Makalu seen from the South Summit of Everest at 8750m
When I returned home from Everest and Nepal in June, I honestly believed that I’d find it quite easy to assimilate back into the ‘real world’. I thought I’d return to normality pretty quickly. How wrong I was! I had been warned of course by those that know these things, yet I never, ever, imagined just how hard it would be to leave this mountain behind and to move on. Climbing Everest is an experience like no other. So far removed is it from our everyday existence that it takes time for everything to sink in, for the mind and body to recover and grow strong again.
Everest changes people. New friendships, new lessons, new perspectives on life. You learn a great deal about yourself. It is an extraordinary journey of discovery. It’s been said that ‘the man who has been to the mountains is never the same again. That other summit - the summit of the mind - is no less formidable and no easier to climb’. How true. Nothing can compare to the feelings of sheer awe and wonder as you enter the Western Cwm, or ascend out of the darkness of night and into the rays of dawn lighting the upper ridges of the mountain. Such memories are seared into the very fabric of my being and will stay with me forever.
Yes, the heartache of coming so close to the summit of my dreams is still there. The raw emotion still palpable. Yet as the old saying goes, ‘it’s better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all’. I remember, as my sight began to blur, trying to see through the haze the mesmerising curve of the Earth. But as Everest climber Ellen Miller once so beautifully put it, ‘what I glimpsed instead was perhaps the curve of my own soul’.
‘Tujeche Chomolungma’. Thankyou Everest.
South Summit 8750m with true summit behind
‘Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory’ is the mantra long used by Ed Viesturs ever since he began his epic quest to climb all fourteen 8000m peaks. On 19th May I myself abided by that very mantra when, semi blind with frozen corneas and struggling with an iced up oxygen mask, (it was -40c), I decided to turn around at the Hillary Step, heartbreakingly close to the summit. It was a frustrating, but simple, decision to make. I was still feeling strong and could easily have reached the top, but stumbling around on the summit ridge was just not an option. The irony is that Ed Viesturs was actually on the summit at the time! Valerie also turned around at the Hillary Step with frostbite and low oxygen. In one, utterly surreal moment, Phil (who had just been to the summit), myself, Valerie, and our sherpa Tarke, all sat together on a tiny ledge at the Hillary Step with 10,000ft drops either side and held a remarkably lucid discussion about our situation for 20 odd minutes! Although serious at the time, it’s pretty funny looking back now at how Phil was attempting to count on his fingers how many hours of oxygen Valerie had used and failing miserably - that’s hypoxia for you!
Yes, of course it’s disappointing not to summit, but that disappointment is more for my sponsors, family and friends than myself. I could have pushed on, but at what risk? The Tibetan and Sherpa people believe the summits of the highest mountains to be sacred places. To them, Everest is known as Chomolungma - Goddess Mother of the Earth - and even today, despite the considerable financial incentive, some sherpas refuse to climb to the summit and instead remain at the lower South Summit. For me Everest has been a journey, a pilgrimage even, and I have always believed that this great mountain should be climbed with due deference and respect - which is more than can be said for most people here I can tell you. I’d like to think then, that in stopping short of the summit, I have in some small way honored the traditional belief that it is indeed a sacred place.
A huge thank you to my sponsor Control Risks, and in particular the CEO Richard Fenning, for their incredible support, without which this expedition would simply not have been possible. Thank you too, to all my friends and family and those who have donated so generously in my effort to raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research UK. Finally, many congratulations to my patron Sir Ranulph Fiennes who in successfully reaching the summit of Everest on 21st May entered the history books yet again! A true inspiration. Bravo Sir, bravo!
Namaste!
Safe at Camp 2. Sorry folks so close but no summit. I turned around at the Hillary Step after problems with my eyes, not good at 8800m!
Resting at the South Col
Camp 4 - South Col (7950m). Too windy today, hopefully try to summit tomorrow.
Camp 3 (7200m). How cool is it to be on a summit push at the same time as the legendary Ed Viesturs? Damn cool i’ll tell you!
Camp 2 (6400m) - Thankfully no dramas in the Icefall this time!
Namaste!
Ok, here we go! The latest weather forecast is looking good. A big weather
window has opened and in the next day or so we’ll be heading back up to Camp
2 (6400m). If the weather holds then we’ll go for the summit! I’ll endeavor
to keep my blog up to date on our progress (via satellite phone) but this
might become more difficult the higher we go!
From Camp 3 (7200m) on the Lhotse Face we will each be climbing with a
personal sherpa and I’m privileged to be with Pasang Gombu, a great guy
who’s incredibly strong and has summitted Everest from both the north and
south.
