For Latest
News. For earlier reports:
See the News Index for a list of all the Daily Reports. See the Home Page for Individual Stories. Receiving Reports from over 25 Teams on Everest this Spring 2000.
- EverestNews.com has
added 7 new pages indexed on the right shared border for You.
The Pages are:
Mountain Madness
featuring
Christine Boskoff
and Peter
Habeler
on Everest
Jagged
Globe Everest 2000
Adventure Consultants Everest 2000
Mallory
& Irvine 2000: Graham and the BBC returns
Kangchenjunga
2000
Annapurna
2000
The
Millennium Seven Summits
Expedition
EverestNews.com will
attempt to update these pages as the news on these mountains and/or expeditions
arrives.
Climbers at Base Camp
!
Camp 2 established by
some expeditions. Camp 3
being established !
Gabriel Filippi has been
having problems. Gabriel problems are speculated to be pulmonary edema after
spending two cold nights at Camp 2. Gabriel has made it back to base camp with
the help of the Andalucia Everest
Expedition. The Andalucia Expedition must be wondering if this is a sign
or something. Earlier if you were not with us, the Andalucia Everest
Expedition attempted to help another climber on the way to base camp. The
German climber died. Gabriel
apparently is in OK shape now. No news if he will go back up...
- A new day and again
new information on another Expedition on Everest. The Millennium Seven Summits
Expedition lead by Gavin Bate and John Barry join the EverestNew.com team.
EverestNews.com will feature full dispatches and photos from this
expedition. Please see below for more information on the group and their first
two dispatches from
Base Camp.
- Millennium Seven Summits
Expedition
The Millennium
Challenge team will be climbing Everest in an attempt to make the first British ascent in
the year 2000. The team of seven is made up of John Barry and Gavin Bate, Andy
Salter, Polly Murray , Chris Tiso, George Barlow and Michele Santilhano. There
will also be a back-up team of communications experts and cooks as well as the
complement of high altitude Sherpas.
Between the seven
summits are
the roof of our planet. Each one is a sizeable adventure. To stand on top of
each of these mountains in the period of one year. A British record for the
Millennium and a Millennium message from the Top of the World - it is a
powerful image, and a realistic one.
Gavin Bate http://www.AdventureAlternative.com/7
|
Gavin Bate
|
Gavin
Bate walked across the Sahara Desert on his own at 21 years of age and has
been exploring and mountaineering ever since. From buying ships world-wide
for scrap for his father in the Far East he has organized and presented
documentaries of expeditions in Iceland, Tibet and Africa as well as an
adventure series in Ireland. Gavin runs his own company, Adventure
Alternative, and was part of the British team which successfully skied from
the summit of Denali in Alaska and recently summitted the 6th highest
mountain in the world without bottled oxygen. |
|
John Barry
|
John Barry is the man who took the first British woman to the summit of Everest. He is
one of Britain's most accomplished and active mountaineers, a man who has
been to the worlds highest mountain four times. He has climbed on all the
world's big mountain ranges, written books, and presented the BBC series
Arctic Challenge. He was Director of Plas y Brenin Outdoor Centre in Wales
for seven years and has since been leading expeditions to all corners of
the world. |
Dispatch: Everest Base Camp,
18,150'
The
team is all keeping well. We have been back up to Camp 1 and have spent the night
without any problems at 20,000'. Later some of us moved up to Camp 2 (21,500') for a day trip. Andy Salter suffered an attack of Delhi Belly at Camp
One which was very unfortunate and one of our Sherpas, Nan Chumbi, had a really
bad blister.
Camp Two is pretty
empty, with most groups still in the process of putting in loads and storing
them under rocks. Our Camp is quite well organized and will be fully stocked and
ready in about four days. We are tucked up at the top end of the Western Cwm,
right below the daunting Lhotse Face, our next massive obstacle on the way to
the South Col. Walking up the Western Cwm is an incredible experience, one of
the most incredible valleys in the world with the stunning sheer face of
impossible ice of Nuptse on one side; and towering on the other side, the dark
triangular peak of Everest jutting into the sky, black and forbidding. It is
such a sight that knocks your breath away. The Lhotse Face is quite dry and icy,
several thousand feet straight up, with the distinctive saddle shape of the
south col etched against the horizon. It is quite clear that the real stuff
begins from Camp 2.
