There was a pre-departure meeting and social on Wednesday evening for the Leeds group going out to Everest on the Base Camp Trek. It was good to finally meet some more of the group that would be going up the mountain with me.
The meeting was informal, held in a room upstairs in a pub opposite the university. We went over bits and pieces such as medical forms, booking forms, insurance (which I still haven’t got!!!! – but I will get very soon) the itinerary, and general questions. We saw some pictures and video footage of the trek. It’s all getting very exciting!
There were nine of us at the meeting. In addition to Dave and I, there was Chris who I went bag packing with, Lucy, Jack and Paul who I met at the last social and some new people I hadn’t met before: Hannah, who’s Irish and studying at Edinburgh university but is going out with the Leeds group; Alex, who’s American; and Andy who’s on the Leeds Uni film/TV crew and will be making a documentary while we’re out there!
After the meeting we went downstairs to have some drinks and get to know each other better. Everyone’s very friendly and we all got on immediately, sharing our anxieties/excitement about the trip and how our training’s been going. I’m really looking forward to going out!!!
Sorry about the lack of contact! - I’ve had my final flute recital yesterday so it’s been quite stressful week but I’ve now finished everything for my degree!!!!
I went on a trip to the Yorkshire Dales with Dave last weekend. It was such a beautiful day, perfect weather! We wanted to get the train over but being a bank holiday, there were very few trains and they only went at awkward times - so we drove over on Dave’s motorbike. Sounds pretty cool, but sitting on the back of the bike with only yourself to talk to is quite boring and you get an exceptionally numb bum, but the views once we got out into the country were fantastic!
We didn’t go walking for very long, but it was great to go for a proper walk up and down the mountains, after all, that really is the best training you can do. It also gave me an opportunity to try out some of the new hiking clothes I’ve recently bought which are so much more appropriate than what I was wearing in the Lake District!
As it’s the anniversary of Hillary’s famous first summit success on Everest, I thought he deserved a mention. Sadly, he died last year, but he left behind The Edmund Hillary Trust.
I think it’s important to remember the local community and environment when making a journey like mine, especially when I’m associated with a charity. We will rely on the Sherpa people and thier kindness so much, but without groups like The Edmund Hillary Trust, their lifestyle will only be damaged by our visits.
Since inception the achievements of The Edmund Hillary trust have been wide ranging. They include:
Two hospitals and thirteen health clinics have been built.
Over 30 schools have been built
Over 100 students receive grants annually from the Trust for further and higher education. A programme of women’s Literacy Classes is evolving into Adult Education.
For Sherpas, improvements in life expectancy have been achieved through programmes to control tuberculosis, smallpox and other life-threatening infectious diseases. Stillbirth and infant mortality has been reduced.
Almost 100,000 young trees were nurtured each year and more than 1 million have been planted in 25 protected sites.
Several Sherpas have gained degrees following training in forestry and in national park management in New Zealand and Canada.
A three-year Primary Teacher Training project in Solu Khumbu attracted 200 teachers and is seen by HM Govt. of Nepal as a model for other rural areas. This has been so successful that it has been extended for another three years.
A three-year Secondary Teacher Training project was grant aided by the The Community Fund with the grant matched by the UK Himalayan Trust.
A pre-University Campus has been established in Solu district and attracts a high proportion of young women.
The re-building of Thyangboche Monastery after a fire was helped mainly by the Himalayan Trust.
The building of a new monastery at Salleri was achieved by the Trust matching money raised by local people, mainly by those who now live and work in Kathmandu.
Isolated communities are helped to re-build washed away bridges and tracks; drinking water systems have been constructed.
HM Government has been encouraged to create National Parks and has been advised on their management.
Sherpas trained with support from the Trust are wardens of Nepal’s National Parks.
Above all, the Sherpas are being helped to overcome some of the harshness of their environment and to work for a better future, whilst retaining their independence.
I’ve just seen Monday’s episode of Everest ER which I downloaded off iPlayer. It’s a good show and it was great to see the BBC’s film of the place where I’ll be trekking.
The programme follows the doctors at the Base Camp on the southern side of Mount Everest, and how they deal with the injuries and illnesses of the climbers tackling the mountain. They deal with climbers with frost bite and fluid on the lungs – even swelling of the brain – all “without the facilities of a modern hospitalâ€.
And this is where I began to worry.
