Update from basecamp: There has been some bad weather at BC for the past week and high winds are forecast on the mountain for the next few days. The Sherpa team that is fixing the rope on the route has only reached the south col (C4). It is not expected that the route will be pushed to the summit for a few days. Almost all the teams in BC are waiting for this to happen so that they can plan their summit attempts, but with the monsoon approaching it looks likely that there will be a mad rush up the mountain sometime between May 18 and 24th. It is looking increasingly unlikely that everyone will get the summit window they prefer and we hope there are no accidents.
Our remaining climbing Sherpa – Karma – has decided that he will not be summiting this year. We are happy to hear this, as it means he will be safe. He is packing up his stuff at BC and should be on his way down tomorrow. This leaves Pasang and her Sherpa guide Dendi as the only climbers left at our BC. Pasang still feels its worth waiting a little longer. We’ll stay in touch with her and update the blog if we hear more.
Today Hugo finally got to visit Nima in hospital in Kathmandu. Nima looked good and fairly healthy lying in his hospital bed and Hugo was encouraged until he looked at Nima’s x-rays. Nima had multiple fractured vertebrate that have now been pinned together with enormous metal rods. This was the first time we had heard that he had suffered a serious back injury, although the doctors say that another month in the hospital followed by 2 – 3 months of re-hab at home and Nima will be better than he was before! Best wishes to Nima and his family for a full recovery.