Tonya reached Camp 1 today (around 3pm local Nepal time, April 27th). Situated at 6,347 meters, it was slow going due to strong winds and fresh snow. Tomorrow the team plans to continue up to Camp 2 at 6,670m, before returning to ABC.
On a sad note, news is beginning to filter out about a climber who died close to the summit of Makalu on April 23rd. Tonya had mentioned this in an earlier text, but I was waiting until facts became more clear to write about it in this blog. It appears a Chinese climber reached the summit along with three other teammates and fell on his way back down the mountain. Below is a link to some further news on the accident. The climbers, who summitted quite early in the season, were from a different team....everyone on Tonya's team is safe.
Makalu Accident:
http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=21427
