 |
Tingri
April 8th |
This
is my third trip to this side of the mountain, and I'm still stunned
by the sheer size of Mount Everest. |
 |
Tingri
April 7th |
This
lodge is rather like a medieval motel. |
 |
Road
to Tingri
April 6th |
There
was a huge explosion and rocks started raining down on the roof. |
 |
Shigatse
April 5th |
There
was blood all over the red plush of the bell-boy's trolley |
 |
Deprung
April 4th |
We
paid for prayers to be said for our Sherpas and for ourselves, and
left. |
Click on the picture
above to take you to the full BBC Dispatch
The BBC web site is
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/exploration/everest/
- Everest Spring 2000:
Adventure Consultants Featured Expedition on EverestNews.com
EverestNews.com will
feature full dispatches from Adventure
Consultants in Spring 2000.
Adventure Consultants
is a world renowned expedition climbing company with a legacy of ascents to the
more remote and wild peaks on our planet. Quality service, complete commitment
and success are the hallmarks of Adventure Consultants, as are Guy
Cotter and the qualified
guides and staff who are the driving force behind Adventure Consultants
expeditions. http://www.adventure.co.nz
Dispatch April 15th:
Life at Base Camp
Base camp appears like
a small town, but no attempt at town planning! Looking down from above there are
splashes of color; blue, yellow and orange randomly grouped together.
There is a pattern of sorts. Each team has a large cook tent, many of them built
from stone with tarpaulin stretched across for a roof. Close by is a
dining tent. Some are large frame tents, some domes, some stone buildings like
the kitchen. Associated with each are a myriad of small tents fighting for flat
areas on the moraine amidst rocky piles and icy lakes. The tents from one
group merge with the next. To wind a trail between these groups is a
struggle of loose rock, melting ice and a disturbance of privacy. The Adventure
Consultants camp follows the same pattern. We have a large and ever busy
kitchen. The work counter is built from stone yet resembles a busy
restaurant. Five kerosene stoves sit amidst pots and pans, plate racks and
stacks of herbs and spices. It's warm, so is a communal meeting area
always busy with Sherpas drinking tea and exchanging news. Our three cooks
sleep on the benches at night.
The dining tent sits
next door, a bright yellow frame tent. Inside is a home from home.
Flowers and tablecloths on the table, a stereo on the back wall and a limitless
selection of drinks and snacks. Even vegemite for the Kiwis far from home!
A globe hangs from the ceiling so we can at least plan the route to a warm
Indonesian island......
Additionally there are
two larger tents. The communication tent is a technological treat.
With power from three solar panels we run a satellite phone, fax and computer
with e mail. A high tech radio system links base camp with the four camps on the
mountain. Daily contact with home is no problem. The other is the
medical tent, ready but hopefully unnecessary.
The members sleep in
orange Macpac Spectrum XPD tents creating a cozy haven of privacy. Last and not
least are the facilities. There is also a shower tent with a shower bag, a
delight on a warm morning. Many nationalities are represented here from
Andalucia to Yugoslavia. Their flags fly from their camps and meetings between
the various expedition leaders to determine strategies and cooperative work on
the mountain represent a mini United Nations. Warm
mornings turn to snow showers by mid afternoon sending chilled expedition
members to the shelter of their tents for an afternoon nap or a good book only
to reconvene for the evening meal before the long chilly night.
Beginning about 4.00am
kerosene stoves fire up to begin the process of breakfast for climbers and
Sherpas heading up the mountain. By 5.00am there is the sound of boots on gravel
as members of the many teams here head up the Khumbu icefall before the heat of
the day makes travel unpleasant.
It's a constant turn
around as loads and climbers come and go from the mountain ferrying loads to the
higher camps in preparation for the summit bid in some 4 weeks time.
Guy Cotter
Dispatch April 16th:
Team at camp One
News from Guy Cotter and Dr
Rachel Bishop at Everest BC
David, Yuki and Andy
arose at 4.30 for breakfast after a snowy night slowly broke to expose the odd
star and promise of a fine morning. Away at 5.00am they were headed for the
icefall an camp 1(6000m). Our 5 climbing Sherpas lead by Ang Dorje Sherpa left
at the same time to deposit loads of food, tentage and other at camp 1 to be
utilized by the climbing team as they stay at the higher elevations to
acclimatize themselves to the thinner atmosphere. The plan is to stay at C1 for
2 nights then move onto CII at 6500m for three nights. The Sherpa team will
return to BC daily to be in position to carry another load up the mountain the
following day.
6.30am. A radio call
from David informs us here at BC that Andy is still feeling weak from a mild
illness from two days previous and instead of thrashing himself has decided to
stay at BC for another days rest and will join the group tomorrow. He arrives
back 7.00am feeling fine but just not quite strong enough to today.
9.40am. David radios
from Camp One (C1). He and Yuki are at the camp site and getting ready to rest
for the next two night before moving to Camp Two (C2). All ok and feeling
strong!
Yesterday a meeting
was convened at Henry Todd's camp for discussions about rope fixing above C 2.
