Attrition

Last day at EBC (Everest Base Camp)  Of course by the time I can publish this I'll Be drinking beer at Namche Bazar abd the race will be over.  Today though has been eventful.  It was a rest day for acclimatization.  The only scheduled event was a moc-start for photos and such.  I didn't sleep well last night so by 5:30 I was too restless to remain in my sleeping bag so I got up and watched the Scottsman begin his ultramarathon from EBC to Kathmandu.  He's doing most of it unsupported and for charity.  That was at 06:00.  On the way back to the tent I took loads to photos of the Kumbu and base camp.  Not long after that the helicopters begin runs high up on Everest to recover bodies.  I don't know how many they recovered but their flying was impressive.  You can hear the rotors struggling to grab enough air to remain aloft.  Up they would go following the ice Fall before disappearing.  I thought that was it for the excitement until I learned two of our team were to be air-lifted to lower elevations.  Both had significant altitude issues: one pulmonary edema and one cerebral edema.  They should both be fine but had they remained another night at this altitude things could have been disastrous.   

Tomorrow is the event and I am much more confident that I was going into this.  Serious hikers share many skills with trail runners. A significant number of participants here are road runners.  I am pairing up with a Dutch Woman who is a good trail runner but whose GPS died.  She is also planning to do this as a fast trek, and since I have a better than average sense of direction (Mt Baldy in '03 aside) it should be  good paring.