Pemba and I were woken up around 6 AM by the sound of a jet flying above us. We looked out of our tents to see a Chinese fighter circling Everest. It was not far above the summit as it tightly circled the mountain. Later the fighter flew wider and wider circles around the mountain. This was the first time we have seen any aircraft in the area except for a few rescue helicopters and the military helicopter flights to base camp.

Pemba and I got up around 7 AM. We had breakfast and packed things up in our tents. At this point we basically go down with empty packs since all of our gear up at camp two will be needed higher up on the mountain. We headed down at around 8:30 AM.

There were many Sherpa’s going down, but most of the climbers / clients seemed to be staying at camp two and camp one. That made the descent to base camp quicker. We were back at base camp at 11:30 AM.

The afternoon was spent playing cards – Chet finally lost at 500!