When I woke up and looked out of the window I was speechless. I couldn’t see a thing out of the window; the whole of Namche was enveloped in a cloud! For this reason the gallery below shows photos from the day before; our approach to Namche Bazaar.
Today was an acclimatisation day AKA “the rest day”. It’s built in to the trek allow the walker to acclimatise to the altitude and reduction in oxygen. On this day however, you don’t completely rest as you might expect. We were told that it’s a good idea to climb up high and then come down again and sleep to help with the affects of the altitude.
We climbed up to Namche’s Everest museum which had all sorts of information about porters/sherpas/the history of the mountain and people and loads of photos. For example: we all thought we’d been seeing yaks all over the mountain carrying loads of luggage but we had in fact been seeing cross breeds - ½ yak, ½ cow called Dzopchoik - male, or Dzoom - female. They were smaller than yaks with shorter hair. They are also better at handling warmer climates. We’ll apparently see some real yaks as we climb higher.
The excitement has been building steadily over the last few weeks and finally the expedition is under way. Earlier this week Jordan Romero, 13, set of from Everest Base Camp, trekking with his family towards the summit. They have safely reached Camp 1.
Despite the hype, Jordan’s attitude and philosophy is impressive, especially for one of such tender years: “Whether it takes a few weeks or a couple of years, I’m determined to do it.” Click on the image to hear the CNN interview he did part way up the mountain.
Jordan is no ordinary child. He has already completed five-sevenths of the fabled Seven Summits, a benchmark in the mountaineering community, and many more treks and peaks besides. If his expedition is successful he will become the youngest person ever to reach the summit of Everest, eclipsing by a few years the world record Seven Summits trek of Johnny Strange set in June last year. Strange’s “youngest ever” Seven Summits milestone will also be under threat if things go well for 13-year old Romero on this Everest trek.
We wish the Romeros the best of luck and a safe journey.
Arriving at Everest Base Camp tomorrow is a charity expedition aiming to raise money for
the support of people with severe learning disablities by cooking.
Yes, that wasn’t a mis-type: a chef is currently moving along the Everest Base Camp Trek
armed with the ingredients of a meal she intends to prepare for her team at an altitude of
5,360 metres, with a glacier below and the mighty Everest towering above.
Sounds like the perfect setting for a breakfast, and were not talking about milk & cereal;
the trekking chef aims to make a posh salmon and caviar breakfast on the mountain.
Suddenly I’m feeling hungry.
A team of climbers from Malta are breaking national records in the Khumbu. They are currently undertaking altitude training on the mighty Cho Oyu, the sixth highest of the world’s peaks, ahead of their planned 2010 summit bid of Everest. Advanced base camp at 5700 metres is their current position, as they head up the mountain and back down again, pushing their limit each time.
On Friday they reached 6400 metres. Their aim is to achieve the highest altitude that a Maltese climber has ever reached, beyond 8000 metres, hence the name of their expedition: Challenge8000. Of course, the peak of Mount Everest awaits at a mighty 8848 metres.
Hi.
This is a video I found showing what we can expect Rosanna and David to be seeing and doing between Day 8 and Day 10 of the Everest Base Camp trek.
This video was posted on Youtube by wwwcelticvideocom. I quite like the narrator’s accent.
After a week, Rosanna and David and all the others on the Childreach trek will be well on their way now. Everest Base Camp Trek routes. The latter stages show the Kala Pattar variation of the Everest trek where you climb to the summit of the neighbouring mountain to overlook Everest base camp. I just posted this video really to give a sense of Kathmandu and the first few days of what Rosanna and David will be seeing.
Here is a video I found showing the opening locations on one of the
Thanks tojustindav1sfor putting this up on Youtube.
Following up on my earlier post on the heroic Apa Sherpa, I’ve found a nice ecology related post on Powinthekisser:
Cleaning up Mount Everest
April 6, 2009
Nearly 9,000 meters above sea level and dangerous to reach, Mount Everest would seem a likely place to be free of litter and waste. However, you may be surprised to know that climbers over the past 50 years have left a staggering 50 tons of trash and debris and human waste along the summit. This has prompted the world’s most experienced sherpa to join forces with the Eco Everest expedition for his 19th ascent of Mount Everest, this time not for a climbing expedition, but rather for a conservation expedition.
Apa Sherpa and company left today on their journey and will use this trip to highlight the devastating effects of the global climate crisis on Mount Everest, where global warming is causing the snow at the summits to melt at a rapid rate. Along the way, they plan on filling hundreds of rubbish sacks with human waste and litter left behind by previous climbers.
Apa Sherpa (Thomas L. Kelly for The New York Times)
At the age of 17, Johnny Strange from California has become the youngest person ever to summit the tallest peaks in each of the world’s seven continents.
He capped his record breaking feat on June 8th this year with his ascent of Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko after summiting Mount Everest in May.
This is part of a hilarious episode of Have I got News for You. You can watch the whole episode UNCUT on YouTube- a version you might not have seen yet - this is just the part where he talks about the difficulties of going to the toilet when climbing to the summit of Everest.
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.
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.
