I have been told I do not post enough Pictures, numerous times by my sister. I am going to post a few for you....

 Going through the Ice Fall

 Our Kitchen at Camp 2

 Hanging out at Camp 3

 Moving to through the Yellow Band

Summit Photo with a prayer from Lama Gaisha

Summit!!!

My team summited on May 23 at approximately 4:30 am. It was an amazing day up to the South Summit with very little wind. Once we hit the Southeast ridge the wind started to blow but it did not diminish our ambition or effort. My first client arrived on the summit at a blazing speed of 6:30 hours. The whole team averaged about 7:15 to the summit.

The team who summited consisted of:

Chris Klinke-expedition leader- USA
Angdu Sherpa-Nepal

Eric Meyer-expedition doctor- USA
Tashi Sherpa- Sirdar-Nepal

Brad Johnson--USA
Damai Chheeri Sherpa-Nepal

Farji Al Lithfi-Indonesia
Nima Kancha Sherpa-Nepal

Martin Rimbawan- Indonesia
Lhakpa Tshering Sherpa-Nepal

Piotr Ciesweski- Poland
Furtemba Sherpa
-Nepal
Torborn Hallstrom-Sweden
Mingma Chhiri Sherpa-Nepal

Shyam Bahadur Tamang-Nepal

It has been a great expedition season and an amazing team. It has been my pleasure to lead this amazing team to the roof of the world.

Chris Klinke
Everest BC

Summit!

Hello Everyone,

I heard from Chris at about 3am (EST).  He and the team were safely at Camp 4.  Everyone on the team, except for one, made it to the summit between 6am-7am on May 23rd!   Chris will send a longer update with details of the summit when they are down at basecamp!   Send safe thoughts for their decent!

Amy

Camp 4

Hello Everyone,  This is Chris's sister again, I heard from Chris this morning- they are safely at South Col (Camp 4). The weather patterns have shifted and the wind has picked up and its snowing.   They are going to wait 12 hours and rest to determine if they will go for the summit in the next 24 hours - its a balmy 14 degrees F, which is actually pretty warm for 26K ft- send safe thoughts!

 - Amy

Camp 3

Hello Everyone,

This is Chris's sister again, I just got a message from Chris that the team is safely up to Camp 3.   They are leaving tomorrow for South Col at 3am (Everest Time).  This is the last stop before they go for the summit!    Check out this map to get an idea of their progress!   Here is the link

Keep the safe thoughts coming!!

thanks,
Amy 

Camp 2

Hello Everyone,   

This is Amy, Chris's sister.  I just heard from Chris and he and his team made it safely through the Khumbu Ice Falls and they are up at Camp 2.   They are taking a rest day and then will head up to Camp 3.  The hope is to summit on May 22nd, which is May 21st in the US.  

keep the safe thoughts coming!!  

Amy

Summit Push is on

The waiting is over, the utterances have ceased, we are getting ready to head up for our summit bid tonight. The team will leave BC at about 2:30 am to head up to C2 to avoid the heat in the Western CWM. Last trip through the CWM had temperatures of around 95F. It simply melts a person. We will arrive in C2 and rest that day and the following, then move to C3 on the 20th of May. Assuming everyone in the team is doing well we leave C3 for C4 on the 21st and make our attempt on Everest on 22nd of May. Again, assumptions come into play. The four major factors we will be looking at are Weather (No significant change in the forecast),  Member's physical condition, and Sherpa physical condition, and the number of teams heading to the summit. If all those variables are in alignment we will depart C4 on the 21st at approx 9:30 pm and start heading up to the summit. If not we might hold at C2 or even C4. 

Chris Klinke

Everest Base Camp

Waiting Update

The terms and utterances continue to be the same. It is definitely getting a little boring in Base Camp. We have been watching movies every night, making cookies(No bake), and perfecting our latte' making skills. I know the summit window will be sometime between May 19 and May 25 but beyond that nothing concrete as we wait for the weather patterns to stabilize. 

Chris Klinke

Everest BC

For my Sister

The Waiting Game

Hi All,

It is May 9th and we have started that dreaded game called waiting. We have done our acclimatization, by sleeping at Camp 3. We have the sherpas working to carry loads to the South Col. Yesterday we had 9 loads carried to 8000m in preparation for our summit window. The rope fixing is progressing although at this time I cannot say how far up the mountain they have gotten in fixing lines to the summit. 

What we are really waiting for is the prime window of opportunity in which we can head to the summit safely. I have not often thought I would use the terms 'tropical depression in the Bay of Bengal is causing me concern,' but I have used that terminology several times in the last few days. Another term that has become overused in my vocabulary is "jet stream". What is the jet stream doing today? Where is the jet stream going to be in a week? How is the jet stream impacting the depression in the Bay of Bengal? These are all utterances I have indeed uttered in the past few days. 

Sadly, there is no clear answer yet on a summit day. There are summit plans, summit logistics, but no summit day at the moment. In the meantime I continue to utter inane phrases that have no real meaning outside of Everest Base Camp. What we do have is people who are being patient, hoping that the day comes soon that we can utter the phrase, "We are on the Summit", immediately followed by,  "We are safe in Base Camp and heading to Thailand."