Next they showed a lone volunteer doctor in a small clinic at a village about 4240 metres’ altitude. She was waiting for a helicopter to collect a patient that she was unable to treat. Apparently, she has to deal with “hundreds of trekkers that fall ill on the trek to Everest Base Campâ€.That could be me!The narrator (David Tennant – Doctor Who!) went as far as saying “even trekking here can be lethalâ€.
Lethal!
Perhaps the show was just exaggerating the dangers to make things seem dramatic, but now I can’t stop thinking about what might happen if things go wrong.
Rosanna
PostScript:Â
Hi folks,
Just a note to say that since I wrote this I’ve had some reassuring advice from Kirsty at Mountain Kingdoms, and I’ve posted it for everyone to see:
I found this segment of the Ricky Gervais radio show where they’re talking about Mount Everest.
Check it out, I think it’s funny the first time you hear it, anyway.
With the Everest Base Camp trek in a few weeks, I’m getting quite excited about the prospect of tackling the massive mountain, but I’m also rather worried about my lack of climbing experience! This weekend I’ll be going to the Yorkshire Dales, but so far this year, so far I’ve only climbed one mountain. That was in the Lake District with Dave …it was an interesting experience.
We climbed up Red Pike Mountain which is 826m (2710ft). I found it pretty tough partly because it was raining the whole time, but also because Dave decided to make his own route up – we didn’t follow a path/advised routes. We started by climbing past a sign saying ‘Danger! Do not climb’ and then proceeded to scramble up a waterfall! I wasn’t too impressed, especially when we got to the top of the waterfall and there was a demented sheep in our path!
Half an hour of climbing felt like two hours. It was exhausting, but getting to the top felt amazing and so worth it, especially for the spectacular views! At the bottom of the mountain it was very lush and green, but as we climbed closer to the top it got colder and once we were there, it was amazing to see that the lake had frozen and it was snowing!
I wouldn’t have been able to manage the walk had it not been for Kendal Mint Cake – a fudge textured energy bar made almost entirely of sugar (100% carbohydrate!) but tasting like peppermint. It was used in the first British expedition to the summit of Everest. Dave introduced it to me about half way up the mountain – it was a saviour! I’ve got an incredibly sweet tooth so I am a massive fan of the Mint Cake.
Although I was wearing walking boots, the rest of my attire wasn’t particularly suitable – jeans, a pashmina, and a hoodie, topped off with a ski jacket. The rain and moisture made the red dye from my scarf run all over my top. I borrowed Dave’s waterproof trousers (which were massive and wouldn’t stay up!) but they helped all the same.I’m very glad I had this experience as it gave me a very small taste of what it may be like on the way to Everest Base Camp, which will be much tougher!
Apa Sherpa says that he “climbs Everest for fun” A Nepalese man - who has been nicknamed Super Sherpa - has broken his own world record, climbing Mount Everest for the 19th time.
Apa Sherpa, 49, first made it to the summit 19 years ago.
He said his latest climb was to raise awareness of the impact of global warming on the Himalayas.
Apa Sherpa’s expedition team has been collecting rubbish from the mountain as part of a campaign to return it to its pristine condition.
Apa Sherpa spent around 30 minutes at the top of Everest, unfurling a banner saying “Stop Climate Change”.
Dawa Steven Sherpa, expedition team leader, told the AFP news agency: “We are very excited and happy with Apa’s achievement. It will highlight the effects of global warming on Everest.
“Climbing Everest is getting more difficult and dangerous every year because of the melting ice. The rocks that used to be covered by snows are getting exposed.
“We have brought down over five tonnes of mountain trash including parts of a crashed helicopter, old ropes and tents, ladders, metal cans and climbing gear.”
Veteran British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes also reached the summit, succeeding after two previous attempts ended in failure.
I’ve reached my target! - Well actually I’ve exceeded it having raised £2,450! Everyone’s been so generous and supportive. I really thought it would be very difficult to get the money and convince people to donate but it was actually much easier than I thought.
I raised the money through a combination of writing letters and pestering everyone knew to help out. I visited my old school and spoke to past teachers who were interested in supporting me, and the head teacher told me to put an advert in the school newsletter to spread the word. I also put a post in my synagogue newsletter about the Everest base camp challenge. The bag packing at M&S was successful, and before I knew it, my target had been reached!
I had planned to phone up some big supermarkets in Leeds to organise sponsored carwashes, put on a few fundraising concerts and dinner parties, and I also wanted to do some pub crawls, collecting in each pub along the way. However, by the time I got round to thinking about doing these events, it wasn’t necessary!