Pasang was one of the sherpas who trekked in with us. Above Camp 3 we will
also be using supplementary oxygen.
The big day then, has nearly arrived. Yes, the fear, the anxiety, the
apprehension, is building in us all. But so too is the excitement, the
expectation, the drive and the determination to face the great challenge
that lies ahead - to reach the summit of Everest, and stand atop the highest
mountain on Earth.
Please don’t forget that I’m climbing in aid of Cancer Research UK, so
please do sponsor me if you can. www.climb4life.co.uk
Wish us well!
Ian
Namaste,
In an earlier post I likened going through the Icefall to a game of Snakes &
Ladders. Some might now say it’s more akin to a game of Russian Roulette,
but that’s perhaps rather too extreme. Either way, it’s proved a risky place
to be this year.More than a few have now left the fray rather than face the
dragon’s lair. However, the problem is not so much the Icefall per se,
rather a huge hanging serac (ice cliff) high on the western shoulder of
Everest - a massive wall that encloses the Icefall to it’s left. The serac
has become unstable, with great chunks periodically breaking away in a
monstrous avalanche of snow and ice which crashes down across the Icefall.
Early on there had been concern expressed by some that the route through the
Icefall strayed to far to the left, and into this dangerous zone. It seems
those concerns were well founded.
On 7th May our team headed up into the Icefall for what we hoped would be
the last time.A small weather window had opened and we were on a summit
push. A summit day of 10th May looked good. We were making steady progress
when, at about 4am, we heard the distinctive ‘crack’ from the western
shoulder that has previously heralded an avalanche. The thunderous roar that
followed only confirmed our fears, and we knew that we were very much in the
wrong place at the wrong time. It was also pitch black and we couldn’t see a
damn thing. I was with Phil, Valerie and Pasang Tendi, and Joe, Pam and Dawa
were a short way behind. We sheltered as best we could behind some biggish
blocks of ice and waited for the inevitable. Would we be swept down the
Icefall and buried? Would it simply just go over our heads? We didn’t know.
The icy blast from the shockwave - forced ahead by the sheer velocity and
momentum of the avalanche - slammed into us with a surprising amount of
power. It was as if we had suddenly opened a door and stepped out into the
most ferocious of blizzards.It took your breath away, literally, but we
tried hard not to suck in too much of the suffocating mixture of cold air
and snow. Half a minute or so later it was over. The whirlwind had stopped
and all was calm and silent again, save our own coughing and spluttering.
The main avalanche had missed us. We had survived.
The seven of us, now resembling snowmen, continued upwards, a little shaken
but generally none the worse for our ordeal. We topped out of the Icefall
just as the sun began to rise and we were bathed in some much needed
warmth. After briefly stopping at Camp 1, we began the long slog up the
Western Cwm to Camp 2. A short while later we passed by the Indian Team who
were descending, as were a Dutch/Canadian woman, Bernice, and her sherpa,
Lhakpa. Bernice had previously visited us at Base Camp, so Valerie and I
stopped and had a quick chat. She wished us well for our possible summit
attempt and continued her descent towards the Icefall, whilst we pushed on
up the Cwm. Not long after our arrival at Camp 2 we learnt that another,
much larger, avalanche had come down off of the west shoulder and that
Bernice, her climbing partner Walter, and Lhakpa had been caught in
it’s path. Bernice and Walter were swept into a crevasse where they remained
lodged upside down, but remarkably uninjured. They were quickly rescued by
members of the Indian Team, who had themselves been partially caught in the
avalanche. Tragically, Lhakpa was swept away and couldn’t be found,
seemingly buried amongst the debris.
It soon became obvious that the May 10th summit day was starting to look
marginal at best. The weather updates being relayed to us were not very
favorable, with high winds forecast for higher up on the mountain. We were
also being warned that a storm front was heading our way. All in all it was
clear that the small weather window we had been chasing had now well and
truly closed. We decided to wait one more day, but on 9th May we made our
second tactical retreat from Camp 2. As we nervously made our way back down
through the Icefall we could clearly see the area devastated by the
avalanche. The route had become a jumbled mess, and twisted remnants of
ladders were dangling beside the new. A single boot and a rucksack lay
forlornly in the debris strewn below. We moved as quickly as possible,
conscious of the danger that still lurked ominously above, and finally
arrived into Base Camp just as the forewarned storm began to roll in.
Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Lhakpa’s family and friends.
Ok, we’re all safely back down at Base Camp. Will write a longer update once i’ve got my breath back, so to speak!
