Summits Scheduled for May 13!
With a good weather window now predicted for the upcoming week, teams are "scheduling" a summit for this Saturday - May 13. On the north, HImex is looking at 2 teams attempting the summit on Saturday then Sunday. Mark Inglis, the double amputee, will be part of the Sunday team along with his camera crew. To see a picture of his prosthetic leg, click here. I am very impressed by this person.
Over on the south, base camp must be deserted with several teams now lower in
the Khumbu for a few days of "recovery" before their summit bids. AAI is
in Deboche, Adventure Consultants is in Pheriche. But the winner is this high altitude
limbo contest is Mountain Link who returned to Katmandu!!! The theory of this deep
descent is that your body will never really recover and rejuvenate at the 17,500
base camp altitude. So by spending a few nights at a lower altitude, say 15,000'
your body will regenerate itself, start to heal cuts and bruises with increased blood
flow and, of course, generate massive amounts of red blood cells which are the key
to bringing oxygen to muscles. This approach is a variation of climb high, sleep
low - the fundamental theory behind acclimization. 
The other item this demonstrates is the difference between a standard commercial expedition where climbers pay upwards of $45,000 and a pure custom expedition with a rich Texas oilman who paid $400,000! See this article for the details.
The route has been in on the north for about two weeks now and on the south it is up to the South Col. Fi Adler reports on the Sherpa traffic as she and Paul returned from a successful night at C3 "... On the climb down we met over a hundred Sherpas on their way up. As of yesterday, the lines to Camp 4 (The South Col) are now fixed so all the teams are now doing massive load carries to C4 - setting up camps and getting their stocks of oxygen cylinders in place. IMG alone moved 40 oxygen cylinders to camp 4 today. This made the climb down a little cumbersome at times - every time you meet another climber, one of you has to unclip from the rope and reclip on the other side of the climber." With their current schedule, we can expect to see them going for the summit around the night of May 16 or 17 - weather and health depending.
On the very difficult West Ridge route, tha British Army hasreached the ridge itself and established their Camp. Once again, if you have not visited their website, take a look - it is absolutely one of the best ever for covering an Everest expedition. Also, the writing is not bad either as shown here by climber Shaun Phillips "..All your romantic thoughts about climbing big mountains go out the window when you are stuck on a 50/60 degree slope trying to haul 40lbs plus of equipment up in near white out conditions, minus 20s and howling winds. Your only thoughts are how many more steps you have to do before you can stop for a rest..."
Bloody Hell!
