Snowboard Everest Autumn 2003

Stephen Koch and Jimmy Chin will attempt to snowboard Everest this Autumn. They plan to climb Everest via the Hornbein route and then descend via the Hornbein. They will travel from Kathmandu to Lhasa then to Everest base camp on the North (Chinese).  Eric Henderson is the base camp manager.

Dispatch Five: Yak Trains and ABC

We arrived into our Advanced Base Camp (ABC) on the 27th. We are blessed with a high pressure that persists with only an occasional afternoon shower. The trip from base to ABC took seven hours, instead of the normal four, due to an exciting river crossing and the fact that the yak drivers work on Tibet time, which is even more lax than Jackson time.

Yesterday, the morning was spent building our toilet. The throne has an amazing view of Chomolungmas north face. Lakpa and Kami think it is over engineered for a latrine, but we were having fun building it and got fairly ambitious with the design. The afternoon was spent building the kitchen and best of all, buffing out our Marmot Lair Dome tent which will act as dining room, communications HQ, library, movie theater, yoga studio and temple all rolled into one.

We are waiting for the remainder of our gear to arrive later today via yak train. Our plan is to continue to acclimate and in a couple of days climb and descend on skis and snowboard Xi Lingehain, 6396 meters. This peak is located off of the Xi Rongpu Glacier which is located west-southwest from our ABC and across the Rongbuk (a.k.a. Rongpu) Glacier. The peak looks skier friendly with a northwest facing glacier leading up to the summit at an average angle of 40 degrees.

Today dawned cloudy with a light snow falling but has cleared up nicely. The slack-line is going up now, so I have to run to help with the building.

Caption: Stephen hanging out in the den.

Dispatches

Pictures copyright Stephen Koch' Autumn Everest 2003 expedition

  Altitude pre-
   acclimatization

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Black Diamond

   Botas

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   CaVa Climbing Shoes
   Clearance

   Clif Bar

   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Garmin

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps
   Helmets

   HighGear
   Ice Axes

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Lowepro

   Motorola

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Outdoor Designs

   Pelican

   PowerBar

   Princeton Tec

   Prescription Glacier

   Glasses

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Trekking Poles
   Ushba
   and more here