Scott Hamilton Thursday, May 20 Lobuche, Nepal

The Mother of all avalanches cascaded down from near the summit of Pumori early in the morning. The E-3 team watched a massive block of blue ice break off from near the summit and descend with an intense thunder-like roar as it gathered momentum, crashing down the side of the mountain and stopping about a mile short of Everest Base Camp. The avalanche was massive enough that it dusted our camp with wind and snow. The previous day E-3 member Robert Hyman had crossed the avalanche path to retrieve a radio relay device from Pumori Base Camp. If anyone had been climbing the standard route on Pumori (fortunately nobody was) they would have become a climbing statistic almost instantly.

Post avalanche, the E-3 team spent the entire morning dismantling or camp in a wild scene of expedition members, camp staff, porters and yaks. Clearly our departure from Base Camp was the event of the day, and many members of other expeditions stopped by to bid the E-3 team farewell. By mid-morning the E-3 team was back on the trail, for the long trek across the Khumbu Glacier, its lateral moraine, and eventually back on solid ground. The team trekked from Base Camp to Gorak Shep ("dead crow") then continued onward in a driving afternoon snowstorm to Lobuche. Later in the evening the clouds descended upon our camp, creating a fog like atmosphere at our elevation of approximately 16,500'. After dark our headlamps cut eerie cones of light in the moisture laden atmosphere, with visibility limited to less than 100'. As temperatures dropped, all our tents and equipment became covered with ice.

While only 1,000' feet below the elevation of Everest Base Camp, the E-3 team is pleased to have spent its first night in almost two weeks sleeping on solid ground, as opposed to ice at Base Camp. The entire day of 5/21 is dedicated to additional high altitude medical research activities at Lobuche, before continuing our descent to Deboche and the land that lives below the clouds.

Scott Hamilton