Holding at Camp 2. Weather/wind speed forecasts keep changing. Maybe we go on a summit push, maybe we go down!
Namaste!
On Saturday (2nd May) we had our leisurely breakfast dramatically
interrupted by a huge avalanche crashing down from the west shoulder of
Everest. A great billowing cloud swept across the whole width of the Icefall
and enveloped us down here at Base Camp. One section of the route through
the Icefall collapsed, stranding quite a number of climbers and sherpas just
above it. Mercifully, there was nobody in the collapsed section at the time.
The Icefall Doctors were quickly on scene with new ladders and managed to
re-establish a way through. It would have been a pretty frightening
experience for those caught up in the Icefall, and we’ve all made a mental
note not to descend through the Icefall at that time in the morning,
especially as another avalanche came down in the same place again today
(Monday)!
Ian
Namaste!
For the last few days we have been primarily resting and enjoying Sarki’s
amazing cooking. I doubt anyone in Base Camp is feasting better than us! In
fact, I doubt anyone has a better Base Camp set-up full stop and all credit
must go to Phil for that. We are situated at the upper end of Base Camp,
nearest the Icefall, and are fairly isolated from the rest of the ‘zoo’
lower down. We have had very few visitors and we’re too far away for
trekkers to reach, which although sounds a little anti-social is actually no
bad thing as it is generally a quiet and easy place to relax. We are a small
team and this has allowed us to focus on doing our own thing, rather than
worry about what anyone else is up to. It has also given us great
flexibility on the mountain and an ability to quickly adapt our plans
according to the weather etc. All in all, it has meant that we are now in
great shape for our summit bid.
However, two tropical storms (one near the Philippines, the other near
Bangladesh) are currently causing some concern as these can adversely affect
the weather systems here on Everest. High winds have been forecast for when
we were expecting to be at Camp 3 on our summit push, not good at all, so we
are currently holding down here at Base Camp to see how the weather pans out
over the next couple of days. It’s obviously quite frustrating, but Everest
is a waiting game and we have to be patient. We will probably head off and
climb up Camp 1 (6000m) on neighboring Pumori tomorrow, Tuesday, just to
stretch our legs.
Hopefully I’ll be able to update you soon with regards our summit plans!
Bye for now,
Ian
Namaste!
Apologies once again for the delay in posting my dispatches. Alas, we still
have a few power/charging/communication issues - basically Phil writes the
Altitude Junkies dispatch and then everything goes dead!
So, here’s a catch-up of the last few days……
Wednesday 22nd April - Base Camp to Camp 2 (6400m)
Another bracing am start saw us enter the jaws of the Khumbu Icefall for the
second time in as many days. This time, however, the route through was
clear, the Icefall Doctors having done a great job of bypassing the previous
day’s collapse. Even so, we witnessed a further two serac falls along the
way, which were big and scary and rather too close for comfort. A brief stop
at Camp 1 saw us continue on our journey upwards, as this time we were
heading direct to Camp 2 - an Advanced Base Camp (ABC) of sorts with a
smaller kitchen and mess tent set up - situated in the upper Western Cwm. It
proved to be a long, relentless, trail, which meandered its way from Camp 1.
To make matters worse, at about half-way you can see Camp 2 shimmering in
the distance like some desert mirage! I was following Temba, one of our
accompanying Sherpas, when I happened to look up to my right and was
horrified to see a large avalanche careering down off of Nuptse towards us.
I quickly pointed this out to Temba who replied with an encouraging ‘Oh
s**t’! We both instinctively ran, but this was more akin to headless
chickens than anything else and we soon realized that this would serve
little purpose. Instead we stood and giggled nervously as we watched the
avalanche billow into a huge cloud of powder snow that stopped harmlessly
short of where we were. Valerie, who had been tailing us a little way
behind, found our antics most amusing! We plodded on, merciful for the
breeze that took away some of the intense heat radiating from the Western
Cwm, and after a punishing 9hrs from leaving Base Camp we finally staggered
into Camp 2!
Thursday/Friday 23rd/24th April - Camp 2 (6400m)
These were officially declared ’snow days’ and we just spent our time
resting and watching the ‘crazy Koreans’ attempting to forge a new route on
Everest’s South West Face. The altitude really starts to kick in here and
most of us were feeling pretty lethargic. On the Friday, as I was
contemplating whether I could muster the energy to clean my teeth, I saw one
of our sherpas, Pasang Gombu, arrive having just carried over 25kgs of
oxygen and other supplies direct from Base Camp - extraordinary and deeply
humbling.
