Weblog & Podcasts

Milan made a small movie in the kitchen and dining tent. Click the pix below and see how the cooks are preparing, the team is eating and how the cooks are celebrating that all went well as usual

Meanwhile the first team headed up to Intermediate camp, planning to go to ABC tomorrow. Thomas, Kevin, Milan and I will go up tomorrow with the Australians. Not sure if Lorenzo will join us, he is planned to return from Taschi Dzom tomorrow morning, together with Frode, Ludmila & Nickolay.

All the best from a melting and hot BC,

Harry

Hi all you (armchair) mountaineers. Here is the latest report from Everest, Tibet BC.

Thomas and I went up to Intermediate camp 3 days ago, joined by Kevin and Milan. Milan was only going to join as far as Yak camp (5500m) as he had not been at that altitude before. Kevin lagged a bit behind as he did some scenic filming but after a few hundred meters came running to us: 'turn the camera on'!

Apparently he had been attacked by some of the yak herders who actually threw rocks at him for filming in the way of the yaks. Kev ran away and told his story to Milan in full colour. He said he felt so fit today that he would be able to go all the way to North Col if we wanted

But things would change quickly as happens at Everest...

Hi all you friends & followers; here is another update from the foot of Everest. I was supposed to be in middle camp right now, but not all went as planned.

Yesterday the first half of the group packed their gear on the yaks and left for Intermediate Camp (IC) at 5800m. Also Ivana jumped back on her bike and left for Kathmandu. I took thomas for a hike to 5400m to prepare for our trip to IC today, but though the trip went well, he did not feel good at all this morning. Thomas had a huge headache and we decided to stay one more day in BC.

Today I did a little hike with Thomas and Kevin; though Thomas felt a lot better and his headache dissappeared, Kevin felt bad today. Though his oxygen levels have been really high from the start and he has almost no headaches, today he had no energy and could not keep up with Thomas & me.

I just heard from Alex, who joined the 2nd part of the team to IC, that Ronnie (Muhl, SA) has some back problems, but the rest of the team is reasonably ok. The first time up to IC & ABC is for many climbers the toughest part of the entire expedition, so it is not surprisingly if one feels bad.

The good news is that Milan & Sergey have returned from Taschi Dzom! They just walked in after catching a few rides back to Rongbuk, and walking from there on. They both are a lot fitter now, Milan told me he was amazed how much difference the 1000 vertical meters made. They slept and rested most of the time and feel strong again. That will take a way some of Kevin's worries, so hopefully we can do some decent hike up tomorrow!

Signing off from a very chilly BC, the wind has started again..

Harry

Hi all, here is a little 7summits team update from Basecamp! We left Xigar the morning of the 18th and this time the missing towel check at the Chomolongma Hotel only took 30 minutes

We have taken a guest with us, lovely Ms Ivana Coria from Argentina who is bravely cycling around the world and was dying to see a proper Everest expedition up close. Well, she came to the right place and in return we have been enjoying her company and travel stories and pictures.

There was no view from Pang La, so we continued quickly to Taschi Dzom, where we shared our lunch boxes with the locals.

Thick clouds were ahead and soon we were driving through blizzard-like conditions.

Hello everybody, here is a quick update from chilly Xigar/New Tingri. Just after I sent out the last report I went over to the other hotel to teach some table tennis, but everybody was already asleep. It was only midnight, lazy buggers!

So I walked back through the dark street they call Nyalam, filled with drunk Chinese relieving themselves against cars, houses or just in the middle of the street. I was about to turn back into our Himalayan Hamster & Monkey hotel (more about that in a minute) when I encountered Pemba, one of our Sherpas on the fall 2004 Dutch Everest expedition. He told me he knew a good disco and off we went.

The Karaoke bar I went to last year was gone, but close by was an interesting local mix of Disco, theatre & Karaoke. Imagine a square dancefloor of about 8x8m with tables surrounding it on 3 sides, filled with drunk Chinese and some Sherpas. The Spanish Everest team was there as well, but they left soon, so soon I was the only westerner in the place.

The ride from Zhangmu to Nyalam was very nice as usual. The road is simply spectacular, comparable with the wonderful Karakoram Highway in Pakistan: steep cliffs & dusty switchbacks take us from the green valleys straight through a weakness in the mighty Himalayan chain to the grey and dusty surroundings of Nyalam, 3700m above sea level.

Our group is so big, we will have to split up and stay in 2 separate hotels, but we al eat at the Snowland Restaurant. The food is great, Chinese food as it should be, and Kama, the waitress works like crazy to serve all the different groups at the same time.

After lunch we go out for a quick hike to acclimatize a bit, Kevin stays in Nyalam for some shooting. Thomas is doing great and together with Milan we go up from 3700 to 4050 quickly and easily.

The views from the narrow ridge are nice and Thomas has little practical problems yet with the altitude. His vision is slowly deteriorating; he cannot read the small fonts anymore at this time, but he is happy with the current situation, it is still better than expected. Fortunately the ‘Himalayan Hamster’ Thomas encounters in the toilet is so big, it would have been spotted by Stevie Wonder wearing sunglasses

Hi all you friends and followers.

Here’s a small update from the chilly Himalayan Hamster Hotel in Nyalam! While Thomas is resting after a nice hike up into the hills around Nyalam, Milan & I are working on images to show you this side of the world. Here is a quick update with video, text and images.

13th April: The friendship bridge to Tibet: Zhangmu

As mentioned we arrived in Zhangmu without much problems, the long line at the friendship bridge was not as bad as it seemed, the many porters carried all our gear over the bridge without problems and getting all our gear through Chinese customs went smoothly as well.

Last years the no-photo policy was strictly enforced, but now it seemed to have lightened up a bit, see this little impression.
Zhangmu is a dirty small bordertown, complete with vague bars, cheap hookers ditto hotels and many restaurants. Not a place to stay too long.