Strange beauty

Gulf oil spill at sunset.

Image: NY Times - Richard perry

Everest - Camp 3 - 24,000 feet - 7 Summits for CAF

Paul, Denise & Co. are resting and re-oxgenating at Camp 2 21, 500, after return from Camp 3 - 24,000 - a successful climb of the Lhotse face.  The Sherpas have already delivered 48 canisters of oxygen to Camp 4, where they will be used for the summit assault.


Paul says 
"We're back at C2 after a long and difficult assault of the Lhotse Face yesterday! We reached our goal of getting to Camp 3 at 24,000 feet, which also marks the highest altitude we have ever climbed, surpassing the reach of all of the other Seven Summits including Mt. Aconcagua in the Andes. All of us would quickly agree that climbing such steep terrain at this level, or trying to do much of anything (without supplemental oxygen as we were doing) is agonizingly HARD! We did manage to snap this quick photo as we collapsed (with our jumars still attached to the fixed lines) just before reaching the tents at C3. Just beyond us in the photo is the "Yellow Band" and the "Geneva Spur" which we will be required to cross en route to C4 and the South Col."
Paul's  full report is here