Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Hi all,
Greetings from namche bazaar (3400m). the heart of the everest region. I came up her eyesterday from the airport village of lukla (2800m) after flying up from kathmandu. I did the 2 day walk in around 6hrs. the reason being I wanted to get up here as quick as possible so I could spend as much time up high to adjust to the higher altitudes.
It is of great concern to me because this year I will be taking a helicopter with the other members of the expedition to makalu south base camp. Which is located at the lofty altitude of 4800m. that’s a huge jump in altitude for climbers to be asked to make safely. Arriving into base camp without acclimitisation could have potentially fatal consequences. hence my desire to get up to here in namche bazaar and spend a couple of nights. At the end of the day it still less than ideal preparation, but it’s better than nothing.
Today I took a walk up to the village of khumjung (3900m) which is the unofficial capital of the sherpa kingdom. It was a great chance to get out and do a little exercise plus I have many many sherpa friends that live in khumjung.
Normally they would not be in their village as they are off on expedition. Usually climbing everest. But most of the khumjung sherpas work/climb on the north side of everest. But our friends the Chinese have closed the north side of everest this year. God bless them. Leading hundreds of climbers unable to fulfill their dreams of climbing everest and many many sherpas out of work. Meaning that this year they will be without their usual salary and bonus that they so much depend upon for their livelihood.
Not that the Chinese really care about this. They don’t really care about anyone else other than themselves. Not only have they closed the north side of everest down. But somehow they have managed to stop all climbers from going above camp 2 (6400m) on the Nepal side of everest too.
They have sent chinese security guards to be posted at camp 2 on the nepal side of everest to make sure that "no one" goes above camp 2. they have also sent plain clothes chinese police to patrol base camp and keep an eye on other expeditions and make sure that no one is making plans to go above camp 2.
this is all a little bit scary. we have no control over what the chinese do in china. but they have no right to be telling anyone what to do outside of their country or to be spying on people. this is all a little bit "big brother" for me.
the chinese need to take a good look at themselves and sort this out. because to me this is not even funny. and all for the sake of taking the olympic torch to the summit of everest.i mena who really cares except china off course....
correct me if i am wrong but i thought the olympics was all about peace and humanity.love your follow man and compete against one another fairly despite race, religion, creed or colour. what do you think? telling people people that they cant climb everest and spying on those that are. do you think that is in the spirit of the olympic games? i dont.
All this on a side of the mountain which is not theirs. It does not belong to them and has nothing to do with them. All this just so they can take some stupid Olympic torch to the summit of everest. I personally hope that when they are taking the torch to the summit they do it on a really windy day and it blows the thing out.
Anyway, I have said my 2 cents worth. Back to khumjung. I went up and visited my friend pema sherpa. We have climbed everest and cho oyu together and I regard him as one of my closest friends here in Nepal. I went up to his lodge and and had a traditional Nepalese lunch with his family.
When I arrived he was actually not home. He was back in namche bazaar. I had just come from their and walked 1 ½ hrs to come up to khumjung. Not too worry. His wife called him on his mobile…yes his mobile (Wow!! Things have changed) and he said “ You wait there. I am on my way”. I thought I was in for a long wait. 30 mins later he walks in the door. Get this. It took me 90 mins to get there. It took him 30mins. That gives you an idea just how strong these guys are. In comparison we western climbers are nothing and without these super human, gentle and kind sherpas we could never dream of climbing such mountains as everest.
The plan is to walk back to lukla and spend the night there. Then on the 17th april, weather permitting we will fly to makalu south base camp. The expedition will later move up to advanced base camp (5300m) and we will remain there until late may. Hopefully summiting makalu around 15-20th may….i say hopefully because who knows nwhat mother nature has instore for us weather wise. Fingers crossed it’s a good year and everything goes well.
Until then take care everyone and keep in touch. I will do my best to keep you as up to date as possible in the coming weeks.
Bye for mow
blair
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The journey begins....again!!!!
Above is a photo taken from the summit of Everest looking across towards Makalu (8462m) the world's 5th highest mountain. And fair off in the background is Kanchenjunga (8596m) the world's 3rd highest mountain. My route climbs the right hand face up to the saddle in the ridge. Then cuts across under the summit before taking the left hand ridge all the way to the top.hi everyone,
as i write this email i am sitting in bangkok airport on my way to climb makalu (8462m) the world's 5th highest mountain. you can follow my climb by going to http://www.blair8000.com/ and clicking on "latest climb" or go to my latest blog blair8462.blogspot.com .
i have a 4 hour lay over before continuing on to kathmandu. my timing could not be worse. . my arrival date in nepal coincides with national elections. that mean everything is closed........everything!!!
shops are shut, no buses or taxi's...the lot. normally i am picked up my climbing agency and dropped off at my hotel.not today. somehow with all my gear/food/duffel bags. i have to manage to try organise transportation to my hotel with all of this. one word....NIGHTMARE!!!!
