Dan Mazur's Kangchenjunga Spring 2002

Dispatch March 14th, 2002: We awoke at 6 am, and brewed up and headed up the lines, leaving camp about 1000 am. Our little group was comprised of Martha Johnson, Richard Fullerton, Jon Otto, Daniel Mazur, and Pubu Tsering, the cook boy/climbing assistant. Martha cached her crampons and axe at the base of the rope. The rest of us pressed on, it was windy. During a noon radio call, Brian Mertes called from basecamp, saying he was sick, and coughing blood. Daniel told him to tell the basecamp Liaison officer to get a car for him immediately and head for Lhasa. Apparently, they were gone within three hours. Jean-Christophe said he had given Brian some Nifedipine gel caps broken open under his tongue that morning, and Brian reported he was feeling better, just before he and the liason officer jumped in the car and drove to Lhasa. The rest of our team carried on in high wind and fixed rope to 5980 meters. There snow was firm and in good shape. We returned to camp 1 exhausted at 6pm, and then continued down to basecamp. Andrew had hiked up alone to camp 1 and would stay the night.

Thank you very much. Cheers for now. Yours
Sincerely, Daniel Mazur from http://www.SummitClimb.com

Please join us in watching the "live-update" status of 2002 climbing expeditions to Nepal and Tibet on: http://www.everestnews.com/kang2002.htm

Note: In March of 2002, this team is attempting the 7200 meter Mount Nojin Kansa (picture below), a moderate peak near Lhasa Tibet, which has never had a western ascent. In April-June of 2002, they will be attempting Kangchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world, located in Eastern Nepal.

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