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Staff Reporter WITH the early morning light the intrepid Majorcan mountaineers started their attempt to climb Mount Everest. The Sherpas carried up all the necessary equipment to set up Camp Y yesterday.

The four mountaineers of this Majorcan expedition, have been sponsored by Group Serra, the Council of Majorca, Sa Nostra bank and the power company Gesa-Endesa.

The mountaineers, Jopela, Oli and “the two Tolos” will spend tonight at Camp Y, which is at a height of 6'000 metres on the Khumbu Pass. The next stage will be to climb to 6'600 metres tomorrow morning, where they will set up Camp II.

During the next month and a half the quartet will get used to retracing their steps up and down this part of the climb, in order to prepare their bodies for the physical conditions that the rest of the climb demands.

When a climber is above 5'500 metres the demands on the body are greater and all energy needs to be saved. At these heights the lungs expell a greater quantity of carbon dioxide and the liver gets rid of more water, which all leads to dehydration.

In this way the Sherpas play a key role, as they free the climbers of excess weight that they have to carry, between 40 and 50 kilos for each climber. Freed from this weight they will find it easier to climb up Everest.

The team inspected their equipment yesterday (ropes, climbing tools etc..), as any equipment problems during the climb could mean the difference between life and death.

During this time all nerves are on tenterhooks. As usual they held their discussions about the climb and at times all were not in agreement. They did not all agree on the amount of food that they had to carry up to the high camps.

As is natural on the onset of a momentous occasion, any small thing can be turned into something huge.
Up until today, the Majorcan group have been using a laptop and a modem via satellite to communicate with the Bulletin and Ultima Hora. Without this equipment the stories, progress and pictures would not have reached the island. There have been many problems in sending these emails, due to the lack of communication networks.