HE'S MADE IT!!!! Jake Meyer's Everest attempt [updated 11th July 2005]
It's official - he's made it - and safely down!
EverestNews.com #1 &
#2,
Sunday Times,
MountEverest.net,
Guardian Unlimited,
BBCi,
Mirror.co.uk,
Daily Record,
Telegraph,
Di's Sunday Times interview.
• READ THE FINAL UPDATE #18 HERE!
Original intro text left for posterity; The photos are of Jake getting some final preparation in for his forthcoming expedition. The team at Ellis Brigham would like to wish him the very best of luck in successfully completing his world record attempt. Jake (aged 21) is on track to becoming the youngest Briton to climb Everest (Chomolungma), and also the youngest person in the world to complete the ‘7 Summits’.
A member of Ellis Brigham's Kensington Store, Jake has completed 6 of
the 7 summits, and leaves on the 2nd of April for his last: Everest (around
8,850m/29,035ft). He is attempting the famous North Ridge, a harder route
than the usual South Col route. Success will guarantee him a place in
the record and the history books, not only for the youngest British ascent
of Everest, but the youngest person to complete the challenge of the 7
Summits. Jake is climbing Everest in aid of the Children's Wish Foundation.
Jake has been mountaineering for 6 years, and has already achieved a number of records, including; Youngest ascent of Mt Vinson (the highest mountain in the Antarctic), where he experienced temperatures of up to -70°C, and saved a fellow climber's life when he fell down a crevasse. Youngest solo ascent of Aconcagua (in Argentina, the highest mountain outside the Himalayas), aged 18. Fastest British ascent of McKinley/Denali of 2003 (the highest mountain in North America, and famed as being the coldest mountain in the world). He took 11 days rather than the usual 23. Jake has worked with Ellis Brigham since 2002, and he has climbed 4 of the mountains with our help and support. We are sponsoring his Everest attempt and supplying vital equipment and clothing for the trip.
More general info; everestnews.com , 7summits.com , mounteverest.net & adventurepeaks.com
"Straight from Jake" - latest email updates from the expedition (please excuse the typo's!) » » »
READ THE FINAL UPDATE #18 HERE!
SUMMIT DAY - from Jake's Dad
So he has made it. What an achievement - what a proud father am I!
Jake telephoned me at 7.00 this morning. He confirmed that all four of
them - Jake, Di and their two guides, Mingma Nuru Sherpa and Anil Bhattarai,
had made it up and back to their top camp where, as he put it "we
are stuffing our faces with fudge and drinking gallons of tea."
He also revealed how difficult it had been - "If I had know how difficult
it was going to be I probably would not have done it. The final two steps
(cliffs) up to the top were technically extreme - climbing a near-sheer
rock-face with crampons, heavy packs and oxygen was hell. As the sun rose
our goggles started to mist up as well." On the way he came across
the gruesome site of two bodies at the top - one was old "I saw a
pair of boots in the snow and I thought "how odd that someone would
leave their boots up here"....then I saw that there were legs attached!"
The other was only a few days old - it was the Latvian (I think) who had
died on the top: " I had met him at ABC - it was very sobering to
know that this was someone whom I had met and who was not going to be
coming back down with us" - at this point he paused a bit in thought.
Jake had also telephoned his mother from the summit " I had a quivering
lip when I spoke to you, dad - when I spoke to mum we both just burst
into tears"
Plan is that they were resting for a short time at 8300 then descending
on down to 7800m for the night. Then tomorrow (Sunday), they will carry
on down to ABC from where I hope he will rest more and email us a full
and proper report. I may even get some photos by then! The most important
thing though is that they are safely on their way back down. The first
part of the descent is the most difficult and I trust that as I write
this they are all fast asleep at 7800m
Thank you all for all of your support. I do not think he could have done
this without the friends he has and I am so grateful to you all for this.
He may not have achieved the youngest 7-summits (20 year old Danielle
Fisher, from America, pipped him at the post by summiting from the South
Side on Wednesday) but he is the youngest Briton to do Everest and the
7 summits and that in itself is more than adequate.
EVEREST NEWSFLASH!!! - BREAKING NEWS - @ 1.15AM UK TIME FROM JAKE'S DAD
Just got the call from Jake: HE'S MADE IT!!!
Jake Meyer and Di Gilbert have made it to the top of the world. He rang
me whilst he was waiting for Di and Mingma to join him whilst standing
on the top. All the waiting is over and he is thrilled to bits.
A very tired Jake said "We've done it, Dad. I am standing at the
top. The weather is fantastic and I can see the whole world below me.
This is simply the best"
The sad news is that Ran Feinnes had to turn back, but all is well with
our team so far. Now comes the tricky moment: they have to get down to
safety. The addage is "Take the photos and get out of there as quickly
as possible" and I am expecting a call later today when they have
reached camp. They are hoping to get down to 7,800 today and then back
to ABC tomorrow - however, if the weather does close in they will stop
at the top camp (8,300m).
Please pass the word to everyone, and thank you from all of us for all
of your support. All our prayers have been answered. THANK YOU!
NEWSFLASH: by text from Hugh Meyer
1.15 am uk time, JAKE IS ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!!!!HE'S MADE!!!!!YEAHHHHHH!!!!
NEWSFLASH: 11.30am London from Hugh Meyer
I have just received a telephone call from Jake (!!!!!!!):
He is at 8,300m safe and sound and is in flying form. He sounded so excited
at having got so far (a personal record for him) and cannot wait for the
BIG PUSH. I asked Jake about the oxygen - he said that sitting in the
tent is is not too bad (although he did seem a little out of breath).
However, even going for a walk outside you have to have the oxygen otherwise
it is totally impossible - unless (and I quote) "you are Mingma who
is superhuman (the bastard)"
Plan is that he, Di and Mingma will rest up for about 6 hours - (huddled
along with their other sherpa (cook) in a single tent). During this time
they will try to get as much rest and eat as much as possible and drink
as much tea as possible to make sure they are totally stocked up with
energy and fluids.
At about 10.30 pm their time (about 4pm our time) they will set off up
to the top. This is very tough, even on oxygen, but they hope to get there
at about 6.30-7.00am thair time (say around midnight-1pm our time).
This is it folks. Keep your fingers crossed - I will email you as soon
as I have some more news, but in the meantime please have a quiet chat
with your God for Jake, Di and Mingma.
Summit push is under way, heading for a summit on the 4th June!
Day 62 (June 2nd)
Good progress has been made today and we are pleased to confirm Jake and Di have been able to reach Camp 2 at 7800m despite high winds. This was an important day, they had to progress up the North Ridge in strong winds to enable a summit bid to be made on the 4th June when the winds are forecast to decrease. Tomorrow, Friday will see their first day on oxygen. For most people the first two hours of using the oxygen and wearing the mask is psychologicaly the most difficult as you struggle getting your breathing in on a regular basis, quite often you see people ripping the mask away thinking they can do it better without........it soon gets put back on. It is also difficult to see your feet past the mask.
Provided they can stick with it, they will get into a rythm, so wearing it from 7800m - 8300m is a valuable day of practice for the summit day. We hope tomorrows news at around 3pm will be that they have reached top camp at 8300m, the summit push would start around midnight (their time).
I will email you more news as I get it - HUGH
Subject: Everest2005 310505 #17
Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 09:49:24 +0100
Day 60 (!)
3, 2, 1, THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!!!
It's the final countdown; Da da da daaa, da da d d daaa! (Don’t even pretend that you don't know that that was Europe...!)
Tomorrow, we leave the luxury of ABC to commence our final assault on this mole hill that we see before us. In true Jake and Di style, we are going for the last day of the last window. Nothing like keeping you all in suspense. I imagine that you are all so near to the edge of your seats that several of you have fallen off. Well, dust yourselves off and keep reading.
Having said that, we may have just had major team dynamics failure, as Di has accused me of conning her into eating a 'Bassets Murray Mint', under the premise that it had a 'soft centre'. She now has had most of a packet of Basset's Mint favourites in mouth in her search for the allusive 'soft centred' mint favourite. It is lucky that we are typing and not dictating these dispatches, as our teeth are all stuck together! She has come to the conclusion that it is the 'Murray BUTTER mint' that has the aforementioned supple core. As with all scientific tests, she has ensured that it is fair, by constant repetition of the experiment. Oh, dear, there I go again, I've come to a fork in the narrative, and as usual gone on off on the wrong literary tangent from which you wanted to read about. Ummmm, maybe I should write for the News of the Screws when I return!
Well, before I express how excited we are that it is time (my feet are so itchy I feel like I'm standing on an ants nest!), let me lead you through the tedious journey that was the last few days.
Day 57 (28th May)
The morning routine has now happily settled into; wake up at 6am. Put
sun cream on. Open the door of my tent so that I can bask for 3 hours
in the morning sun till breakfast. Boring day. Although I nearly forgot
to tell you about Mighty Maurice the Mountain Mouse our really resilient
resident rodent who lives in our mess tent and regularly survives Surendra's
salacious saucepan slaughter attempts. An ample and adequate amount of
alliteration, I think! Anyway, he's rather nice, looks like a hamster
but the size of a guinea pig, and he scuttles around the floor whenever
we are quiet. Not at all like those rascal rats we encountered in Nylam.
Day 58 (29th May)
Another day of not doing very much; sunbathing when the weather allows,
building snowmen the rest of the time. Abusing J/G hospitality as usual;
eating all of their Quality Street. Endless games of cards/Minesweeper.
Day 59 (30th May)
This morning was a potential leave date, if we wanted to summit on the
2nd of June; the supposed start of this last weather window. So I was
up early packing my gear and clearing up my tent, all ready for the off.
Di got the weather at about 6.45am, and we realised that the end of the window (3rd/4th) was going to be clear, whereas the 1st and 2nd had pretty high winds. Well, no point summiting in high winds when we could have a perfectly still day. Meanwhile, lots of excitement in the Indian Camp next to us their second team had summited (none of the first had made it).
We went up to Russell Brice's team at the top of ABC to look through their telescope at people summiting. It was amazing, you could very clearly see about 10 people on the summit pyramid. You could clearly pick out the colours of their clothing, what they were doing; crouching down changing an oxygen bottle or clipping onto the fixed ropes for the return journey. So, having watched the excitement unfold on top we wandered back to our camp to settle into our own exciting day.
Ha ha, the perils of sunbathing without enough sun cream! This morning has been literarily sundrenched, and like the sun-deprived fiends that we are, we have spent every available minute basking like a couple of lethargic lizards on the rocks around camp. Now, whilst I regularly applied the factor 35 and am now a wonderful brown, Di failed to keep her self topped up (either that, or her factor '60' came from a market stall in Camden!) and has now assumed the looks of a panda (and a red panda at that!)! Take your pick; 'Bronzed Adonis' or a rather crimson endangered mammal with a fondness for bamboo.
In her defence, Di has now regained the beginner and intermediate high scores at Minesweeper. I suppose she had to do something in her tent that afternoon whilst she was still gently smouldering! Meanwhile, 'Salon Jake' had another happy customer after quite a long quiet period; Kari Kobler's Sirdar ('French' Pemba) now has a very fetching blonde goatee and highlights.
This afternoon, in an effort to remind us of its fickle nature; it snowed. T-shirts to Down jackets before you can ask 'who's responsible for that Yak who just left a steamy heapy in front of my tent?' Talking of Yaks (and their 'steamy heapies'); we had the pleasure of their company (about 50 of them) and their even less hygienically concerned herders for the night. Not only are they extremely light-fingered (the herders that is; the Yaks are in fact incredibly high-moraled creatures), they had effectively built a blockade between us and our toilet tent with their tents and carefully positioned beasts. At that point Jake regretted not having 'been' in the morning, and spent a rather uncomfortable night! This was not helped by the noise of the Yaks (or more precisely the bells round their necks) making us feel as though we were spending our night in the bell tower of Notre Dame. I think that even Quasimodo would have shared our exasperation.
Oh yes, Jagged Globe left this morning, so we've no one to play with
at the moment. Having said that, just as I was about to go to bed (at
the oh so late hour of 7pm) Julian turned up in his down suit, fresh from
the summit. He had gone from 7900m to the summit and back to ABC in one
push. Wow! The really impressive part is that he had managed to get all
the way down from the summit back to ABC (it took him 12 hours!). He also
confirmed that Tim (British KE) had summited with wo
of his team (Stuart and Ian). This was all fantastic news, as Tim and
Julian were two of our really good friends and members of the
'Adventure Peaks Afternoon Cheese and Gossip Club'! We went to bed that
night under the 'threat' that if it was nice in the morning, we would
go for it, and try for the summit on the third.
As you can probably work out, it wasn't nice the next morning (this morning), so we will leave tomorrow (finally). Not only is this a relief for us, it means that Mingma is less likely to mutiny and run away! He was becoming a little frustrated with our constant stalling due to the weather, especially as he saw his friends summiting with other groups over the last few days.
As I said, this is a last ditch effort before the monsoon new season comes in (that is the big scary summer snows rather than the clothes shop's summer range!). All or nothing, the be-all and end-all, all of our eggs are in one last icy basket... and whatever other clichés I can think of to convey the importance of this attempt. If we don't make it, no more chances this year, these two months will have been for nothing. It's like Custer's Last Stand or the Alamo, or the Charge of the Light Brigade. Actually those aren’t such good examples, as the goodies all died. Errrm, maybe it's like putting that last defaulting mortgage repayment on the blind horse with three legs; it's a long shot, but muchos big payout if he comes in! Lets hope that this one is pumped on oats and steroids! Don't worry Mum; I'm still referring to the equine analogy, you know I would never touch performance enhancing oats.
Right, so hopefully we will be updating you with news (good or bad) on Sunday or Monday. Tomorrow, we march: Union Jack held high, singing about roses and thistles, into the Stratosphere. Rahh!
Here is a rundown of the next few days;
1st June (Wednesday): Leave ABC (6400m) early to make a good start on the fixed ropes up to the North Col (7100m). It shouldn't take us more than about 4 hours, but the earlier we can get up their, the more time we have to relax and prepare.
2nd June (Thursday): Leave North Col early (6am) to
get as good a start as possible up towards Camp 2 (7500m). This involves
crossing the Col and then climbing a very long and debilitating snow slope
up to the next camp. It is very unprotected, and subject to ferocious
crosswinds. Last time we tried to get to Camp 2, we only got as far as
7300m before the weather forced us to turn back. At Camp 2 we will pick
up 1 4-litre bottle of Oxygen each (we are not staying in this camp) and
then using this oxygen (low flow rate) we will continue up to camp 3 (7800m).
From Camp 2 to Camp 3 we will have left the snow slopes and now be on
rock (for pretty much all the way to the top, bar the summit pyramid).
At Camp 3 we will be met by Mingma and Aneil (who will have come all the
way from ABC). From this point on the 4 of us will be using 1 three man
tent (cozy!). We will probably be walking for 8 or 9 hours today. We will
also be sleeping on oxygen
3rd June (Friday): Although it is steep, it shouldn't take us too long
to get to Camp 4 (8300m), maybe about 4-5 hours. This is the highest camp
in the world (top camp on the other side is usually around 7900m!), and
it will be where we mount our summit bid from. That afternoon and evening
will be spent trying to massively hydrate and if ideally eat as much as
possible (although most people are unable to eat at this altitude). We
will try and nap for a few hours before we get ready and leave the tent
at around 10pm. The summit attempt starts early in order to give us the
best possible chances of summiting early. Apparently nearly a third of
climbers turn around in the first half hour, unable to cope with the wind,
cold and dark. We will now be on lighter 3 litre bottles of oxygen (2.7kg
each and contain 750 litres of compressed O2), and use about 3 during
our attempt. We will follow the fixed ropes that have been placed for
our safety that run to the summit. We will be on a flow rate of about
2 litres a minute, which will be turned up to 4 litres a minute for the
harder sections, such as the 2nd Step (a 10m vertical rock band, which
at the moment has a climber hanging off it who died last week).
4th June (Saturday) So we will continue up through the night and hopefully
arrive near the summit pyramid just as it is getting dark.
The summit pyramid is a 100m high snow slope that leads up to the summit.
The forecast for the day is about 8m/s but with clear skies and -22C
(+wind-chill factor). Depending on how cold we feel (and how much we want
to go back!) we will spend anything from 5 mins to 45 mins on the summit.
That should be at around 7am (about 2am UK time). We will then return
back as far down the mountain as possible. For us it will probably be
to 7800m (camp 3), but further if we can manage it.
Yesterday, our friend Julian, who summited at 6am got back down into ABC
(completely knackered) at 7.30pm. It completely depends on how much reserves
you have left after you summit. Unfortunately, as has been proved several
times this year already (including another yesterday), some don't even
have the strength to get back to the high camp.
Anyway, all things being good, go to sleep with your fingers and toes crossed on Friday night. If we are successful, we will call Dave Pritt at Adventure Peaks who will put it on the website (Adventurepeaks.com) early on Saturday morning, and my Father who will hopefully email all of you with the news as well. We will send you all emails as soon as we get back to the computer on Sunday.
Well, let’s hope that it all goes according to plan and thank you for all of you support over the last 2 months. I look forward to hopefully bringing you good news in about 5 days time.
From Jake Julian Barrington Meyer Esq. (no tittering at the back thank you) and Diahanne 'where's my soft centre' Gilbert (Yeah, computer won't believe that that's not a typo either!). Your loyal and dedicated soldiers on a mountainous mission, reporting from the front line on the eve of the final assault. (Whistle sound) Right chaps, over the top, and let's give Bosche what for...
...To be continued.
