Blogs From The Top Of The World...

There's no escape from blogging and bloggers these days, so we suppose it shouldn't really come as a surprise that the latest high profile blog is coming direct from Mount Everest.

Lorenzo Gariano , who's day job is watering plants, is one of hundreds of climbers attempting the mountain during the 50th anniversary of the first ascent, but he's going to be beaming 'live audio blogs' by satellite phone to the Open University's Knowledge Media Institute, (KMI), based in Milton Keynes.

The blogs appear as an audio feed on the KMI web site and are incredibly clear. You can access Lorenzo's audio weblog here. Apparently there's been a big serac collapse in the Khumbu ice fall. Ouch.

More information from this BBC news story - thanks to OM member Mark Phillips for the tip off.

Internet Caff Operating Too...

The much-heralded basecamp internet cafe is up and running too. The facility apparently has four laptops set up in a tent on the glacier at 17,700 feet and uses a satellite planted on firm ground about 1500 feet higher to communicate.

Power comes from solar panels and web access is available at a dollar per minute. Would you pay a dollar per minute to read this? More details from this Outside Online story.

Or if you want the details from the yeti's mouth, check out Tsering Gyaltsen's own web site 'Linking Everest' with loads of stuff about the erm, virtual yetis.