Day 13 - A Sunday at EBC

This morning everybody's alarm when off at 6:45am. It was the sound of what the first appeared to be a very loud jet engine. As I was rousted out of sleep, I realized it was actually the sound of a very large and nearby avalanche! I quickly poked my head out of the tent and saw the aftermath of a big avalanche that was coming down the Nupse ridge to the right of the Khumbu Ice Fall. No danger to anyone it was quite a sight. Had I been able to view the entire event it likely would have been the largest avalanche I've ever seen. Avalanches are a way of life around here. The night before last I counted no fewer than 5 avalanche sounds. It's pretty cool as long as no one is in harms way - which is the norm.

Today was even more laid back than yesterday. I spent most of the morning taking some pictures and hanging out and reading. 11am to 1pm the climbing team had a meeting and when through their climbing gear. After a lunch of salmon cakes, more hanging out and when the team started their ladder training, I set to work setting up the new cellular booster than had just arrived. Unfortunately after we got it all set up it proved to be as ineffective as the other one. Major bummer; this means no low cost 3G network connection. The team will be limited to a once a day BGAN satellite sent/receive of email. It also means that I will have to upload my dispatched via my sat phone and receiving email will be next to impossible. Hey what do you want? We are at Mount Everest Base Camp!!

Amazing diner of miso soup, peanut noodles, and... SUSHI! It was awesome. We are eating well. After diner Garrett set up the pico projector an we watched most of "Fargo" until the batteries in the laptop died.

It my tent now at 9:30pm with my big puffy down jacket on and my legs in my -40 degree down bag. Gloves are off to type and my finger tips are starting to get numb. Just took some nice long exposure photos of the lights in the many tents and the unbelievable stars. I will post one tomorrow.

Gotta go before frostbite sets in on the fingers. (just kidding).