Everest K2- WEBLOG
This file will be updated as soon as reports are received from the climbing team. The writer, Carolyn Moreau, is traveling with the team and producing these written updates.

Monday April 5, 6:30 a.m.
Katmandu turned on a party for the Connecticut Everest Expedition last night.
Lhakpa Sherpa is very famous here, for being the first Nepali woman to climb Everest. Her return to Nepal, along with the Connecticut Everest Expedition, was an occasion for a big press conference and a party afterwards.

"We may not be the best Everest expedition, but we are the best-connected,'' laughed Climber Chuck Boyd, as he helped himself to a plate of curry at the party. As well as local print and television reporters, there were local politicians, business people and officials from the Chinese Embassy.

We leave today for Tibet, racing to beat the strike which starts Tuesday. Team members are mostly unconcerned about the dangers of Maoists on the road to the border.

"I don't think Asian Treking or Nepali officials would allow us to go if it was really dangerous,'' said Climber Bill Driggs.

Even so, I will be glad when we are safely across the border in Tibet. Katmandu has become a very tense city in recent days, with street demonstrations and fighting. The night before last, two bombs exploded close to our hotel, rattling the windows and our nerves.

This may be the last dispatch I file for a few days, because the satellite modem and computer should probably remain hidden while we are traveling to base camp. I'm writing this at day break, sitting on a roof top overlooking Katmandu. It's time to go finish packing for the journey.