9:00 a.m. the Big Boss Russel Brice enters our mess tent followed by his Sirdar and our four Sherpas.  It’s the final meeting to organize the climb in the smallest details.  The moment of truth has arrived, the last possibility for and interval of good weather is considered by all to be from the 3^rd to the 6^th of June.  This has been one of the worst in fifteen years, considering that sup to today there hasn’t been an entire day of good weather and that only a courageous few have been able to climb to the summit with enormous difficulty and facing great risks.  I want to remind everyone that two men didn’t come back alive this year.  It was very important to take up this discussion, not so much among ourselves, but most of all with the Sherpas in order to clarify our project for the climb.  The four men who are working with us have proven quite worthy up to now.  We have little doubt about two of the them; they are experienced Sherpas who have performed various 8,000 meter climbs, including Everest.  There is no question about their strength and they represent an absolute guarantee.  Although Tenzig is inexperienced, he wanted to prove himself by climbing from C3 to 8,300 m. several times with ease.  He is a strong fellow and always has a smile on his face.  He became our friend from the very beginning, striving to share in our evening gatherings, drinking a little wine and communicating in faltering, but understandable, English.  The last Sherpa is little more than a boy but he is giving his all to show that he is equal to the task at hand;  he is discreet and shy, but I am sure that he will have an important role to play, if not for the summit at least he will be able to give us that indispensable help without which no Westerner could  think of climbing safely. 

At 10:00 a.m. Russel informs us that all of the strategies have been laid out in detail and, most importantly, understood by the Sherpas.  The only change that has been made is Bruno’s starting time: it seems that even in this interval of good weather there won’t be a perfect day and therefore it’s possible that in late morning the mountain will be enrobed in troublesome clouds that could also bring on brief precipitation.  It’s best to anticipate the starting time to 11 a.m. on June 3^rd so that he can be on the summit by around 9 a.m. on June 4^th: let’s keep our fingers crossed.   Tomorrow the first three components will set out signaling the start of the climbing phase that we have been waiting 38 days to begin.   The group at the base camp has been ready for action for some time and if on the one hand the long wait has been stressful for each one of us, on the other it has charged our determination to the maximum.  We find ourselves in the worst of the hypotheses that we considered.  We’re facing the fact that the only possibility for the climb is concentrated into two days of uncertain weather without the option of further attempts.  Nevertheless, I see that the group has absolute certainty about the feasibility of the endeavor.   In the last ten days no one has had the smallest doubt about Bruno’s possibilities, we are all firmly convinced that if the weather grants us a half a day of favorable conditions, he will not fail.  Our acclimation was done in the best way possible, all members of the group have overcome the necessary adaptations, above all psychological, that such a long and arduous journey involves.  On the day before the departure, it pleases me to still see a group of friends with clear ideas about the role that they play.  I am also pleased that we found a way to try to reconcile and accomplish two extremely difficult and important projects:  the first being Bruno’s record with the technical and rescue assistance necessary for an endeavor of this sort and the second being the possibility for each of us to attempt the summit with or without oxygen.   As expedition leader, it’s a first, great satisfaction for me to have been able, at least theoretically, to give feasibility to two projects even though the conditions have been less than ideal.  To have a champion like Bruno in extraordinary physical and mental conditions and a glorious team of men ready for action, strongly motivated and deeply convinced of the role that they must play is a second great certainty.  Now if we can just be granted a handful of hours of serene weather and little wind, I am certain of the great success of a group of friends from Valle d’Aosta who, almost in jest, thought of writing a page in the history of the highest mountain of the world.

Claudio Bastrentaz