One of the easiest fundraising activities I did was busking. In February, I played a double flute concerto from memory in Leeds town hall. The concerto is very showy, and the other flautist I did it with happened to be down in London one weekend. We’d talked about busking for some time and we thought this would be a perfect opportunity. Over that weekend we went to some bustling markets around the area I live in London. We spent one morning making a big, eye-catching poster, explaining what the money would be going towards. The weather was fantastic and there were so many people sitting outside pubs listening to us play.
We played the concerto over and over again (it’s about 25 minutes long), people listening would walk past and not realise that we’d been playing the same piece for the last hour! In just under two hours we’d raised £40!
I’ve started to research about Nepal and Everest. Dave gave me two books to read to start me off - Coronation Everest by Jan Morris, and Everest: A Trekker’s Guide, by Kev Reynolds.
Coronation Everest is a novel by a journalist for The Times who went on the first ever successful expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. Morris describes in detail the journey up the mountain. Recounting details such as where they stayed, what they ate and drank, the effects of the altitude, and the people they met including the company of the porters and Sherpas. It was interesting to read the journey told by someone who was not an experienced climber – like myself – and how he found the trek/coped with altitude and weather conditions etc.
Everest: A Trekker’s Guide is an informative guidebook explaining facts about the mountain, the routes and trails, the culture of the Nepalese and the people living on the mountain. How to go about preparing for the journey and what to expect on your travels are also explored and there are photos and maps of the mountain. The photos are particularly useful just to see what sort of clothing the trekkers are wearing.
It’s a really useful book to read and so easy to dip in and out of. I learnt things such as: we’re travelling up the mountain just before the monsoon season and the mountain will be infested with leeches! I am not looking forward to that at all! It was also useful to read that it’s important to get a dental check up before going out, as even minor tooth problems/loose fillings/decay will be badly affected by high altitude.
I’m getting the Hep A/ Typhoid, Diphtheria/ Tetanus/ Polio, and Meningitis at the beginning of June. I’ve decided against the rabies jabs as apparently we’ll have very good medical insurance so in the unlikely event that I get bitten by a rabid animal, I can get quick medical attention. Now I just need to sort out the malaria tablets.
I went for a jog again this morning, and decided to run on the grass instead of the concrete path as I’ve heard that running on grass puts less pressure on the knees, so it’s better for you.
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However, it was raining and the grass was very slippery. As I was going downhill, I slipped on the grass and twisted my ankle. I don’t think I’ll be running for a few days now!
I went for a jog this morning for the first time in Leeds – I don’t like jogging anywhere that I know I’ll bump into people I’ll know! However, I’ve found a park, the opposite direction from where all the students live that’s nearly always empty. I think I’ll start jogging there more often!
I’ve just realised that I haven’t mentioned anything about how I got involved with Childreach. My boyfriend, David Milton, is the student fundraising manager for the charity. He organises the events and volunteers for every challenge event the charity offers i.e. climbing Kilimanjaro, cycling across Death Valley, hitch-hiking to Dublin etc.
Dave is going to be the group leader for the Everest base camp trek once we’re out there on our travels – the link between the porters/guides and us. (Just to clarify - Lucy, who I wrote about earlier, is the group leader for the Leeds group whilst we’re in Leeds).Â
To say that Dave likes to trek occasionally is an understatement…I reckon he is the most active, outward-bounds person I have ever come across!
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Before I met him, I had always thought that the idea of doing something like climbing to Everest base camp was absurd, but his sheer enthusiasm for hiking is very inspiring, and also seeing the incredible photos of some of the place he’s been to has really motivated me to want to do it!
There was a social last night at the pub. I was really looking forward to meeting everyone I’d be going to Everest with. I got there quite late as I had a rehearsal to go to that didn’t finish until 9.30 and everyone had been in the pub since 7.
By the time I had got there, there were only three people still left in the pub! It was quite disappointing, but at least I got to know a few more members of the group. Lucy, the group leader reckons that we won’t actually be able to all meet up properly until we’re at the airport to begin our Everest base camp journey.
I’ve just been to possibly the most intense yoga session of my life! Previously, the yoga classes I’ve been going to have been relaxing and energised, but never hugely challenging. The class teacher is an Eastern European guru, who works all the students so hard! Sweat was quite literally dripping from my body. I think I’ll be taking her classes more often…
I’ve reached my target! - Well actually I’ve exceeded it having raised £2,450! Everyone’s been so generous and supportive. I really thought it would be very difficult to get the money and convince people to donate but it was actually much easier than I thought.
I’ve booked appointments for my jabs. 
