|
March 1st, 2002.
In March of 2002, we are attempting the 7200 meter
Mount Nojin Kansa, a moderate peak near Lhasa Tibet,
which has never had a western ascent. Then we are
attempting Kangchenjunga ... click
here for the full dispatch.
March
3rd, 2002. Most everyone went on a cultural tour of
the city today. Jean-Christophe had his own French
speaking guide...click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 4th: Well, we left Kathmandu at 03:30 am in
the morning, and crossed into Tibet at the
Friendship Bridge in Kodari at 3:00 pm. We had lunch
at Zhangmu, after clearing customs and immigration.
Everything went smoothly on our trip into Tibet.
Snow fell on the night...click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 5th, 2002: Today
we made it to Nyalam, at 3700 meters. The day
started out in sunshine at Zhangmu. Alex Lowe,
Christian Bonnington, and Tomas Huber have stopped
here... Click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 6th, 2002: At least night's meeting, we
voted as a group to drive all the way to Shigatse at
3700 meters. We believed it was about a 450
kilometer drive. The route would cross four or five
passes, some of which would be at 5200 meters, so we
felt we would gain some acclimatization....Click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 7th, 2002: We
had an enjoyable morning of sightseeing around
Shigatse, and visited the Tashilumpo Monastery,
Tibet's "Largest" with 700 monks (although
it used to have 5000). Jon Otto called from Lhasa,
saying the truck going from Lhasa to basecamp was
late due to licensing problems.... Click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 8th, 2002: This morning, we woke up
around 9 am and it was sunny and cold -10 degrees
centigrade. Most everyone had a headache, so we
decided to take a rest day. Some members, including
Jean-Christophe, Richard Fullerton, Andrew Bruske,
and Micheal Doyle, went for a walk... Click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 9th, 2002: The
night was a bit warmer with temperatures around -5
degrees centigrade... Click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 10th, 2002: We awoke early and had our
breakfast. Each morning. our cook comes around with
a cup of fresh hot tea and gives it to us while we
are still in our tent. There is a group of maybe 15
nomad people camped out in the pass with us, and
they are curious about us, and we about them.... Click
here for the full dispatch.
March
11th, 2002: We
planned to reach camp 1 and sleep there today. We
sent ahead two of our Tibetan climbing colleagues,
Pinso and Pemba. Click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 12th, 2002: We
awoke at 6am , and began walking to camp 1 at 730
am. The weather was fine, sunny and beautiful. All
of us participated, except for Brian... Click
here for the full dispatch.
Dispatch
March 13th, 2002: Jon Otto, Michael Doyle,
Pemba, and Pinso awoke early and headed up the ridge
for rope fixing. They made it to 6100 meters by
1500pm in the afternoon, fixing rope as they went...Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 14th, 2002: We
awoke at 6 am, and brewed up and headed up the
lines, leaving camp about 1000 am. During a
noon radio call, Brian Mertes called from basecamp,
saying he was sick, and coughing blood...Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 15th, 2002: We all rested in
basecamp. We miss
Brian Mertes, and hope he is recovering and
relaxing well in Lhasa from his bout of illness.
Other than that, our team seems to be doing quite
well, given the challenges of surviving out here
in the Tibetan Plateau... Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 16th, 2002: We
all rested in basecamp one more day, while Jon Otto
and Michael Doyle went up to camp one, to continue
fixing the rope. Today, the two Tibetan climbers,
Pinso and Pemba, did a grand job of fixing rope past
the cornice....Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 17th, 2002: Today was the day we
finished our rest period, and all set off for camp
1. Just before setting off, a Landcruiser rolled
into camp, and our Tibetan liason officer, Tsering,
and our friend Brian Mertes jumped out... Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 18th, 2002: A few of us awoke early
at 4am and set off to explore the route and to
locate camp 2. We were Dimitri Koutsogiorgas,
Richard Fullerton, Pemba, and Pinso. We jugged the
lines up a 400 meter, 20 to 47 degree rock, snow,
and ice slope, then ducked around the cornice, and
popped out onto the upper plateau of the mountain.
The fixed lines looked well placed... Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 19th, 2002: While some of us rested
in camp 1, Martha Johnson, Jean-Christophe Van
Waes, and Michael Doyle walked up to the base of
the fixed lines at 5700 meters. Jean Christophe
and Michael carried on, but they returned in the
middle of the afternoon, as Jean Christophe had
coughing spasms. He descended down to basecamp.
Dimitri Koutsogiorgas also descended to basecamp...
Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 20th, 2002: We were feeling quite
rested in camp 1, so we awoke early in the morning
and began walking to camp 2 at 7:30 in the
morning. We were a group comprised of: Martha
Johnson, Michael Doyle, Richard Fullerton, Daniel
Mazur, Pemba and Pinso. The wind was mild to nill,
the day was sunny, the temperatures were around 5
degrees C, and the climbing was quite good... Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 21st, 2002: We awoke early, and Richard
and Pemba and Michael set off for the summit. It
was warm and sunny with a light wind. We saw an
amazing view from our camp 2 at 6850 meters,
comprising what we thought to be Everest, Makalu,
and Shishapangma. Martha felt better, and Dan and
Pinso stood outside, watching the progress of the
summit team... Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 22nd, 2002: The bulk of the team
rested in base today. Michael came down in the
afternoon, ecstatic about his summit success. It
was fun to be together again, and we all sat
around the heater in basecamp and told stories
about our favorite rock bands, and sang bits of
their songs... Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 23-27, 2002: Getting you caught up... Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
March 28-31st: We packed up our basecamp, and loaded
the truck and a minivan... Our
Kangchenjunga team has begun arriving, including... Click
here for the full dispatch
Dispatch
1-4 April: We said goodbye to our Nojin Kansa
team. We were sad to see them go. It was a successful
expedition for two members reached the summit. For
the others, we made great friendships and hope to
see them again soon. We were so sad that some
members had to leave early... Click
here for the full dispatch
April
5-6 Dispatch: Chris telephoned from Taplejung at
9am. They all (Mark Bryant, Mike Farris, Stuart
Findlay, Chris Grasswick, Ian Lloyd, and Tek
Bahadur Tamang) made it to Taplejung on the
Twin-Otter flight. Now they are planning to begin
their trek. The rest of us hung out in Kathmandu,
wrote letters, tried to phone home... Click
here for the full dispatch
7
-8 April Dispatch: We loaded the bus in front of
our hotel starting at 1:00 am this morning. We
finished loading at 3:30 am. We counted 140 loads,
and we still have to buy kerosene. We had a quick
tea, then all of us boarded the bus and headed out
of Kathmandu. 1 hour later, Felix realized that he
forgot the medical bag... Click
here for the full dispatch
9
-10 April Dispatch: We were awake at 430 am and
driving on our bus by 5:00. We wound our way
through the extremely rugged countryside, reaching
the burning hot town of Kabeni for lunch. We had
been here before in 1997, when it was a bustling
village, but now it was a ghost-town, with all of
the shops shuttered... Click
here for the full dispatch
11
April Dispatch: We awoke at 530, to galu the
cook boy bringing us a delightful cup of milk tea.
We got our loads better organized and sold and
left behind 1 load each of flour, sugar, rice and
chiura. Krishna the cook voiced dismay (and
perhaps something else, as the cook is
traditionally entitled to the spoils of over-victualled
expeditions)... Click
here for the full dispatch
12-15
April Dispatches: We rose early to beautiful
weather, ate a delicious breakfast, and enjoyed a
peaceful and gentle walk along the Tamur River. We
crossed a few rickety swinging cable bridges along
the way, providing spectacular views and some
vertigo. We left the river, turning left around
1100 am, and began walking up the Ghunsa kola... Click
here for the full dispatch
16-19
April Dispatches: The day started at dawn, with a
cacophony of Tibetan voices babbling outside
Himalaya Chungda's place as our staff worked
together with the man himself to organize our
loads for the next stage of the journey, from
Ghunsa to Pangpema, where basecamp is located.
There was much shouting, and sorting of loads, and
reweighing, and carrying of sacks back and forth...
Click
here for the full dispatch
20-23
April Dispatch: Today it was beautiful in the
morning and snowed in the afternoon. Dorje Tamang
and Dorje Sherpa, walked up the glacier, picking
their way through the moraines and rivers-over-ice,
to prepare the route with stone cairns and bamboo
flags. They returned in the afternoon. Mike and Mark
and Malte, and Paul decided to organize their
equipment. Felix and Dan, checked tents and sorted
loads, preparing tents, ropes, stoves to be taken up
the mountain... Click
here for the full dispatch
24
-26 April Dispatch: Today was clear and sunny in
the morning, and cloudy and foggy in the afternoon,
but it did not snow. Felix and Dan and Ian walked to
the base of the ice building at 6100 meters, and
Felix fixed 170 meters of polypropylene 7mm static
rope inside the ice building itself, to an altitude
of 6250 meters. It is a 40-65 degree ice and snow couloir,
about 5 meters at its narrowest. Click
here for the full dispatch
27
April- May 1st Dispatch: The
weather was decent in the morning and cloudy in the
afternoon. Chris and Stuart returned late the
previous night, and took a rest day in basecamp.
