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 Wednesday
01/05: We are surrounded by thick and heavy
clouds...Today it seems we are not going to
get very far. Every one of us is finding a
way to occupy time. One day hanging around
like this isn't too bad after all. D. has
dismantled the generator and has finally
gotten it working again. Tonight I am going
to surprise my fellow-climbers with a home
(tent)-made "mousse au chocolat".
Tuesday
30/04: The generator has broken down, so we
can't recharge the satellite telephone and
will have to restrict the number of contacts
with the MSF base. The encouragement we are
getting from the home front is very
heart-warming, and we can certainly do with
a bit of heat, as the temperature is now
more than 5°C during the day and minus 20°C
at night.
Monday
29/04: Another snowstorm raged last night.
The tents were severely tested several times
and I had to go out twice to remove the snow
from my tent. The climbers who spent the
night at C1 are now back with me and we are
setting off together to return to the ABC.
There is a complete whiteout: it is
impossible to see anything through the
flurry of snow. Our track is covered with a
70 cm layer of fresh snow. We have to find
the track again so progress is slow. There
is a biting wind and a few hours later a
series of stalactites come down on the ABC.
Friday,
April 26, 2002: A terrible snowstorm has
sprung up. It is so thick I can't even see
my own hand in front of me. I'm feeling
pretty low with a headache that never lets
up. I rely on my climbing companions for
comfort and support. Everything is wonderful
when you are in good health. I realize that
even the most experienced alpinist can get
altitude sickness, as it has nothing to do
with a poor physical condition or lack of
preparation. I have never had it before so
it seems like a terrible ordeal for me.
Thursday,
April 25, 2002: Today we established a
temporary store for materials higher up in
the mountain, just before the snow fall. We
each carry 15 to 20 kg. We call this
porterage. We travel for about five hours
over a difficult track along the edge of the
glacier. Back in ABC, I am feeling so bad
that it is decided to call for the doctor
belonging to a Finnish expedition. His
verdict is that I have a slight cerebral
oedema, an infiltration resulting from a
lack of oxygen. I'm ordered to rest for
three days and to take a diuretic medicine.
A blood specimen produces an oxygen level of
75%, which is more than sufficient.
Wednesday,
April 24, 2002: The sherpas are organizing
the Puja ceremony today and all climbers are
obliged to take part. The sherpas use the
ceremony to ask the gods for permission to
climb the mountain. It is a very restrained
ceremony. They hang pray flags up, burn
juniper berry twigs and whilst declaiming
Buddhist prayers and songs, they offer food
and money to implore the gods to give their
approval to the expedition. ABS is the nerve
centre of the expedition: this is where
everything is discussed, organized and
planned. We will also be spending a lot of
time here. Our new "home" is
located on a moraine (= an accumulation of
glacial waste, sand and stones) in a great
deal of brown in the midst of all that
white. Two of the four sherpas will remain
at ABC at all times. The other two are our
climbing guides.
Thursday
April 23, 2002: Temperatures: a maximum of 9°C
during the daytime with a minimum
temperature at night of -11°C inside the
tent and -13°C outside. Yesterday's trip
was too grueling for ordinary mortals from
the Low Countries. Our heads were throbbing,
our bodies were crying out for more oxygen.
The only person who was not in such a bad
way was the expedition leader J. We know
what we have to do: become more acclimatized
to the conditions. To be completely honest,
I ought to add that one question that popped
in my throbbing head today was "why am
I doing this? Now, as I look out of the tent
at this nocturnal landscape and see how the
moonlight is reflected by the magnificent
Shisha Pangma, I have found the answer
again!
Monday
April 22, 2002: We continue on foot and our
luggage is carried by the yaks to Advanced
Base Camp (ABC 5,600 m). The original plan
for the day was to climb to the Intermediate
Base Camp (5,200 m). We decided to head
directly to the ABC because our sherpas said
this was feasible within four to five hours.
The fastest (Westerner) in our team took six
hours. We are all exhausted by this
difficult route and the changing weather
conditions (sun in the morning, cloudy in
the afternoon with a lot of wind). The
luggage has suffered badly from being
transported on the backs of the yaks. We
assess the extent of the damage: dents,
bumps and rips.
Sunday
April 21, 2002: Temperatures: a maximum of
12°C during the daytime but the sun makes
its feel hotter and we are even walking
about in T-shirts: The minimum temperature
at night is -8°C in the tent and -10°C
outside. A Chinese official is permanently
based here as a so-called "liaison
officer". The man's obsession with
order and authority verges on the absurd. We
in the team agree to live according to
Nepalese time as this is the most obvious
one from a biological point of view.
Nonetheless, as the whole of China observes
Beijing time (although it applies to a
geographical area that covers at least five
time zones), the liaison officer refuses to
allow our sherpas to use Nepal time. The
man's enjoys quite a luxurious life here. He
has a TV and a video, whose generator
succeeds in disturbing my slumbers. When the
throbbing machine finally stops at about 11
o' clock in the evening I turn over in my
sleeping bag with a sigh of relief. Until
the dogs belonging to the yak drivers begin
a barking concert that lasts all night long.
