Avalanche

Hey all-
Bill & Team are safe. Most teams headed up to the North Col today, but Bill and Julio had decided not to, because they felt bad weather was rolling in. Well unfortnunately it did, and Everest took it's first life. Bill didn't know much of the details and it was not anyone he knew, including Jordan and team. I feel fortunate it wasn't Bill's team, but sad for the family and friends of that person. Bill said he is back at Base Camp and will be there for the next four days. (I am not quite sure I understand that). Please keep the comments coming,because Bill hopes to have the sim card in the next few days. Thanks
Susan Fisher

Update:

As I understand from what I can gather via news reports, the weather is pretty bad on the North Side right now. When Bill called early this morning, I could hear the winds howling through the phone. I believe that is why they are all back down at Base Camp. According to other news reports it seems that is where most teams are. I don't know if this will interrupt his summit bid or not. As for the climbers, one person has died, and two others were injured. Sad, sad news. Bill's blog was also featured as the "blog of the day" on Alan Arnette's website. Check it out http://www.alanarnette.com/news/2010/04/25/the-realities-of-everest/
Susan Fisher

Jordan Romero & an update from Bill..finally!!!!

Ok so I thought this was interesting. I got an email from Team Jordan this morning, it seems Bill met them at ABC. The funny thing though, when I asked Bill if he had met Jordan Romero the other night he said "Who the hell is Jordan Romero?". I told him, glad I did, because that team has much better access to internet. Well Bill met them, and it was nice of them to tell me he is doing well. Team Jordan said they sent pictures, instead they sent Bill's latest blog which is more interesting. Here it is, posted as I got it.


ADVANCED BASE CAMP
So I had made it!!!!!!!!! As I stand here staring at the North Col and the summit of Everest the realization of being here hit a whole new level. So did the realization that this is one of the worst places to try and live 20,500 feet. Non pressurized aircraft aren’t allowed to fly this high and we are living here. Everyone I talked to hates ABC and I was so looking forward to being here. Little did I know. I can’t tell you what I had for the first nights dinner or any dinner after that. Every meal starts with soup and ends with mangos. My brain kept telling my stomach it was hungry but after the first two bites I just didn’t want to eat anything. Now you know this clearly isn’t my type of place. For the first 5 days it snowed along with high winds. My blog is short here because my mind isn’t functioning the same. We also have had some mishaps. Both of our generators have broken so we don’t have any power. Apparently we have the wrong Sim card for our phone so we can’t make any calls or go on the internet. We have made several friends here at camp so we have been able to broker some power and phone time. I say broker because at 20,500 feet nothing comes cheap. Like $6 a minute kind of stuff. What is nice is that I am not sick or have a cough. Everyone here is sick with some kind of sinus infection. At night you can always tell the new crews coming in because there is usually someone who is throwing up due to the altitude. There is an entire chorus of coughs around me all night long. As for the temperature, it hovers around zero to 5 degrees till the sun comes up. The winds bring it well below zero. We have had on and off winds in the 20-50mph range each day. Yes it sucks here but you are here for one purpose only and that is to acclimatize so you can get to higher levels. So I write to you as I am freezing my ass off, missing everyone from home especially my wife and wondering why the hell I am here. I told you it isn’t any fun on the way up. So where are we now on our schedule. We have been here for 5 crappy days and will be leaving to climb the North Col tomorrow. It will be nice to get off of my arse and do something although I have no energy to do anything. I forgot to mention the headaches that come and go every day. Can someone ship me a gun please. I have told you all that I believe climbing is 80% mental and 20% physical. Well I am being taught first hand the mental side of Everest is brutal. I already hate being here and we haven’t even stepped on the damn mountain. Even worse, what stands in front of me is 8,500 vertical feet of snow, rock and ice. I’ll write something a little more pleasant next time. More later.

North Col

Heard from Bill Thursday night, and he was doing well, but feeling the cold. His nice new friends "The Spaniards" had loaned him a satellite phone to talk to me. We had a bit more time on the phone this go around, which was fantastic. Good news, Lhapka Ghelu got their generator working well enough so that they have light at night. They still won't have access to their own satellite phone for at least another day or so. Bill says he has been reading Sherlock Holmes on the Kindle (thanks to my sister-in-law!) each night, tentatively sticking out one hand to move the screen and shivering from just having that hand exposed. Bill said the team trekked up to the North Col and were going to have two days of rest at ABC before settling in for an overnight stay at Camp 1. Since it is Saturday, they should be heading up there over the next couple of hours. Bill said they plan to trek up to Camp 2 next week, and both he and Julio are doing well on the climb. The Japanese climber went back to Base Camp and took his sherpa with him, so the team is now Bill, Julio and their two Sherpas. I told him again about all of the well-wishes. Hopefully soon, Bill will be able to get online and give his own updates.
Susan Fisher

GPS Location

From Julio-This is the latest GPS location.

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=28.02392,86.93123&ll=28.02392,86.93123&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Julio's Blog

I just got the blog site address for Bill's teammate Julio. It is
http://2010chomolungmaexpedition.blogspot.com/

There is a GPS link from a few days ago, and some additional information regarding their progress and climb, from Julio's wife, Maribel. Bill and I only talked for 3 minutes last night, since it is so expensive to make these calls. I forgot to add that he sounded well, and was very excited to move on to the North Col. I'll try to get as much information in the future as possible, but I think the best policy is to read both blogs that way you'll have information from me and Maribel.

Advanced Base Camp

Just heard from Bill, although it was a very quick call since he was on a borrowed satellite phone. They are at Advanced Base Camp, and will be trekking to the North Col in the next two days. Unfortunately, their generator blew, and they won't have any access to any means of communication, or Internet. I'll continue to update the blog as I hear from Bill each time.
Thanks
Susan Fisher

Base Camp

Bill and Team have been at Base Camp for the past four days. They will be heading to Interim camp tomorrow. He sounds good, and has had some pretty bad headaches, but is finally getting used to the high altitude. He said his appetite hasn't altered a bit, which is not much of a surprise. If you know Bill, he likes to eat. He's says the best thing about base camp is their fantastic chef, who has been feeding them great food. Bill hopes to have more access to the internet via the satellite phone once he is at Advanced Base Camp (ABC). He had to borrow a Satellite phone in order to call me tonight. The team plans to move to ABC by April 25th, and we can look forward again to Bill's insight about life on Everest. Bill's teammate, Julio, has a GPS tracker, which he will be setting up. As soon as he does that, we will be able to follow Bill and Julio's progress up the mountain via an internet link. I read all of your comments to Bill tonight and he is thankful for them all. The remarks and well wishes keep him motivated, so please keep them coming. Oh and I didn't dare tell him about the Sharks loss tonight! Thanks all for following his progress ...Susan Fisher