IMG Everest Expedition Dispatch #16 April 30, 2008

IMG Leader Mark Tucker reports that most of the IMG climbers have now returned today (Nepal time) to Base Camp after the acclimatization rotation to Camp 2. Justin Merle and his guided team remain at C2 and will be down tomorrow.

After that, we are anticipating that Everest will be "shut down" for the next few days while the Chinese make their climb. Our Camp 2 sherpa staff has been permitted to stay at C2 to maintain this camp, but everyone else is supposed to be off the mountain.

Tucker reports that some of the IMG Sherpa team has now been released to make their well deserved run down the valley to their home villages--they will be back in a few days (this is an annual event which they look forward to). Meanwhile, a number of the sherpas have been held back at Base Camp to be ready to start working on the route to Camp 3 as soon as we get the green light. We'll keep you posted!

Eric Simonson