Malte and Paul and Ivan and Julio, and Mike walked
across the 6000 meter plateau, through the ice
building, traversed the 6400 meter ice terrace, and
deposited a cache of tents, stoves, and rope and ice
screws at 6450 meters, behind a protective ice
terrace serac. Ian and Dan and Felix and Steve
rested in basecamp. Mark returned to basecamp late
in the afternoon with Tek... Click
here for the full dispatch
2
May- May 6th Dispatches: The weather was sunny and hot in the
morning, and in the afternoon, it did not rain very
hard. Ivan, Julio, Malte, Paul
and Mike rested in basecamp. Stuart, Steve and
Chris rested in camp 1. Ian, Felix and Dan walked
across the plateau, and the climbed up through the ice
building (a 30 - 55 degree ice and snow gulley of
approximately 300 meters vertical gain, which provides
passage from the 6000 meter plateau up to the 6400 meter
ice terrace. Hanging above this ice-snow gulley, are
two tiers of seracs. Although rather inactive, they do
indeed look formidable, and this is no place to hang
about.... Click
here for the full dispatch
6
May - May 9th Dispatches: The weather was poor,
deteriorating to snow in the afternoon, making work
on the rockband difficult. Nevertheless, Felix aided
by Jambu managed to fix another 50 meters of rope
through a 60-85 degree mixed ice and rock traverse,
but decided further progress was unwise as the
spindrift was somewhat heavy. Stu and Chris went up
from Camp 2 to the base of the rockband, and carved
away the overhang on the bergschrund. Mike, Malte,
and Mark dug away in the ice cave to make room for
an extra tent - Mark particularly showed his
artistic touches with finely designed terracing!
Ivan and Julio rested after their heroics the
previous day... Click
here for the full dispatch
10
May Dispatch: The
clouds were very low for most of the day. Stu, Chris,
and Paul left basecamp for Camp 1, en route to the
rockband and establishing Camp 4. Mark enjoyed another
rest day and Camp 2. All other members enjoyed a quiet
day at basecamp, although Felix could not resist some
bouldering opportunities. Also, Ivan and Julio showed
their master craftsmen skills in constructing our very
own shower cubicle (patent pending)... Click
here for the full dispatch
11
-13 May Dispatch: Today the weather cleared, it
was a fine sunny day. Chris, Paul, and Stu made it
up to Camp 3 at the base of the rockband. Mike,
Malte and Steve went to Camp 1. Mark broke a tooth
eating an Apricot from Costco Stores and due to the
pain he descended to basecamp with Tek and Galu. The
other team members rested at basecamp... Click
here for the full dispatches
15
-20 May Dispatch: On this day we had good
weather again with only a couple of snow clouds
present. Ivan, Julio, and Felix spent a rest day at
Camp 2. Stu, Chris, Mike, Malte, and Paul all traveled
back to basecamp having completed their
acclimatisation night at Camp 4. Dan, Ian, and
Galu reached Camp 2. Steve still remains ill at
basecamp....Click
here for the full dispatches
21-23
May dispatch: The weather blew hard through the
night and covered camp 2, lying in a protected spot,
with spindrift. By morning the tough Ozark tents
were nearly covered, except for the last 20 centimeters.
Galu and Dan and Jangbu awoke at 7:00 am and
descended to basecamp, the others, tired from the
yesterday's rescue, decided to take a rest day. Galu
was fine upon reaching basecamp, four hours before
Dan and Jangbu. The glacier had greatly changed
below camp 2, with massive new crevasse opening,
especially on the 6000 meter plateau.... Click
here for the full dispatches
24
May Dispatch: Stuart
and Chris reached the summit today at 3:15
pm. On
Friday, 24th May, at approximately 5:30 pm. Chris fell
to his death from around 8,400 meters....Click
here for the full dispatches (4 pages of
Dispatches)
25
-26 May Dispatch: The weather today started off
bright and sunny but clouded over quickly and it
started snowing gently. After yesterday's events,
Stu was understandably wanting to get off the
mountain and back to base camp as quickly as
possible both to rest and to inform Chris's family
of the events personally by satellite phone. Click
here for the full dispatches
27
-28 May Dispatch: It snowed heavily overnight,
making the mountain even more difficult and
dangerous. Several tents at the different camps
were almost completely buried. Ivan, Julio, and
Felix dug themselves out of Camp 6 and headed down
to Camp 2, carrying as many tents and stoves as
possible. Click
here for the full dispatches
29
-30 May Dispatch: Trekking out... We started
before 5 am, taking down tents and assembling
porter and yak loads. We had a long day's march--
over 20 km (it took 3 days to do this distance on
the way up) to Ghunsa. By the end of the day it
was cold, raining, and we were glad to reach the
village. Click
here for the full dispatches
31
May - June 5th Dispatch: A long hard day. We
left Gyabla about 7 am and arrived in Sekathum about
4-5 pm. We had lunch in Amjilasa. We slept in tents
for the last time. It rained like crazy that
evening, but most of us stayed dry. We waited for
the dreaded leeches to appear, but only a couple
were seen... Several members of Chris's family are
here--his wife Natalie, father Hugh, sister Heidi,
and old friend Ken (Gnu) are all at the hotel. Click
here for the full dispatches
The final dispatch.... |
