 |
| The
Team |
|
| Dave
Pritt |
Adventure
Peaks Leader |
| Jill
Pinkerton |
Adventure
Peaks |
| |
|
| Chris
Burrows-Wood |
UK |
| Murray
Campbell |
UK |
| Holly
Gushe |
Canada |
| David
Horrex |
UK |
| Andy
Mayers |
UK |
| Patricia
McGuirk |
Ireland |
| John
Neville |
Ireland |
| Stuart
Peacock |
UK |
| Gordon
Read |
UK |
|
The
team met up at Heathrow on 28/03/02, while
checking in the luggage a film crew from the fly
on the wall documentary Airport where filming
for a new series.
Dave Pritt and Jill Pinkerton, Adventure Peaks
Leaders, was interviewed regarding the Everest
expedition. Chris Mothersdale was also
interviewed regarding the experiments he will be
carrying out for internet based science
education for schools and Guiness book of
records. So all being well you will see us in
the new series of Airport in June.
Although
it is quite a long flight to Nepal, time seemed
to pass quickly and before we new it we had
arrived in Kathmandu. The only hiccup being
Patricia Mc Guirks luggage had been delayed.
From the airport we were taken to the Hotel,
after a whirlwind tour of some of Kathmandu's
back-streets we checked into the Hotel Manang. A
Nice Hotel on one of the main streets. Here we
were joined by Holly Gushe who had previously
been traveling in India.
We
had a couple of days in Kathmandu before we
could start our journey to base camp. This was
spent sorting out kit to be loaded into the
lorries, buying last minute luxury items and
taking in the sights. On the 1st April we set
off on our journey to Everest Base Camp. First
we had to cross the border into Tibet. We traveled
through Nepal to a Place called Friendship
Bridge. Thankfully we crossed the border into
Tibet before a Maoist strike was called, on the
Nepalese side, which we understood could have
delayed us for up to 6 days.
Just
over the border was our first stop in a town
called Zhang Mu. Away from the cities, the towns
are quite sparse and so places to stay and places
to eat in become limited. However knowing that
you're going to be spending nearly 2 months
under canvas makes it easier to accept that two
and a half star accommodation is a luxury not to
be scoffed at. We had one night in Zhang Mu, we
then had to wait for our main luggage and
freight to catch us up. Then it was onto Nylam,
this took us along some of the most breath
taking roads (Roads is a bit of an
overstatement) I have ever been on. Breath
taking from both the scenery that we were
passing through and how sheer the drops were at
the side of the narrow dirt tracks we were traveling
along. At just over 3700m we entered Nylam as it
began to snow, nobody was quite prepared for the
heavy downfall and the cold weather so early on
into the trip.
The
next day gave us our first chance to stretch our
legs and get some acclimatization. We all headed
for a 4370m peak just outside Nylam. It felt
good to be out on the hills after a few days
couped up on bus and in hotels.
April
4th, we headed out to the village of Tingri
(4320m) this would be our last stop before
reaching Everest Base Camp. The road into Tingri
gave us our first sights of Everest and Cho Oyu.
Even from a long distance there is no denying
that the view of the North Face & North East
Ridge of Everest is a spectacular sight. Tingri
is only a small village and more basic than the
other two places we had stayed, however I
preferred this place over the others. Again we
had a day put aside to acclimatize. So we headed
up a giant sand-dune like peak which took us to
around 5000m.
April
6th, On the road one last time final destination
Everest Base Camp. For this part of the trip we
had 3 Land Cruisers to take us over the rough
terrain. The trip took us over a pass at 5100m
dropping down the other side we stopped to take
in probably the most impressive panorama I have
ever seen. The view covering virtually the whole
Horizon gave us the sights of 7 of the highest
mountains in the world and there sitting proud
in the middle was Everest.
Before
arriving at Base Camp (5165m) we made a visit to
the Rongbuck Monastery, which also gave us the
best close-up views of the mountain. We finally
reached Base Camp and unloaded what kit we had,
we then had to wait for the lorries to turn up
with the rest of the kit. Unfortunately when the
lorries eventually turned up Gordon found he was
one bag short. This had all his high altitude
down gear in, Gordon thought this was the end of
the trip but fortunately between the team
members we were able to gather everything he
needed.
Well
today is the 10th, we have had a few days acclimatizing.
Tomorrow we leave for Advance Base Camp, this
will take two days to get to at height of 6200m
and a distance of 20 km from Main Base Camp.
From there with the combined effort from 5 other
teams we will be fixing lines up to the North
Col, were we hope to stay for a night and then
head back down to Base Camp, around 18th - 20th
April, for a well earned rest. The next update
will be at this time.
Report
by Stuart Peacock from Everest Base Camp
 Dispatches
|
