Before I get into my update, I wanted to thank everyone for all their prayers and support over these past couple weeks. I may not respond to many of the comments some of you have posted, but I am definitely reading them all and sharing them with Brian. It really means a lot.

So on to my update….

At last we have reached Everest Base Camp! It took us approximately 80 miles of trekking and day hikes to get here. Some of our Sherpa met us at the edge of EBC and brought us tea and juice for our last break before we arrived at our camp. To give you some perspective of how big EBC is, it took us about 30 minutes to walk from the lower part of EBC to our camp at the upper end of EBC. EBC is very big and spread out – there are many teams here. We have a great view of the Khumbu ice fall from our camp, but we cannot see Everest.

The medical tent is nearby so we don’t have to walk far if anyone has any major issues. A couple people on our team have already received a medical consult since we arrived. Many of us are still trying to shake whatever sickness we have. Issues range from sniffles, a nasty cough or digestive issues (never a fun one). Some of us, including myself, are on antibiotics. Luckily, one of our team members is an ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor) so he has been helping us all along the way.

Each climber and guide has their own tent, there are three bathroom tents (two for going number 2 and one for the girls to have some privacy squatting over rocks to go number 1), a cook tent, a dining tent, a hangout tent (for hanging out, stretching, watching movies, etc.) and a shower tent. There are various other tents for Sherpa, gear and supplies as well. The food here has been great so far – a lot of variety and delicious.

The sun hits our tents at 7:45am every morning. It is usually bright, sunny and warm in the morning so that’s when we try to do all our charging at the charging station and get showers. The clouds typically roll in after lunch and for the last two nights it has snowed overnight. When the sun goes away, it gets pretty darn chilly at camp. However, when the sun is shining, our tent can get over 100F inside. Crazy temperature swings.

Since arriving on Tuesday, we have been resting and acclimatizing to our new home and altitude. We watched our first movie last night in the hangout tent – The Big Lebowski. We were all snuggled in our -40F sleeping bags lined up in a row. Today was our first base camp shower so everyone is feeling great. Some in our group are already getting antsy because of all the relaxing and sitting around, but this is the process of climbing Everest. Our bodies are already working hard to be at this altitude, so the best thing we can do is let our bodies recover from our sicknesses and get prepared for the climbing phase.

Our Puja ceremony will not occur until sometime next week and then we will begin our first rotation up the mountain shortly after. So, stay tuned for additional updates in the coming days. Signing off for now.