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Report from Base Campby Audrey Salkeld April 28, 1996 At last! The sun. Yesterday our team was able to move up to Camp 3, and to film. They had a calm night although it is very windy up there this morning. Still, the important thing from an acclimatization point of view is to be there, so they will begin their descent tomorrow morning and be back in Base Camp probably the next day. We are all looking forward to that as they have been away for over a week now. We have laid in beer and promised them a party. Now, almost all of the expeditions seem on the move. Several climbers set out through the Icefall last night, preferring starlit climbing to the heat of the day. Stars here are so bright, you throw a shadow even when the moon is slender. And from 5 o'clock onwards this morning there has been a steady crunch of footsteps as more folk launched themselves upwards. 
The last few days have seen a build up in avalanches as large slices of serac(a pinacle of ice left standing among the crevasses of a glacier)
break free of the upper slopes, mostly from the end of Nuptse. Roaring like
thunder, they sluice down the rocky buttresses and send snowblasts charging
down the Khumbu glacier like steam trains. Yesterday afternoon there was a
worrying discharge from the West Ridge of Everest that pushed its snow blast
right across the start of the Western Cwm from one side to the other. Luckily,
no one was in its path at the time.
Audrey Salkeld of Clevedon, England is one of the world's premier Everest historians and photo researchers. Her photo editing credits include Everest: The Ultimate Book of the Ultimate Mountain and Everest: The Best Writing and Pictures from Seventy Years of Human Endeavour. She is currently with the expedition at Base Camp. May 27, 1996: Interview with David Breashears May 24, 1996: They Made It! (Update) May 20, 1996: They Made It! May 16, 1996: Emergency on Everest May 10, 1996: Taiwanese Victim May 9, 1996 May 5, 1996 May 2, 1996: Team Returns to Base Camp April 26, 1996 April 25, 1996 April 21, 1996 April 19, 1996 Lost on Everest | High Exposure | Climb | History & Culture | Earth, Wind, & Ice E-mail | Previous Expeditions | Resources | Site Map | Everest Home Editor's Picks | Previous Sites | Join Us/E-mail | TV/Web Schedule About NOVA | Teachers | Site Map | Shop | Jobs | Search | To print PBS Online | NOVA Online | WGBH © | Updated November 2000 |
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