The team is all here in Base Camp now. We are enjoying Base Camp life and spend our days visiting friends in camp,enjoying hot showers and unlimited WiFi internet, eating sushi… it’s all good!

We have been going over the details of our next rotation up the hill. We’re planning to stay for 6-7 days the next time up and get up to Camp 3 at 24,000 ft. It is always a difficult and exciting trip up high. After this next go around, we will be ready to summit sometime around the third week of May.

It’s amazing how many groups are planning to try to summit far earlier. Especially when there are no fixed lines into even C4 yet…  These early windows tend to be shorter, colder, arguably more dangerous, and potentially more volatile than you typically see after the third week of May.  An Everest climb is a big trip, and it seems strange to me to see climbers not being a little patient and waiting for some good, solid, warmer and more consistent weather.

We are hoping many groups summit early as that could help us by having fewer people on our summit day. Our forecasts are looking like higher winds are coming back to the mountain, with the jet stream close to Everest for awhile now. This effectively shuts down any early May summit windows. Well, it is a perfect afternoon here in Base Camp. Hi to all back home!

-Scott Woolums, Everest Base Camp

Everest Base Camp 3

Everest Base Camp 1

Everest Base Camp 2