Weblog & Podcasts

Hello everybody, here is a quick update about the past events at the 7summits Basecamp, 5200m.

Let's start with a quick (?) tour of our Basecamp. Milan & Kevin filmed me using the Manfrotto Figg Rig, which makes it possible to use strange camera angles, hand the camera over smoothly and much more. This video is a edited version, meaning the slow parts are speeded up a bit, but the entire thing was one (!) long take of 15 minutes originally, no cuts have been made. Mike in turn filmed us doing the filming, so in the larger version/documentary/DVD we can show much more. For now enjoy the Basecamp tour!

After long delays due to the cold Russian winter, finally our oxygen arrived a few days ago and it is now already in ABC, ready to be taken up the mountain by our Sherpa team. Many expeditions had delivery problems and apparently the black market prices of 2nd hand and not so trustworthy bottles had increased a lot. But we will only use Poisk, straight from the factory, all 200 bottles!

NC manager Sergey celebrated his B-day 2 days ago, which was accompanied by some great Russian singing and guitar playing. 'Computerman' Sergey did most of the playing and singing, great to hear and see. And of course the Stllichnaya & Smirnoff toasts were not missing. Sergey's actual B-day was yesterday, but then he already went up with our first big team, that is now on its way to spend at least 2 nights at North Col. It is the mix of cultures that makes the 7summits expeditions so special, the mountain is temporarily forgotten, the mind is cleared, so it can absorb great situations with ditto people.

Our 2nd team will leave today to do the same, so our next update might take a few days. In the meantime you might have noticed the new webcams on our websites. We have 2 cams in BC, one is pointing towards Everest, so you can see the current weather, the other is either showing the overview of BC or is placed inside one of our many tents. If you have some time on your hands, you can check the archive/tests and you might see some strange images

Signing off from cold but happy BC, let's climb!

Harry

Well, we are (almost) all back in Basecamp, having spent a night at NorthCol, 7000m! Unfortunately one more member has to leave the expedition. It took a while as we were all on different places on the mountain, but here is a quick update in words and images about the past week:

28/29 April: BC- ABC. We took it easy today, and started with a long interview of Thomas, with mighty Everest towering in the background. Will be interesting to redo the same interview in about a month’s time! Good to see Kevin and Milan working together in documenting this special expedition.

After the interview Thomas and I went together with the Australians and walked back up to ABC in 2 days, sleeping in our intermediate camp, next to the 'Ice sharks', the amazing natural ice sculptures at Interim Camp, sometimes 20 metres high! The hike up was a bit faster than the first time, but still we can improve there, which will be needed before we are fit enough for a summit attempt.

On our first day we met Bill (Tyler) coming down, who descended because of a serious back pain. Doctor Andrey (who already and again has helped members of different expeditions like) met him at Yak camp and while we were having lunch Bill received a few injections in his behind, open air surgery.. This should help and maybe after a few days of rest Bill can try again to go up.

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.