News release: 12 May, Runway repairs

We have about 400 m of strip. We have 'improved' about 250m, by which time both Angelo and I should be airborne. The remaining 150 m at the far end of the strip is the part in best condition and is plenty of space to stop in an emergency. We will try a couple of flights tomorrow.

Check out the weather reports on this site. It looks as though we might have a short window of opportunity for an attempt on Everest in four of five days time, winds forecast are 10 - 15 m/s which is within our limits, and the humidity looks good (high humidity = lots of cloud). Angelo has been speaking with his contact at North side base camp and apparently their asessment of the forecast is similar to ours and climbers are beginning to ascend to Advance base camp with a view to summiting around the 16 or 17th. This particuar weather window is not a big one, the jetstream only briefly dips to the North so our timing will have to be right.

This evening I tried out our Gamow bag. This is a very simple device which has saved numerous people's lives when threatened with altitude related conditions such as AMS or Acute Mountain Sickness. All it is is a cylinder made out of the same sort of stuff as an inflatable boat, but with a sort of leakproof zip. Put the patient inside and pump the foot pump and the apparent altitude inside the bag will decrease the more you pump. With a vario inside I was taken down 500 metres in a matter of seconds, Oscar, our Doctor didn't think it wise for me to go down any more, but we proved it works. Some people would undoubtedly find it rather claustrophobic, the two 'windows', if they can be called that are tiny, but an incredibly simple device for saving lives.