Everest Update # 16
Day 56 (27th May)
N.B. We have be unable to receive emails since 22nd May, but (obviously) we can still send. This is mainly due to the fact that a 51kbyte email from my father (most are only 3 or 4 kbytes!) has clogged up the server, and I have had to receive it 4 times. This has now nearly doubled the cost of the expedition in Satellite Phone charges! However, fret ye not! We will be able to receive at some point (probably Kathmandu), so keep sending.
In the meantime, we are planning to make our way up the mountain on Monday (30th May). Our plan, subject to the usual weather challenges, will be to summit somewhere around the 2nd/3rd June – so watch this space!!!
Right, now onto the 'interesting' stuff.
'The Phantom ABC Thief'
WARNING: This passage contains explicit toilet humour. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Members of expeditions have been asked to keep vigilant, as a number of
'poo barrels' have been going missing. Several climbers have been going
for their early morning evacuations and finding themselves 'barreless'!
Obviously this has been the cause of great embarrassment, not to mention
discomfort. As it turns out the prime suspects are the local Yak herders,
rather than any expedition members with secret agendas. Apparently these
barrels are in high demand by the indigenous people for brewing 'Chang'
in; the local alcoholic beverage. It makes you wonder if the natives allude
to all of the infused ingredients when serving said drink! For all we
know, a dash of diarrhoea, or a pinch of poo might be just what the locals
use to give Chang its allusive aftertaste and potency, not to mention
vital for the fermentation process. I will have this in mind next time
I am swilling a nip of this around my mouth and straining it through my
teeth. Right I think I am now actually going to be sick. Remind me never
to go around minesweeping at a Tibetan party; cigarette butts wouldn't
be your only worry! Apologies if you were eating or (especially) drinking
whilst reading that crime report.
So, what else happened over the last few days since Di disappeared up the hill?
Day 53 (24th May)
The nice thing about the early hours before breakfast (6-9am) is that once the sun hits the tent, is that the incessant shivering of the night is replace by a languid content dozing in the sun's revitalizing warmth. The only problem is as the weather god turns up the gas mark on the mountainside oven, the tent gradually changes from pleasant conservatory to scorching kiln, and you are forced to emerge from your drenched sleeping-bag which unfortunately unleashes 14 hours of insidious aromas! Anyhow, this one morning, I was gently snoozing; minding my own business and waiting for my tent to reach boiling-point, when I was rudely disturbed by the (rather uncouth) 'Wakey wakey, I'm back, time to play!'
'Oh God', I thought to myself 'The Mountain Mischief has returned.
What the hell was she doing back down from the North Col at this ungodly hour? It isn't even 8am for Christsakes! Well, now that my lie-in has been well and truly written off, I might as well go and entertain her.'
Dressed still in my Jim-Jams, I staggered over to the mess tent, where Di was in the process of wrenching off her boots. 'Morning' she said. 'Barely' I thought. I grunted some reply, and then asked her how her night at the North Col had been.
This is her adventure: Di - "mmm, not quite sure that I can compete with Jakes big words and fancy paragraphs.... So, it'll just be plain di talk. It's very hard to stay motivated for every day of an expedition, especially when the expedition is as long as a long thing. The day that Jake spent the evening on the North Col, and I only got as far as the fixed ropes, I couldn't have been any more unmotivated if I tried - I think part of the problem was that I had already spent 2 nights at the col and had no problems sleeping. I do have a handy knack of being able to sleep anywhere. However, walking through the moraine back to ABC I had a bit of a guilt trip and thought that since it has been so long since I've been up to 7000m it could do me no harm but to return.
The previous evening I had mentioned that I might leave early so if I wasn't there in the morning not to worry. As Jake has already mentioned, once the sun hits the tent in the morning it is very hard to sleep in a -40 bag, combined with the fact that we are getting potentially 11 hours sleep each evening it is very hard to lie in.
So, at 0637 I woke to the familiar phlemming sounds of my next down neighbour and thought no time like the present. I managed to get out of our camp just after 0700 and starting the familiar route up the north col. It's amazing how many people are up and about at that time - think it has something to do with being a good time to take photos due to the low light.
Anyway, I hated it - the first 40 minutes up the moraine is anything but pleasant and if anyone says different they're lying. However, as soon as you put on crampons and hear the familiar sound of the glacier crunching underfoot it becomes a more familiar place to be. I soon reached the fixed rope and, trying a different technique, started moving up the headwall.
Every now and then, we have moments. You can't describe them. I had one of those moments and it lasted all the way up to the familiar sight of the first tents situated on the north col. I'm not going to describe it, or even try to. It was a di moment and one that will drive both of us to the summit - if she'll let us.
On reaching the col, much socializing took place before I managed to located our tent and relax.
If it is a furnace at ABC, it is a furnace in a furnace at the north Col when the sun is out. With both Jakes sleeping bag and Mingma's sleeping bag, it was going to be a warm night. The beauty about getting to col before lunch is that you have the rest of the day to chill out (or heat out as the case may be) and watch the world go by.
The Chinese had summited the previous day and there was much activity next door as tents were being dismantled and the mountainside been cleared. Anyway, things started to quiet down and it was time to get a brew on.
Meanwhile, next door I was aware of a Sherpa arriving at a lone tent and collapsing in a heap obviously exhausted. I let him be for a while and then shouted over "tatopani di?", which means "water brother?" (I could digress here and explain that di in Nepali means brother and hence the reason that all the sherpa's look at me funny when I tell them my name. Dee-Dee is sister so I always end up getting called Dee-Dee Di.) Anyway, to cut a long story short, Phurba, from Thame near Namche Bazaar, who not only was pretty knackered but had the beginnings of snow blindness, and I spent the next couple of hours blethering away and drinking lots of hot tang. Once we had gone our separate ways ie he staggered the 5 metres to his tent, I settled down for the night.
It is a very special place, the north col, and as much as I love having Jake for company, just sometimes, it's nice to be alone. I suppose I had another moment and I felt very privileged to be scuttling around 7000m with all but my thermals and inner boots on taking photos. Only one other exciting thing happened that night and that was that there was a Chinese Tibetan porter who was in difficulty high on the mountain and I had to lend my oxygen regulator to a Sherpa who was going up the mountain to help him down.
Anyway, a peaceful sleep was had and with no surprise with another 12434787 hours sleep that night it was hardly surprising that I woke up early, tidied the tent and decided that a cheese omelette was so much more appealing than a cereal bar for breakfast. So, off I tootled back down the fixed ropes knowing that the next time I would ascend them it would be for the summit."
Wow, much more exciting than Aneil's and my night! She's a veritable Florence Nightingale (and my hero)!
Day 54 (25th May)
Weather weather weather! 'Rain rain go away, come again another day'. Or whatever the mountain equivalent is! Everyday seems like the weather windows change, and we have to reassess our summit bid. The most annoying days are those which were forecasted as being bad, yet we sit in the glorious sunshine in ABC hearing about and sometime even being able to watch climbers making successful summit attempts. Very frustrating as you can imagine!
We get Swiss reports from the land of Yodeling, so you would expect them to be able to analyze and evaluate mountain weather. Actually, on a whole they have been pretty good, and we compare them to free weather reports from the net sent in by Karl (our very own STAR news and weather man!). We then often go on covert operations to see if we can beat weather reports out of other teams; again to compare and contrast. ABC is a very secretive place, obviously with all the teams vying for the best weather slots, so tit-bits of information are exchanged as if they are national secrets.
Anyway today's news was that Di was abducted by the Indian Airforce Team (our next door neighbours). I think at first they thought that they had captured a Kashmiri rebel; although I've never seen one with blond pigtails, have you? So, I circled the wagons and reluctantly went to her rescue. Actually, we had a great time, comparing the differences between our two countries/mountains etc. After several hours we managed to extract ourselves and continued up to our original destination, J/G (as usual!). In terms of the Indians, it was their first time on Everest (the Army go nearly every year), and I have never met a more hospitable generous team. In fact every time we walk past their mess tent there are shouts of; 'Di, Jake, come in!'
Anyway, we had heard on the grapevine that J/G were expecting a 'delivery' from BC. Ha ha; they had (in fact it was Torres who had just come up that morning). There lying in the corner of their tent (or as near to the corner as a round tent has!) was a crate of Budweiser! Bathed in sunlight, this 'king of beers' was on the throne that it deserved. Dave very kindly offered us a beer, and we took them with much gratitude and salutations! Ran was due to give a live interview to BBC Breakfast on Friday, so he and Ian were out trying to do a practice run.
Ran was sitting very patiently whilst Ian tangled himself up in wires and tried to get someone in London to tell him what to do. It turned out that in its infinite wisdom the BBC had supplied him with equipment that was probably already out of date by the '53 ascent, to the point where one of the (huge) batteries said; 'WORKING TEMPERATURE; +50>+5 C'. Honestly! So with Ian practically in tear of frustrations, and Ran just sighing patiently a lot (I guess he's probably used to these 'technical hitches') they returned to the tent unsuccessful (and with Ian cursing the BBC!). Nevertheless they did manage a triumphant practice the following day (and a very successful interview on the Friday)
Day 55 (26th May)
Today we have reasserted ourselves as King and Queen of Everest Socialites (rather than socialists).
This morning we went up to the high end of ABC to see Tim from the British KE team. They are moving up the mountain tomorrow, so, throwing caution to the wind, he brought out a stash of goodies he had been saving (or was it just not sharing with the others?!), and we had a rather over indulgent elevenses. Haribo, the last packet of their sponsored beef jerky, Lindt chocolate and Pink Grapefruit Tang. Yum Yum!
The problem with eating with Tim is that it is hard to chew when you are laughing so much (at him and his stories!). I hadn't expected that laughter induced choking would be such a hazard on Everest, but with Tim's wildly gesticulated anecdotes and tales; it was nearly the end of us! Eventually, we managed to escape, with our sides aching, our jaws stuck together with Jelly Bears and on some kind of outrageous sugar high, and bounced back down to our camp.
After lunch, Tim came down to us (to raid our cheese and cracker supplies) and no sooner had he exploded a chunk of crumbly stilton over himself (some even went in his mouth!), Julian (obviously attracted to the dairy products like a bloodhound) from Project Himalaya arrived. This little gathering turned into a little Teddy Bear's picnic, and out came the café lattés, the Maryland Choc-chip cookies and the Smoked Edam. Julian was also going up the mountain the next day as well, so it felt like a bit of a farewell party.
When they had both left we went up to the J/G tent. They are in a huge luxury Mountain Hardwear Space Station tent, however the black awning that they have over the top make it freezing inside, and thus everyone is either crowded round the heater or wearing their down jackets. We spent about and hour and a half in there exercising our jaws and drinking (tea, not alcohol). A 6pm we hurried back to our camp for supper, and then believe it or not, returned back to J/G after supper! There was a bottle of whiskey floating around, but it was Jamiesons so Di only had the one dram! I of course declined; only the finest Regimental Port for me!
Day 56 (27th May)
Today has been a lazy day (surprise surprise!) In fact, Di and I have only emerged from our tents for meals. 'What have you been doing in your tents all alone for all that time?' I hear you ask. Well, Di has been snoozing and reading her book. I finished my book, and then worked out that due to the (east/west) direction my tent is aligned, with doors and flaps open I can wriggle myself into a position where I can sunbathe with protection from the Baltic assault of the katabatic winds. 'Fabulous Darling, just like St Trop.!' I think as once again the sun destroys my epidermis and threatens to turn me the colour of a Number 52 (At least I'll match my Down Suit!). Oh, and yet again I unfalteringly devote several hours to the interminable task of giving an overly long winded SitRep of our latest mountainous series of adventures. So I hope that you haven't been speed reading this in your coffee break. It deserves at least half an hour of inward digestion (and probable highlighting of the important facts) during a time that you feel that your concentration levels are at a high (i.e. not during Neighbours).
As a recompense for my enthusiastic electronic rantings, I scoffed two Dairy Milks whilst I was writing this in my tent. Well, I think that I am entitled to a small reward every so often! We have come to the conclusion that although most people lose weight when climbing (ultimate crash diet girls!), Di has to challenge convention but putting it on. Not only does she have to undo her trousers after supper (or the eighth biscuit!) - (now come on Jake, I only had to undo them once :)), the other day I was happily minding my own business reading when suddenly there was this 'pop' and her trouser button flew across the room like a tennis ball from a Philippoussis serve! I thought that this was Everest, not Beirut. In true courageous fashion (and considering my military training) I dived for cover and hid under the table.
Di - Now I am led to believe that one of the keys to success on big mountains is the ability to maintain a healthy diet and keep churning the calories in. I'm quite sure the 4 day diet starvation foray onto the big mountain for the last time will trim me down - and if that fails, the final stay in KTM will finish me off.
Anyway, it is now time for Di to add her 6 pence worth of additions and editing. That probably means that this will be halved in length or even worse (di - little does he know ha ha ha). She's a modern day Yossarian of Censurers and you're lucky she doesn’t cross the whole thing out and just put; 'Mary, I yearn for you as always, yours ever R. Shipman'. (Apologies to Heller if misquoted).
So with that fantastically obscure literary ending, 'That's all Folks!'
From Wing Commander J.J.B. Meyer, Defender of the Faith and all round thoroughly Splendid Chap, and his idol; Her Majesty Dee Dee Gilbert, Queen of All, and Beautiful Belay Babe (and ex-member of the Ramones!).
(Di - oh dear jake, one thinks that you've been in the mountains too long. You're gonna wonder what's hit you when you return to the Lizard Lounge and see all that posh totty floating around!)
(Jake - you have obviously got to know me too well! That will be gobbeldy-gook for anyone who's not from Bristol!)
Everest update 15 - Tuesday May 24th 2005
Day 52 'The Waiting Game'
I like games; Monopoly, Buckaroo, Kiss-chase and even Boggle, however there is one game that I am getting a little tired of. The Waiting Game has lost its novelty and just isn't any fun anymore. (Whoever invented it probably also invented that interminable Saturday night trash: 'The Generation Game'!) However much I might have enjoyed rest days, you can have too much of a 'good' thing (I assure you!). Especially as some nit-wit left the DVDs down in BC (Oh, that was me, I'm afraid!).
I am now reading Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' for the third time. I can now instantly recite incredibly useless facts off the top of my head, and every time I do, Di either groans or just looks at me blankly. We are both becoming gurus at Minesweeper on the computer (I got the best score today at intermediate with an unbeatable 157 seconds; so better that Di! Ha ha, vengeance IS mine!). So if all else fails and we return to the UK with our tails between our legs, the Royal Engineers will have two new hot shot electronic Sappers at least!
In fact, it has become such a drag doing sweet FA in ABC that we have both taken to randomly walking up the hill...separately...read on!
So, let me fill you in on all our excitements over the last few days (somebody please put me out of my misery!)
Day 48 (19th May)
Today not much happened. At all. We planned that tomorrow we would go to the North Col.
The end.
Whoopee! (If only getting though the day was as easy as writing that kind of a report!)
Day 49 (20th May)
Up at 8am, but to our horror (and my secret hope!) it was incredibly cloudy. You couldn't even see the tents at the far edge of ABC, let alone the North Col. So with 'bitter disappointment' we called off the day's exercise, and went back to the warmth and comfort of our sleeping bags! For the rest of the day we spent most of the time trying to better each other at 'minesweeper' on the computer, or reading in our tents.
Unfortunately Di had beaten my score of 279 seconds by 10 seconds. A fact that she wouldn't let me forget for several days! However, vengeance will be mine (evil cackling, and imaginary lightning!) sooner or later!
Our evenings are getting quite interesting now that we don't have the distraction of the DVDs (although don't let my mother hear that, I'll never be allowed to watch TV again!). After we have all had our supper, Aneil, Mingma and Surendra (when he's finished the washing up!) all come into the dining tent and we all crowd round the fire like witches round a cauldron. All sorts of topics of conversation come up, mainly comparing Nepal/Tibet with the UK. However today, horror of horrors, it now turns out that Mingma's brother 'Mingma' (just stick with me!) isn't his brother after all; he's his cousin! Ahh! That explains why they look nothing alike (not to mention why they both had the same name!). Mingma in fact means Tuesday, and refers to the day that said person was born. Phurba is Thursday and Dawa is Monday; all names of other Sherpas. I think that Surendra might means Saturday, but it might be from that famous French phrase uttered so often (je surrender)! Sorry, that's a mean joke.
However, I have a better one!”French rifle for sale; never fired, dropped once”! Ha ha! Sorry, again that's not fair...but I'm sure I can think of some better ones! On a serious note, although today had the first ascents of the mountain (about 15 from our side), two climbers were reported missing.
Day 50 (21st May)
Right, weather was better today, so there was no escaping it. A leg stretch was in order! I was still convinced that I might spend the night at the North Col, but Di was adamant that it was only a leg stretch, and that she would go as far as the North Col and return. I jokingly announced to Aneil, that since Di wasn't going to sleep there, he would have to keep me company instead. There was a nervous laugh from him, and a high spirited mocking one from Mingma and Surendra.
We left early, about 9.30am, and got to the base of the headwall at 10.40am. Di then announced that she was going to head back, as her legs were 'suitably stretched' (Di - lets be honest, I had a complete and utter motivation failure). Oh no, what do I do? Although I wanted to get back and do 'fun things' in ABC, I still thought that a night at the North Col would only do me good. Sensibility jostled briefly with indolence (sorry I mean R+R!), and in the end won. Up the hill I would go!
God, I never thought that I would ever choose the hard work of slogging it up a hill over dossing around. Hang on a minute, that argument doesn't work; I opted to climb Everest, Doh! I suppose I was thinking more in the terms of the desperation of trying to get off games when it was inter-house cross country. N.B. (To all you big house sports captains) 'Just because I'm skinny doesn't mean I can run'. I imagine that in the San, on the morning of a cross-country run, it must have seemed as though the plague had remerged with all the 'unexpectedly dying' coming in! An 'off games chit' was treasured more than a winning lottery ticket, in those circumstances! Anyway, I digress!
