Dan Mazur's Kangchenjunga Spring 2002

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. Well, we did the drive and made it to Shigatse. The weather was cloudy, so we could not see Everest, but we did see Shishapangma. The road was excellent and dry. Nighttime temperatures have been below freezing, and daytime temperatures have been hovering around 5 to 10 degrees centigrade. There has not been much wind, in fact, the air seems very still. On route, one truck got a puncture, which we quickly had repaired by a Tibetan Nomad in a tire shop. We finally reached Shigatse, at 1930 at night, and stayed in a comfortable three star hotel. We had a sumptuous dinner, and finally, after some coaxing, they did produce some tasty vegetable dishes for Richard Fullerton, who eats only vegetables. Antonios Sykaris got a haircut, and Brian Mertes checked out the disco. On the 6th of March (tomorrow), Martha Johnson is going to do the second installment of the EKG study, measuring all of the member's heart rates, we are supposed to do a bit of site seeing at Shigatse City's famous Tashilunpo Monastery, which is meant to be Tibet's most active with 700 monks. Then if all goes according to plan, we are supposed to drive up to Nojin Kansa basecamp in the afternoon. Wish us luck! 

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

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