Saturday 25th April - Camp 3 (approx 7200m)!
Today we made the steep ascent up the bullet hard blue ice of the fearsome
Lhotse Face and tagged Camp 3! It was wild and windy, despite the blue skies
and sunshine. As yet there were also no tents, for such is the precariously
exposed position of Camp 3 that they would simply be blown away long before
we came to use them. Instead, they will be placed a day ahead during our
summit bid. Some teams choose to sleep at Camp 3 for one or two nights
acclimatization, but I agree with Phil that this can often prove
counter-productive so miserable is a night at this altitude. We stopped
briefly to survey the next stage of the route ahead, a diagonal traverse
across to the Yellow Band and the formidable barrier of the Geneva Spur,
before reaching the iconic South Col (Camp 4) at 7,950m - gateway to
Everest’s summit pyramid. It was all tantalizingly close! As we descended to
Camp 2 the weather began to deteriorate further, and by nightfall the
blustery winds had strengthened into a full-on howling gale. For the next
12hrs Camp 2 was battered beyond belief - I’ve never experienced winds like
it - yet somehow the camp as a whole stayed remarkably in tact. Well,
mostly! Our own domed Mountain Hardwear mess tent was destroyed, unable to
withstand constant buffeting against it, though perhaps it was not so
surprising given its age and patchwork condition! Phil was hoping it would
last one more expedition but it wasn’t to be! Other teams had a number of
tents shredded or blown down the Cwm. A group of sherpas tried to hold down
one team’s kitchen tent, but were simply lifted off the ground. They all let
go simultaneously for fear of each becoming airborne a la Mary Poppins, and
the tent promptly disappeared into oblivion!
Sunday 26th April - Base Camp
A tactical retreat from Camp 2! Huge lenticular clouds hovered over Everest
and Lhotse signifying raging jet stream winds overhead. Camp 2 was still
being hammered and it was therefore a unanimous decision to exit stage left
and go down. Though much less brutal than on the way up, the decent was
nevertheless extremely weary and we were all thankful to climb out of the
Icefall and into the relative luxury of Base Camp.
For the last three days we have been resting and enjoying Saki’s wonderful
cooking. It’s astonishing what he and his kitchen crew can produce given
where we are. Bravo!
We will probably be here now for another week or so, watching and waiting on
the weather and the sherpas fixing the route higher up. Once everything
looks good our summit push will begin!
Thank you for all your messages of support; they’re very much appreciated!
Bye for now,
Ian
Well I never thought I’d liken climbing on Everest with Snakes & Ladders but
that’s how it feels right now! This morning (Tuesday) we departed Base Camp
early heading direct to Camp 2. We made good progress and had reached about
a third of the way up the icefall, (via a fair few wobbly ladders), when at
around 0430am we suddenly realized a stream of lights were rapidly
descending towards us. “Route blocked, no way through”, said one heavily
laden Sherpa as he came past. He was quickly followed by many more, but the
main difficulty was that we could see an equally large number of lights
streaming up behind us too! The result was perhaps one of the more bizarre
scenes witnessed in the Icefall, as some 100 Sherpas (and us four!) collided
together from opposite directions in something resembling Piccadilly Circus
in rush hour! It was pretty chaotic for a while, and not a little scary too,
especially when we all turned around to descend. As we were waiting to cross
one particularly dubious ladder, a Sherpa in front of me lost his footing
when the ladder shifted and he ended up flat on his face spread-eagled
across the rungs, staring into oblivion. That caused the heart to flutter a
bit!
The cause of the chaos was a large section of the route that had collapsed
higher up, taking with it several ladders. Thankfully nobody had been in
that section at the time, but it was still a stark reminder that the Icefall
is a dangerous place. As I write the Icefall Doctors are endeavoring to
bypass the area and put in a new route. If they’re successful then it will
be another 3am start for us tomorrow. You expend a huge amount of energy
climbing up through the Icefall, so we will be hoping that this next time
we’ll make it up all of the ladders and not have to slither all the way back
down to Base Camp again!
Namaste,
Ian
Hi all!
Sorry for the delay, but here’s my latest dispatch to bring you up to date.