So up the hill I went! I took me 2hours 20 mins to reach the top of the fixed ropes; a new personal best!
The often precariousness of the route and my Ipod took the boredom out of it, and at 1pm I collapsed at the top. I wandered over to our tent (unfortunately at the far end of the camp), and lethargically climbed in and started to sort my self out. I tried to radio back to ABC that I had arrived safely, but the radio was playing up. I spent that afternoon melting snow for water and reading Lance Armstrong's autobiography (very inspiring!)
At about 5.30pm, I ate my 'beef stew and dumplings'. Just as I was thinking about battening down the hatches and preparing myself for the night, I heard a tentative 'Jake, hello?' It was Aneil, come to stay the night. Because he hadn't arrived earlier I had assumed that he wasn't going to come up. However now that he was here, great, let the party start! He clambered in and I got some bacon and beans on the go for us to share. That evening was great fun; it felt like a Bronze D of E overnight camping trip (although at 7100m and -20!). We were very childish and chatted till late (8.30pm!) before the warm embrace of exhaustion finally won over and willed us to sleep.
Day 51 (22nd May)
I hadn't slept too badly; relatively restless, but no headache. I think that Aneil had a bit of a headache, and seemed to be tossing and turning all night long. It had obviously been a really cold night as the inside of the tent was coated in ice. Somehow, my watch had reset itself during the night. 'Happy New Year' I said to Aneil! He looked at me with a somewhat pained expression of pure pity. Obviously the altitude had affected his sense of humour.
I couldn't be bothered to stay up here any longer than I needed too, so I started getting my kit on to return to ABC. 'Don't worry I'll catch you up', Aneil said, as he disappeared back down into his sleeping bag. I hopped around a bit trying to get my big boots on, in the same way that one might bounce around whilst trying to take off their trousers with their shoes still on. 'See you in a minute', I said to Aneil. There was a muffled reply from inside the tent.
So, off I trotted, only bothering to clip onto the ropes in the camp to cross the ladder over the 10 foot wide crevasse at the lower end of the camp. I got to the top of the steep section that leads into the camp, ready to clip onto the fixed rope so that I could abseil down. However it was nowhere to be found. It had snowed several inches in the night, and had buried the thin 7mm blue rope. This was rather a predicament. I was certainly not going to try and downclimb the 70 degree (freshly snow covered) slope, especially as I didn't have an ice axe. So, like a pig searching for mushrooms, I started digging around furiously in the snow (although not with my snout like the aforementioned truffle hunter, t'was a tad cold for that!).
Eventually (and not before I had worked up a thin film of perspiration across my forehead) I managed to unearth the line. Giving my end a fierce tug, it ripped up through the snow and finally I could begin my descent. As I rappelled quickly down the headwall, pausing only to change ropes, I met several Sherpas on their early morning load carries. One even had skis attached to his rucksack, which he explained were for one of his clients. I arrived back at ABC about 1.5 hours after I had started, completely exhausted having not had any breakfast, and only a few sips of water. I conveniently ran into Di at the J/G tent (socialising no less!).
We went back to out camp so that we could fill each other in on the recent events on the mountain (gossip). About 15 climbers had summited that morning, mainly from the Chinese team (remeasuring the mountain). It turned out that of the two climbers still missing from the day before; the Slovenian had been found at the second step. The French-Canadian was still nowhere to be seen (he was later found safe and sound returning to the North Col, exhausted.
Dave (J/G) and Julian (Project Himalaya) came over to discuss the events on the mountain as well. After lunch, Tim from the British Karrimor Team came over for chats and gossip. Aneil eventually appeared at about 3.30pm. Apparently he had gone to one of his friends tents at North Col for a social; I reckon that he just had a lie in!
Tim announced to me that he had a question that had been keeping him awake at night; 'how, if I was at University, was I taking 70 days off during exams to climb this hill?'. Well, talk about red rag to a bull! I dutifully filled him in on my 'glorified' history at Bristol, especially the part about them being so disappointed in that my extra-curricular activities seemed to have preference over my studies, and that now I was here, they were my best friends; producing press releases and all!
After several hours (and 4 hot chocolates) Tim left, and as he did so, he quietly whispered that he had one packet of Maryland Choc-chip cookies left and that he would bring some over in a couple of nights. I told him that we still had crackers, Smoked Dutch Edam and Creamy white Stilton hidden away. Upon hearing that (you could see his mouth visibly watering!), he announced that he might be able to bring the cookies over sooner. Simple pleasures!
We got the weather reports, which were incredibly dire and indicated that we might be waiting in ABC for even longer. Upon this, knowing that she would have time to recover afterwards, Di decided that she might go up to the North Col the following morning, probably to stay the night as I had done.
After supper we taught the Sherpas to play 'Old Maid'. Apparently they have the same game in Nepal, but taking 3 of the Jacks out instead of the Queens. It just wouldn't be the same ending up with a nice Knave rather than the 'scabby old bitch' would it!
Day 52 (23rd May)
I awoke this morning to find Di had disappeared. Hopefully she had just had an early start and had gone up the North Col as agreed. Otherwise, she's had enough (with the mountain or me, who knows!) and is currently on her way to Kathmandu, Lhasa, Tesco's, Mexico or anywhere else better than here. If by any chance she has gone to Tesco's, can someone please ask her to get some fresh milk (the powdered stuff has lost its appeal) and some of those really nice Crème Caramels that they do. Oh, and a copy of the Daily Mirror, cause it has a two speed crossword that I can usually complete (with the help of a thesaurus, an encyclopaedia and a couple of high IQ friends).
Can you tell how bored I am yet? Oh wow, someone outside is hitting one rock against another, and it sounds just like somebody knocking in a cricket bat (don't worry girls, ask a boy!)! Ah, the sweet sounds of summer...I close my eyes in a self-indulgently lost way. 'Oh bugger' (as Pooh would say), I'm still on a desolate mountainside, a million miles from the kind of summer and the sound of leather on willow I want! And once again I digress!
Talk about not appreciating someone till they've gone! It's been really lonely here today without my esteemed leader. I've actually had to be proactive in my activities, which, as I'm sure my Bristol flat mates will attest to, I'm not very good at. So, I spent 2 hours writing this (and you thought this kind of quality prose just flowed from my fingers!), spent several hours in the Project Himalaya tent gossiping and then have been to visit my friends at J/G to gossip some more and borrow their Sat phone (so I could get more credit for ours!).
Ran and Ian had just returned from a jolly up the North Col, where they had seen Di. Bugger, that means that she hasn't gone to Tesco's, so I'll have to wait a bit longer for my Crème Caramels! Never mind, at least now I know where she is! Meanwhile, over supper, Aneil was teaching me rude words in Nepalese, which he encouraged me to shout out all over ABC!
So there you have it. Actually, I suppose it doesn't sound really as bad as I make out. Either that or I have an incredible knack of making the most mundane things seem like a R.L. Stevenson adventure. Maybe I should become a Maths teacher and create a new wave of fascinating kids who like more interesting things than throwing bricks though windows. Apologies to Andrew Richard, my housemaster and (I imagine reluctant) maths teacher, who got me through my maths A-level and made me the bored (in mind rather than shoulders) character that I am today! Andrew, just remember what the Great Lobachevski would say... You and any other Tom Lehrer fans will understand! Answers on a postcard please.
Anyway, I think that that concludes today's lesson on how to climb Everest. There will be a short quiz at the end of the trip, so I hope that everyone has been taking notes. Tune in next time for your unmissable hearsay from the hill. Now get back to work/study/flying the plane or feeding the baby/cat/hippo you idle creatures (delete as appropriate)!
All the best from Professor Jake and his beautiful assistant Di!
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
Question: Is there anything that you can do to help prepare for the acclimatisation before you set off? (Mickey Bickford-Smith)
Ans: Yes, there are methods of improving your lung capacity (for a variety of sports, not just climbing). In American Climbing magazines I've seen adverts for all manner of things, from mouth inhalers to special air restrictive tents that you sleep in (at home). You want the pressure decreased rather than increased (last night at 7100m my barometer was at 454mbars, rather than a usual sea level of about 1000mbars). I always wondered if you could practice in a naval dive chamber, and in theory it would work. However, there are so many other factors that you have to get gradually used to as you go up the mountain, such as cold, food etc. It might sound silly, but you do get used to the cold (to an extent), as I found out in the Antarctic. Also, your stomach needs to get used to a change in diet, or you get very ill.
As for whether it would be regarded as cheating, I think that that is a more personal question. I wouldn't have any qualms about it; to me it would just be another form of training. I think that getting to the top of a mountain like this is such an achievement (considering all the factors against you), that you might as well make it as easy as possible. Even when you are acclimatized there is no running around (believe me!) Although things seem to get easier and you tend to be able to travel faster, it is still exhausting. For instance, yesterday when I went up the North Col (400m of very steep climbing on fixed ropes from 6700m to 7100m), it took me 2hrs 20mins, which was about 30mins faster than my previous effort. I was still completely knackered when I arrived at my tent, and it took me about 10 mins just to take my crampons off!
Q: Which of the mountains that you have climbed so far has had the best views; both distance and variation and which would you recommend for any of your friends as first timers? (Mickey B-S)
Ans: Nearly all of the mountains have had incredible surroundings and views (except Kosciusko as it is pretty much flat and there was zero visibility!)Having said that, the environments in which they are found are so different, so it is difficult to compare. I think that for pure 'wow factor' it has to be Vinson in the Antarctic. We summited in fantastic weather, and the fact that you were half way down a back bone of mountains (the Sentinel Range), yet with almost perfectly flat ice as far as you could see either side of you, was incredible. I might have to amend that answer if I summit this one however!
In terms of mountains to climb for the first time, it would probably be Kilimanjaro. In terms of cost (relatively low) and other options for whilst you are out there (Safari, Mt Kenya, Mt Meru, Zanzibar, Vic Falls etc) I think that it offers the most to a first time mountaineer. It is also technically easy, and as long as you are of average fitness, yet the desire and strength of mind to carry on when the going gets tough, then it should pose no problem. It also offers probably the most varied climbing environments found on a single mountain. Here on Everest, you are either walking on shale, or snow. On Kili, you go through rainforest, a rocky moonscape, Scottish heather, volcanic (lava flows), scrambling, almost deserty landscape, and then on your final day, wonderful scree (!) followed by wandering alongside beautiful glaciers.
Everest update 14 - Thursday May 19th
2005
Day 47
Well, we've arrived safely at ABC. One step closer to our Goal.
There is much activity on the Hill, with several teams leaving for their
summit attempts. We have chosen to remain in ABC for the foreseeable future
as our weather predictions don't show a suitably long enough window for
quite a time. It will be interesting to see what happens to these teams
who have left today. The window in the next couple of days looks like
incy wincy and not quite substantial enough for our team.
Anyway, back to the ongoing saga that you've all been waiting for; what have the elite special forces of Team Adventure Peaks been up to since the last update ended in such a cliff-hanger?!
Day 44 cont. (15th May)
No, she hadn't gone to play horseshoes, in fact, she'd only made it as
far as the J/G mess tent where she was doing what she does best; gossiping!
Sorry, what I mean is that I found her deeply involved in incredibly highbrow
and intellectual tête-à-tête with Ran and Mark. Probably
about politics and world affairs; the type of conversational exchange
in which I would be way out of my depth! As I arrived she immediately
stopped the scholarly dialogue (in case I should hear her and use it as
embarrassing ammunition against her), and declared; 'Right, who's coming
down the Tea House for a bevvie!' 'Hurrah!' I exclaimed, 'I could do with
a nice cup of Sherpa Tea'. I think she might have been implying something
with a slightly higher alcohol content, but the destination was the same.
There was actually a remarkable show of enthusiasm to this suggestion
from the J/G team (who the previous day had been too engrossed in a game
of cards; the lazy buggers!), and Ran, Mark and Alex answered this call
to arms. So we then wasted several hours nattering in the tea house (Di
stooped to this inferior form of conversation for my benefit!). So as
Ran was describing to me, in minute detail the logistics involved in his
'7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents' over a coke and a tea, Di and
the South Africans were chugging back the beers with the Canadian cook
of the British Karrimor Team. Well, at least she was taking this BC chill
out time seriously!
Day 45 (16th May)
So, after 10 days of doing sweet Fanny Adams (as Ran put it!), it was
finally time to dig our legs out of our bags, try and put them on the
right way round, and hope that they would do their job of carrying us
back up the hill after such a long and lackadaisical period of rest. Somehow
our Quads and Calves hadn't completely forgotten how to work, and after
an incredibly generous brunch ('Just a light lunch please Surendra'!),
we hoisted our rucksacks onto our backs and for the third (and hopefully
last) time, and started to wander back up towards Intermediate Camp (IC).
With our headphones in, we were soon both lost in our own little musical
worlds as we meandered our way back up the valley. We soon left the moraine
alongside the Rongbuk glacier, and started to gain height as we forked
off up towards IC on the East Rongbuk.
The trail was much quieter than before, and we encountered only the occasional
and sporadic individual or pairs coming down. Almost exactly 4 hours after
we set out we arrived in IC. Aneil and Kasang (Tundo's brother and our
present 'Tibetan Boy') arrived shortly afterwards, and joy of joys, produced
a brace of cokes! Fantastic, just what we needed to quench our thirst.
Thus followed a 'burping competition' (the bubbles are much more potent
at altitude, I promise'. Di, who at first, was understandably horrified
(she is a lady of course), soon cast her female principals aside, and
joined in, with impressive results! I think even the Tibetans were in
awe of our gastric vocalizations, but we soon stopped when we realized
that we might set off an avalanche! How embarrassing!
We soon had the tents up, and we had a delicious supper of mixed momos
(cheese, tuna or vegetable, a veritable Russian roulette!), chips and
fried eggs. Yummy! With the two of us in the tent together, despite it
starting to snow outside, it soon turned into a sauna. It was in fact
so warm that we had our sleeping bags unzipped and had trouble getting
to sleep!
Day 46 (17th May)
After a fitful nights sleep (albeit a warm night!), we awoke refreshed
and raring to go. Well, as raring as a pair of children reluctantly about
to take an exam! There was nearly an hour of, 'we'll get up in 5 minutes!'
I think that the deciding issue was the fact that both of our bladders
were about to pop! Aneil whipped up a delicious brekkie of (sweet) scrambled
eggs and toast. This was followed by another half hour of delaying tactics,
before we eventually conceded that if we didn't get up, we'd never get
up the mountain! So, after a somewhat leisurely start, we were gone by
10am, naturally being forced to wait for the tent to dry rather than our
own idleness! After 25 minutes we passed the J/G North Col team, who we
had noted, had left over 30 minutes before us! There was a chorus of 'Morning',
'how you doing' etc, as we swept past them, leaving them in a cloud of
dust. A suitably similar analogy might be a tortoise being left in the
cloud of dust of a slightly 'faster' tortoise! It was their first time
up to ABC, so they must be praised for their steady approach. We carried
on up the moraine underneath Changtse, with the rows of towering 50ft
Penitentes to either side.
Aneil caught up with us as we stopped for lunch. Once again, like a magician
pulling a rabbit from a hat, he produced more cans of coke. I would say
“what a chump for carrying them for two days”, but it was
most appreciated. This time we refrained from the uncouth and vulgar behavior
of the previous evening, as Westerners could have come round the corner
at any moment! After a very long and leisurely break we continued up to
ABC. We arrived just short of 4.5 hours after leaving IC. I am ashamed
to say that I had to take two quick breaks in the last 30 minutes as the
previous 10 days lethargy began to get the better of me. Di, as ever,
continued on like a trooper, but she didn't have any hot juice ready for
us when we arrived (the real reason for our stalling!). No, unfortunately
Mingma was nowhere to be seen (he'd gone for a 'jolly' up to the North
Col for the night), and he'd hidden the matches for the stoves! Aneil
meanwhile had been ambushed by some friends, who invited him in for a
cup of tea, so poor Di and I were left all alone, our throats parched
from the long and arduous quest up to ABC, and no hot juice. Honestly,
you just can't get the staff these days! Eventually, when he had finished
catching up on the past weeks gossip, Aneil sauntered over, produced a
box of matches and got some water on the boil. All we needed were the
matches; we could have boiled water ourselves! Anyway, it was good to
be back at ABC, I think that Basecamp lassitude had certainly set in back
in BC, and we'd begun to forget the real reason we were here. At least
back in ABC, with the cold, the snow flurries and the rather miserable
look that seems to be a permanent feature on everyone's faces; the grim
realization of why we were here came flooding back! Lucky that Team Adventure
Peaks had arrived to brighten everyone up again with our good looks and
infectious sense of humour. Let's just hope that that was all that was
infectious about us!
Surendra arrived at about 5.30pm, having come all the way up from BC.
Aneil in the meantime had been getting very fidgety about who was going
to cook us supper (as we didn't know when Surendra would be arriving),
and in the end had resorted to cooking himself. It was a sterling effort;
the dish water soup had a delicious hint of Fairy Liquid in it... No,
I jest, he did a fantastic job of egg fried rice and chips (made all the
more better by finding the secret supply of Soy sauce!). That evening,
he and Surendra were ordered through into the warmth of our dining tent
(out of the frigid wastelands of the Kitchen tent), and we sat around
the gas fire like contented fat cats!
