It is impossible to eat enough food to counter this slow death since the body cannot process the food not to mention almost all climbers simply do not feel like eating. And of course there is less available oxygen for the body to consume. All in all not a place for humans to hang out!

So in this context, Himex, using their experience and weather forecast, played the game and won with reports of four summits on the north side early Sunday morning with the next summit wave predicted for Monday morning. The first clients to summit for a commercial expediton this season. Their latest dispatch notes "perfect weather". Meanwhile in a dispatch dated Sunday the 14th 2:00PM Everest time, Project Himalaya reports from ABC on the north "... Today the mountain is enveloped in cloud with a lot of high winds. Lots of teams are rallying for attempts in what seems to be another short window starting right now. We are not quite in position to try ..." The difference in weather observations is probably related to the time of day as well as their locations on the Hill. But suffice it to say, the conditions are "variable".

To summarize the situation on the north, Himex has summited safely one team and is going for round two probably right now. Several other teams are at the North Col and will climb to the high camps for summit bids later this week, probably Thursday or Friday. This includes Everest Peace Project (EPP), Rob and James, Blair and Tomas - who will ski down. Finally Adventure Peaks, Project Himalaya and others are at Chinese Base Camp and will probably leave for the North Col soon.

An interesting audio dispatch is from the Everest Peace Project, a multi-national team attempting the summit on the north. The team takes turns making some brief comments before they leave for the North Col and hopefully a summit attempt this week. Worth a listen.

Let's see what is happening on the south side. Progress has been a little slower than on the north this year, similar to last year when weather was a strong inhibitor to fixing lines to the South Col. But this year, it seems that teams are taking their time and have not pushed as hard - a good thing in my view! By setting aggressive schedules, the brunt of the work falls on the Sherpas to carry loads, fix ropes and break trail often with short turn around times preventing sufficient rest breaks- even for the strong Sherpas.

IMG is at C2 today thus a summit bid mid week- weather permitting. Adventure Consultants are at C1 on their way to an end of the week summit bid. AAI leaves for their bid tomorrow, Monday.

In anticipation of teams climbing to the South Col this week, let's take a look at the climb above C3 and onto the South Col. As I have said before the terrain starts out fairly steep from C3. Most climbers are on supplemental oxygen and leave their tents after sunrise. It can be extremely cold before the sun moves over Lhotse and if the winds are the least bit strong, it is miserable. But as soon as the sun hits, and there are no clouds, then it can become horribly hot. Many climbers are in their full down suits trying to minimize the weight in their packs.

After about an hour they approach the Yellow Band,a strip of limestone that cuts through the Himalayas in this area. They leave snow and climb on smooth rocks at a 30 to 45 degree angle. This is only for about 100 - 300 feet depending on the route but it takes concentration. A jam usually occurs in this area if several teams are going for the summit on the same day. Once clear of the Band, it flattens out until the bottom of the ridge defining the South Col. This is actually on the Geneva Spur. Climbers are a little weary at this point more from the altitude than anything else so when they see 150' of 60 degree rock, ice and snow, it causes a long pause. But it is actually easier than it looks. From all the traffic, there are decent steps but also the uneven rock allows for good foot placement.

Topping the ridge, climbers follow a rocky "path" worn by other climbers and soon step on the South Col proper - an area the size of a football field with ten or twenty or thirty tents huddled together on the west end. But most climber notice the tents second - after they see the actual summit pyramid of Mount Everest for the first time. All the pictures, all the movies, all the stories do not prepare you for this sight ... and tonight they are going to climb!

http://www.alanarnette.com