On 13th April we made our first climb through the infamous Khumbu Icefall to
Camp 1 (6000m), returning to Base Camp the next day. The Icefall is a vast
labyrinth of towering seracs, gaping crevasses and house-sized blocks of
ice. It’s a mesmerising maze of breathtaking beauty, yet it is also a place
that demands speed and concentration. Huge chunks of ice can shift and
tumble without warning, snow bridges and seracs can randomly collapse. On
some exposed sections, aluminium ladders span the crevasses or are mounted
vertically against the seracs. Thankfully, this year these are relatively
few in number and only one or two consist of more than one ladder strung
together. Even so, care has to be taken to negotiate these ladders and there
is still an unerving amount of time to stare into the bottomless blue-black
depths! The route and ladders need almost daily adjustment to correct for
the continual movement of the icefall, and this job is carried out by a
select band od Sherpas called Ice Doctors. It is difficult and dangerous
work for which they are handsomely paid, and quite rightly so.
To mitigate the risks we climbed through the icefall in the early hours of
the morning when everthing is still frozen, or mostly frozen! Normally we
wouldn’t stop but for brief pauses to catch breath, but on our way up Phil
and I bumped into Dave Hahn (10x Everest summit) and Ed Viesturs from the
First Ascent Team. Ed is a Himalyan legend and of course I couldn’t resist
such a good photo opportunity! Both were very gracious and happy to take the
photo despite our precarious location. After some 5hrs we finally clambered
out of the jaws of the icefall and into the magnificent ampitheatre of snow
and rock that is the Western Cwm. This hallowed ground, this ‘Valley of
Silence’ as it was called by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and the Swiss team of
1952 - the first humans to enter the Cwm, is simply jaw-dropping in its awe
and wonder. As I looked up the valley, the fearsome Lhotse Face rose some
4,000ft to its pinnacled summit, the route to Camp 3 and beyond etched
diagonally across this icy wall. The massive ramparts of Nuptse enclosed the
Cwm to my right, and to my left - invisible from Base Camp - the stupendous
South-West Face of Everest, first climbed by Doug Scott and Dougal Haston
during Chris Bonington’s brilliant 1975 British Everest Expediton.
The Cwm acts like a giant solar reflector, and the sun’s rays collect and
concentrate here. The radiant heat soars to a searing 40c, despite the
ambient temperature being closer to freezing. We retreated to our tents for
the afternoon, and as the cloud rolled in the temperature plummeted. By
sundown it was way below zero, and the cold and altitude made for an
uncomfortable night. Dawn brought cloudy, cold and windy conditions, but as
we made our descent back through the icefall the sun slowly broke through,
and it proved an energy-sapping last couple of hours into Base Camp.
Since then we have been enjoying several days of R&R, although the problems
with our power and charging is still causing much vexation! Camp 2 (6400m)
has now been established by our fantastic Sherpas, and the route to Camp 3
(7200m) is due to be fixed very soon. So, our plan is to climb direct to
Camp 2 on Monday 20th April, stay a few days and hopefully tag Camp 3 before
returning to Base Camp. If all goes well, we will then be ready for that all
important weather window and an attempt on the summit!
Bye for now…..namaste!
Ian
‘Our journey up to the foot of Everest was spectacular in the extreme’
(Sir Edmund Hillary)
Dingboche (4350m/14,272ft) is set amongst stone-walled fields and is
dominated by Lhotse (8501m/27,890ft), the world’s 4th highest mountain.To
the southeast, Ama Dablam rises in a less familiar shape. We stayed here in
a nice comfy lodge for two nights acclimatisation.
I also bumped into David Tait, a climber from the UK who is aiming to
summit Everest without oxygen. He’s a nice guy and has already summited
Everest twice, including a North/South traverse.
From Dingboche we moved onwards to Lobuche amidst some maginificent mountain
scenery, with Taboche in particular towering impressively above. Alas, at
every corner we seemed to trip over a camera crew from somewhere or other!
The trail climbed steeply upwards and eventually gained the terminal moraine
of the Khumbu Glacier. Atop a ridge above Thukla (Dunglha) a number of large
chortens (or memorials) commemorate sherpas and climbers who have lost their
lives on Everest. One of these memorials is to Scott Fischer,who died in the
infamous Everest disaster of 1996. It is a silent, sombre, place and is a
stark reminder of one’s own mortality. This is not Disnleyland. The way now
eased considerably, and as we slowly contoured round into the upper Khumbu
Valley we reached our destination for the night, Lobuche. We stayed in the
rather good ‘Eco Lodge’ and I can wholeheartedly recommend the peppered yak
steak!
A night of thunder and some startling lightning saw dawn break to blue skies
and sunshine, together with a heavy downfall of snow. Thankfully it was a
short trek in the baking heat to Gorak Shep, site of the 1953 Everest
Expedition base camp. After a quick lunch, we headed up to Kala Pattar for
what we hoped would be the famous view of Everest and the Western Cwm.
