Scott Hamilton Friday, May 14 Everest Base Camp, Nepal

Intense snowfall began during the night and has continued throughout the day. In the middle of the night everyone awoke to a horrific roar of an avalanche cascading down the ice and snow bound Lho La pass adjacent to Base Camp, dusting all the tents with an extra dose of wind driven snow. Clouds envelop our Camp as snow continues to fall, creating an eerie "moonscape" of tents, rocks, and prayer flags with occasional glimpses of the surrounding Himalayan Peaks. The climbing team is thankful to be back at Base Camp today. A number of climbers have attempted the summit of Everest over the past few days and the E-3 medical clinic is beginning to see the damage that occurs to many of those who dare attempt to reach the highest point on our planet. So far today our Ophthalmologist, Dr. Jenny Grin, has treated a female climber for snowblindness. Dr. Ken Kamler treated a Sherpa for pneumonia, as well as an Irish climber for severe frostbite. Ken carefully rewarmed and bandaged the affected digits, and arrangements have been made for a helicopter evacuation of the climber tomorrow morning. The climber is expected to lose part of his thumb. Unconfirmed rumors are circulating throughout Base Camp of a climber on another expedition being overdue and presumed dead. Everest is known as Sagarmartha in Nepal, which translates to "Goddess Mother of the World". It is a mountain of many moods, and little mercy. Dr. Chris Macedonia and Dr. Javier Davila continued their research work today, utilizing the Cytometrics camera which utilizes a microcamera and proprietary light source to transmissively illuminate capillaries (the smallest blood vessels) actually allowing researchers to see individual blood cells in the circulatory system. Dr. Davila also utilized the OLYMPUS digital microscope to analyze thin smears of blood samples from E-3 members, using standard and giemsa stains in order to check for excess red blood cell production as a response to the hypoxic environment of Everest Base Camp. This evening, during our daily medical rounds with the Yale School of Medicine, these digital images will be presented to a number of specialists for further consultation and evaluation. Late this evening (Nepal time) and approximately 2pm EST on Friday the 14th in the USA, Dr. Chris Macedonia will broadcast live from Everest Base Camp, on the National Public Radio Network (540 stations) to talk about the E-3 project and the future of Telemedicine.

Scott Hamilton