Dear Gautam, thankyou for taking us all the way to the top with you!

I can envision the pureness of untouched snow-scapes surrounding your view, for miles and miles.

I can envision the twining trails, roads seldom travelled by man's feet, and walls climbed by those daring to dream - to climb high!!

May the Universe conspire with us Gautam, for a clearing of weather, for perfect motion, as you glide across mountains; may your strength, energy and capacity for work; BE with you each step!

North
http://spiritsinmotion.blogspot.com/

Dear Gautum

It's so good to hear from you. Thanks for sharing your feelings and sensations about this mighty climbing challenge with us. I send best wishes for the health and safety of all the climbers on Everest, with continued special best wishes and prayers for you and your team.

love, Heather

Dear Gautam,
Sending you and your fellow climbers, loving best wishes for finding that which you seek. Thank you so much for keeping us posted.

At school, our class is having great excitment following the Peace Climbers. We have a map of the mountain, hand drawn, and it is displayed along with many photos and student drawings of the mountain, on a bulletin board in school for all to see.
We have a little arrow pointing at the point where you are currently at. The arrow will keep moving up as you do to.

The emphasis in class is to "work as a team and it will help us to reach peace"

Some of our students (5 & 6 year olds) were wondering...
how do you all bathe?
do you cook and using what?
if you are putting a flag at the top of the mountain, what material is it made from, would it freeze?

Here's a poem from the morning class, the one I emailed before was from the afternoon class...

Peace Means Everything To Me

Peace means taking care of the mountain
Sharing the food

It means not being jealous
of someone else having something

Peace means no fighting
Sharing everything

Being kind

Peace means… Being quiet
and
listening to God

Peace is harmony.

By: Mrs. Smith’s Montessori Kindergarten Class

~~~
Take Care Gautam.

In Spirit,
Cinda

Dear Cinda, you are an inspiration, as a teacher!! I am so thrilled, to see you help aspire your children to imagine what it is like to work as a team, to achieve a goal!

Please give my most best regards to the children; and tell them, we all climb high, when we climb together!!

The children's questions are pure joyful inquisitiveness!! Adorable questions, from adorable minds.

I hope Gautam can answer one or two, when he has time.

Climb High Gautam.. and fulfill your Destiny!

North

Dear Cinda,
I am enjoying following along with your class, as I am reading Gautam's posts. Thank you for sharing this experience through the eyes of your students.

Gautam,
Please be safe. Thank you for sharing the journey, and letting us see what you see.
My Love and prayers continue to go with you,
~ Kate

It is incredible isn't it North and Kate,
we are so thrilled in school!

I forgot to post a question from our class...how do they use the washroom? Kids are so practical!

Here's an update from the team leader, he was able to make contact with me to pass on a "Hi" to our class...Awsome!

~~~~~
Back to good old base camp!
May 6th, 2006

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday we had lots of fun: we had a nice stroll from ABC to BC – it was only a 15 mile hike through snow and high winds that descended almost 4000 vertical feet! A couple of people made it in less than 6 hours; however, for most people it was an 8 hour day of sweat, cold, and sore muscles. However, we all arrived safely and now we are at base camp resting for several days.

The idea is for everyone to relax and recover here at base camp (and yet still get a little bit of exercise). For at ABC (advanced base camp) – the elevation is so high: 6400 meters (21,000 feet), your body just deteriorates and healing is not possible. Even a simple cut won’t really heal up there. And so we are now here at base camp to recharge our batteries – to soak up that precious extra oxygen and to let our bodies mend as much as possible. However, keep in mind base camp is still over 17,000 feet and is definitely not as oasis by any means. It is still very cold, windy, and at times snowing. But compared to ABC it feels quite comfortable. Today was the first time I washed my hair in about 3 weeks! And me, Ali, Brad, Micha, and Tonya all got to shave various parts of our bodies that were in need of shaving! I am starting to feel human again…

Actually it is quite exciting for all of us have slept at the North Col (7000 meters – 23,000 feet) and we are all acclimatized and ready for the summit! And so the plan is to stay here at base camp for a few days and regain our strength and then wait for a “weather window”- a several day period of time where the weather looks good and the winds aren’t too high. It is literally impossible to summit Everest in bad winds as one can actually get blown off the mountain.

And so if the weather gods obey and the winds die down and it stops snowing then we could leave for the ABC in a few days, and then start our summit push. Conceivable we could be looking at a summit day of around May 15th – but that is pure guess work at this time. We should be getting an email weather update soon through our Panasonic Toughbook laptops and will know more soon. I will of course, keep you updated.

In the meantime, enjoy Tonya’s voice dispatch.

From Everest base camp,

Lance Trumbull

~~~
We continue to keep all the members of this inspiring team, in loving healing prayers.

In Spirit,
Cinda

The "Silent" Peace Climbers

About the Sherpa (Sharwa)
What does the term SHERPA mean?

A: Although westerners pronounce it "Sher-pa" the native Sherpa pronunciation is "Shar-wa."

Shar means "east" -- wa means "person" --- in Sherpa and Tibetan language.

In Tibetan script, the word "Shar-wa" is spelled like this.

The word "Sharwa" is also a relatively recent identifier. As the eminent Nepali anthropologist Dor Bahadur Bista remarks in his extensive descriptions of Nepal's many ethnic and tribal groups "Peoples of Nepal" (Ratna Pustak, Kathmandu, 1967):

"Through the course of time the name Sherpa has gained so much currency that it almost acts as a tribal name, and it does in fact define a specific group of people. Before Sherpas were so highly publicized by mountaineering expeditions they introduced themselves to other societies as "Shar Khombo" - i.e., the inhabitants of Shar-Khumbu. " (p.162)

http://www2.lucidcafe.com/Sherpa1/sfa/sSherFac.htm

Gautam: Clearly, you are achieving that state-of-mind known as "The Zone," and your body is adjusting in accordance with your mind--it is a treasure to have your team share this experience with us "flatlanders."

Cinda--your class' participation in this, Gautam's epic journey to the highest points in each continent, is magnifying the infectious fascination that Gautam & Co.s unique quest is providing for us all.

Your most-applicable educational bytes are fabulous--did you know that a few these Sherpas actually ascend Everest without ever needing to resort to oxygen supplements!

Thank you for yours and your class' contributions as well, Cinda. Dave

Dear Gautam, and Cinda,
thank you so much for sharing this adventure with us.

Gautam, up so high, that you share an experience that very few of us know about. Is it true that cuts don't heal up there?

I must be a real softie :-)
I like a warm bed, and moderate exercise. But you have certainly made me appreciate how important oxygen is. I think that I will just stay close to sea level for a while. LOL

Totally incredible, Cinda!!(applause, applause!)

I have created a hot air baloon and a castle in the sky

-click the blue north(smiles)

North

hi ! Gautam , hope all is well with you. Just read abut the change in weather in the everest region during the last coupe of months. Wonder if that would make a difference to your bid to summit. heres the BBC link for that article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4954546.stm for anyone interested

meanwhile will drink to your success so far.
cheers
manish

Great article, Manish, thankyou for posting it for all.

North