Day 47 (18th May)
I slept really badly last night. No headache, but just endless hours of
tossing and turning trying to get to sleep. I think that it is change
of situation rather than altitude problems. Di on the other hand seemed
to sleep well as usual, much to my envy! This morning we had a couple
of guests; Dave from J/G filling us in on the ABC gossip (and we him on
the BC scandals!), and then our new crazy Brazilian friend Victor, who
was leaving today for his summit attempt. He and another are attempting
it oxygenless, and if that isn't enough of a challenge, the weather is
crap, there are no ropes above 8300m, and all they are taking is a 15m
rope; 'just in case'. Pure unadulterated madness! Very brave, and it will
be amazing if they make it. Let's just hope that these guys have the foresight
to call it a day if it all gets a bit much.
Anyway, as you have now gathered, we are safely in ABC. It looks as though we might be here for a good few days, so we will send another update with all the exciting goings on in ABC in a few days. Needless to say, like the unscrupulous gossip hunters that we are, we will tirelessly hunt down the scandalous tittle-tattle (completely disregarding fact from juicy fiction) to fill you in on. Right, I better go, Di still has to proofread and edit this (I bet you don't get half of the good bits!), and several of my fingers have gone numb. God I love the tender warmth of ABC! I am now going to go and stick my deadened appendages through the grill of the gas fire until Di complains about the smell of burnt flesh.
Bye quiens & loons, Jake & Diddly Di
Day 44 - Update 13 (lets hope it's not unlucky (and gives your computer a virus!), especially considering Friday was Friday the 13th!)
It finally looks as though something's going to happen!
This might just (hopefully) be our last dispatch from BC. Tomorrow we pack our bags and will once again skip merrily back up to ABC. So, in an overly melodramatic way that you have come to expect with these emails...(In the style of General Dwight Eisenhower on the eve of the D-Day landings in his 'Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen' speech)
We stand here now on the eve of the most important adventure in the history of important adventures. The years of rigorous mental and physical training for this one situation are now about to be called into use. We know no fear, we feel no pain. Never have the hopes of so many depended on the actions (and luck) of so few. And as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, serac to the left of us, crevasse to the right, we will prevail. For we are safe in the knowledge that we are under the watchful eyes of the Almighty. Blah blah blah. God bless the United States of Great Britain and President Blair!
Well, we've got to leave with a bang, haven't we? And I've always wanted to give one of those outrageously corny (God Bless America) speeches, just like in the movies!
You know that it is about time to move to up to ABC when:
a) You've run out of Lemon squash.
b) There's no more eggy bread at breakfast as you've run out of bread.
c) (Most importantly) BC supplies of Double soft quilted velvety loo rolls
have been all used up, and you have to resort to Tibetan sandpaper.
You may or may not know that the weather isn't great at the moment, which is why we kept on delaying our departure to ABC. The Jet stream was late moving in, and so all potential summit windows have been pushed back. However, we are now so bored of BC, and feel as though we are losing fitness by the day, so we are finally making our last journey up to ABC, where we will plan and execute out summit assault from.
So what excitements and adventures have we been getting up to since our last dispatch? Hold onto your seats, and people who are pregnant or have heart conditions read with caution!
Day 40 (11th May)
This morning was windy so we sat inside all day (I told you to hold onto
your seats!) This afternoon was even windier, so we ventured from the
Mess tent even less. In fact today was so boring, that I am having to
pad this diary entry with statements of boredom. Whoever said that only
boring people get bored obviously never spent 10 days in Everest Basecamp
(di - now Jake, obviously it goes without say that my full agenda for
the day prevents me from getting bored, therefore makes me a non boring
person). I looked on the computer for synonyms of 'boredom', and alongside
tedium, monotony, and dullness, I found 'ennui'. What a fantastic word.
I tried to slip it into general conversation today. I didn't manage it
(di - and obviously if you had, I wouldn't have understood what in the
hell you were going on about?). Boring.
Day 41 (12th May)
This afternoon we went down to the British Karrimor team, to see Tim Mosedale,
who is a friend of Di's. In true Tim style, he said 'It's bloody Baltic
in our camp, lets go to the Pub!' Unfortunately there aren't any pubs
for hundreds of miles, so we ambled off to the temporary Tibetan village
at the bottom of BC to the warm of a Tea House. 'Tea Tent' might be a
more appropriate description, but it was warm and comfortable nonetheless.
No sooner than we had ordered our tea and cokes, the rest of Tim's team
came in, 7 bearded mountain men (one of whom bears a fantastic resemblance
to ZZ top), and they started playing dice. After several hours of luke
warm tea and reminiscing, it was time for supper, so we left the warm
dark amniotic safety of the Tea House, and struggled back into the bitter
wind to our camp. What a fantastic way to waste the afternoon; why didn't
we think of this sooner?!
Day 42 (Friday the 13th May)
Wow, Friday the 13th. I have the twilight Zone tune in my head all day!
I'm glad that we're not doing anything today that might possibly be fraught
with misfortune. Or, we might be unlucky enough to do something interesting
today. I live in hope. I have had the most brilliant of brilliant ideas!
When Mingma was up on the mountain, he collected 10 empty oxygen bottles
which he brought back down the mountain. He can sell these bottles for
$'s each for refilling in Kathmandu. In a stroke of what I can only describe
as pure genius, I bought 3 bottles off him. I will take them home, mount
them on nice little wooden stands and try and auction them for Charity
(Children's Wish Foundation). I'll keep one for myself, and it will make
a great souvenir of the mountain. I took them over to the Jagged Globe
team where I spent most of the morning chatting to Ran, and got him, Ian
Parnell and Sibusiso to sign them as well. I don't know where I'll auction
them, but eBay can always be a last resort! In fact I think that I have
started a bit of a trend! Di is planning how she is going to display hers,
and several of the JG team are going to try and get some. This afternoon,
Di, Sibusiso and I went down to Tim's Camp to 'pitch horseshoes'! It's
a great idea; they have set up a horseshoe pitching pitch, and somehow
managed to get hold of some old horseshoes from the Tibetans. A good excuse
to be outside and nothing like a bit of friendly competition. Sibo and
me against Di and Tim. Soon there were horseshoes flying everywhere (some
even in the right direction) as the battle for pride and honour commenced.
The Sherpas all ran and cowered in their tents as we took it in turns
to try to hit a tent pole stuck in the ground 10 metres away. The game
rapidly began to resemble a scene from Beirut or Basra, as the whistle
of metal projectiles and the puffs of dust filled the air. Di and Tim
narrowly beat us (di - ha, we slaughtered you from what I remember) in
the first match 2 games to 1, and then Sibo and I just managed to claw
back some dignity by beating them in a short single game match (di - not
good for guides to beat clients!). Afterwards, with our pitching arms
exhausted and our throats parched after such a strenuous and involving
game, we wandered down to the Tea House for a celebratory drink. The other
excitement of the day was the story of the helicopter. There was a rumour
that several teams up on (or above) the North Col had seen what they thought
was a helicopter flying around the summit and even attempting to land.
Last year a helicopter altitude record was set when a climber was rescued
from just over 7,000m. So the idea that a helicopter was attempting to
land at nearly 9,000m seemed preposterous. However, Stuart, one of the
members of the British Karrimor Team had managed to capture this UFO on
his digital camera, and when we saw the highly enlarged image it did indeed
resemble a chopper. Soon lots of rumours we flying around camp regarding
allsorts of (conspiracy) theories. Di emailed a friend of hers, Karl (di-
pronounced Carrol, in a true Scottish accent having explained to Jake
he she is actually a he - as Billy Connelly once said "it’s
an accent, not a speech impediment"), to see if he could find out
any information on the web and let us know. He got back to the evening
that apparently it was a French Helicopter
and French crew, who were indeed attempting to land on the summit. Apparently
the helicopter has been tested to 11,000m (40,000ft). So BC is now full
of helicopter enthusiasts who are eager to find out more about this 'revolutionary'
(no pun intended) new chopper. It could mean that rescues could be attempted
much higher that though possible. It also could mean that, strap on you
O2, pay your $100,000 and be flow to the summit! The one place we thought
would be safe from that kind of tourism threat maybe no longer... Watch
this space!
Day 43 (14th May)
Hooray, we're safe; we made it through the 13th without any accidents
(horseshoe related or otherwise)! Yesterday actually turned out to be
an interesting day; minimum amount of thumb twiddling and moping around!
Maybe the 13 is a luckier (or a more eventful) number than we all thought.
The J/G North Col team left today, all 13 of them. They are taking 3 days
to get up to ABC, so fingers crossed, they should all make it as far as
there. They have been at BC for 5 nights, and we became good friends with
Ian, their leader, and several of the team whilst they were here. It was
funny watching them arrive, as they were so excited to get to BC. Di and
I watched on like a couple of seasoned pros, now that we are so blasé
about the mountain! I suppose we were just like that when we arrived,
all wide-eyed at the surroundings and every sentence being so adjective
heavy; amazing this, incredible that etc. It just seems so long ago (well
37 days ago or so!). Once we had said goodbye to them and watched as they
and their colourful jackets disappeared into the distance the day returned
to its normal exciting, 800bhp self. I read a whole book. Cover to cover,
all 431 pages of small type and (to my horror) no pictures. Di has been
getting herself in a right state trying to complete 4 suit Spider Solitaire
on the computer. Every so often I would hear a squeal of frustration,
and I would look up and she would go; 'Soooo close. Nevermind. I'll get
it this time'! At least it has been keeping her occupied (she was beginning
to mope like me!). I received an email today from my Father who is in
Beijing on business (yeah right, that's what he tells the taxman, holiday
more like!). At the bottom of it were the emails from friends back at
home. There was also an email from two Australian girls, Eliza and Grace,
who wrote to me to tell me that they we doing a school project; on following
our expedition. They asked me to mention them in the next dispatch, as
their teacher would be impressed and improve their mark. So there you
go girls (and teacher)! I hereby start my 'Give Eliza and Grace an A or
else' campaign from Everest BC! That evening we had a fantastic supper
again (thanks Surendra!), drank beer, and watched Saving Private Ryan.
What more could you ask for!
Day 44 (15th May)
This morning has been fantastic, as we had perfect blue skies and very
little wind (although it was blowing a gale up on the hill). So...sunbathing!
Will probably regret it tomorrow when we are all burnt, but what the hell!
(Note to Mums; don't worry, we both put lots of sun
cream on!). That was about it actually. Lunch on our knees outside; very
civilized. Di has disappeared at the moment; I think she's gone to play
horseshoes! I'd better go and find her...
Well, up to ABC tomorrow, so we'll be out of contact for the next couple of days, but we will send another dispatch when we arrive. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather for us (we really need it at the moment!).
Till next time, ciao bella!
Jake and Di
Sunday 15th May 2005
Subject: EVEREST UPDATE 12/c: FALSE ALARM
Dear All. It now looks as though we aren't going up to ABC till Monday
(about midday we'll start), and we'll take the laptop as we might be waiting
for quite a long time in ABC till the summit push, anytime between the
24th and 28th. Weather not great at the moment. So keep on sending the
emails and gossip from the UK!
All the best Jake.
UPDATE FROM BASECAMP: Thursday 12th May 2005
This is it! Depending on if the weather report we get tomorrow is good,
then we will go up to IC tomorrow, if bad it will probably only be only
a couple of more days in BC. That means that we'd be looking at summiting
sometime on or just after the 20th. Fingers crossed. We're not going to
take the computer to ABC during the summit attempt, so we will be out
of communication for about 7 or 8 days, but keep sending the emails
as it will be something great to get back down to.
In the meantime, it is great to know that Bristol University has done
a press release for me: www.bris.ac.uk/news/2005/702
- so please have a look to check it out and pass it on to anyone you
know who may be interested.
Also a big hello to Elisa and Grace, from Geelong, Australia. These two
are 16 (nearly 17) year-old beauties whom I have not yet met but are following
my progress on www.everestnews.com for a school project. Apparently, if
their teacher sees their names in a report from me they will get a better
grade, So – teacher, get marking and be extremely generous!! At
least an “A*”
Thank you all for your emails so far. I cannot tell you how grateful I
am that I have so many supporters. Please keep me in your thoughts –
you are all certainly in mine.
In the meantime a few more questions that needed answers:
John Allot (Aged 7ish): Is it easy to get drunk at base camp,
and when will you be sleeping with oxygen?
Ans: Yes it is easier to get drunk at BC – but perhaps the less
said about this the better!.
We will definitely be sleeping with O2 at 8300m, but will probable start
at about 7800m. It will depend on whether we feel we need it. The thing
is that part of you would love to have it all the time – the air
is really thin, even at BC, but we know that it is limited, so we must
ration it until we really, really need it.
Mickey BS (aged 10 (apparently)): How do you charge your Ipod,
and how do you get electricity to work all the equipment at base-camp
and higher?
Ans: I managed to find an external battery pack for my ipod which takes
AA batteries and recharges it at
the same time which is very useful. In both BC and ABC we have solar panels
which charge up big car
batteries. We then have these liked up to all manner or electrical devices;
recharging radios (we've got some pretty hefty BC and ABC Radios!), Sat
phones, laptops, powering lights for the mess tents etc. It's all remarkably
professional!
Clair (No age given and anyway I am too much the gentleman): Do
you sleep well in the mountains?
Ans: Initially when you're acclimatizing you sleep very badly; a headachy,
drunken, restless slumber. Hours spent tossing and turning, your exhaled
breath leaving patches of ice around the hood of your sleeping bag; not
very nice. Also, you tend to be so tired during the day (from your lack
of sleep), that you spend hours dozing in your tent, which naturally means
that by night, you fall asleep for a couple of hours at most, and then
of course are wide awake for the rest of the night; a terrible cycle!
However, back down in BC and well acclimatized I have been sleeping very
well! Last night I was asleep by 8pm, with my hot water bottle, and didn't
wake up till the initial life giving tendrils of the suns rays began to
warm my tent and coax me from my slumber at 7am. 11 hours of comfortable,
fitful sleep, lost in dreams, a million miles from the hardships of the
mountains. I tend to have incredibly vivid dreams in the mountains (although
we do eat a lot of cheese!). Wonderful warming escapism, that leaves me
pleasantly refreshed as I return to reality and life in the morning. Dreams
are incredible things, the mind's dusty cupboards thrown open and its
information revealed for our imagination and psyche to run wild with and
for us to swim languorously in true escapism with no threat from the horrors
and responsibilities of the world we live in.
That’s it for now. Next time you hear from me it will all, hopefully,
be over. Until then, I send you all my love - JAKE
Subject: EVEREST UPDATE #12
Sent: Wed 05/11/2005 7:37 AM
Day 39
Basecamp Blues...
We've been in BC for several days now, and it looks as though we're going
to be here for several days longer. Many apologies for the eons that have
passed since the last update, but we felt that unless you wanted a vivid
description of every nostril picking session, we had better save up all
the excitement we have been experiencing whilst twiddling our thumbs and
making polite conversation to each other in Basecamp for a few days. Imagine,
if you will, our daily conversation (in the style of Basil Faulty and
the Major a la Faulty Towers)
Jake: 'Morning Di'
Di: 'Morning Jake'
J: 'Lovely Day' (regardless of weather)
D: 'Yes lovely' (without looking out of her tent)
J: 'Bit windy'
D: 'Ooh yes, terrible...'
Repeat ad infinitum, idle chit chat, all day long! (Only joking, as usual we have both been veritable fonts of conversations, and we have been up way past our bedtimes (7.30pm) on numerous occasions chatting like a pair of adolescent girls. Anyway, want you really want to know is what's been going on over the last few days.
Day 34 cont. (5th May)
'The Dinner Party'
As you will well remember from our last dispatch, it ended with Di and
I being invited for supper with the Jagged Globe team. What a cliff-hanger!
So with much excitement at the forthcoming soiree, we wiled away the afternoon
doing mundane things like washing our hair, choosing our outfits etc.
As the hour drew closer, I combed my hair (well, ran my fingers through
it several times) and Di disappeared into her tent to beautify herself.
A full 2.5 minutes later she reappeared (2.5 minutes longer than she'd
ever spent preparing for supper with me!) looking a completely changed
woman. I don't know what it was, maybe she'd turned her fleece inside
out to hide the stains, but she looked even more beautiful and radiant
than...err...before she went into her tent. Women, you gotta love em!
I made the classic 'female error' of choosing a pair of shoes which I
regretted. Note to self; Down booties and sharp stones underfoot not a
good combination. So arm in arm, and lugging half a crate of Lhasa beer
and a selection of fine cheeses we sauntered over. Being a gentleman I
offered to call a cab, but the lady was having none of it. Arriving at
the restaurant (mess tent) we found that our hosts were already seated
(we were fashionably late of course). Di and I sat next to each other
(have these infidels no understanding of dinner table etiquette?). She
sat next to Sibusiso Vilane (the first coloured man to climb Everest)
and I next to a South African called Alex who ran a mountaineering and
trekking company. Also on our end of the table was another S. African
called Mark who ran a difficult access and demolitions company in S.A.,
and Jens, a Dutch born Brit who used to be a North Sea fishing boat Captain.
A merry and mixed bunch! Di had led Jens on Huascaran the previous year,
so they knew each other well. We started with Soup and Popcorn, followed
by yak steak and chips, and finished with warm chocolate moose with floating
liquorish allsorts. Now we had all been happily cracking open the beers
throughout the meal, yet at some point (early if my memory serves me correctly!),
Dave decided to bring out a bottle of fine single malt Whiskey. So that
started going round. The cheese was a major success, even though it turned
out that someone had munched through all the Jacobs Crackers that afternoon.
