Dan Mazur's Kangchenjunga Spring 2002

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. They bring their medical problems to our Doctor, Martha Johnson, so it is a bit more work for her, but it is also very interesting. Last night she treated the nomad woman Phunsom, whose eyelid had been scratched by the horn of a rampaging yak. Luckily Phunsom's eye was unharmed, and the cut is healing well today. One of their leaders, Chungda, works as an assistant in the Kitchen, and two of the women, Dikki-Tomba and Hakpa occasionally go to the ice to chop blocks for melting into water (as we consume copious amounts). We packed up our climbing boots and kit in our rucksacks, and after a huge breakfast, made our way up the ridge just west of basecamp to climb the scree and low angle rock ledges to camp 1 at 5600 meters. It was very windy, but the skies were completely blue. It was not so cold and we had to shed a few layers. But the wind was blowing quite strongly and it was a challenge to stand up at times. Jean Christophe and Michael shot out ahead. Pemba and Pinso, with heavy packs, stayed behind. Even Tsering our liason Officer, and the cook boy Pubu Tsering, came with us. We found a good protected place for camp 1, under a rock escarpment, and we plan to send Pemba, Pinso, and Pubu Tsering up there early in the morning with picks and shovels, to clear six tent sites. We returned to basecamp by walking directly down a scree slope, and it was a quick walk down for most of us, taking only 25 minutes going down, whereas the ascent of the ridge had taken 3-6 hours depending on the person. When we got back to basecamp around 4pm, the cooks had prepared an amazing repast, consisting of delicious potatoes dumplings, egg rolls, fresh cucumber slices, a mushroom and tomatoes dish, fresh cabbage with yak steak slices, chicken corn soup ,and lots of tea and coffee, we went to bed in the -5 degree centigrade temperatures (which we are now quite used to) feeling like our expedition is going well and that we are accomplishing something. Our only concern is about the wind. 

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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