Our special correspondent Chen Bolei and contributor Cao Zhikai report from Everest Base Camp
After days of poor weather, finally some good news from Everest！
Yesterday, Everest enjoyed a rare spell of fine weather. Around 2 pm, after four hours of trekking, the "four-member summit push team" of the Diayou Everest Expedition successfully arrived at Camp C2 at an altitude of 7,790 meters. Around 5 pm, our reporter unexpectedly got through to Deqing Ouzhu, a member of the summit team. Due to the inability to generate power above 7,790 meters, where phone batteries must be saved for emergencies, Dong Fan and Chen Chen, both from Wuhan, were not yet able to call home. They sent their regards to their families back in Wuhan through our newspaper.
If all goes well, the "four-member summit group," which includes two people from Wuhan, is expected to reach the summit around 9 am tomorrow — marking the first time that people from Wuhan will attempt to scale the world’s highest peak.
Thanks to divine blessing
Successfully passing the ice wall and the high wind corridor
“We’re all doing really well, overtaking others along the way, and we arrived at Camp C2 very smoothly!” said Deqing Ouzhu on the phone, sounding not the least bit tired. Meanwhile, Chen Chen, a girl from Wuhan, playfully shouted beside him, “Conserve electricity！Conserve electricity！” They sounded in extremely high spirits.
It turns out that both the Advance Base Camp at 6,500 meters and the North Col Camp at 7,028 meters on Everest are located in valleys where mobile signals cannot get through, and even satellite phone signals are sometimes intermittent. However, above 7,500 meters — at the Everest camps and even the summit — mobile signals are actually quite strong, but because there's no way to generate power, batteries become especially precious.
After arriving at Camp C2, the four team members took a brief rest in their tents and immediately reported back to Base Camp via walkie-talkie. Ciren Danda, another Tibetan member of the summit team, said yesterday was the best weather day since they started their Everest climb. They smoothly crossed the ice wall near the North Col Camp and passed through the high wind corridor at 7,500 meters — an area where the transport team had been repeatedly held up — overcoming two major challenges.
Summit push tomorrow
The first time people from Wuhan attempt to scale the world’s highest peak
While the summit team was successfully reaching Camp C2, good news also came from the five Tibetan guides tasked with transport: they set off in the early morning, not only completing the setup and transport to Camp C2 early, but also arriving at the 8,300-meter assault camp around 10 am and setting up tents. This provides strong support for the summit team’s attempt tomorrow.
It is understood that the Diayou team members waiting to summit Everest have been stationed at the 6,500-meter Advance Base Camp waiting for good weather. Forecasts indicated a favorable weather window from the 17th to the 19th of this month, so the four-member summit team set off the day before yesterday, spending the night first at the 7,028-meter North Col Camp, then arriving at the 7,790-meter Camp C2 yesterday. Today, they will advance toward the 8,300-meter assault camp and are expected to begin their final push toward the summit around 2 am tomorrow. Since many Everest tragedies occur during descent, team leader Zhiruo will also be in action today, leading other team members to stay at various camps to provide support.
Deqing Ouzhu told us that the stretch from 8,300 meters to the summit is the real test of life and willpower, as they will face yet another challenge — steep slopes and mixed-rock zones.