last year i had a similar experience when i was returning to kathmandu from the mountains. there were no taxi's or transportation. and yet international flights were still arriving to ktm airport. more and more people were getting off the plane only to find there was no was of getting into the city. the number of people grew larger and larger. more and more people. until finally a solution was found by the ever efficient nepali's. an old school bus. rusted out and missing windows was sent to take EVERYBODY into town.
the bus seated about 25 people. but there were at least 200 people in need of transport. need less to say what followed can only best be described as disorganised chaos. there were people inside the bus, outside the bus...on top of the bus. about 80 of us in total. i jumped on the roof with all my climbing gear with a bunch of other people and held on for dear life as the driver flew down the bumpy dusty kathmandu streets.
every now and then we had to duck the overhanging electrical power lines. all the while never surrendering our death grips to the roof of the bus. the whole experience was just a little bit daunting. but when it was over i thought to myself," that was not so bad. i dont mind to have done it...once.happy to never do it again". and here i am...again. not believing i will have to do this one more time.
with a little bit of luck they may have things a little more organised this time. but this is nepal so nothing and yet everything still suprises me. just have to wait and see what happens and try to make the best out of a bad situation.
my schedule for the next few days is this. i have 2 1/2 days in kathmandu to pack and organise my equipment for the expedition. my sherpa, tashi already left 1 week ago with the other expedition staff and team gear. they flew to the small town of tumlingtar. form there they will trek into base camp taking up to 8 days or so.
the expedition members including myself have been more fortunate. our climbing agency has chartered a big old russian MI-17 helicopter to fly us up to base camp (4500m more or less) which will save us in total over 2 weeks of walking time.
it's a double edge sword though. for anyone that has seen one of these MI-17 helicopters then you know what i am talking about. and for those of you that have not let me paint you a picture here to best describe/explain what i am talking about.
these old helicopters are relics from the afghan war. held together with fencing wire and bubble gum i am amazed that these these smoke exhaust stained warhorse's can actually get up off the ground.
they whine, vibrate and shake like they are going to fall apart. there have been 2 crash in everest base camp over the last 4 yrs. and this is going to be what transports me to base camp. i dont know what's more scary. the mountian i am climbing or the helicopter ride there.
another downside of flying into base camp other than the obvious scary as hell helicopter ride is the fact that i will go form a relatively low altitude of around 1300m to 4500m in the space of a couple of days. ideally i would like to trek into base camp. giving my body a chance to acclimitise and adjust to the high altitude and thin air.
and whilst i will be saving valuable time and days not having to walk in. my body will not have much chance to acclimitise at all. so what does this mean for me? well i can expect a pretty rough first few days. my goal is to try an not get AMS (acute mountian sickness) or HACE/HAPE. both of which are potentially fatal high altitude related illnesses.
i can expect to feel pretty horrible. headaches, nausea, vomitting and lack of energy. it's doubtful i will be able to sleep at night. it's just the way it is. if this is all that happens to me then i have been lucky and i am doing well.
all this and you are probably asking yourself," why would you volutarily pay money to subject yourself and your body to this?" and you know what. your right. i really dont know because it's likely i am going to feel like i would rather be dead. but what i can say is this. when it's all over. when i stand on top of that summit. and get back to base camp. sit down on a rock and take my boots off and have a well deserved cool drink in the warm sun. well... nothing in the world can compare or beat that feeling. i cant begin to describe the sense of self satisfaction and success. and that...that is what makes it all so worth while.
i will try to prepare my body for the shock of the sudden gain in altitude and head up to the village of namche bazaar (3700m) and spend a couple of nights there before we fly to base camp. this will most likely not be enough but it will certainly help and get my body on the way to adjusting.
i still i-net access for the next few days. but after that please direct any emails to me at http://au.f310.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=blair@myeverest.com please take into account that i can check this email account whilst i am on the mountain... but it is very expensive for me to do so.
i love getting your emails of support.it's fantastic for me knowing that everyone is out there following my climb.i ask that emails be kept relatively small. no photos, attachments, files or logos on letter heads. these take a long time for my little pda to download.
instand messages can be sent to my satellite phone easily too.below are instructions to do so.
go to http://www.thuraya.com/
click on ONLINE SERVICES
click on SEND SMS TO THURAYA PHONE
in the box for phone number enter 21275561
enter your name and type your message. 150 letters only. then click on SEND
these will be sent straight to my phone.
thanks again for all your support and i look forward to hearing from all of you very soon
take care
blair
as i write this email i am sitting in bangkok airport on my way to climb makalu (8462m) the world's 5th highest mountain. you can follow my climb by going to http://www.blair8000.com/ and clicking on "latest climb" or go to my latest blog blair8462.blogspot.com .
