At 0600 this morning John Doyle reported from Camp 3 that the weather had improved considerably, the wind had died down, and that they had enjoyed a restful night. At 0800 John, Ady Cole, Nima Dhorje and Pemba Norbu set off for Camp 4 which they reached at 1400, despite the fact that for most of the way they were knee deep in snow and that higher up the fixed ropes had all been swept away by an avalanche. John and Nima went further on from the camp to fix about 100 metres of rope to allow easier access to the "Gangway" leading up to the summit ridge. The four of them are currently resting at the camp and will depart at 0200 local time (2115 UK time) for the summit. At Base Camp we have been burning Juniper on the altar and the Sherpas have been praying and chanting to bring good luck for the summit attempt.

Andy Hughes, Colin Scott and Dave Pearce moved up to Camp 2 today, they also had to contend with deep snow and Dave Pearce and Alan Hinkes, who is moving up with us, took turns at breaking trail. Andy, Colin and Dave will move up to Camp 3 at 0600 tomorrow ready to support John and Co. Alan has moved up to the Swiss Camp which is 250 metres above our Camp 2 but is in contact with us by radio and is standing by to lend us a hand tomorrow if needed.

The Indian Medical Officer, Doctor Vivek Mathur, a Senior Medical Officer with the Indo Tibet Border Police (I.T.B.P.) visited us at Base Camp this morning along with their Liaison Officer, Serap Jangpu Sherpa, who climbed Kangchenjunga last year and is off to Makalu as soon as the ITBP have finished here, and is then immediately off to another expedition on Shishapangma. Phew - what a season! The Indians reported that they intend to fix the entire 900 metres of the route from Camp 4 to the summit and will start back up the mountain on Sunday, in concert with the Koreans. The Indians held a special "summit puja" this morning and came down to our Base Camp to include us in that, which was very thoughtful of them and was very much appreciated by us.

Today's pictures show the Indian visitors (L-R Serap Jangbu Sherpa, M.C. Joshi (medic), Dr Vivek Mathur, S K Jackson) and one of the many avalanches close to Base Camp this afternoon (N.B. Base Camp is very well sited and protected and very safe from such avalanches).