Unfortunately, the weather dramtically closed in and we instead found
ourselves in a snowstorm with thunder crashing around our ears. So much for
the stunning panorama!! We quickly headed down to our cold and souless
lodge, huddling around the dung-fuelled stove for a vestige of warmth. There
is meant to be a charity cricket match here in a couple of weeks, including
one or two England players, but I’m not sure how they’ll make a pitch out on
the frozen snowfield. Two of us were clearly suffering from altitude
amnesia. I had left my iPod, and Mike his glasses, at Lobuche the day
before. Pasang jnr, one of our cookboys, ran down in the morning to pick
them up and was back before we had even got out of bed for breakfast.
Amazing!
Beyond Gorak Shep the trail followed the crest of the moraine for some way
alongside the Khumbu Glacier. Eventualy we dropped down onto the glacier
itself to finally enter Base Camp itself, and home for the next few weeks!
More news soon!
Namaste!
Ian
Hi all,
I hope you all had a Happy Easter!
Apologies for the long delay in updating the blog. Modern technology can be a wonderful thing, but sometimes it sucks. Like now. My blog software doesn’t want to work up here with our slow satellite connections, and my laptop is just too hungry for power for it to last anymore than a few minutes. Phil, our leader, has nicknamed it ‘The Beast’ because of its ability to devour all the energy from our batteries! I’ve now switched to one of Phil’s exclusive tiny solid state laptops made by General Dynamics. Hopefully it will prove a little more robust! So, all being well I will be able to post my dispatches,and will endeavour to bring you up to speed, but probably no photos for now. To be honest, given where we are, it’s amazing we have any communication at all!
In the meantime, please do read Phil’s dispatches too:
www.altitudejunkies.com
Namaste,
Ian
Email:
I can now be contacted on the expedition email:
info@altitudejunkies.com
Please put IAN in the subject line.
SMS:
Alternatively you can send me free text messages (ie SMS) thru Thuraya’s website https://sms.thuraya.com Input the number 21667742823
Although it says no more than 160 characters please send no more than 120. You can send multiple messages. The phone will not be on all of the the time, but I will check for messages periodically during the day depending upon where I am!
The full telephone number is 0088 216 6774 2823, but be aware that calling a satellite phone is normally VERY expensive, £2-10 per minute.
Thanks for all your support!
Namaste,
Ian
——
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
Uncategorized
On thursday we went on an acclimatisation trip to Khumjung, a village where traditionally many expedition Sherpas come from. We initially climbed up to Syangboche, high above Namche, which has small airstrip where helicopters land with loads to be carried higher to Base Camp. Very suddenly as we rounded a corner, the most stupendous sight opened out in front of us - Ama Dablam, the iconic mountain so often seen in brochures and magazines, stood in lofty magnificence to our right. Lhotse, the world’s 4th highest mountain, dominated the skyline to our front. But there, behind the jagged ridge of Nuptse, was Everest - its unmistakable black, triangular, summit pyramid rising above them all. To the Sherpas and Tibetans it is known as Chomolumgma, Goddess Mother of the Earth. It was truly epic, and I confess to having a tear in my eye!
Yesterday we headed to Pangboche via the famous monastry at Tengboche, spectacularly situated under the mighty Kangtega and Thamserku mountains. There is also an amazingly good bakery/cafe
in Tengboche! It proved to be quite a tough day, and we all felt pretty wiped out by the time we had arrived at our lodge.
Today, saturday, saw us make the shorter trip to Dingboche, a surprisingly smart Sherpa village in a pleasant, sunny location. Even so, at 4350m/14,271ft it is much colder here and the altitude is beginning to make itself felt. It is critical that we stay here for two nights to sufficiently acclimatise
as our next stop is Lobuche, which at 4940m/16,207ft is quite a jump in altitude. We then continue to Gorak Shep and finally on to Base Camp, where we are due to arrive on the 8th April.
The last couple of days have been very quiet on the trail and we’ ve been starting to wonder where everyone else is! It looks like we’re ahead of many teams, although we’ve caught up with a large IMG team, together with their film crew!
It’s hard to believe that I’m currently sitting in an internet cafe (of sorts!), but my next update will probably be from Base Camp, so until then…..
Namaste!
Ian
Namaste from Namche!
Yesterday (wednesday) we made the long ascent into Namche from our overnight stop in Phakding. The last few hundred metres definitely have you huffing and puffing, and ‘Namche Hill’ rightly deserves its infamous reputation. Before that, however, it was just easy trekking amidst some glorious scenery, with the odd suspension bridge or two thrown in for a bit of excitement!