Congratulations must go to Dave Pritt for adding a whole smoked Dutch
Edam and a wonderfully crumbly creamy white Stilton to the expedition
barrels before they left the UK. And when we were slouched there groaning
contently at the amounts of food that had already disappeared, around
came a giant box of Jelly Babies. However we must not forget, that whilst
we were supplementing our already overloaded stomachs with these sugary
treats, the whiskey was still making it rounds. I did happen to note,
that most kept it moving, occasionally someone would pour a trickle into
their mug, a certain member of the Adventure Peaks team wouldn't let it
pass without a generous topping up of their mug. I mention no names naturally,
as I do not 'Drink and Tell', but lets just say that this person was keeping
up a tradition regarding their nationality and whiskey! One by one the
Jagged Globe team started to drop (lightweights!) and retire to bed. By
about 10pm it was just Dave (loyal host deftly refusing to hit the sack
till last!), Ian (who had somewhere got a second wind after looking as
though he was going to fall asleep in his chair at one point!), Mark (having
a major rant and rave about something!), Di (looking forlornly at the
empty bottle of Whiskey!) and me (still nursing a beer). And so at the
positively adult time of midnight, Di and I eventually decided that it
was time to go home, and leave our hosts to their beauty sleep. Stumbling
back (it was very rocky and uneven underfoot you see...) both of us giggling
like schoolgirls we saw that the light in our Sherpas tent was still on!
Now, not being one to end a party prematurely, Di grabbed a bottle of
Glen Fiddich from our mess tent, and we went to investigate. Inside were
Aneil and Surendra playing cards, so like Spartacus bringing hope to the
slaves, we brought the party to the Sherpas! Several games and bearing
witness to a generous reduction in the contents of the bottle later, I,
like the youthful and unhardened drinker that I am, crawled off to bed.
Day 35 (6th May)
Today was a slow day for both of us! Although I hadn't actually
drunk that much, my lack of sleep (7 hours instead of my usual 11!) had
me in a daze for most of the morning. Di on the other hand, despite 'appearing'
bright eyed and bushy tailed, I think might have been feeling the effects
of the previous night's rather jovial and excessive nature. She even went
on an early morning crusade to apologise for, well, anything that might
have happened at and after supper (di note: “actually I went over
to apologise to dave for drinking more than my fair share of scotch. The
next bottle is on me one thinks!”) She came back with a mischievous
grin, having found only Alex, who had been one of the first to bed and
missed out on the completion of the whiskey! It was another cold and blustery
day, snowing in the afternoon. We spent most of the day huddled round
the gas fire playing cards, or lying in our tents sleeping off our...err...altitude
induced headaches!
Day 36 (7th May)
Today was a day of changes for the better. The morning's sun
brought, well, sun! And lots of it! Although patches of snow still lay
stagnant on the ground, the warmth of the sun brought excitement and opportunity,
like the first day of spring in an old Disney movie. All around Basecamp,
climbers were emerging bleary eyed from their tents, like animals emerging
from hibernation after a long winter. Sleeping bags were being draped
over rocks to air. Like the metamorphosis of sluggish caterpillar to fancy
free butterfly, these mountain monsters (and monsteresses!) were shedding
their down jackets for t-shirts, their woolly hats for baseball caps.
Even the birds had returned; no longer did they have to battle against
the ferocious and unrelenting winds, they could float down from on high
and settle upon rocky perches. Their twitters and tweets filled the air,
and all around Basecamp, life had returned. The azure blue of the cloudless
sky struck a pleasing juxtaposition with the unblemished white on the
snowy peaks. Even on the summit of Everest, her usual wispy trail of spindrift
was nonexistent, the high altitude jet streams having abated their usual
ferocity in preference of a serene and calm demeanor... Ok, I've got to
stop before I make myself sick; this is sounding like a soppy Disney movie.
What I meant to say was: Today I got up. It was nice. There much simpler,
quantative, straight to the point. No, it was such a pleasant change to
have nice weather. Having said that, I spent nearly the whole morning
in the mess tent replying to emails, whilst Di sat outside with her book.
I did venture out to have a shower, which was long over due (I think at
least 10 days!). It was a wonderful feeling scrubbing away the consolidated
dirt and grime under the scalding hot water. I even washed my hair, Di's
'Herbal Essences' proving undeniably effective in the fight against dreadlocks.
However, with no easy way of drying it, and a lack of hair products to
use afterwards, my hair went into major high volume mode, and I desperately
scrambled to find a hat to hide my 'fingers in electricity socket' look!
Di washed her thermals and her underwear, and hung them on the line between
the mess tent and the kitchen tent. Every time I walked out of the mess
tent I would be invariably assaulted by the damp arm of her thermal top
which seemed to have taken on a life of its own (and a vendetta against
me!). That evening the gas fire was switched on at an unheard of time
of 5pm, and for once we weren't wearing everything we owned for supper.
Day 37 (8th May)
Another scorchingly hot day, thank heavens! I nominated this
day chiefly 'clothes washing, and sunbathing day!' After a liberal application
of sun cream for the first time on my arms as well as my face, I collected
together my tools for the task in hand. Book, Ipod (and spare batteries),
water bottle, bottle of sun cream (for topping up) and collapsible chair,
and positioned myself (with a suitable rock for a footstool) in a first
class sunbathing location. Aahhh! Utter relaxation! I was shortly joined
by Di, who concurred that the mission directive for the day was to get
a tan. We watched in curious amazement as the Chinese team next door still
all wandered around in down jackets and thick gore-tex trousers. It was
pure bliss; the only movement I needed was the occasional shuffle of the
chair so that I was always facing the sun as it lazily arced its way along
its languorous path. Unfortunately, the clothes washing rather took a
back seat to the tanning, and so I decreed that tomorrow will be chiefly
'Clothes washing day'. That afternoon (after having lunch on our knees
outside in our prime sunbathing positions!), we decided to do a bit of
exercise, and walked over to Kari Kobler's team, with whom we were sharing
the weather reports. He gets reports from the Swiss Met Office. Di and
he spent some time going over the forecast for the next week or so, looking
at precipitation levels and more importantly wind reports regarding the
constantly shifting Jet Steam. Later that afternoon as we concluded that
we would be burnt to a crisp if we spent any more time in the sun, we
managed to swap some DVDs with David's team, and watched 'Enemy at the
Gates'.
Day 38 (9th May)
Another beautiful day. This time I did manage to get my act together
and do my washing soon after breakfast, so that my clothes had ample time
to dry in the sun. I then went for a wonder down to the small Tibetan
encampment at the lower end of Basecamp to see if the post office was
open. This being probably the highest post office in the world at 5200m.
Fortunately it was open, and I was able to send a pile of postcards at
great expense ($25 for 10). The man behind the counter assured me that
they would take 15 days to get to the UK. As I walked back to camp I wondered
whether or not they would ever make it out of Tibet, let alone get to
the UK, and I imagined that they were probably being tip-exed and resold
to tourists. When I got back I noticed that J/Gs separate North Col team
had just turned up, so being the nosy parkers that we are, we went over
to investigate. There were 13 of them including their guide Ian. All fresh
faced, cleanly shaven (including the women!) and excited. We felt like
real hardcore veterans! Ian had brought me a package from the UK; a banner
from one of my sponsors. After chatting to him for several minutes and
borrowing another of their DVDs, we wandered back over to our camp. So,
back to the sunbathing as I settled down for another couple of hours in
the sun. That afternoon's cinema club was 'Gladiator'.
Day 39 (10th May)
After several days of waiting for the winds to come, today we
were 'rewarded' with them. It was still a wonderfully blue cloudless sky,
but the Jet Stream and its associated 'offshoots' had arrived. Out of
the wind it's lovely and warm, but in the wind...ooohh chilly! We went
for an early morning stroll down to see Kari, and see what the new weather
report told us. It seems as though the Jet Stream has taken up residence
on the summit (it's a bit more widespread than this; it covers all of
Nepal and stretches down through much of India!), and would be staying
for several days. So it seems that our stay in BC is going to be prolonged
even more. The excitement of this afternoon was Julian (a young London
doctor in the Himalayan project's Team) coming over to do a 'medical experiment'.
Phew, I've finally got to the end of this great tome, the wind is presently threatening to rip the mess tent from over our heads. Both Di and I are afraid every time we go to the toilet tent in case it actually does; and we are caught with our trousers down!
So, a mix of highlights and lowlight (and that's not just my hair!) over the last few days. I hope that we have some actual news for the next dispatch, and I don't have to pad it out as much as this one. Keep safe and best of luck for all taking exams over the next few weeks...cause we don't have to, ha ha!
Lots of love, Jake and Di.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
Q1: How do Yaks/Naks eat/ drink whilst on the mountain and how
long can they go without food /water? (Posy aged 10yrs)
Ans: As there is no grass or vegetation at Basecamp or above,
all food for the Yaks has to be brought up from lower villages. Driving
up towards BC we saw several small pony carts loaded with bags of straw.
On the mountain, you'll often see that every, say, 5th or 6th Yak is loaded
up with big plastic sacks of straw. The yaks don't usually spend that
much time themselves on the mountain, so they don't need that much food.
In terms of water, that’s a good question, as we have to melt snow
for all of ours. I imagine that the herders steer the Yaks towards puddles
of water that has thawed in the sun. The Yaks are very hardy animals,
and can probably go for the 1 or 2 days they are on the mountain without
much water.
Q2: What is the longest anyone has spent on the summit? (Ben
aged 13 yrs)
Ans: In 1999 A Sherpa called Babu Shiri spent 24 hours on the
summit. He was sponsored by Mountain Hardwear (the same clothing and Equipment
company who sponsor me!), and had a special lightweight tent made for
him. As far as I know, he didn't use oxygen. Tragically he died (I think
on Everest, but I'm not sure), last year or the year before. Details can
be found at www.mountainhardwear.com in the athletes section.
Q3: You've reached the summit, storm fast approaching, dangerous
decent, light fading, tired, disorientated, hungry, how long a climb down
to summit camp and how long could you hole up there? (Mr Frederick aged
? yrs)
Ans: Decent time completely depends on a number of factors. The
main one is how much strength that you (the climber) has in reserve after
the climb to the summit. As the old adage states; 'getting to the top
is voluntary, getting back down is mandatory'. Many climbers completely
exhaust themselves in the quest for the top, often forgetting to 'leave
enough' energy for the descent. If you are too wiped out then you can
be very slow on the descent, and many accidents occur then because the
climber is elated, but exhausted, and their judgment is often clouded
by emotion and fatigue. The other factors might include failing light,
temperature drop etc. All being well we will aim for the 7800m camp (having
picked up sleeping bags from the 8300m camp). Ideally we want to get as
far down the mountain as possible, to aid recovery. It is very difficult
to know how long it will take us, it all depends on how tired we are.
After that, we will go from 7800m to ABC (clearing 7500m and North Col
camps as we pass). The next day, depending on how we feel, we will either
have a rest day at ABC (if we are completely knackered), or immediately
push down to BC. All in all, will will want to get off the mountain asap!
Subject: Mountaineers Question Time - message from Jake
Sent: Sun 05/08/2005 9:16 AM
Dear All,
We have been inundated with questions after the mention of 'Climbers Question Time', and so with great honour, I will begin the lengthy process of answering them. Thank you all very much for every one who sent questions, or book titles in. Have ummed and erred at some and nearly fallen off my chair laughing at others. My over-gesticulation at the sight of one the other day caused me to slam my hand into the gas fire! UMM, how I love the smell of (burnt flesh) in the morning, smells like victory! SO without further ado, let us begin! Name of sender in brackets
Q1 How can I get hold of George? (Sophie Colquhoun)
Ans. Err Soph, I'll email you separately! ????
Q2 does the altitude have any positive or negative effects regarding the level of intoxication...or whatever you'd might say? (Peter Cohen from Sweden)
Ans: (I assume alcohol) I'm not sure what a Doctor would say, but we have certainly found that booze seems to be more potent (our tests have been purely scientific!). Certainly most medical books say that alcohol is bad for acclimatisation. In terms of intoxication, I know that the body has a propensity to become dehydrated more easily at altitude, and coupled with different diets... who knows. In our latest (scientific)test I had three big bottle of Lhasa beer (500ml, 3.4 %) and was feeling a 'little' jolly, but then again was in a party situation! Di had half a bottle whiskey and was smashed! For Acclimatisation reasons I haven't been drinking above Basecamp (because I know that my mummy would disapprove!).
Q3 Do you plan to venture near to the final resting place of George Mallory/ Andrew Irvine and how does it feel to be climbing following in the footsteps of these great adventurers? (Paul Roose)
Ans: We don't go near Mallory's body, as the fall left his remains a fair way off route (although at that altitude 10 yards seems a fair way!). Irvine's body has yet to be found so we'll give you a shout if we see anything. In terms of following in their footsteps, they probably walked off a cliff, so I hope that we don't follow in their footsteps!
No, seriously, although there is the obvious early British history on this side, they (M&I) are hardly every mentioned by climbers (only by tourists). Their final high camp is quite a distance off our route to the summit. I guess that if I thought about it, then yes, I imagine that I would feel a great deal of pride and honour 'retracing their steps'. However, at the risk of sounding blasé about them, I haven't really thought too much about it.
Q4 What you see when you look up when it's clear, eg from base camp and ABC? (Simon Murray Wells)
Ans: From BC (out of my tent door at the moment!). Today (and most mornings) are wonderfully clear. Very highly graduated blue skies, ranging from almost white on the horizon to black above our heads. Not a whisper of cloud at the moment (although that will change by lunchtime), a very faint trail of spindrift (blown snow and ice) coming off the summit, which means that you can judge the strength of the jet stream. Relatively small today, so I image about 50knots (wouldn’t want to be up there!).
We are at the base of the Rongbuk Glacier, which starts at the base of the North Face. The glacier peters out about 1km up (towards the mountain) the valley. Most of the lower part of the valley is moraine (loose rocks and talus scoured from the bedrock by the mighty erosion of the glaciers).
Everest itself is about 15 miles up the valley (South South East). We have a wonderful view of the North Face, with our route, the North- west Ridge being the obvious feature on the left hand side of the summit. No view of Lhotse or Nuptse to the south, as they are completely obscured by the massive bulk of the mountain.
The Valley that we are in is lined with rocky scree slopes leading up to 5500 metre molehills. Beyond them are the occasional 6000-6500metre hillocks. It is an incredible and awe-inspiring view from BC looking up to the big E. The North Face looks horribly vertical, and the North Ridge looks frighteningly narrow!
From ABC you are in a thin strip of moraine between the East Rongbuk Glacier (wonderful jagged teeth of ice I have described in the last email) and the steep rocky slopes of Changtse (7500m ish!).
The West ridge rises up to meet the bulk of the mountain and then continues into the North (west) Ridge. It was here that Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker were killed (Famous book award named after them). In front of you is the foreboding North Col, a 450m vertical wall of tumbling seracs, bergshrunds, yawning crevasses and other frozen death traps! The Glacier at the base is actually wonderfully flat, so few crevasses that we walk through unroped (hope mum doesn't read that!). The surrounding mountains on the horizon are nearly all 7000m+.
Hope that that wetted your appetite with some colour commentary for the armchair traveller. Await the photos when I return, and get out and see it for yourself one day!
Q5 At what height will you start using oxygen; how much load does this add? (Simon MW)
Ans: We will start using bottled O2 from about 7800m. Depending on how we are feeling we will have it on a low (2litre/min) flow rate till 8300m. Sleep with it there (1litre/min) and then on our summit day have it at (2litres/min except with a boost on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd temps where it will be increased to 4 litres/min). We are using Russian Poisk 3 and 4 litre cylinders. This gives a capacity of 750litres (for the 3li cylinders) and 1000litres for the larger cylinders. A full 3 litre cylinder weighs 2.7kg, so think of a big bottle (3l) of coke, and it weighs slightly less. We use the 4litres when sleeping, and several (probably 3) 3litres on the summit day. I think that we have 5 bottles in total.
Q6 Time required to boil an egg at ABC, and how cold has it been getting? (Simon MW)
Ans: At ABC it takes approximately 20 minutes to boil an egg in the pressure cooker. The eggs are usually freezing to start with, and as a consequence tend to boil themselves in layers, so the hard boiled eggs in our pack lunches tend to fall apart as we unpeel them, very unsatisfactorily! Temperature has been ranging from hot(!) sunbathing during the day in BC (like today!), to cold cold cold in ABC and North Col! On the few cold occasions I have actually checked my cheap thermometer at night in the tent, I think the coldest was about -28C.
On our little foray up from the North Col to 7300m, when the wind was howling and there was a blizzard, I expect that with the wind-chill factor it was probably between -40 and -50. Very difficult to judge, but necessitated the use of the Down Suit! I got very cold fingers, as I didn't have my Down mitts with me (Doh!)
Q7 What internet access have you got out there? Laptop through mobile? Cable? Wi-Fi? (Simon at EB)
Ans: No internet access unfortunately (who knows what kind of sights we'd be looking up on those cold lonely nights in our tents!). Just Email (Outlook) linked through a Sat phone on the Thuraya Network. When it works well, it works brilliantly, when there is a lack of Satellites overhead- Nothing (obviously!). Very simple, yet incredibly expensive (that’s why I get all the mail to be screened by my father first (not for written content, he's very liberal!) but to make sure there aren't any attachments of photos etc)). Don't worry; it costs you nothing to send to me, I just pay huge amounts to receive and to reply. I apologise for not replying to randomers, it's nothing personal, I just can't afford too. Friends and colleagues however; I'm doing my best!
Q8 What are the requirements to becoming a Sherpa? Are they more physically adapted to the environment they work in - for example shorter limbs to reduce heat loss and larger heart and lungs for the oxygen required? What is the fastest recorded ascent by a Sherpa to the top of Everest and finally without them would reaching the top of the world be unimaginably harder than it already has been? (Ben Morris at Ellis Brigham)
Ans: You make them sound like mutant freaks Ben! Well, actually I guess they are (in a good way!)! Sherpas are naturally short, but just like most of the people in this part of the world (I'm talking all of Asia!)
