Tuesday 16th May 2000 - Kangchenjunga Base Camp

Today the two summit teams moved up one camp apiece, although Aleck Burrell decided to descend after two extremely uncomfortable nights on the mountain had left him in no condition to go for the summit. On this, his very first Himalayan expedition, Aleck has reached a personal height record of 7,200 metres / 23,616 feet and has more than justified his involvement.

Ian Venables and Co will leave Camp 4 at 0100 tomorrow for their summit bid and will be followed 24 hrs later by the "DHL" team. The weather is satisfactory, indeed the light on the mountain tonight is spectacular, both teams are in fine fettle and have been inspired by our early success. They will certainly not fail for lack of effort.

Unfortunately the Swiss Guide Andre George failed in his bid to reach the summit yesterday at about 7600 metres as a result of deep snow. The Indians and Koreans are also mounting a summit bid this week, making maximum use of the full moon on the 18th, although they remain intent on using oxygen and fixing the entire route from Camp 4 to the summit.

One thing that has emerged since his return to Base Camp is that Ady Cole is suffering from mild, superficial frostbite to both his hands and feet. This will be in part due to the severe dehydration he suffered on the gruelling 20 hour summit day and the fact that the temperature was around -37C. Fortunately Dr Andy Hughes is very experienced in dealing with such cases and Ady is receiving treatment under Andy's close personal supervision as can be seen on one of today's pictures.