Waiting in Camp 2

Photos from below the Lhotse Face this morning.

We are seeing some seriously high winds on Everest right now. They are actually some of the strongest winds I have seen. We can hear the jet stream just above us ripping at the summit right now. We had plans to move up to C3 today, and onto the South Col on the 21st, but so much for that! The whole upper mountain is being raked by winds of 50 to 100 mph.

We went for a short walk this morning with hopes the winds could drop, but only 1 hour out of camp it became quite clear that we were only going for a short hike and not to the top of Everest this time. Everything looks better for the 23rd now so that's our new focus. Our forecast models are looking like the Cyclone will bring moisture to the Everest region around the 24 and 25th now. So we'll take another rest day in Camp 2 playing cards, listening to the wind and getting ready for tomorrow.

Quite a few people moved to Camp 3 today and we counted over 50. With the winds having definitely increased, our guess is that some, if not most, will change their plans and come down today. Camp 3 is currently disappearing in huge waves of blowing snow that stretch from the South Col all the way across the Lhotse Face to Lhotse Summit. It is very impressive to see, but not anything we'd choose to be in!

Scott Woolums reporting from Camp 2, 21,500ft., Everest.