News: Five Sixes -- Climbers at Camps 5 and 6
Eric Simonson - Basecamp
Tue, April 24, 2001 9:00PM

Eric Simonson's Expedition Logs:

April 20
Sherpas rest at BC and ABC. Andy, Dave, Tap rest at ABC. Trekkers to ABC and back to Camp 2. Two sherpas carry to Col to check on camp. JR to IC.

April 21
Dave, Tap, Andy and Kami sherpa team move to Col. Jake, Brent (and JR) to ABC. Panuru and team to ABC.

April 22
Dave, Tap, Andy and Kami sherpa team rest at Col due to bad weather.

April 23
Dave, Tap, Andy move to C5. Kami and team carry to C5 (two sherpas fix to C6) and descend to ABC. Panuru and team to Col.

April 24
Dave, Tap, Andy climb to C6 and search. Panuru and his team carry to C6. Brent and Jake move to Col.

April 25
Dave, Tap, Andy continue to search near Camp 6. Panuru and his team descend to ABC. Kami and his team move to Col. Brent and Jake stay at Col.

Five Sixes:

On April 24 we got another good weather day and were in position to take advantage of it. Dave, Tap, and Andy had spent the previous night at Camp 5. We had eleven Sherpas, led by Panuru, at the Col in position to climb. Everyone was up before dawn, and when we saw that the weather looked reasonable, they all started getting ready. Dave, Tap, and Andy left Camp 5 at 6am and Panuru and his team left the Col at 6:30, going light, with their intention to pick up gear previously dumped at Camp 5 and carry it into Camp 6 in support of our three search team members. Despite strong and cold wind on the North Ridge below Camp 5, the Sherpas continued to push up.

Meanwhile, Dave, Tap, and Andy pushed towards Camp 6, arriving there at about 11:30am. After a short break, they were ready to start searching. While they searched during the afternoon, the Sherpas slowly dribbled into the Camp, some arriving as early as noon, others not arriving until nearly 4pm. They were able to get a couple tents pitched and the camp stocked, giving Dave, Tap, and Andy the freedom to keep doing their business during the afternoon. All total the Sherpas carried into Camp 6: 4 tents, 17 gas cylinders, 300m fixed rope, 3 pot-sets, 3 sleeping bags, 3 pads and 12 O2 bottles. It was a very productive afternoon for the search team.

Jochen and Eric (at Base Camp) were able to follow their progress clearly using Jochen's telescope (Meade ETX90 Maksutov-Cassegrain with up to 180x magnification). Among other things, they found five different Camp 6's (if you count their own as one of them). These included the 1924 Camp 6, the 1960 low Camp 6, the 1960 high Camp 6, and the 1975 low Camp 6. It is some pretty interesting archeology!!!! Jochen Hemmleb will be writing a separate dispatch which explains the significance of these sites. Today (April 25) the team remains at Camp 6, after spending the night there (on oxygen), doing some follow up work.

Eric Simonson, Expedition Leader

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