i have a 4 hour lay over before continuing on to kathmandu. my timing could not be worse. . my arrival date in nepal coincides with national elections. that mean everything is closed........everything!!!
shops are shut, no buses or taxi's...the lot. normally i am picked up my climbing agency and dropped off at my hotel.not today. somehow with all my gear/food/duffel bags. i have to manage to try organise transportation to my hotel with all of this. one word....NIGHTMARE!!!!
last year i had a similar experience when i was returning to kathmandu from the mountains. there were no taxi's or transportation. and yet international flights were still arriving to ktm airport. more and more people were getting off the plane only to find there was no was of getting into the city. the number of people grew larger and larger. more and more people. until finally a solution was found by the ever efficient nepali's. an old school bus. rusted out and missing windows was sent to take EVERYBODY into town.
the bus seated about 25 people. but there were at least 200 people in need of transport. need less to say what followed can only best be described as disorganised chaos. there were people inside the bus, outside the bus...on top of the bus. about 80 of us in total. i jumped on the roof with all my climbing gear with a bunch of other people and held on for dear life as the driver flew down the bumpy dusty kathmandu streets.
every now and then we had to duck the overhanging electrical power lines. all the while never surrendering our death grips to the roof of the bus. the whole experience was just a little bit daunting. but when it was over i thought to myself," that was not so bad. i dont mind to have done it...once.happy to never do it again". and here i am...again. not believing i will have to do this one more time.
with a little bit of luck they may have things a little more organised this time. but this is nepal so nothing and yet everything still suprises me. just have to wait and see what happens and try to make the best out of a bad situation.
my schedule for the next few days is this. i have 2 1/2 days in kathmandu to pack and organise my equipment for the expedition. my sherpa, tashi already left 1 week ago with the other expedition staff and team gear. they flew to the small town of tumlingtar. form there they will trek into base camp taking up to 8 days or so.
the expedition members including myself have been more fortunate. our climbing agency has chartered a big old russian MI-17 helicopter to fly us up to base camp (4500m more or less) which will save us in total over 2 weeks of walking time.
it's a double edge sword though. for anyone that has seen one of these MI-17 helicopters then you know what i am talking about. and for those of you that have not let me paint you a picture here to best describe/explain what i am talking about.
these old helicopters are relics from the afghan war. held together with fencing wire and bubble gum i am amazed that these these smoke exhaust stained warhorse's can actually get up off the ground.
they whine, vibrate and shake like they are going to fall apart. there have been 2 crash in everest base camp over the last 4 yrs. and this is going to be what transports me to base camp. i dont know what's more scary. the mountian i am climbing or the helicopter ride there.
another downside of flying into base camp other than the obvious scary as hell helicopter ride is the fact that i will go form a relatively low altitude of around 1300m to 4500m in the space of a couple of days. ideally i would like to trek into base camp. giving my body a chance to acclimitise and adjust to the high altitude and thin air.
and whilst i will be saving valuable time and days not having to walk in. my body will not have much chance to acclimitise at all. so what does this mean for me? well i can expect a pretty rough first few days. my goal is to try an not get AMS (acute mountian sickness) or HACE/HAPE. both of which are potentially fatal high altitude related illnesses.
i can expect to feel pretty horrible. headaches, nausea, vomitting and lack of energy. it's doubtful i will be able to sleep at night. it's just the way it is. if this is all that happens to me then i have been lucky and i am doing well.
all this and you are probably asking yourself," why would you volutarily pay money to subject yourself and your body to this?" and you know what. your right. i really dont know because it's likely i am going to feel like i would rather be dead. but what i can say is this. when it's all over. when i stand on top of that summit. and get back to base camp. sit down on a rock and take my boots off and have a well deserved cool drink in the warm sun. well... nothing in the world can compare or beat that feeling. i cant begin to describe the sense of self satisfaction and success. and that...that is what makes it all so worth while.
i will try to prepare my body for the shock of the sudden gain in altitude and head up to the village of namche bazaar (3700m) and spend a couple of nights there before we fly to base camp. this will most likely not be enough but it will certainly help and get my body on the way to adjusting.
i still i-net access for the next few days. but after that please direct any emails to me at http://au.f310.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=blair@myeverest.com please take into account that i can check this email account whilst i am on the mountain... but it is very expensive for me to do so.
i love getting your emails of support.it's fantastic for me knowing that everyone is out there following my climb.i ask that emails be kept relatively small. no photos, attachments, files or logos on letter heads. these take a long time for my little pda to download.
instand messages can be sent to my satellite phone easily too.below are instructions to do so.
go to http://www.thuraya.com/
click on ONLINE SERVICES
click on SEND SMS TO THURAYA PHONE
in the box for phone number enter 21275561
enter your name and type your message. 150 letters only. then click on SEND
these will be sent straight to my phone.
thanks again for all your support and i look forward to hearing from all of you very soon
take care
blair
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