The group consisted mostly of the commercial operators and good headway was made
in regard to responsibilities for rope fixing. Weather forecasting was discussed
and it was concluded that Guy Cotter would be the information conduit for
weather and to ensure the continued communication between the groups. Radio
frequencies were shared to ensure communication in case of mishap and protocols
were discussed to ensure friends and family receive first hand information. In
previous years there has been some abhorrent behavior from individuals trying to
feed the media with news of any disaster or calamity before this has been
reported through the correct channels. Whilst it was recognized that we couldn't
stop other teams on the mountain from making these reports we felt unanimously
that we need not all act like
parasites. The worst case of
this here was when an individual recorded radio communications between a dying
climber and his wife and then sold the tapes to a book writer.
EverestNews.com will
follow the attempt on Annapurna of the "International Annapurna 2000
Expedition": We think
you will find these daily reports very interesting. Go to their site for the
pictures and dispatches in Spanish. Their
web site: www.interofer.es/annapurna2000
with reports in Spanish, Pictures and more !
Date: 4/16/2000
Title: The expedition is
gathering at base camp
Weather: Snowing (with
improvement expected in the coming hours)
Location of Expedition: Base
Camp
Next Objective: Study the
route to Camp II at 6000 meters
Dispatch: The
adverse weather conditions in which the Annapurna region has sunk into, has
forced the expedition members to return to base camp. This was done by
rappelling on the ropes installed by many teams. At the same time, the Americans
returned to base camp after deciding not to follow the French route that looks
too dangerous. The snow storm, according to the forecasts will stop in the next
hours and lead to three or four days of favorable conditions. However, this may
not lead to good climbing due to the avalanche danger from the recent snows.
Title: The expedition is paralyzed
Weather: Intense Snow (temperature
at C1 is -9 C inside the tents)
Location of Expedition: On the
mountain
Next Objective: Waiting for
improved weather
Update:
The intense snow that has left almost a half meter of snow. This is preventing
to the climbers from leaving their tents. They are hearing considerable amounts
of avalanches although they are happening far away from their tents. An American
expedition is isolated at camp II at 6000 meters. In the next hours the climbers
at Camp I will decide if they stay there hoping improved weather or descend to
base camp.
Date: 4/14/2000
Title: The snow has stopped
progression to Camp II
Weather: Instable
Location of Expedition: Group
I is at Camp I (Dr. Pujante, Feijoo, Ugur) as is Group 2 ( Tapias, Arias and
Pascual) and Group 3: 2 Sherpas. Base Camp: Molins and the rest of the Nepali
members
Next Objective: If the weather
does not permit moving up to Camp II, the groups will come back to base camp.
Update: "Cold,
very cold" is how Joaquim Molins describes the weather on the mountain. A
cold front has suddenly changed the weather in the Himalayas and has stopped the
teams from progressing to Camp II. They are staying in their tents, taking
advantage of the time to acclimatize. The thermometers have descended to -9 C
inside the tents at Camp 1 and up to -4 C in Base Camp. In addition, there was a
small incident where the garlic sausage or salchichσn disappeared, leaving to
the climbers without an important and flavorful part of its food. Tomorrow, if
the weather improves the team will continues towards camp II. However, if the
adverse conditions do not improve, the team will return to base camp which is
much more comfortable.
EverestNews.com has added
a Spring 2000 Annapurna Page where EverestNews.com
will report News on this
expedition and other
Annapurna News.
- A private American
expedition: 2000 Everest Environmental
A team of eight climbers
and over 20 Sherpas will climb to Camp
4 on Everest this spring to attempt to bring down hundreds of discarded
oxygen bottles and tons of trash left by other climbers in the past. The
climbers will also attempt to summit Everest.
Members include Robert
Chang, Expedition leader Robert Hoffman of Belmont, CA, (his fourth expedition
to Everest), Deputy Expedition leader is Robert Boice of San Francisco. The
expedition trek leader is Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of one of the first
Everest summiteers, Tenzing Norgay. In addition, Sherman Bull, 62, of Stamford,
CT, is a physician member. The lead Sherpa is Appa
Sherpa.
Current Status:
The Inventa Everest
2000 Environmental Expedition team has arrived at Base Camp and set up is going
very well. They had their puja ceremony today at 11:00 am.
Check their site for the full dispatch
- Everest Spring
2000: Byron
Smith
Current Status: Byron
Smith, Tim Rippel and the Everest 2000 Expedition Sherpa sirdar Lhakpa Tshering
were delayed going through the icefall today. They had left Basecamp early in
the morning, about an hour behind their team of nine Sherpas which had gone
ahead with equipment to Camp II. Before they could get through to the end, a
giant ice serac collapsed near the lip of the icefall, completely destroying the
route in that section.
The nine Sherpas who
were up ahead had passed that section, so Byron, Tim and Lhakpa were separated
from their teammates and had to return to Basecamp.
Today's diary entry is
another update from Virginia Robinson, in her ongoing Physician's log.
Check his diary entry for more http://cbc.ca/everest2000/
Problems
on the North Side
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
For
all the April 2000 News
For
all the March 2000 News
