April 23rd - was a nice day to start with.  We had our breakfast and got ready to start our hike.  We hiked up to Pumori high camp, which is located atabout 5800m. At this altitude, we enjoyed the views of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse and North Cole. The sky was clear and shiny.  After a brief stay and lots of snapshopts, we started heading down.  The rest of the day was uneventful.  After dinner, we had compost from dried apricots from Mersin.  After dinner, everybody left the dining tent for an early sleep.

April 24th – We woke up at 4:00 A.M. in the morning and got ready for the day.  After having breakfast, we headed to the Ice Fall.  It was a clear day with no breeze. Shortly after, the sky was lighted.  I was with my Sherpa, Dawa Tenzing. We put our crampons on and gradually pursued our ascent.  As we climbed up, we saw that some bridges and fixed ropes were destroyed due to movements of the ice blocks. When we got to the top of Ice Fall it got very shiny and warm.  In about an hour, we reached Camp 1 and had a brief rest.   We picked up some cached items.We continued our climb up in the valley; passing through numerous crevasses, enjoying the views of the mountains on both sides.  As we got higher, we witnessed two avalanches on the Everest and the Nuptse sides.  At this altitude, breathlessness slows our movements to a great extent.  But, nevertheless, we reached Camp 2 at about 2:00P.M., located at 6500m. My Sherpa was very helpful and cooperative, all the way through. We were very exhausted and crashed ourselves into our tents.  We left our tents for dinner.  After dinner, everybody went back to their tents. Also, we met our friend Dick at camp.

April 25th - We stayed at Camp 2 for further acclimatization.  The day was uneventful. We saw many new climbers passing by and Sherpas climbing and fixing the Lhotse face.

April 26th- We had our breakfast got ready to get back to Base Camp.  My Sherpa and I left the camp at 9:30 A.M.  and headed down. We arrived at Camp 1 in one hour. After a short break, we got to the top of Ice Fall.  We saw thatthe trails and fixed ropes have been destroyed by large ice blocks from a recent avalanche. We managed to find our way down through the ice blocks and got further down.  With the help of fixed ropes and ladders over crevasses, we were able to get down to the EBC. While still on the Ice Fall, we were greeted by a Kami Sherpa from the base camp with a kettle of fruit juice which as very meaningful.  It was about 1:30 P.M. when we got to the camp. The rest of the day was spent resting and having dinner.

April 27th- the day started with breakfast at 8:30 A.M. It was vey warm, clear and shiny. After breakfast, some of us did laundry and shave. The rest of the day, we had lunch and played card games. Dick joined us for card games.  He was doing well and he attributed that to sitting in my lucky chair.
HuseyinEmreTuncel, MD