Lynne, Noel and Peter’s expedition dates are 1st April – 6th June 2008. The team aim to arrive at Base Camp on 8th or 9th April and hope to be ready for a summit push from 14th / 15th May
Logistics:
Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth at 29,035 ft (8,850 meters), equivalent to 5.5 miles above sea level and 3965.75 miles from the centre of the earth.
Mount Everest rises a few millimetres each year due to geological forces.
The vertical distance from Base Camp to the summit is over two miles.
The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in High Asia, is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet, China.
Conditions for any area classified as a death zone (altitudes higher than 8,000 m or 26,246 ft) apply to Mount Everest however it is significantly more difficult for a climber to survive at the death zone on Mount Everest.
Temperatures can dip to very low levels resulting in frostbite of any body part exposed to the air. The low temperatures cause the snow to form ice sheets in certain areas and death by slipping and falling can occur. High winds also cause a huge threat to climbers.
The atmospheric pressure at the top of Everest means that there is about a third as much oxygen available to breathe as at sea level.
Lack of oxygen, extreme cold, exhaustion, injuries and the dangers of the climb, such as avalanches and crevasse falls, all contribute to the death toll.
Altitude sickness is a significant threat - High Altitude Cerebral Oedema (HACE) and High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema (HAPE) are both forms of altitude sickness which cause a potentially fatal build up of fluid in the brain or lungs.
Generally one in ten climbers die trying to scale Everest but even for those who make it to the top, there's a one-in-20 chance they won't survive the return to the bottom.