Mind you, I did have a little more excitment than most it must be said. “That was close!”, was the wry comment from Adele Pennington, leader of Jagged Globe’s Everest Expedition. She’d been watching from below as a mule train almost forced me off the trail and down a rather big drop. I’d been filming the mules with my camcorder as they came up behind me, but unfortunately I left it a tad too late to get out of the way. And these are far from the docile animals that you might see bimbling along Blackpool Beach!
Dopziaks (a cow/yak cross) are another sight to behold on the trail, as they trundle along with their bells lazily jangling in tempo. Yet these beautiful beasts are the bovine equivalnet of a freight train, and they would think nothing of trampling you to death should you be in their path!
Namche itself is more like a new style high mountain resort than the Sherpa village it once was. Nevertheless, the excellent lodges are still all Sherpa owned and managed. It is essentially a great meeting place for all the expeditions and a chance to catch up on who’s where and doing what. We have to stay here at least two nights to sufficiently acclimatise before moving on. This point was sadly illustrated only too well when I overheard the leader of a trek back from Base Camp saying that six members of her group had become ill with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) and three of those had to be helicoptered out!!
Looking back at Phakding.
Pasang Gombu with another light load.
One of many suspension bridges!
One of the ludicrous loads that the porters carry.
Even Tarke thinks it’s funny!
Spot the (very high) suspension bridge!
Namaste!
On tuesday we flew into Lukla after a typically chaotic start to the day at Kathmandu’s domestic airport. It was just as well our sherpas knew what was going on as nobody else had a clue!
Organised chaos!
The plane eventually arrives. Unlike the fuel.
We have to wait another 25 minutes for that!
No the pilot hasn’t dozed off. Just doing his pre-flight
checks! Note the strategically placed sticker!
After a few shenanigans, (no fuel tanker, too much bird activity, Lukla airport closed) we eventually made it into the air. And yes, the flight was as spectacular as everyone says…..and the landing as dodgy as everyone says! It’s not for the faint-hearted, especially when we have to abandon the first landing right at the last minute because the airport is too busy!
Nice views!
Lukla Airport
Oh, and the runway is pretty short!
Once we had calmed the nerves with a nice cup of tea, we finally hit the trail. Trekking at last! It was good to stretch the legs and suck in the cool and clear mountain air, especially after the choking smog and dust of Kathmandu.
Mike, Joe, Pam and Tarke still laughing after our bumpy
landing at Lukla!
The trail was a nice and easy couple of hours to our overnight stop Phakding. Here there is a large number good, big, lodges and ours was to be The Shangrila.
Ok, that’s all for now folks. Hopefully some more later!
Ian
——
All of the team has now arrived, so tomorrow (tuesday) Me, Mike, Joe and Pam will be leaving on the early morning flight to Lukla. We will also have a couple of the sherpas with us too. Valerie, the other member of our team is already on the trail with some friends and will meet us at Base Camp, as will our expedition leader, Phil.
It’s been good to chill out over the last few days with Mike, Kathmandu is such a chaotic place it takes a bit of acclimatising to in it’s own right! If you’re not tripping over the multitude of beggars, touts, and vendors of various tat, then you’re doing your utmost to avoid being mown down by an array of rickshaws, taxis and mopeds. It was pretty quiet when we first arrived last week, but now it’s getting noticably busier as more trekkers and expedition teams arrive. A few days ago, whilst we were in Sams’s Bar, I happened to bump into a guy I’d previously met whilst on my Gasherbrum II expedition in Pakistan, Mick Parker. Mick was one of just a handful of people who managed to summit Gasherbrum I that year in what proved to be very difficult and dangerous conditions. This year he’s part of a three man team making an attempt on Makalu, the world’s 5th highest mountain.
Mick Parker on the summit of Gasherbrum 1
We also met up with Billi Bierling, a journalist resident in Kathmandu who assists the venerable Elizabeth Hawley in chronicling all the expeditions on Everest. Billi will actually be attempting Everest herself this year, but must first rush around gathering the names of those in all the other teams!
Mike is a very interesting guy to chat to, not least because he’s just written a book on the effects of high altitude (he’s a professor in biology). He’s also climbed on a number of the world’s highest mountains, including Kanchenjunga (the 3rd highest), and has previously summitted Gasherbrum II. He was also climbing on K2 last year when 11 other climbers so tragically lost their lives. Mike will essentially be doing his own thing on Everest. Although he will be sharing our Base Camp and Advance Base Camp facilities he intends to climb without sherpa support. That means carrying all his own loads on the mountain and ferrying his own supplies up to the upper camps. It’s a purer way to climb but incredibly hard, and he certainly has my respect!
