like an unfair advantage – but I have and do pray that He will keep me from doing something stupid.  I just don’t want to embarrass Him or my family, everything else is secondary.

On the other hand I am praying that Puchhang, my climbing partner, makes it this year.  He is super strong and I am the biggest thing holding him back.  We have agreed that if I have to turn back I’ll latch on to somebody else going down and he will go for the summit.  The next four days are a little intimidating sitting here at base camp.  I’m just trying to take the advice I used to give my kids when they felt overwhelmed.  How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.  Yeah, they thought that was kind of dumb too.  Of course if it is as stringy as yak it’s going to be quite a job.