That is a phrase I hope comes sooner rather then later. 

Chris Klinke

Everest Base Camp

Acclimitization does not have to be all serious

Hanging at C2

Moving through the Ice Fall

Sherpa Team

Summit of Lobuche

Moving through the ice fall to C1

Sherpa Team

Hello All,

I apologize for not updating more often or more frequently. This has been caused by two main issues. The first being that I have been technology impaired for most of the trip. The new Satellite Phone/Wi-Fi system I purchased to insure connectivity to the world has been a a big fail. The new Sat Phone was defective from purchase and therefore I have not been able to use it all on the trip. Hopefully the new sat phone will reach me before the trip ends. Second, being the leader of the trip I have been really busy. We have had an amazing trip so far. I will try and update you from Dingoboche which was the last post that actually got published.

The team has consisted of Six distinct groups.

1) Piotr, Bart (Poland) Martin, Farji (Indonesia), Tor (Sweden), are all going for Everest with Oxygen. We recently spent 5 nights (6 days) acclimatizing. We moved from BC to C1, C1 to C2, then did a day trip to the base of the Lhotse face as they were fixing line to C3. We took a rest day at C2 then went and spent a night at C3. It was a tough night as we were 3 to a tent, but the team did well and the next morning moved to C2. A few of us went down to BC to take advantage of a hot shower and some good food. The team then moved down to Pangboche to rest and recover. That is where I am writing this update.

2) Hari (USA) is going to attempt to climb Lhotse without O2 and he did the same schedule as the group above with the goal of spending an additional night at C3 after we departed C2. He made the decision to turn around due to the winds on the Lhotse face and descended back to C2. He then made a marathon effort to descend from C2 and catch up with us in Pangoboche.

3) Eric and Brad (USA) are both going to attempt Everest without O2 and they came up to C2 two days later then the rest of the team. They did make it to C3 to spend a night during the the high winds and descended yesterday to C2. They should be arriving in BC as I type this today.

4) We also have a research team with us from USA and Sweden. Markus (Sweden), Andrew(USA) left after having climbed Lobuche East (6100m) and spending a few days in BC. They are now safely ensconced in the USA. The remaining members of the research team, Susannah, Jacob, and Hari (USA) have been gathering data up and down BC from various teams. They are a part of a project called Triple E.d. Everyday decision making in Extreme Environments. Jacob and Susannah are acting as Base Camp Managers and doing a great job in that role, while Hari is attempting to summit Lhotse.

5) Jerry Sisk(USA), summited Lobuche East and was going to try and go through the ice fall with us, but decided it was not something he wanted to do. He wanted to be able to spend time with his son when he arrived at Lobuche a few days later.

6) Michael, Brad, and Bryna (USA) arrived in Everest BC approximately April 21st and spent a few days before descending back to Lobuche BC and then summiting on April 25. They then joined Jerry and flew back out to KTM.

As I mentioned earlier, it has been a busy trip and full of different schedules and agendas.

The team is doing really well and our acclimitization is nearing completion. We are targeting a summit window sometime between May 17- May 23 if everything goes well with weather and health. The lines have been fixed above the yellow band at this point and  we are waiting for the winds to die down to get to the fixed lines to the summit. Once that occurs I will have a better idea of how we will manage the various summit attempts to ensure maximum safety for all members and sherpas.

We are not entering the hardest part of the expedition, the waiting period.

Thank you all for your support.

Climb Hard, Climb High, Come Home,

Chris Klinke
Pangboche, Nepal

Update from Dingoboche

We are doing a rest day here at Dingoboche at approximately 4400m. The team is doing well and having the normal challenges moving up to altitude. Tomorrow we move up to our Base Camp at Lobuche at approx 4900m. Then we will rest for a day then start moving up Lobuche as long as the weather holds steady.

Piotr and Ewelina face booking from Dingoboche.

Waiting for Flight

After the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu, everyone was excited to actually start the journey to Base Camp. Unfortunately, the weather is not with us and we are patiently awaiting departure at the domestic terminal.

Kathmandu-Everest 2013

Hi All,

The team will start arriving in Kathmandu over the next few days. I arrived yesterday to lack of the normal cacophony of sound. It was Holi (yes i think that is the correct spelling) day which entails everyone running around throwing water and color pigments at each other. The streets were relatively empty of traffic and all the shops were closed.

This Expedition we have 5 Americans, 2 Polish, 2 Indonesian, and Swede climbing either Lhotse or Everest. We also have a team of researchers trekking into Base Camp from both UMEA university in Sweden and Stanford. Their study is called Triple E. D., its focus is on Everyday Decision making in Extreme Environments. I will let them explain their thesis at some point in the expedition.

We have a strong Sherpa Team from Rolwaling Excursions. I have the pleasure of climbing with several former teammates and i know it will be a good season on Everest this year.

Climb Hard, Climb High, Come Home

Chris