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News from 06 May 2003

Our team - the new film stars?

Waiting for good weather in the basecamp can become quite boring with time. Fortunately, today the team is visited by Bavarian Television - now it's time for action, for superb film shots of Bavarian TV and with the camera of the team for TeleM1 and our slide show. Soon they go for a stroll over Khumbu glacier. Of course, cameraman Sepp Wörmann doesn't want some harmless pictures, it must be about the deepest crevasse one can imagine, to be crossed on three connected ladders. For four solid hours they go to and fro, life is hard being a TV star. But it was a great experience that was a lot of fun for eveybody. And a nice change in base camp life.

At the moment it is still stormy. The scheduled interview with Weltwoche could not take place. The satellite phone was once again not operating. It took until evening for the team to re-establish the contact to the rest of the world.

Tom Zwahlen counted at the phone what doesn't work any more or is defective: film camera, battery charger for the satellite phone, alle except one (fortunately!) computer, several tent poles, one tent, mattresses, and a lot of small stuff. Tom's voice is also not the best at the moment. But the good news: Everybody is ok, and all the breakdowns can somehow be bridged or replaced. That's the main point. For sure they haven't lost the fun, the laughter in the background during the phone call could hardly be missed.

Now they simply have to face the big waiting for the weather window which, according to the statistics, usually opens between May 10 and May 25. Then the strong jet winds at 8000 m altitude should calm down, and climbing Mount Everest will become possible.

The French, South African, and Indian teams get ready to start and will leave base camp tomorrow towards the summit. Our team planned to go on May 10 - but this will be decided during the next days, depending on how the weather evolves.