We came down to Base Camp
quite shattered and spent. Today we are just relaxing and
rehydrating. Andy Salter is now completely recovered. It is amazing how exhausted
you feel after being up high. We are now going down the valley to relax in
Lobuje and climb Pokalde, a trekking peak of 19,600'. This diversion will aid in
our training and
more importantly allow us a change of scenery. We are in the happy position of being
somewhat ahead of ourselves in terms of acclimatisation and logistics. Some
teams are yet to make their first move up to Camp One. This means we have the
luxury of being able to pop down to lower altitudes, see some green grass and
breathe some thicker air ! We plan to be back on Thursday.
It is very cold at
Base Camp these days. Last night it snowed. The next trek group is shortly
coming out and we are putting in an order for luxuries for them to bring up to us -
Stilton cheese, the Sunday Telegraph and so on. Some things in Life are too
important to miss !
Michele
would like to say a big hello and thank you to all her supporters in South
Africa. News has surfaced that Andy Salter proposed to Louise as she left
Base Camp after her trek in with us. She accepted !
We hope
that everyone is keeping well at home, we heard about the drubbing that England
got from Scotland in a game of 'unremitting savagery' ( which pleased Chris Tiso
no end ) - and we would like to thank everyone for their notes of support and
encouragement.
With very
best regards from Base Camp,
Gavin
Bate
Second
Dispatch: Everest
Base Camp 14th April 2000 Greetings from the British Everest Expedition !
From
18,150' on the Khumbu Glacier, the British team are doing very well and enjoying
the comforts of Base Camp. This afternoon it is snowing quite heavily and
visibility is low - thank God ! sometimes the continual sight of the Khumbu
Icefall is enough to drive anyone mad. Already the talk is of "what's the
first thing you'll do or eat when you get back home" ! We have just come
back from a relaxing week down the valley, climbing the trekking peak of Pokalde
and basking in the relative heat of Lobuje ! Fortunately we are in the position
to do this, because we have been here since more or less the beginning of April
and we have already been up to Camp Two on Mount Everest, and put in a lot of
our logistics. We have successfully climbed through the Icefall several times,
slept at Camp One and almost all of our gear is sitting at Camp Two. Between
ourselves, the big Canadian team, Mountain Madness and Babu Sherpa's lot ( he's
the one who is trying for a speed ascent of Everest in 16 hours )we have put in
rope to fix the route from Camp 2 to 3. At the moment the Sherpas are within 200
meters of reaching Camp 3 - this heavy snowfall now may well delay things by a
day or two. Base Camp is
heaving ! There's been a slight problem with the people who are supposed to
remove all the faeces from all the Camps ( hardly surprising - would YOU be in a
hurry to come up and carry 20 barrels of s*** down the valley ? ). We called
SPCC today ( Sagamartha Pollution Control Committee ) and they're sending up a
team tomorrow. Otherwise, everyone is settling in and the Base Camp grapevine is
alive and well ! It's great fun listening to all the gossip, believe me. To be
honest, all the foreign climbers would be best leaving it all to the Sherpas -
those guys are heroic. Their strength on the hill is phenomenal, and their
patience a real example to everyone. Our plan is to pop up to Camp Two on Monday
17th. We hope to sleep there for a few nights, then do a day trip to Camp Three,
come down again and rest at Base Camp. We have a very useful contract with
Bracknelll in the UK for the best weather forecasts and on the back of them,
we'll then plan to make a summit bid around the beginning of May when the jet
streams lift. Given that nobody has suffered any ill-health and that we've had
no problems up to Camp Two so far, the team is quietly confident. You have to
keep positive - perhaps the hardest thing up here is keeping patient, positive
and motivated ! Climbing Everest is not so much about technical ability ( it
isn't ) as about keeping healthy and happy and hoping that the lottery of
weather comes up in your favour at the right time !
