Getting started
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We got in Kathmandu on March 15 and then we spent five days in Kathmandu, not only finalizing--organizing all the gear and local food and produce--but we also had filming to do, some scenes that were important for the movie as far as buying local produce, you know, things that are going to work for the movie.

And then just meeting the team and getting to know everybody. And then I believe on the 20th of March we then flew via helicopter to Lukla, which is a village at about 7,000 feet. And from there, that's where the trek started to base camp.

And so we slowly worked our way up. We probably went a little slower than the average trek group because we spent two or three days in several villages along the way, filming more scenes, again as part of the movie.

But that worked out well because it helped everyone to acclimatize. And sure enough, people do get a little bit of illness on the way in, whether it's GI [gastrointestinal] problems or respiratory problems. It gave people time to acclimate to the altitude and also get over their little bugs as far as colds and stomach problems went.

Facing deep snow
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And as we got higher we realized that there was a lot of snow up higher in the valley. We heard reports that there was a lot of deep snow [in the] upper valley because this time of year it is usually fairly dry, but there was a lot of late-winter snows. And so yaks weren't able to get to base camp, so we had to employ porters.

So I went ahead of the group a couple of days and then rounded up; we had about 30 or 40 porters carrying our final loads. We had over 200 loads into base camp. And these porters were taking advantage of the fact that yaks couldn't get to base camp and so they were really working hard and carrying double loads, meaning they were carrying 130 pounds in two stages, meaning they would carry two day's worth of loads in one day.

And so they really had a heyday as far as getting all the gear to base camp, but it really expedited things. And sure enough, as soon as we got to base camp then the route was opened just by the fact that the snow had melted and a lot of traffic had occurred and so yaks were then able to get to base camp (17,600 feet).

Base camp and beyond
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When I first got to base camp here around March 30th and then the rest of the team was here about April 4. But since that time we've had a lot of good loads go up the mountain. We have 12 climbing Sherpa. And I've been to Camp II [21,350 feet] twice now through the icefall and I'm going again tomorrow to carry another load to Camp I [19,700 feet]. And the icefall itself is in really, really good shape. I've been on this side of the mountain four times and it's as safe as I've ever seen it. So we're quite happy with that.

The expedition is going quite well, and the filming is going quite well, and we all feel quite good about what's going on.

Snow and the icefall
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Well, I think all the snow has actually helped on the upper part of the mountain. Icefall is very good, and I'm sure the upper part of the mountain, rather than being bare rock and bare ice, is going to be snow-covered, somewhat making it less technical climbing. The icefall itself, normally there [are] big blocks, house-size ice blocks all over the place in jumbled areas. Some areas we call ... the popcorn section simply because it's this huge area that you're jumping through blocks and climbing through blocks and all that. But this year that isn't present. And there's maybe one area where there is any danger of anything collapsing on top of you. So in those aspects, I think the snow on the mountain has helped a lot. And then the icefall itself, it just changes from year to year, and this year it happens to be very relatively safe compared to other years.

And if you're fit and acclimatized you can get up and through the icefall in anywhere from two and a half to five hours, depending on how fast you go. But you don't want to stop at any point in the icefall. You just want to keep moving all the way to Camp I, which is at about 20,000 feet and here at base camp we're at about 17,000 feet.

Base camp is getting busy
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Oh yeah, there's a lot of expeditions here. I think there's going to be a total of ten or so or 13 expeditions here. There's another American group, there's a British group, there's a Taiwanese group, there's a group from New Zealand, there's a Yugoslavian team. I mean I could go on and on and on. You could point to any map of the world and that team is probably here. So they're all here and the icefall was fixed by a British group lead by Mal Duff and they had the icefall fixed in mid-March.

We're a little bit ahead of the game since we have a relatively small climbing team--only six climbers--but we have anywhere from 12 to 15 Sherpas helping to carry loads up the mountain where some of the other teams have a lot more climbers versus Sherpas. So their Sherpa teams ... have to work a lot harder just to get the same amount of loads up the mountain that we do in one punch. So we're a little bit ahead of the game and we hope to get up on the mountain soon to be ready to go to the summit probably by May 8 or 10, somewhere in there.

Scott Fischer arrives
They all arrived here yesterday. Scott is a good friend of mine. They are going to hang out a few days and acclimatize and just do a little bit of ice climbing before they head up to Camp I. It's necessary to hang out for a few days. We've seen Scott and we've seen Sandy [Pittman], and so they are here and they are all safe and sound also.

Carlos Carsolio
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Carlos is over on Manaslu. He and his brother are climbing Manaslu, and I am on his permit. But my plan--along with Scott Fischer and a climber from Finland, Venka Gustafson who is here also climbing Everest, and Rob Hall from New Zealand, who is here also climbing Everest--the four of us after our Everest trip plan on going over to Manaslu and climbing Manaslu as a foursome. But by that time, I'm assuming Carlos will be done with his expedition, even though we're on his permit. But hopefully he'll be well on his way home and having summitted Manaslu by the time we get there.

Manaslu in May
My plan is to climb Everest first and then if there is enough time--hopefully if we summit Everest by early May there will be two or three weeks of good weather before the monsoon comes--then we'll go very quickly to Manaslu, probably flying out of Kathmandu with a helicopter to a village and then have another day of walking to get to base camp of Manaslu and then trying to do a four-day alpine-style ascent of Manaslu. Being acclimatized from Everest, we can climb pretty much as fast as we're able to. We don't have to worry about the detrimental effects of the altitude. It's just our physical fitness at that point and our motivation that's going to make or break whether we get to the summit or not.