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Everest
2001 Expedition: Polytechnic University of Valencia
Three
climbers from Valencia, Spain will attempt Everest
from the Standard North Col Route. This group has
participated in three expeditions together and has
worked to become a close-knit team. In the Himalayas, two of the three
summited Cho Oyu (8,201) and, most recently, they had
an unsuccessful expedition to Manaslu. This
was caused by bad weather. Of note is
that they were accosted by terrorists during the trek
to Manaslu!
Dispatch
:April 28th
We
spend the morning preparing the loads that the
sherpas have to take up in the next few days to
camps I and II.After, we hope that Sergi starts to
ascend towards CI from Base Camp.At the start, the walk is quite relaxed,
but soon we can tell that our rucksacks are
heavier than they should be: information
equipment, the satellite phone and all the
batteries are apparent.
Normally,
the ascent from Base Camp to Advanced Base Camp takes
two days, with a stop at the Yak Camp, but the descent
takes only a day.The route passesan endless moraine of about 26kms, divided in
two sections :the first part we descend by the eastern
Rongbuk Glacier and then by central Rongbuk.
In
order to picture what a moraine is you need to start
imagining the head of the glacier, which receives
large snow falls and with pressure turns this snow
into a great mass of ice, which due to gravity starts
to shift towards lower parts of the valley.On its way it drags along everything in its
path, and develops if the surrounding cliffs surround
the slopes towards the centre of the valley.In this way, although we pass by scenery which
could appear to be a pile of rocks, underneath is
actually a large amount of ice which on occasions can
measure 100 meters thick From time to time, between
the rocky mass, ice formations appear such as
pinnacles which reminds us that we are not walking in
a Pyrenean valley.
With
this panorama ahead we start the descent towards BC.
The route offers the peculiararity of being able to
look at the pinnacles whilst occasionally coming
across a line of yaks taking up the equipment of
expeditions to ABC.
Finally,
after 6 hours of walking, we arrive at BC, almost
nightfall and looking forward to human warmth, and
grateful to the people of Al for the invitation given
to us to share their dinner we felt spoilt!
Dispatch
April 29th
After
a long night during which our sleep was hardly
interrupted we are awoken up by the heat in the
comfort of Base Camp, at only 5200 meters
altitude.Our
cook prepared a good breakfast for us and we are
excited about having the first shower after two
weeks Yes, yes, two weeks! The
shower makes us feel good [LOL],
and after we do a tour of BC with our heads in
the clouds.We meet up with Dimitri, the head of an
expedition from Siberia who seem also to be
enjoying their stay at BC: not remembering the
old face that we saw at ABC.
We
spend the rest of the day preparing BC for our stay
there: examining the tents, preparing the generator,
installing the radio
In
the afternoon we continue downloading messages from
the web, with which we spent an enjoyable few hours
reading them and remembering friends.. After
some weeks, we could have a good chat after dinner,
which couldnt be interrupted by the cold like at
ABC.
Dispatch
April 30th
Today
we have dedicated to resting and chatting with
other climbers. The main topic of conversation
is the quality of life experienced at BC
compared with ABC.
After
discovering that from BC we can talk to higher camps
using our radios, the car battery we still have (that
we had thought about connecting to the base
broadcasting station) has been swapped to brighten our
commercial vein. We have exchanged it with the owner
of a cabin shop for a crate of coca-colas, which
practically covers our basic needs
In
the evening, the three of us gathered in the tent analyze
the situation on the mountain and the strategy for the
next days, although in principal the idea is to
continue resting at BC.