To
introduce the team quickly - Gavin Bate ( poor sod who organized it all - based
in Belfast ), John Barry ( illustrious climbing guide ), Chris Tiso Equipment
sponsor, MD of Tiso the Great Outdoor specialists, corporate stormtrooper,
Scottish ), Andy Salter ( ex-crocodile hunter, GreenPeace volunteer, rope access
specialist ), Michele Santilhano ( South African nurse on the Seven Summits
trail ), Polly Murray ( ski instructor, ex-Brit Olympic squad, Scottish ) and
our wonderful Base Camp staff - Noel 'Computer Nerd and total Anorak' Bristow (
also the best expeditions comms man in the business, and Welsh ) and Amanda Fry
( Camp Totty ). Our Sherpa contingent is Ang Rita Sherpa ( Sirdar ), Dawa
Tenzing ( Cook ), Jangbu Sherpa ( 4 times Everest summiter ), Pemba Gyaljen,
Pemba Rinjen, Nan Chumbi, Chandra and another Dawa Tenzing. We take our hats off
to these guys.
Thanks to
all our sponsors and to the New Millennium Company in Northern Ireland, and to
Famous Grouse for keeping the evenings warm ! We're all looking forward to our
chance on Everest and we'd like to thank everyone at home for putting up with
our updates. Wish us luck !
Cheers
Gavin Bate
Current Status: April
13, 2000 at Basecamp: I had a wonderful sleep, waking up
at 7:45 a.m. to the sound of Yak bells ringing as they were walking
by my tent on their way to Bob Hoffman's expedition site. The sun hit my tent at
about 8:15 as I started to stir from my sleeping bag. My breakfast was toast,
egg and onion omelet, and mint tea.
The Sherpas
had gone up the icefall early this morning to make more carries to Camp 2. It
usually only takes them six hours round trip for the quick ones. I have sent off
digital photos of all our Sherpa Team to the web site. [we have not yet received
these photos]
Peter
Habeler came by to have a tea in the early afternoon. You might know Peter,
who with Reinhold Messner, became one of the first two people to summit Everest
without oxygen in 1978. We had a great time talking for over an hour about what
has changed and what has not over the years. I will invite Peter over to our
camp again, where I can interview him for the website in the near future.
Lhakpa
Sherpa, the Expedition Leader for the first all-women Nepal Team, stopped
by for dinner at the request of our Sirdar Lhakpa Tshering. Her team has four
women climbers who will be making their assault on Everest in May as well. She
speaks very little english but with our sirdar's help we were able to
communicate. Her brother, who has summitted four times is on a German Expedition
on the North Side and of course she hopes to summit on the same day as
him.
See you at
the top! Byron Smith Expedition Leader
Update:
Byron has a great video interview with his Sherpa sirdar and Byron doctor
discusses Gabriel
Filippi condition and problems... Check them out
http://cbc.ca/everest2000/
- Everest Spring 2000: A
14 year boy
A
14 year boy, Temba Tshering Sherpa, plans to attempt the Summit of Everest in Spring
2000 from the Nepal side of the mountain. Needless to say, he would be the youngest to
Summit Everest if successful.
Temba Tsheri Sherpa born in
06/05/85 is climbing Mt. Everest. Temba got inspiration for climbing Mt. Everest from his
father and the fairy-tale he used to hear from friends and relatives about the success of
climbing Mt. Everest and the fame you earn after. The name Temba signifies one of the
manifestation of Lord Buddha, meaning as Temba Ringpoche. The middle name Tsheri signifies
as Tshe Ring meaning Long Life.
Status: The boy and his
expedition has left Kathmandu and is working their way to Base camp.
THREE WORLD-RENOWNED
MOUNTAINEERS TO RETRACE THE ROUTE PIONEERED BY SHACKLETON IN 1916 : MESSNER,
VENABLES, AND ANKER EMBARK ON A JOURNEY OVER THE GLACIERS AND MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH
GEORGIA ISLAND AS PART OF A LARGE FORMAT FILM (IMAX) and NOVA/PBS ONLINE
ADVENTURE www.pbs.org/nova/shackleton
Climbers Reinhold
Messner, Conrad Anker, and Stephen Venables, are in great spirits and feeling up
to the challenge of retracing Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton's historic
steps across glacier-clad South Georgia Island. Their journey is being filmed
for "The Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Journey" in IMAX, a
production of NOVA/WGBH Boston and White Mountain Films.
Yesterday the three
climbers reached camp near Trident Pass situated before the most difficult part
of the journey over the heavily crevassed Crean Glacier. Their departure
scheduled for this morning was delayed by howling winds in excess of 35 knots
and heavy sleet and snow. They are planning to continue their traverse when the
weather clears.
