The Giro in full cry

All are huddled in sleeping bags in advanced base camp on Everest while it is heating up in the 100th edition of the Giro d’Italia, also occurring in mountains at the minute. I have to confess I’ve never been a big fan of the race, not sure why exactly. There have been some great races these past few years, and who can forget the image of Andy Hampsten in a blizzard on the Gavia pass in 1988? Great interview of Andy here. Anyway, it’s an interesting race this year, with the boys, only at Stage 5 today, stomping up some pretty serious climbs. Amazingly Lance Armstrong was only 2:38 down from the winner Denis Menchov (Russia). Not too shabby for someone who has not raced in mountains in a couple of years, and is coming back from a broken collarbone and surgery from a crash in the Vuelta Castilla y Leon in Spain in March. Levi Leipheimer, he of eternal Tour of California dominance, is riding really well, and is in with a shot to win still.

Images ©:RCS Sport

mountain climbing on the road……brrrrrrr. Lots of guys gave up on this stage, but not Hampsten. One of the great stages in cycling history. Hampsten went on to win that year’s Giro (although he took second on the Gavia pass stage!), the only non-European to do so…so far. Maybe I need to watch more of the Giro

Very quiet on Everest

Not much going on on Everest but a whole lot of waiting for better weather it seems. Some people are packing it in and calling it a season, others are praying for  a later May summit. Alan Arnette reports that it appears to be a similar year to 2005 when there were late May summits. Man that’s a long time to be waiting around. I hope they can refresh their ipods with new tunes

Looks like David Tait was real smart to go for an early summit. He’s posted a nice report of his climb on his website. Great to read about the poo kits

Dave Hahn from the FirstAscent team provides the following update from yesterday, but no video since the 11th-guess it’s hard to send out a one minute video post of people huddled in sleeping bags.

“This was a great day for staying put. That said, it sounded like everything outside our little tents was moving around. The forecast called for snow and wind – the reality was exactly that. I was wide-awake at 5:40 a.m., listening to what sounded like a 20-minute train derailment: an avalanche pouring off Everest’s Southwest face. Several times I zipped down the tent door, only to see that we were still in the milky midst of the turbulent powder cloud thrown off by the slide. I knew the actual debris couldn’t possibly hit ABC – but it was a reminder to me that it wouldn’t be a day for wandering around. The decision had been made the night before that our expedition business would be put on hold. No Sherpas shuttling supplies or camera memory cards-no members going on upper mountain “hikes” in a whiteout.

My gang was due for an ABC rest day in any event, but lack of morning sun and abundant frost shaking from tent ceilings kept us all deep in our sleeping bags this morning. Pathetic as it may sound, we were too lazy to even get up and begin resting.

Once up and about, we were granted breaks in the cloud that allowed us to dry our gear and view the mayhem up on the heights. Huge ribbons of snow and cloud tore back and forth across the mountain faces and circled us. The Niagara Falls noise of it all eventually became accepted background to our head tunes and reading.

Not much thought was given to an Everest summit today. Our radio traffic with BC just confirmed that the rest of the team was wisely pushing back climbing plans. It can be difficult deciding whether marginal weather should dictate climbing plans. Thankfully, that is no longer a problem. Real Himalayan storms don’t invite calculation and outfoxing. Rather, it is an obvious time for patience, for rehydration, for resting and recharging,,,and the tying down of loose objects.”