I'm not sure about their hearts (I ask Mingma to show me!), but I imagine that thousands of years living at high altitude has obviously affected their natural physical attributes, such as a naturally higher haemoglobin count (for transporting oxygen), yet somehow managing to keep the density of the blood down by other means. I'm not an anthropologist or a haematologist, so I'm not sure. Sherpas are actually like a tribe of people, they are from a certain area, and it's not so much as a job title, more as a demographic geographical description (like the fact that Brian is a Scouser (for better or worse!).
Of our team of 'Sherpas', only two of the four are actually bona-fida Sherpas in the real sense of the term. One is a Tibetan and the other is from the Eastern Part of Nepal (near Kangchenjunga). The Sherpas are all from around the Everest Region (in Nepal).
So the requirement for being a Sherpa is having a Sherpa Mummy and Daddy, so unfortunately Ben, you can’t become a proper one, even by deed pole. However, if you want to pretend, then I won't tell anyone! In terms of record ascents, which are all attempted on the South Side, I seem to remember that last year a Sherpa, made it to the top (and maybe back down, I can't remember) from BC (similar height to this side) in about 10 hours and 20mins! It might have been 10 hours 40mins and one way, I can't quite remember, but rather impressive none the less. No doubt there will be another few attempts to break that this year. On the North Side, I have no idea about records. BC is so far away from the mountain that any attempts form BC would no doubt take a hell of a lot longer.
As an example, when Mingma (our Sherpa) went from ABC (6400m) to 8300m, he left at 5.30am and returned at about 6pm. He travelled light to the North Col 7100m) and then load carried oxygen and gas to the two high camps. It was a long hard day for him!
Q9 Have you been ill at all since being up there? When do you propose to finish the trip? (Clare Newcome)
Ans: Yes (to illness)! When I went up to ABC for the first time (a rise of 1200m in 2 days from BC) I felt fine to start with during the first day. That evening I had a cracking headache (no surprise) and got no sleep. When I used my pee bottle that night the smell (!) made me puke.
For the next 2 days and 2 nights, I couldn't sleep (headaches again) and then during the day, the sight of any food made me feel nauseous. It was literally a case of one chip here, and one crisp there, nothing more.
Although I wasn't sick again, I just felt it constantly when food was mentioned. Wasn't drinking enough as well, which didn't help. I reckon that the stone or so of extra weight that I put on for the trip was nearly all lost in those three or four days! However the moment that I came down to Basecamp (although one of the most tiring journeys!), I felt inordinately better, ate lots, slept well etc. The next time I went up to ABC, no problems, felt just as well as I had in BC. When Di and I then went up to the North Col to Sleep, our first night was pretty bad (although no sick!), but our second night was remarkably good. I am looking forward to more shitty nights in the top two camps, but we'll be on the summit push then, so it don't matter!
We will finish when we finish! We are due to fly back on the 8th June, but the sooner we summit, the sooner we will get out of here! Although we have certain plans at the moment for when we will make our summit attempt, for various reasons I don't want to publish them yet. Don't worry, you'll find out if we've been successful or not as soon as we get down off the summit and get to (anybody’s!) computer! We are both seriously looking forward to getting home and seeing everybody! It's not that we don't appreciate where we are, but the hardships of mountain and expedition life are taking a toil on our bodies and our minds: we're going slightly mad sitting here in Basecamp!
Q10 How many layers of clothing do you wear at base camp and then how many further up the mountain? What would happen if you didn't wear what you were supposed? If you see what I mean! (Not meaning I want you to try this out!) (Rollo Hope)
Ans: Thanks Rollo! At the moment I am sitting here in the mess tent wearing normal (trekking) trousers, trainers and two thin thermal tops(like what you ski in). I'm warm! Outside there is a bit of a breeze blowing, so I wouldn't want to sit out there without putting on a windproof fleece. Yesterday, it was snowing here, and both Di and I were wrapped up in all the clothes we have in Basecamp (the rest are up the mountain), so thermal (x2) polarfil jacket (synthetic version of a thin down jacket) and Down Gilet, and a woolly hat! And we were both huddled next to the gas fire! Temperatures change a lot down in BC, so it completely depends on the circumstance! It wasn't that cold when it was snowing, so if we'd actually been doing something (like err, splitting rocks!) then we would have warmed up. In terms of what would happen if we didn't wear what we were supposed too... we probably be arrested for indecent exposure! No, err, I guess we'd get cold. No frostbite down in BC (you'd have to be really stupid), but I wish I had your scarf that you always wear Rollo, and then I'd be toasty warm. Actually, I bet you're wearing it right now! Oh, and punctuate your email properly, you're at one of the best Universities in the world!
(uh oh, im prob gonna git a milllion emales correctting all mi riting now!)
Q11
1) where does all the mountaineer poo go? do you smelly people
leave it up there???
2) Has Jake got the highest ipod in world????? (Perhaps
apple sponsorship in order, yey!)
3) any fittys up there???
4) which of course leads to the question of what is the
worlds highest sexual escapade - excluding mile high club obviously???
Any filthy bugger done the deed on the summit, i suppose frost bite might
be an issue, hmmmm nasty (Henry Reeve)
Ans: Oh God, trust you Henry to lower the tone! Right here we go...
A11.1: In BC and ABC we do our, err, 'business' in big 90litre blue barrels, which are then removed off the mountain at the end of the expedition. Having said that, all of the local Tibetans (Yak herders, porters etc) just shit wherever they please, so you have to watch your step! Above ABC, we do it discreetly in a crevasse (carefully!) or higher on the mountain, unfortunately wherever we please. However, hopefully, we'll be so bunged up we'll hold it in for a couple of days! We try to be as clean as possible.
A11.2: I might well have the highest Ipod in the world, certainly the highest one that works. Mine is a pink mini Ipod (very kindly given to me by my Uni friends for my 21st, Thank You!). Normal Ipods all seem to stop working above Basecamp (even Ian Parnell's posh new photo Ipod, ha ha!), something to do with the pressure on the hard drive. However, mini Ipods (especially pink ones!) work above BC, I have used mine as high as North Col (7100m) and it was still working fine (until the batteries ran out!). Maybe I'll take it on my summit bid to see how high it will work!
A11.3 What a stupid question. We are all honed athletes, who have spent years training for this one purpose, yes, we are all very fit! If you mean the other kind of fit, then no, everyone's got beards especially the ladies! I guess the only people who would find us fit at the moment are people with facial hair fetishes, or subscribers to American Bear!
A11.4 I have been informed that apparently two famous mountaineers (one male and one female) 'did it' at high camp (8300m). I won't name names, but I wonder if they were on oxygen?!
Q12 TELL US ABOUT DI! (from multiple people!)
Ans: She's GREAT! Absolutely fantastic. I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else (even when she is using her pee bottle 2 feet away!). Such a laugh. She's 31, and says that she wants to be described as a 6 foot tall size eight Nordic Goddess! I'll leave that to your imagination!
No, she is from Grantham-on-Spey in Bonny Scotland, where she lives with her BF Derek, who sounds fantastic as well. Bluest eyes you've ever seen, blondest hair you've ever seen, biggest smile you've ever seen! Doth I protest to much...? She is one of the most qualified outdoor girlies in the world. Climbed pretty much all over the world, including Cho Oyu (8201m). Has been leading expeditions for Adventure Peaks and Jagged Globe for years and years. She is now the Field Operations Manager (Head honcho, very important) at Patriot Hills in the Antarctic during their summer. I met her in Punta Arenas (Chile) as we were preparing to go out to Antarctic last December. She's a pretty hardy gal when it comes to cold hard conditions, so rather useful up here! She's annoyingly good at cards (even games I teach her!), she likes her scotch (only on our down time mind you!) and is the ultimate social monkey, seeming to know (or now know) nearly everyone on the mountain, which is great! Our Mess tent is a hive of social activity, with people constantly dropping in for tea and chats! And she's my surrogate mummy and looks after me (if she asks if I've brushed my teeth one more time...!). On the mountain she's known As the babysitting girl guide! But don't worry; I do the boy thinks around the camp, like changing light bulbs and capturing spiders. Actually she wired up most of the electrics (after I electrocuted myself!) and there aren't any spiders (but I'm constantly on the lookout with a glass and a piece of paper!). I hope that I have painted a pretty picture of her, because she is one! As I said, I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else. I know she's going to make it to the top, I just hope that I'm there as well!
Right, well I hope that has answered a few of your questions. It has certainly kept me amused for a couple of hours!
Lots of love, Jake
Everest 2005 050505 #11 - Day 34 (I think)
So, here we are back at base camp. Just when you think you are nearing your goal...you go back down! Such is the nature of climbing big hills! Since the last update:
Day 32 (3rd May)
We were going to go straight back down to BC after our foray up the North
Col, but in the interests of team support, we stayed up in ABC with the
Sherpas. Mingma Sherpa did a load carry up to our top camp at 8300m. Yes,
8300m, from 6400m. In one day. Carrying gear. This man is an animal! (for
all we know he probably popped up onto the summit to have a look whilst
he was there!). No, seriously, we are incredibly lucky tohave probably
the fittest and strongest Sherpa on the mountain on our team. We naturally
spent the day bumbling around camp, eating, playing cards (Di has such
a big handful she looks like a Geisha Girl!). We went to visit some of
the other expeditions, but everyone seems to have left and returned to
BC in preparation for the big storm. We have copies of the weather printouts
and the Jet stream has moved sufficiently to cause majorly high winds
(70knots+ at 8000m), which we obviously don't want to be on the mountain
at the same time as. We made friends with a pair of Brazilians who are
going for an oxygen less ascent. They are always wearing their (very fetching
blue and yellow) Down Suits, and look like a pair of big cuddly teddy
bears! There is another pair of Brazilians (husband and wife) who have
come to the mountain every year for about the past 4 years to climb the
mountain. They never want to use Sherpas. This year they have already
lost all (3) of their high mountain tents and loads of gear in the winds,
oops, poor them! It seems as thought the South American contingent has
started up a charity kit bag for them.
Day 33 (4th May)
So, back down to BC! Although a wonderfully picturesque trek, it gets
a little dull after the 4th time. All 22kms of it! With a net drop of
1200m, you can really tell the difference from start to finish. One of
the things I noticed this time was that at ABC (6400m) when you are walking
around, you are always breathing out of your mouth (panting and gasping
for air!), but by the time you get down to about 5500m, you can quite
happily walk around just breathing through your nose. Although it certainly
hasn't been the case all the time we've been here, it just shows the effect
of the successful acclimatisation. The interesting part of the walk (just
wait till you see the pictures!) is the lead up to ABC from intermediate
camp, where you walk up a narrow belt of moraine (glacial rock deposit)
overlying a giant glacier. On each side of you (perhaps no more than 60m
across) are giant towers and pinnacles of ice, some over 40/50m tall.
I can imagine that an antelope might witness a similar sight with its
head stuck in a crocs jaw; all sharp white teeth running down each side
as far as the eye could see! We walked as fast as we could with the storm
nipping at our heels (So that's why everyone else is back in BC!). The
storm clouds were gathering overhead and we stayed just on the periphery
of the snow and sleet. It took us about 5 hours to get back down to Basecamp,
hopping from rock to rock, dodging Yaks (and yak poo!) and stopping briefly
for a packed lunch of boiled eggs and chocolate. The sherpas arrived just
after us (although they had set off later and it probably only took them
4 hours!). Very glad to be back in the (relative) comforts of BC! Managed
to get hold of a crate of beer (hic!) and the novelty of alcohol is yet
to wear thin! (See my last message re Beer and Boiled Eggs) I have to
say that even though it was weak beer, the altitude has obviously affected
our tolerance. Not that we were running round naked in the snow letting
down each others tents, but it probably wouldn't have taken too many more
glasses! As you can imagine, we slept very that night!
Day 34 (5th May)
Emerged incredibly clear headed and well rested after a full 12 hours
sleep this morning. I was awoken by English voices, so I got out of my
tent in my pyjamas (fleece thermals, not my Spiderman PJs!) to investigate,
and found a party of 10 Brits all shivering in big down jackets, wondering
around the climbers graveyard (memorials right next to our camp sight).
Once they got over the shock of seeing the scantily clad, bearded mountain
beast, they got me to take pictures of the group in front of some hill.
I thought of doing a runner, with ten posh cameras around my neck, but
didn't think that I'd get far with bare feet in the snow! Anyway, as one
of them pointed out, 'we know where you live', (yeah, the little green
tent 30 yards over there!). Answered lots of questions they had (should
open up my own Everest tour guide business!) about the mountain and climbing
it. Mildly aware that they started taking pictures of me as well as the
mountain when they found out that I was climbing it. Can picture the front
cover already 'Everest Climber caught in his PJs!'. You heard it here
first! Once they disappeared I rapidly got the gas heater going in the
mess tent to coax the blood back into my extremities (had pretended I
was warm to the tourists, I think they fell for it!). Di and I spent most
of the morning playing cards and writing emails. David came over with
some of his group and invited us for supper (in return for us having him
the other night). The Times journalist has turned up (Stephanie, very
pretty, hope she'll interview me later).
Mountaineers Question Time: Episode 2
Question: What heights are all the camps on the mountain!
Answer: In ascending order interesting heights:
Kathmandu 1,300m (4,300m)
Last village we stayed in before the mountain (Tingri) 4,300m
(14,100ft)
Base Camp (BC) 5,200m (17,100ft)
Intermediate camp (IC) 5,700m (18,700ft)
Advanced Base Camp (ABC) 6,400m (21,000ft)
North Col Camp (camp 4) 7,100m (23,100ft)
Camp 5 7,500m (24,600ft)
Camp 5a 7,700m (25,200ft)
Camp 6 7,800m (25,600ft)
Camp 7 (High camp/summit camp): 8,300m (27,200ft)
Summit 8,850m (29,035ft)
N.B. Some teams use a variation of camps (hence 5, 5a and 6). We have a tent at camp 5, which we have supplies, but will only sleep at camp 4 and camp 6 - maybe camp 5 - (although we might sleep in camp 5 after the summit attempt on the way down).
Also, what do climbers often do a lot of in the mountains (apart from throwing snowballs and having headaches!); they read. Here are Jake and Di's Everest reading lists:
Di:
Marian Keyes, 'The other side of the story'. Trashy girlie novel complements
of Mandy (yet completely engrossing by her own admission, to the point
when asked what she would be if she wasn't a climber; 'I'd be a rich bitch,
have a diet of fags and cab sav, drive fast cars and fast bikes and most
definitely be a complete man eater!)
Jamie Andrews, 'Life and limb'. Horrific true story of a survivor of a
mountaineering accident who lost both hands and both lower legs.
(nothing like having an upbeat book to read related to the hills, in
the hills!) Ian Mitchell, 'Mountain days and bothy nights'. Classic Scottish
book on adventures in the (Scottish) hills. She giggled like a girl all
the way through! John Hunt, 'Everest 1953 Expedition'. Self explanatory.
We all breathed a sigh of relief by the time she'd finished that tome.
Lance Amstrong, 'It's not about the bike'. Cancer, brain surgery and cycling.
Terry Pratchett, 'Time thiefs'. Typical Pratchett humour.
Jake (reads too much!):
W.C. Bowman 'The ascent of Rum Doodle' Fantastically un-PC classic fictional
ascent of the world highest mountain (Rum Doodle, 40,000.5ft). Giggled
like a girl all the way through! Terry Pratchett, 'Monstrous Regiment'
Giggled like a girl. Bill Bryson, 'Notes from a small island' Giggled
like a girl. Joseph Heller 'Catch 22' giggled like a girl (even when I
probably should'nt have!)(Now understand why it is your favourite book,
Alex!) Jeffrey Archer 'Twelve red herrings' trashy boy novel from before
he was a guest of Her Majesty. Bill Bryson 'A short history of nearly
everything'. Nodded knowledgeably at the things I remembered from school,
and sat there with my jaw on the floor at everything else.
Anyway, hope that will amuse all of you for the time being as much as it has amused me writing it. Certainly a good way to occupy myself here at BC.
Lots of love, Jake (di too engrossed in trashy novel)
P.S. My Ipod matches Di's pink sheepskin lined cold weather boots! (in
that it's pink, I haven't got a sheepskin lined Ipod, that would be stupid
(although the batteries might last longer in the cold...I will look into
it!))
P.S.S. Happy Birthday George, big 21 today. I would include your email,
so everyone could congratulate you personally, but remembered that you're
still evading bail, and the police would probably be able to trace you!
(Don't worry, he's not really...yet....as far as I know!)
Unofficial Update 4th May 2005 5.00pm
Beer and Boiled Eggs!
Will write an official dispatch tomorrow, but in the mean time... Have just returned to Basecamp from ABC, with a storm nipping at our heels. Most of the teams seem to be back down in BC, now that we know that the weather is going to be very bad for the next week or so. As we came down today (some 22kms in 5 hours), the storm clouds were gathering overhead and we stayed just on the periphery of the snow and sleet.
Very glad to be back in the (relative) comforts of BC! Managed to get hold of a crate of beer (hic!) and the novelty of alcohol is yet to wear thin! Had boiled eggs for tea, so have designated this meal (beer and boiled eggs) 'Climbing Tea'. It's a lot like Hunting Tea, but with Premium (3.4%) Lhasa beer instead of Tesco's finest Whiskey! We paid $10 for 12 (big) bottles of beer and 5 cans of Coke. So I think that works out at about 25p per Beer. The boiled eggs on the other hand proved a little more difficult to produce (that is the boiling of, rather than the fault of the chickens!). Apparently eggs and pressure cookers aren't the best of kitchen buddies, and Aneil went through about 6 exploding eggs before he finally resorted to a more mundane process of simply putting them in a normal pan!