In 1916, after
seventeen months in the Antarctic, Shackleton and two of his desperate crewmen,
Tom Crean, and Frank Worsley, stood on the glacier-razed shores of King Haakon
Bay and contemplated the treacherous journey into the unknown interior of South
Georgia Island. Driven by determination to save his remaining men left behind on
Elephant Island, their last hope for survival was realized when they reached the
whaling station on the opposite side of the island, twenty-six miles away at
Stromness. Today, three of the world's best climbers embark on the same terrain
Shackleton did in 1916. Traveling together for six days on the ship Akademik
Shuleykin, the climbers have had a chance to check their gear, contemplate the
conditions of Shackleton's South Georgia traverse, and reflect on their own
impressions of Shackleton's historic journey of survival.
Reinhold Messner, the
first to fulfill Shackleton's unrealized dream of crossing the Antarctic
continent of foot in 1989-90, is awed by what Shackleton accomplished. "I'm
still sure that Shackleton's Endurance expedition was the greatest adventure
ever, not only of the last century, it was the greatest adventure ever."
Stephen Venables'
respect for what Shackleton achieved was reinforced when he experienced the
unpredictable weather of South Georgia on an expedition ten years ago.
"I've experienced the island and its incredible blizzards, which just seem
to hit you from nowhere, and it's a very dangerous changeable maritime climate.
There were times ten years ago, we had a tent destroyed by the wind, and there
was one occasion skiing along a glacier when we were being blown flat on our
faces and we had to take our skis off because we couldn't stay up right in the
wind."
Conrad Anker-who
discovered the body of George Mallory on a NOVA-sponsored expedition to Everest
in 1999-knows that the weather will be their main adversary. "First and
foremost of the challenges that we'll be experiencing on the Shackleton traverse
will be the weather. The weather at these latitudes is bad, particularly when
you have a maritime climate, and you have mountains that rise up to 2,900
meters, (9,600 ft.) that creates quite a change in topography."
The climbers aim to
stay true to Shackleton's spirit in the climb. "Shackleton and Worsley
managed without a GPS and I think we can manage without too, so we're just
taking a simple compass and a modern map and with those tools, we ought to be
able to find our way across," says Venables. Shackleton and his men
completed their desperate traverse in thirty-six hours. It is unknown how long
the modern climbers will take, since global warming has caused glacier
deterioration and heavy crevassing since 1916.
The large-format film,
premiering in February 2001, will be seen at large-format theaters worldwide,
including science museums, cultural institutions and commercial theaters. The
film, directed by George Butler, is a co-production of White Mountain Films and
NOVA/WGBH Boston, presented by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, based on the
best-selling book The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by
Caroline Alexander.
Graham Hoyland and the BBC returns
to Everest in Spring 2000 in
search of
the camera and Irvine. EverestNews.com
EverestNews.com will feature full dispatches from Mountain
Madness for
Everest Spring 2000
List of Expeditions
who
have paid for their permits
in Nepal
In search
of Mike Matthews' Body
Reinhold
Messner latest adventure
The
Quest for 14
Death
on the way to Everest continued
Death
on the way to Everest
EverestNews.com
has learned a 14 year boy
plans to attempt the Summit of Everest in Spring 2000
Juan
Oiarzabal, "To
the Edge of The Impossible"
or AL FILO DE LO IMPOSIBLE in Spanish: Expedition
to recreate the ascent of 1924 of Mallory and Irvine of
Everest. This
expedition is already
underway.
Summary
of Canadian Expeditions on Everest in Spring 2000
Graham
Hoyland's Lecture "Unraveling the Mystery of George Mallory" in the
Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History.
Alan
Hinkes Q&A
EverestNews.com
will feature full dispatches from Adventure Consultants for Everest Spring 2000
Close
Does Not Count for Records
ALAN
HINKES TARGETS THIRD HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE WORLD, KANGCHENJUNGA AS TWELFTH
MOUNTAIN ON HIS CHALLENGE TO ACHIEVE BRITISH RECORD
EverestNews.com
will feature full dispatches from Jagged Globe for Everest Spring 2000
Spanish
Climber to attempt the Messner route on Everest
Change
of Guard at the Khumbu Ice Fall
Graham
Hoyland and the BBC returns to Everest in Spring 2000 in search of the camera and
Irvine.
Jochen
Hemmleb Q&A Part 7
India
climber plans to spend the night on the Summit
