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Adventure
Consultants Cho Oyu Expedition 2001
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Three
Updates:
Monday
10 Sept 2001 - Resting at Chinese Base Camp
The
leader of the Adventure Consultants Cho Oyu Expedition
2001, Dean Staples, has called in with news of their
progress so far. The group are all at the road end, or
Chinese Base Camp as it is called, after having
arrived there yesterday. They will rest one more night
here and will then leave for their trek to Advanced
Base Camp (ABC) tomorrow, taking two days to get to
ABC. All in the group are feeling fine, and are ready
for the move upwards tomorrow. On the journey from
Kathmandu to Kodari they encountered large slips on
the road and at one stage had to walk for 2 km, with
all the gear being ferried by porters. Another slip
blocked the road between Kodari and Zhangmu but they
managed to get through.
Friday
September 14 - Settling into Cho Oyu Base Camp
Hi
Everyone, All's well at Advanced Base Camp (ABC). We
arrived here on the 12th with Mike and Curt arriving
yesterday after spending an extra day at BC ( Road end
Base Camp) due to Curt not feeling well. But everyone
is OK now and ready to go for our first hike up to
Camp One to leave some gear.
On
the way to ABC one of the yaks lost it's load of 2 gas
cylinders and they went all the way to the glacier
bottom! So yesterday myself, Mingma and two Tibetans
went down to retrieve 2 very battered gas
cylinders!
Dean
Staples, Expedition Leader.
Monday
17 September 2001 - Camp One Day Walk
The
AC Cho Oyu Expedition members are resting at Base Camp
(5600m) today after a day walk to Camp One (6400m) on
Saturday. Dean Staples reported in by phone that all
in group were in good health and enjoying another rest
day after the first day of exertion at high altitudes.
It took most in the group 5-6 hours to get up to Camp
I, and then 3-4 hours to descend so a fairly long day
on the feet for all - these times will improve as they
acclimatize. Since Curt Dowdy was a day behind the
others in arriving at base camp he went up to a
halfway point to Camp I and then descended. Mike
Roberts had a minor throat infection so he did not go
up on Saturday and his throat has thus
recovered.
Tomorrow
they will all climb to Camp I and spend the night
there, and then the following day will climb further
up the ridge towards Camp II to cache some more gear.
So far there are fixed ropes in place to Camp II. The
weather has not been that good up until now. It has
been snowing each day but that seems to be changing to
clear mornings with snowfalls in the afternoons, which
is the case today. The AC Expedition have a good site
at base camp, as Ang Dorje had gone on ahead from the
road end in order to ensure this. This morning they
have been enjoying pancakes with Kiwi bacon and fresh
coffee from Wanaka, cooked by the kitchen magicians
Dawa and Ang Tshering, whilst being entertained with
another of John Taske's Aussie jokes! Everyone at base
camp has been keeping abreast of world news and the
terrorist attacks in New York by listening to radio,
on which they can receive the BBC World Service.
The
next expedition update will be on Thursday Sept 20th.
Dean
Staples, Expedition Leader.
Dispatch
Index
Team
and Cho Oyu Map
Dispatches
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