Due to the fact that we are now unemployed mountaineers whilst we wait for the storm to abate, we are going to find new ways to amuse ourselves. This is where you, the armchair (or maybe office chair) traveller comes in! We are going to start up a 'Climbers Question Time', yes, just like 'Gardeners Question time', but with more crampons rather than chrysanthemums. Less trees and more tents. I'm sure that you get the idea.
So send us in any questions, and we will post the questions and the answers on our updates. Rude or unusually obscure questions will still be answered, but might be emailed straight to sender, rather than posted on the dispatches. So get your thinking caps on, and get those questions coming in, along with the usual gossip.
Here's one to start us off, courtesy of Mr Simon Murray-Wells.
Question: How high can Yaks get?
Answer: Depends what they are smoking, ha ha! No Seriously, the Yaks are used to transport equipment and supplies from BC (5200m) to ABC (6400m). Each Yak (a very hairy cow) is supposed to carry only 60kg, but they are often loaded up with much more than that. Also there has to be at least 1 yak herder to 3 yaks, and you will hear them coming from miles away, due to their whistling and shouting. The herders will also always have a couple of rocks in their hands to throw at the yaks that get off trail.
Even though they are quite big and have huge horns, the yaks are unusually timid (considering the amount of contact with trekkers and climbers) and will often take the most precariously alternative routes to get past people on the trail. They are wonderful beasties, beautiful eyes and often very pink wet noses! They themselves are incredibly quiet, unlike cows, but they all have bells around their necks. They are also very colourfully attired, and nearly all have pierced ears with coloured baubles in them. They are incredibly surefooted, and have very resilient hooves (unshod) and legs. They clamber unimpeded over terrain that we find difficult enough, and I wouldn't have thought that a shod horse would be able to negotiate. Certainly not without being left bruised and bloodied after 100m or so. The yaks that we use aren'tactually real Yaks but a mixture of Yak and Cows (and sometimes buffalo). A Yak is a male, and a Nak is a female. (so there is actually no such thing as Yak butter, as males don't produce milk!)
I hope that that answers your question. P.S. we are having Yak steak for supper tomorrow, so I'll let you know what it's like. And I guess that'll be one more bag we'll have to carry ourselves!
Your man on the mountain, Jake.
Sent: Tue 05/03/2005 6:43 PM
Subject: Another, interim report from a VERY bored Jake
Hello UK
12.45pm Tuesday 3rd May
Unofficial Dispatch from a bored Jake.
Having a rest day at the moment, hope that you got yesterdays email. Mingma is doing a quick load carry up to 8300m today (from ABC 6400m!). He left at 5am, and is picking up oxygen and gas from the north Col to take up to 7800m and 8300m. He is unbelievably strong. There we are struggling to climb 700m in a day, and he does nearly 2000m! Just waiting for lunch at the moment, and quite bored, so thought that I would drop you and the others an email. Have been playing cards all this morning with Di and the Sherpas, and when we went for a social call over to the Jagged Globe team, they all seem to have gone back down to BC. We are going there tomorrow, as we are waiting for Mingma, but in the mean time, it is too cold and windy to sunbathe, so we are just bumbling around trying to kill time. At least when we get back down to BC tomorrow evening we can wash, have a shower, clean our clothes, eat lots, sleep well, sunbathe etc. We can even get cold Coke and Sprite, something that we have been longing after for weeks! Oh, I've just looked out of the window and it has begun to snow; ABC is really the most desolate and shitty place! Am sitting in the mess tent at the moment, wearing all my fleeces, listening to the stupid Russians on the radio; ''Basra, basra, basra, this is ABC, come in over'', repeated incessantly, (he's not there, ok, stop bloody asking!) I have now just had my lunch; Branston Pickle and cheese Chapattis, kidney beans, mackerel, a mountain of roast potatoes followed by warm pineapple rings. Felling very fat now, so I'll say my goodbyes! Anyway, am taking the computer down to BC this time (I think we will be there for at least 6 or 7 days), so keep the emails and gossip coming through, email checking time in the morning is the most exciting time of the day! It might sound sad, but it's the little things that keep us going.
All the best, Jake at a cold and windy ABC (6400m).
Everest 2005 020505 #10 - Adventure Peaks Everest 2005 North Ridge Expedition.
Day 31 (I think!)
Well, eventually managed to get back into my tent the other day, obviously the 'Guard Yak' with the pink nose got bored and went to pester somebody else. (n.b. did you know that only the male yaks are called yaks, females are called 'naks', or Brenda or Tracy or some such).
Anyhow, enough idle chitchat. What on earth have we been up to for the last couple of days?
Day 28 (29th April) Rest Day, again, hurrah! Obviously as we didn't update then (as offered), no majorly exciting events occurred. Another day of furious playing card action between the two best looking blonds on the mountain (PS mine is NATURAL). I'm very annoyed that Di is still beating me (68 rounds to 65 (but who's counting)) in a game that I taught her (s**thead)! We watched the DVD of the 'Incredibles', which we were both very disappointed by, not up to the standard set by 'The Aviator' the night before! Felt like the ultimate social team by having guests round for supper. Dave and Fred (a doctor from the US) supplied the wine and the after dinner biscuits, and we supplied the pizza, pasta, fruit salad, creamy white stilton and the good company. Revelries continued almost till 8pm when everyone had to make their excuses and make their way carefully back to their respective camps. I say carefully, not because of the alcohol consumed (our mothers would have been proud of our restraint), but because the copious and liberal amounts of yak poo, makes any journey like a blindfolded dash through a minefield!
Day 29 (30th April) Now for some real mountaineering action! Another trip up to the North Col (7070m). This time with heavy packs on our backs, as we were going to spend a couple of nights up there for acclimatisation. We got a relatively early start, and found ourselves alone (bar 2 Americans & 1 Kiwi) on the fixed ropes. Obviously Sherpas were having the day off, as the only two that we encountered we ours; Mingma and Surendra. Both were looking pretty damn smart in Clic goggles (Thank you Shona at www.clicextreme) I apologise for blatant product placement, but they are very popular with our sherpas. However Surendra was moaning a little about the fact that he had to wear Aneil's boots, which I think are a little too big for him! We got to our tent in about an hour quicker than our first foray up the fixed ropes, and were quick to get all our gear sorted out, and some water on the boil before the temperature plummeted. The tent was certainly very snuggley by the time we had both of our huge sleeping bags and all of our paraphernalia out. Several hot chocolates/soups/hot juices later and an attempt at the boil in the bags (my Meatballs and pasta slipped down a treat which is less than could be said for Di's Beef stew and dumplings - now in the bin) and we were ready for bed. The temperature had dropped dramatically and the wind was howling at our door, but we were tired, and weren't going to let the elements disturb our fitful sleep.
Day 30 (1st May) Unfortunately it wasn't the elements that kept us awake, but our pounding heads. The jump of nearly 700m from ABC was enough to shock the body into some attempted defence (trying to get us to retreat lower) and I think that we probably got about 3 or 4 hour sleep in total (in 5 minute stints!). Eventually when the sun warmed the tent sufficiently to coax our tortured heads and bodies from our sleeping bags, and we started the stoves up for breakfast. Once again I wolfed down my bacon and beans, whilst Di was less convinced and opted for a couple of breakfast bars. We struggled into our down clothing and we out of the tent by about 11am. The plan was to try to go up to the next camp at 7500m, to stretch our legs and for acclimatisation, and then return. Although the sun was warm, the winds icy tendrils ripped at us as we battled up the fixed ropes. We carried on for nearly 2.5 hours before it got too much for us, and our frozen fingers persuaded us to turn around and return to the relative safety of our tent. We had got as high as 7300m. Once back in our tent the stove went straight on, and we watched as other teams and individuals struggled back out of the blizzard. A supper of chocolate bars and soup followed and at 6pm we resigned ourselves to another night of headaches and zero sleep.
Day 31 (2nd May) Somehow, despite our dehydration and the altitude, we managed to get a decent nights sleep. By all accounts we shouldn't have, but somehow once the (torch) lights went out, we both slept relatively undisturbed till 7ish. Call it efficient acclimatisation, or maybe we were just much more physically trashed than we thought we were. The tropical rainstorm as the sun melted all the ice on the inner of the tent acted as an all too efficient alarm clock, and we slowly and lethargically started to sort all our gear up for the return to ABC. There is something about having to share a tent that turns people very rapidly into the ultimate married couple. Obviously being able to share a confined space in one of those factors, but you have to wonder, when 'your partner' asks you to turn around so that they can have a pee in the tent (don't worry, in a bottle, we're not animals). A serious test of human relations! Come on Jake, it was only a pee and not a poo!? That will be next time. Tee hee A very fast decent of the fixed ropes and we were back in ABC by lunch time. Well, I say very fast, if we hadn't have stopped to talk to all of our new friends. Di has come to the conclusion that acclimatisation might make you climb faster, but being two of the most sociable people on the mountain, we take twice as long to get anywhere as we stop to talk to everyone we meet along the way! Note to Di: next time I ask if there's loo roll in the toilet tent, after not having any bowel movements for the past 4 days, 3 sheets does not constitute a "yes, there's plenty". What next followed next was some of the most initiative use of materials found in and around Jake and the toilet tent. Finally back to (relative) civilisation: good food, Pringles, Jacobs Cream crackers, email and DVD.
Keep sending your updates, for all we know the UK has sunk slowly into the Channel!
Lots of love from
Jake and Di, mountaineers extraordinaire!
Sent: Fri 04/29/2005 8:50 AM
Subject: Everest 2005 280405 #9
Day 27 (of 68 potentially!)
Although update 8 was only a couple of days ago, we've been very busy. Di and I are presently sitting by the gas fire like a pair of OAPs (apologies to any real OAPs!), she's reading her book and I am typing away furiously!). Di interjects here : "hang on mateyboy, there's nought wrong with sitting infront of the fire reading my book - infact wish I had some toastie warm slippers on".
27th April (Yesterday) Finally the time came to do a load carry from ABC (6400m) to the North Col campsite (7070m). It is nice to move on to another camp on the mountain, especially as neither of us went there when the North Col group had their 'summit day'. I also broke a personal altitude record, as it is over 100m higher than Aconcagua (6962m). Di's record is 8201m on Cho Oyu, so she's got quite away to go! Although it didn't feel like any kind of barrier, it is certainly an impressive height to have achieved, as there is nowhere else in the world apart from Asia that you can get this high.
The day started early with a big breakfast of porridge and eggy bread, and we left ABC by 8.15am. We were carrying some of the kit that we wouldn't need till higher up on the mountain and would leave at the North Col. After about 1.5 hours we arrived at the edge of the ice field below the Northern Flank of the mountain and put on our harnesses and crampons. We also met up with Dave Hamilton, Sir Ranaulf Fiennes, Sibusiso Vilane (First Black man to climb Everest) and Ian Parnell (Famous Mountaineering Photographer/Super Alpinist). We all trundled up to the start of the fixed ropes at about 6700m. Seeing a number of black dots already part way up this huge 350m head wall put it all into perspective, especially on the steep sections. So we clipped on our ascenders and started to climb. We were actually quite relieved for the small queues moving up the fixed ropes, as it meant that we were forced to go very slowly (not that we could have gone much faster at this altitude). However every so often a Sherpa with a huge rucksack would storm past us. There were two sections that were very steep (nearly 90 degrees), and trying to pull yourself up these sections on a thin strand of 7.5mm rope (with 5 or 6 others on the same rope) was quite hairy. There were also two sections of ladders laid horizontally over crevasses, which again certainly got the heart pumping! I eventually arrived at our tent at the North Col at about 2.30pm. Di arrived soon after and we sorted out our gear before heading back down. The North Col Camp site is a higgledy piggery, mishmash of tents all crammed into a tiny area. It looks like a shanty town! I counted about 70 tents in the area of probably 70m x 20m. Even worse than a D of E bronze expedition!
Coming down was a lot faster, as most of the climbers were sleeping up there, and all the Sherpas had been up and down before lunch. It was like one long 350m abseil, so a lot of fun. We met our Sherpas, Mingma and Aneil who were load carrying up to North Col and beyond, they had had a lie in, and hadn't started till 1.30pm. At 4pm, they had got as far as it had taken us nearly 5 hours! We were back in ABC by just after 5pm, very tired as you can imagine! We have to confess here, that our cook Surrendra had gone to special efforts making salami pizza and apple pie. Needless to say, that after a wiff of pizza we retired to bed most apologetic.
28th April (today) Well earned rest day! Finished off the DVD of Alexander, and played cards for most of the morning. Delicious lunch of pizza (yup, last nights) and chips! This afternoon the weather changed, and we have had about 3 inches of snow (still hasn't stopped). I can't even get into my tent as it is being guarded by a very fearsome Yak, who had decided that my porch is a very comfortably place to lie down. He is now covered in several inches of snow, but still has a very pink nose! We have been listening to the radio (CB, not Chris Moyles and Radio 1!) all day, and it sounds as though there is going to be a storm higher up on the mountain tomorrow, so we are both glad that we are safely down in ABC!
Anyway, we will write probably in about 4 days time, when we have returned from spending a night or two at North Col, so unless anything incredibly exciting happens on our rest day tomorrow, we will update then.
Many thanks to all have sent emails, you don't know how good for moral hearing even the most mundane piece of info from home is!
Jake & Di.
From: Jake
Sent: 26 April 2005 14:15
Subject: Everest 2005 260405 #8
Update 8 (don't worry, you haven't missed update 7, it's just that we had two update 6's, I blame high altitude apoxia!)
Adventure Peaks Everest North Ridge Expedition. Day 25 (of 68) 26th April 2005
And then there were two...
Sorry for being out of touch for a few days, we've been up and down the mountain like jack in the boxes, and had decided to leave the computer at ABC.
Since our last update (20th April): Andy, Mandy and Di returned back to Basecamp to be reunited with Pam and Jake who had returned to BC the day before. It is quite a hike from ABC to BC in 1 day, a distance of 22km, and although a vertical drop of 1200m, still a hard yomp! Everyone understandably arrived completely knackered (apart from Di who skipped in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed).
22nd April A very relaxed day spent in BC with the outgoing North Col team dreaming about what their first meals would be when they got to Lhasa (much to the annoyance of Di and Jake who still have another 6-7 weeks on the hill). When we arrived in BC a couple of days before, we found that the Chinese camp next to us had started major construction works on our little mound of rubble. After much speculation as to what they might be building (ranging from a mobile phone mast to a water tank for their camp), we discovered that they are in fact re-measuring the mountain and it is a trig point. However much we want to know about what the height of the hill is, the downside is that they start work at 8am Chinese time, which is about 6am our (Nepalese) time. Due to a mistake on our travel permits, Mandy, Pam and Andy's passports were 'borrowed' by the Chinese Authorities a week earlier, and on the eve of their departure still haven't materialised. Aneil seems very relaxed about them, but as you can understand, the North Col team are beginning to get a little worried. That night, as to wish them bon voyage (passports dependant), Surendra once again made a delicious cake, and Di's bottle of Glen Fiddich came out.
23rd April It seems that no one on this mountain works on the same time scale, and so after an early (7am) breakfast to prepare for the 8am arrival of the jeep, we all had to sit around for another couple of hours waiting for it to turn up. However, with the successful surfacing of 3 passports, Mandy, Pam and Andy were more or less happy to stall for an hour or two, now that showers and cold beer would be on the agenda before the day was out. It was a heartfelt goodbye, I certainly could never have wished for a better trio to share the first part of this adventure with. If you're reading this, you three, both Di and I miss you like crazy, and it hasn't been the same since you left, hope you had an amazing time in Lhasa, Kathmandu and that you all got home safely to a well deserved rest!
24th April Now that we have had a couple of days rest, slept well and stuffed ourselves with Surendra's amazing food, it was time to fight the call of BC lassitude and once again go back up the mountain. Having both decided that even in our well rested state, a trip back to ABC (6400m) in one day would probably kill us this early on in the expedition, we would once again do it in two days, with an overnight at Intermediate Camp (5700m). The two of us travelled much faster this time, a testament to our acclimatisation, and reached IC in 4 hours, 2 hours quicker than the first trip up. Nevertheless, we were both pretty tired and collapsed into our tent as soon as we arrived and set up camp. Aneil was with us, and Tundo had come up for the night to help with the cooking and porterage. A delicious meal of vegetable momos, chips and fried eggs followed, and a good night's sleep was had by all.
25th April It had snowed a fair amount during the night and we were greeted with a romantically white scene in the morning. It certainly made a change from the pretty grotty surroundings of IC (Yak poo and scree!). Di and I set out at 9am as Aneil and Tundo broke camp. Once again we travelled fast, and arrived in ABC after about 4.5 hours. Mingma had just returned from a high sortie up the mountain. He had been stocking the high camps, and had been as far as 8300m, a feat that brought a smile to Di and my faces as it proved what a strong team we have behind us (and how inadequate we feel!). David Hamilton came round for tea, and we all had a good gossip about the mountain and the various teams on it. Apparently there is a team on the south side who are planning to do a traverse of the mountain and 'drop off' the North side of the mountain when they summit. Lets hope they have their passports ready of Chinese border control on the summit! N.B. Dave Pritt, Fox's Biscuit Selections very good, especially the Chocolate Orange Sundaes (Di's very upset that I didn't leave any for her, but as I say; you snooze, you lose!). We met Mingma's brother, who is working for the Indian Woman's team, he's called Mingma too!!! Aneil taught us some Nepali words, Di and I are very fast learners, especially the rude words! That evening we all sobbed our way through the DVD of Million Dollar Baby.