Saturday
April 20, 2002: Bumped and jolted from one
side to another, the people driving our
jeeps are trying to find a way between the
huge boulders strewn over the path. We
follow the River Nyan Chu from Nyalam in a
westerly direction and reach the base camp
(BC 5,000 m) of Shisha Pangma. Our Nepalese Sherpa
friends are waiting for us there and it is
heartening to see they have already got our
tents ready and have prepared a delicious
meal for us in the tent used for this
purpose. Tibetans walk in out of the tent
without so much as a by-your-leave. They're
quite a noisy lot. Anyhow, we won't be
troubled by this anymore once we get higher
up.
Friday
April 19, 2002: From Tingri (4,342 m) we
trek southwards. As well as providing us
with an opportunity to pay a very
interesting visit to a Buddhist monastery,
the excursion also offers us a breath-taking
view of Everest (8,848 m) and Cho Oyu (8,153
m). I am always game for these types of
challenges.
Thursday
April 18, 2002: The temperature has reached
10°C, but there is a strong wind. The
entire team seems to have got used to the
new pace: the day starts with a rest,
followed by major excursion in the area of
Xegar (4,420 m) and in the late afternoon,
we gather together on the terrace located on
the lodge roof. There, M. accompanies us on
the guitar while we sing at the top of our
voices.
Wednesday
April 17, 2002: To the west of Nyalam we saw
"our" mountain for the first time,
hiding behind a thick coat of snow. We
nonetheless continued to travel eastwards
and followed the Friendship Highway (which
has nothing in common with a highway, apart
from the name) linking Kathmandu to Lhasa.
The next three days we stayed on the Tibetan
high plateau so as to become acclimatized to
our new environment. It is important to
shift our pace of life down a gear or two.
We have to allow our body the time to acclimatize
to the height, we have to moderate our
efforts and empty our minds...
Tuesday
April 16, 2002: The Friendship Bridge marks
the border between Nepal and Tibet (China).
The chaos at the border post set my
imagination running wild: it looked as
though a swarm of very busy bees had been
let loose on our multicolored luggage. The
customs formalities were finished quite
quickly. Zangmu (2,300 m) is the only border
town. This trading centre has few
attractions apart from the fact that it is
built vertically against the sharp mountain
slope. After only 31 km our lorry had
reached a height of 1,450 meters. It is no
wonder that this road full of hairpin bends
should be known locally as the road to hell.
By the time we reached Nyalam (3,750 m) the
green landscape was well behind us.
Monday
April 15, 2002: We traveled from Kathmandu
to Kodari (on the Nepal/China border) by
lorry. On the way I had another attack of
Nepalitis: the landscape was positively
teeming with bushes and rhododendrons in
flower, wild amaryllis and orchids,... along
the way, we saw hundreds of waving hands and
dazzling smiles, with people calling after
us "Namaste" (= hullo). I realized
that this happiness could not last, as
tomorrow we would be crossing the border to
enter the inhospitable Tibetan high plateau
with its monotonous brown colors and endless
sand. When we reached Kodari we set off for
the mountains to enjoy a pleasant hike. We
came across a tiny village hidden in the
mountains and a stupa (a clock-shaped
Buddhist structure containing religious
relics). In the evening we stuffed our
luggage with equipment, including a
satellite telephone, which I will be using
during spare moments to report back to the
MSF base in Brussels. Since I got here, we
have eaten nothing but dahlbat (a local
lentil-based dish). State of health: 2 cases
of diarrhea in the group. Who will be the
next one?
Sunday
April 14, 2002: Kathmandu... I was suddenly
overwhelmed by the feeling that I was coming
back home again. I haven't been here for
years but this city and country are always
with me in a certain sense. My love for the
place tends to make me forget its defects,
such as the thick cloud of smog looming over
the city. This frame of mind is known among travelers
as "Nepalitis". I meet the people
who will be climbing with me: the other
Belgians (who arrived two weeks earlier and
have already been trekking through the
Langtang region) and Sue from New Zealand.
She may be an inch tall and as light as a
feather but you should never go by
appearances: when it comes to mountains and
climbing she has bags of experience. The
news about the consignment was confirmed:
everything had arrived quite safely. That
helped compensate for my missing Leatherman.
Saturday
April 13, 2002: Take-off from Brussels... We
are at last on our way in search of
adventure. I've been caught up in a furious
round of activity in recent weeks. The list
of priorities was so long I didn't know
where to start. I put all my energy into
preparing for my long absence from my job
and home, dealing with last-minutes problems
planning for the expedition and getting
myself in good physical shape. I am now
setting off easy in my mind: we have been
assured that the consignment of equipment
for the expedition has arrived safely in
Nepal. I've been receiving lots of
heart-warming e-mails, telephone calls and
cards in recent days from people offering me
encouragement. Friends and family have been
paying me a visit to say a final farewell. A
delegation from Médicins Sans Frontières
and another from Sportspeople for MSF
accompanied my traveling companion and me to
the airport. A bit later on I was grumbling
about the blunder I had made: the Leatherman
(an American version of the Swiss knife with
pliers) in my hand-luggage was pounced upon
by security staff. Such a shame, because it
is such a useful tool to have with you.
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