Today we also had a briefing from Ted Atkins on the TopOut oxygen system that we’ll be using. Ted is an ex-RAF engineer and has designed the system using the same exacting aeronautical standards. Indeed, the original concept was based on a Tornado fighter pilot’s mask. The system is also unique in that it has been further developed and refined by Ted as a result of his own field-testing during his two ascents of Everest and last year’s ascent of Makalu!
TopOut Ted!
And just as a final aside, the last couple of nights have seen us deluged with rain. Let’s hope it stays a bit dryer on the trail!
There’s always one it seems, no matter where you are in the world!
Namaste!
Ian
——
“The police are coming! Shussssh, please be quiet!” The candles are blown out (there is no power) and we sit in darkened silence as the police blow whistles to herald their arrival and begin to clear the streets outside. I’m in Sam’s Bar with Mike, another member of our team, in the middle of Thamel, the tourist centre of Kathmandu. It’s 11pm and curfew time.
Word has it that the Maoist government has imposed the curfew to clamp down on drugs and prostitution, but a more likely explanation is that this is a show of power and an exercise in a little social control. As westerners we are in no danger, and the police show no interest in us wandering about after curfew. It’s a different story for most of the nepalis, and especially the bar owners. Some it seems are partially exempt, whilst Sam’s Bar, it would appear, is not and the staff are jittery. The police make several tours of the district and each time the ritual is the same. Perhaps they haven’t paid their ‘exemption fees’.
The government might do better to get it’s priorities right. Of far more pressing concern is the daily pattern of load shedding that strips the city of power for several hours at a time. A hindrance to us, but a disaster for the local economy and the population as a whole. The traffic is a nightmare, and the air and water pollution are major public health hazards. Spend a day here in Kathmandu and you’ll soon see why the ‘green’ eco-friendly, environmentalist ideals that our own government is so keen promote are but a drop in the ocean. Whilst in no way wanting to decry our own efforts, whatever we do in the UK won’t make one jot of difference to global warming whilst pollution in places like this continues to increase unabated.
Electric Woes!!
The old and the modern face of Kathmandu!
Above – Inside the Pumpernickel Bakery
Beats Starbucks!
Sometimes, it’s real hard to believe that you’re in Kathmandu!
It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world! At least it is in Kathmandu. Oh, and Heathrow Terminal 3. But I’ll come back to that.
I arrived on the 26th after an excellent flight over to Nepal via Delhi. Praise must go to Jet Airways for their outstanding customer service and some surprisingly good food, even for us plebs in economy – Grated gourd dumplings filled with pitted plums simmered in a rich cashew gravy, lentils cooked with tamarind, and all served with fragrant Basmati rice! Thankfully this had all had time to digest by the time we came to land at Kathmandu. A thunderstorm over the city meant we were forced to circle round and round for more times than I care to remember until eventually making a very bumpy descent into the airport.
Jet Airways are every bit the modern face of India. Smart and sophisticated with brand new aircraft, they have apparently modelled themselves on Singapore Airlines, and it shows. Even Delhi’s Indira Ghandi airport was a paragon of efficiency – cool and calm, with immaculately uniformed police or military personnel thoroughly screening and checking each item of baggage. However, a usb dongle modem for my laptop did cause a certain amount of bemusement!
Compare and contrast then, with Heathrow Terminal 3. Swelteringly hot, shockingly shambolic, and with a multitude of scruffilly attired security staff (sub-contracted no doubt) barely taking the trouble to take a cursory glance at the x-ray machine let alone what might be lurking in anyone’s hand luggage. Perhaps they were distracted by the cleaning lady fussing around at the time. Either way, it was rather bizarre (and not a little worrying!) that Heathrow was everything you’d expect Delhi to be and Delhi was everything you’d expect Heathrow to be.
Kathmandu, on the other hand, appears to have changed little in the four years since I was last here, apart perhaps from the addition of two or three swish new coffee shops that would give your average Starbucks a run for their money. Indeed this update comes courtesy of a broadband speed wi-fi connection in Cafe Kaldi! A shame then, that the majority of Kathmandu remains a city of appalling squalor and poverty, and that Nepal as a whole continues to suffer from a disasterous new Maoist government whose leaders in one way or another have led the country down the path of ruin for over a decade.
Namaste!
Ian
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