26th April What a pleasure to have a goodnights sleep at ABC! Only waking up once or twice during the night (to use the pee bottle) and not having a stinking headache in the morning! A day of relaxation, and sorting out our food for our high camps. Surendra's chest infection is still playing up a bit, so Di gave him some antibiotics. We weren't quite sure if he was allergic to penicillin, but he still seems to be breathing - just! Having said that, he did serve us Cheese Pasties with apple in them for lunch, so we hope that the medication hasn't impaired his ability to cook! Finally we managed to get more credit for the Sat Phone, which meant that we've managed to pick up our emails (thank you all very much). We've just had a delicious supper of Spagbol and Custard (not together obviously!) and are just about to settle down to watch 'Alexander'. The Sherpas are very excited about seeing Colin Farrell, to which I can certainly agree!
Right then, cinema club must prevail, so I'll say goodnight.
Anybody wanting to send emails to Jake, please can you send to; hughmeyeretc@aol.com, and he will send them on. This is especially directed at Bristolians, who don't seem to have sent anything. Appologies if you have, but I need my gossip.
Until our next update, take care, continue reading, and we appreciated your support.
Jake, Di and our storming Sherpa team
Dear All
I have just had a telephone call from the intrepid adventurer.
All is EXTREMELY well. Having been ill at ABC (advanced base camp) Jake
returned to Base Camp proper - this brings immediate relief and he is
now in flying form. Ready for the next stage.
The rest of the group tried to get to the North Col. Only one of them
managed to get there due in part to altitude sickness and in part to being
pretty scary (being somewhat more technical than a trekking holiday!).
All of them are now back in Base camp and in very high spirits. The "North
Col Trekkers" are returning home tomorrow, leaving just Jake and
Di (and the sherpas/guides). They are intending to start back up to ABC
tomorrow and from there slowly make their way ever upwards.
Having left the computer at ABC there will be no more proper reports from
them until the beginning of next week.
Kind regards to you all and a hugh thank you from Jake for all of your
support.
HUGH MEYER
Everest 2005 1905 #6, Sent: Tue 04/19/2005 5:19 PM
Dispatch from the boss..
Things had been going so well up to now - as you have probably gathered
from the last dispatch. However, this morning looked very grim for a couple
of members of the Adventure Peaks Team. Last night, our chirpy as a chirpy
thing, Jake was definitely not himself and missed dinner for the first
time. He still came to keep us company but the smell of the food was turning
his stomach. In fact, we knew it was bad when he only watched one DVD
and not his normal two after dinner. Speaking about last night, Di, Andy
and Jake did look very pathetic as we sat in our dining tent watching
'National Treasure' fully clothed in nearly all our summit down gear with
Jakes sleeping bag over us for extra warmth - its mighty cold up here
- infact Andy's thermometer isn't even registering. So, this morning not
only did Jake (who had been sick during the evening) look a little bit
worth for wear but poor Pam came in looking if someone had been hitting
her over the eyes with a baseball bat all evening. Oh, the joys of altitude.
So, a team chat was in order this morning over breakfast and it was decided
that Pam and Jake were to have a relaxing morning around camp - and this
didn't include lying down in their tents all morning - whilst Mandy, Andy
and Di walked up the glacier to the kitting up point for a closer look
at the ground leading up to the North Col. Lots of "oohs" and
"aahs". Back down to camp for lunch - which was enjoyed by some
- and an afternoon of practice with ascenders, descenders and other jingly
jangly bits. Needless to say, they are all in their tents, familiarising
themselves with the sharp metal things that are required for tomorrow
(hopefully not the crampons). The North Col Team are going to head up
the mountain tomorrow with Di, Mingma and Aneil, weather permitting, whilst
Jake is going to take it easy until he gets his strength back.
Di, cold at ABC
Everest 2005 180405 #5, Sent: Tue 04/19/2005 5:18 PM
"puff puff puff.......sigh...puff puff puff"
All is ok here at the Adventure Peaks advance base camp. Our final day at Base Camp saw us up early for the yak weigh in of our luggage. The yaks were loaded up and our trek to intermediate camp began. People started to feel the altitude in the last couple of hundred metres, eventually reaching intermediate camp at 5730m. People erected tents and soon collapsed only to awoken by a nice hot cup of tea from Aneil. That evening food was served in tents, as people were starting to feel the effects of the days climb. Having spent the last two days climbing, approximately 6hours per day, through stunning scenery of the Rongbuk Glacier we are now camped at Advanced Base Camp at 6410m.
Everyone is quiet today after approx 900m climbing yesterday and from the first views of the North Col. Word from teams higher up in ABC is that a 10 crevasse has opened which will be the teams first obstacle on the journey higher. On the trek up Jake tends to be at the front, arriving in good time to help put the tents up. Mingma was already camped at ABC and so the kitchen tent, complete with dry stone wall cooking platform, was already in operation. The views were spectacular on the walk up, though we all felt that it was best to keep plodding and take pictures on the way down. Mess tent and toilet tent arrived today so all is well.
Alternative version:
Di tried the shower at base camp and the electrics had to be reconnected while she stood shivering in the shower tent. Andy and jake tried it later (not together, it's a small tent) bowing to peer pressure. Jake wanted a nude photo taken but all the mountain hardware stickers were too big and so it seemed such a waste! Pam was a bit slow on the walk to intermediate camp and so Di gave a pep talk about getting enough calories in for the days ahead. Pam is now eating for three. On the journey to ABC yesterday. Jake had bounced off like Tigger on a promise, while the rest of us plodded along. Pam plodded up with the India 2005 team which involved tea and massage breaks. Pam is still eating for three while Di feels rough as a bear's arse this morning. Sun cream had frozen so we all stayed in our tents sleeping or reading. Nothing untoward has happened to Andy in the last few days, although he did use the Indian team's toilet tent before they did! Drank a rather nice bottle of Chardonnay 2001 from the Domaine St Martin De La Garrigue (thanks Gregory). The altitude is producing increased flatulence amongst the group; needless to say we are bonding well. Mingma, on hearing about Andy's plea for a Blue Peter Badge in Electrics is after one for his dry-stone walling Everything seems to take so much effort. We are feeling guilty about getting out of breath sitting up from our sleeping bags to open the tent flaps to receive our hot bed tea. Regards, Pam, Mandy, Andy, Di, and Jake
Sunday, April 10th, Tingri
“Preparing for headaches”
An early start from Tingri was made for the journey to Everest Base Camp, but not too early to fit in another of those fine Tingri breakfasts! The journey to base camp was made in two Land Cruisers over three hours. We steadily climbed through the rugged landscape passing small permanent settlements along the way, it’s amazing that people live and work at these high altitudes. With many frozen river crossings it wasn’t surprising that we would get stuck at some point. A few well placed stones and rocks soon had us underway again. About two hours into the journey we got our first full view of Everest and surrounds. “Wow” became a common word. An hour later and we were at Everest Base Camp (5000m).
After a hunt around the various camps we eventually found ours nestled by the side of a river. The camp (5180m) had already been established the previous day by Mingma, Aneil & Surendra. A huge breakfast was waiting which we all tucked into.
The rest of the day was spent attempting to set up communications, electrics and getting used to the new altitude. High winds at Base Camp whip up the dust and aid in keeping the temperature down. We are soon kitted out in our down equipment, apart from Di who had about five layers on. It was all hands on when the winds picked up and the toilet tent started to take flight, with some additional rope and rocks it was soon lashed down.
The evening was spent in the luxury of the dining tent huddled around a gas heater watching the latest DVD releases courtesy of Kathmandu.
The following day we all awake with various forms of headache and nausea, some more than others. This was expected due to our new altitude. The high winds at Base Camp persist, everyone choosing to remain in camp.
Overnight the winds drop and everyone has a better nights sleep. The electrics are finally sorted and the radios are tested. Andrew, Mandy and Pam go for a short walk to the Base Camp post office only to find it closed. After a rough first day at this altitude the group have settled in to home and are enjoying the new surroundings.
So what really went on…….
Andrew nearly falls out of the Land Cruiser, dodgy locks (pattern emerging here)
Jake was sick narrowly missing his boots.
Pam almost set new record for high altitude flying of toilet tents. (Note – she wasn’t on it at the time)
Salon Adventure Peaks has opened - Jake has been the first customer and now has new peroxide bleached hair and beard, all set for his summit attempt.
Di came baring gifts from other camps – a mini-bottle of Irish Cream for us to share.
Jake had a shocking experience trying to set up the electrics – he’s decided to stick to mountaineering much safer.
Mandy has started her breakfast in bed campaign. “I’ve started with a cup of tea, but over the next few days I expect to expand to a full cooked breakfast”
Di is still sleeping on 15 hours straight through - team suspect she may have more Irish Cream than we are led to believe.
Cinema Adventure Peaks is packed out each night - ice cream is proving a hard option to stomach but the popcorn is a popular choice.
Food is in abundance – “God I’m stuffed” seems a common phrase around the dinner table.
Jake and Di’s horrible high camp food (mitts off) is ready for moving up the mountain.
The Branston pickle has been moved to the high camp. This is much relief for the team as an empty jar has already been found and they want to safe guard against any further possible gluttony.
Jake continues to sew patches on is high-altitude gear – the team think he could have done without the down suit and just made a patchwork one from his patches and a couple of pillows.
Pam is reading for Team GB, already having read a small library of books.
The facts….
Reports that Advanced Based Camp has been flattened due to the high winds.
At present 300 climbers are ready at Base Camp.
Everest Base Camp 12th April.
Sat 9th April: “gosh, it’s cold” says Mandy, as she gets into her sleeping wearing all her clothes at Nyalam. “Do you think it will get much colder?” Next day, Mandy continues her power shopping spending her “doodahs” on jimjams.
Left Kathmandu on the 5th for 25 minute helicopter flight to Kodori (1830m) – as opposed to the 8 hour bus ride. We stayed the night here then walked over the Friendship Bridge and into Tibet and Zhangmu (2300m). The following day we went to Nylam (3760m) where we had an acclimatisation walk to 4080m without problem (and oxygen!). Then a 3 hour drive to Tingri across a high pass and into the Everest Conservation Area. We arrived at our accommodation and spent the rest of the day at rest. Today we had another acclimatisation walk to 4780m in very windy conditions. All did extremely well. Spirits are high and everyone feeling well despite the odd headache or two.
Now folks……this is what really happened!!!
Andrews chewing gum exploded in the helicopter ride!
Andrew stood in a dog poo!! And whilst cleaning his shoe stood in another one!
Pam made friends with a rat and shared her bed with it!
Andrews can of coke exploded! (stirring with chop sticks)
Andrew was the first to get the squits!!!
Our food varies from bland to spicy with not a lot in between (Our favourites were spam soup, bacon rind stir fry and boiled rice cooked in egg water)
A game of dare when Jake ate a whole chilli meant that he could put his down jacket on before Di (Mandys had hers on since Kathmandu! )
Jake won a pool competition against the locals.
We have all had Crystal Facials (deep exfoliation method) from the sandstorm on our walk!
Clothes crisis for Mandy means that her shopping continues in fact we all invested in a pair of PataGucci pyjamas all in coordinating colours! Very cosy!
Telecommunications from Britain have been going well with Mandy getting a call from the jewellers and Yorkshire Bank!
We have commenced a card school - playing “hearts” and we are not allowed to go to bed before 8pm.
Jakes jaw literally dropped when he discovered toilets were communal. Oh no “what am I going to do?”, he will now only go when it is dark.
Minor concern when we passed our truck (carrying all our supplies) on the road to Tingri, and the driver was underneath playing with various oily parts which we were sure were supposed to be in the engine. Luckily the clutch failure was sorted out in a matter of mere hours, and the offending vehicle limped triumphantly into Tingri. This morning, we were woken by the sweet tones of the truck’s starter motor failing. (Note to organisers, can we have a Ford Transit next time!)
7th April 2005
"Dear all, greetings from Tibet! Update Number 2
We flew to the border by Helicopter on Tuesday. Our Sherpas; Mingma,
Aneil and Surrendra had gone with the truck by road several days earlier.
The Maoists have closed most of the roads out of Kathmandu, so travel
by road is very slow. Apparently it would have taken us 4 days driving,
so 30mins in a Chopper (very SAS) was a much preferred option. When we
landed there was a large group of very dirty (but incredibly cute) local
children. As we were waiting for the Off-road vehicles to pick us up we
play with the kids. They were extremely excited by the digital video camera,
and I would video them and then let them watch themselves. Cue much laughter
and overacting for the camera! The Landrovers drove us up to the village
of Kodari, which is on the Nepalese side of 'Friendship Bridge', over
a river that acts as the border. That afternoon we climbed up the valley
side (very steep!) and went and visited a Buddhist Monastery. I don't
think I have every met a more friendly and welcoming race as the Nepalese.
Even though there was a funeral taking place, we were welcomed in, and
given bags of blessed food as good luck. One of the Monks, who spoke very
good English, showed us around and explained
what was happening. A very important Lama (teacher) had died, and in the
process of ensuring his mind and soul went to Nirvana and the higher plain,
The monks and Nuns had to chant, sing and meditate/pray for 49 days. There
were about 200 all sitting chanting, which created the most wonderful
sound. They are so welcoming that we were allowed to walk around whilst
they were meditating and take photos. The Monk also explained the whole
Buddhist way of thinking, the mantras, the fact that the body is purely
a slave to the mind for only one lifetime and then is reincarnates its
self (assuming it had led a good existence!). It is a truly wonderful
religion, one based on peace and happiness.
The next day (Wednesday), we crossed Friendship Bridge and into Tibet.
The change is instant and remarkable. Although the border, and customs,
was remarkably quick to get through, you could see the Chinese influence
everywhere. The infrastructure was much more developed, the people are
a lot more wary of strangers. We had lunch at the border and then boarded
our land cruisers again and set off to our next destination, Nylam.
Nylam is a bizarre town (3700m) which seems to serve no purpose. It is
in the middle of nowhere, no apparent source of work apart from some very
meagre Yak herding, yet has shops and facilities that by far outstrip
its
size. There is one Teahouse (where we are staying), so it isn't exactly
a tourist hotspot. Aneil says that it serves as a sort of trading or commerce
centre for the surrounding area. It is an incredibly dire place. It is
freezing. We can't see out of the window of our room for the snow, and
we were kept awake all last night by the rats, which seem not to be afraid
of Humans. If this is what it is like during the summer, I hate to think
what
it would be like during the winter. Although I know that they have little
choice, I can't see how the locals are able to survive the conditions
and the monotony of the place. Thank god it has email facilities. However
it has
taken my nearly three hours to get into Hotmail, the computers are so
slow!
Today (Thursday) we went for an Acclimatisation walk up a nearby mountain.
The one good thing about this place is that I must admit that the Chinese
food is pretty good. Not quite what we're used to at home, but same
idea. Meals are lots of plates of different recipes that you help yourself
to. For example for supper tonight, we had cauliflower and an unidentifiable
meat, Bean spouts and an unidentifiable meat, Squash (I think!) and an
unidentifiable meat, and even some chips (that were cold). We have been
playing endless games of cards to pass the time. I just hope that tonight
the sound of the rats doesn’t keep me awake! (I'm not joking about
the
vermin, it is truly horrific!)
Tomorrow we are driving to Tingri (4500m), which is our last village
before base-camp. We will spend two nights there (with a day of acclimatisation),
before going up to base-camp (5200m). There will be no email facilities
till
I reach base-camp, so I hope to get back to you early next week. I think
that the next thing that I am looking forward to is visiting the Rhonbok
monastery on the way up to Base-camp. We will also take part in a Punja
ceremony to grant us a safe journey, and luck on the mountain.
Di and I are having a bet as to who will put on a down jacket first, so in the meantime we are both freezing our asses off! (For the honour of all males, I refuse to give in first!).
Anyway, until my next update hope you are all well.
lots of love
Jake
p.s. I appologise about any spelling mistakes, but it's hard when my fingers are so cold!
3rd April 2005
Greetings from Katmandu.
It is I, your intrepid adventurer, pushing the boundaries of exploration
from another far flung part of the world. We landed at about 8am this
morning in Katmandu. Luckily all our bags arrived alright, and we passed
through customs without any problems. On leaving the airport we were given
garlands of flowers around our necks, (I thought that this was nepal,
not hawaii!). Katmandu is amazing, a veritable hive of activity, full
of treats for all the senses. From the wonderfully cloured market stalls
to the smell of pollution and constant honking of car horns, we immediately
realised that this was somewhere full of excitement.We are staying in
an amazing hotel, about 15 minutes walk from Tamel (the colourful touristy
part of the city), just below the 'monkey temple' . No guesses for what
kind of animals are in abundance there then! We spent the day wandering
around the city, collecting last minute bits of kit. Tommorw we fly by
helicopter to the tibetan border, which shoud be fun. It is a really exciting
start to the trip, and I hope that it continues this way.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has helped and supported me, whether it is financial, with advice, or just friendship. I wouldn't be here without all of your support, and I am so appreicative of you all.
Might be a few days till my next email.
Lots of love
Jake
Shona: Have picked up a pirated copy of 'Alive' for Luke, hope you are having a great time in the Bahamas.
Mum, Dad and all the Meyers, Mitchells and Mills: Miss you all, love yuo loads. Alex, Suz, Wally and John: Keep those points going, I've left a few treats for you in the flat.
Bristol Crew: This is my first Monday without Lizard. (this cold turkey is tough, but i'm looking forward to my return)."
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