Autumn 2003: International Mountain Guides 8000 meter Coverage

Dispatch Three

Current Expedition Time

Dispatch Three September 2, 2003: IMG guides Chris Booher and Mike Hamill report that everyone has made Base Camp and are doing fine, after an interesting trip across Tibet. They arrived on schedule in Lhasa on the 26th, where the team spent several days being tourists.  Highlights included an unusual trip to the Drepung Monastery where the annual festival was taking place.  The team also visited the famous Potala Palace (home of the Dali Lama), the Johkang Temple, and the Barkhor market. On the 28th the team traveled by jeep to Shigatse, where they visited the Tashilumpo Monastery (home of the Panchen Lama). On the 29th they traveled to Tingri, where they met with the Sherpas who had come overland from Nepal via Zhangmu. 

Cho Oyu base camp Photo Source Eric Simonson

Their trip had been difficult, with the road washed out in several places by mudslides, which required that they hire porters to carry all the gear around the roadblocks and hire new trucks on the other side.  After an acclimatization day in Tingri, the Sherpas went ahead and started setting up Base Camp at about 15,000 feet.  The team followed a day later, arriving on the 31st, after several hours of jeep riding across the Plains of Tingri and along the moraines of the Gyabrag Glacier.  The plan for the next few days is to organize, acclimatize, and get ready for the trek to Advanced Base Camp.

—Eric Simonson,
  International Mountain Guides Director

EverestNews.com coverage will include dispatches from the IMG Cho Oyu Expedition along with exclusive dispatches from Nancy Norris as she warms up for Everest 2004, when she hopes to attempt to become the oldest American woman (at age 60!)to summit Everest.

Eric Simonson, veteran expedition leader, Everest Summiter, author and motivational speaker. To book Eric