Friday May 05, 2006

May 5, 2006 North Col

Hi everyone,
We've been at the ABC for five days now. This morning we had a puja at our camp to bless all the climbers before we head higher on the mountain. Some of us were going to make a carry up to the camp at the North Col which sits another 2,000ft above ABC 23,000ft. By the time the Puja finished it was 11am and the weather looked like it would snow. So two of our strong climbers decided to make the trip, we have just heard from them on the radio to say their on the way down. It's snowing quite hard right now so it was a good decision for the remainder of the team to make the trip tomorrow with an earlier start after breakfast. The trip up the North Col involves climbing up the first of the fixed ropes. The last time I made this trip it took 5 hours. I am hoping that this time around with better acclimatization and general nutrition I am feeling stronger for the trip up. We will drop some of our gear and come back down again, have a rest day and then move the next day up to the North Col camp and spend a couple of nights.

Will touch base after the North Col carry.

Anne at ABC

Monday May 01, 2006

April 29, 2006

Busy day today packing bags and barrels for the Yaks that will transport most of our gear up to ABC. The yaks should arrive early and the Tibetian yak man will have a very scientific method of packing and weighing the barrels before heading up the valley to interim camp, where we spend the night. From base camp to ABC is about 14 miles, two 7 mile days but we gain a lot of altitude, 17,000ft-21,000ft over the 2 day period. We will have a couple of days to get used to the new altitude before heading up the North Col. This is now where we climb the mountain many times before we will be ready for our summit push.
Next time I write I will be able to report from higher on the mountain.

Anne at base camp.

April 28, 2006

Great news today as all our oxygen arrived by truck from Nepal. The 02 had been held up in customs with the general strike. The truck also had much of our gear that we needed before we go high on the mountain. The team has spent the day doing short hikes to aid acclimatization and oraganizing gear.
We had more snow yesterday afternoon, which meant up high the mountain was getting hammered. I am happy to say that today has been picture perfect, not a cloud in the sky and very little wind. If we could keep our fingers crossed that in a months time we could have summit weather like this I'd be very happy.
The Sherpa all have there Aerogel baseball hats on, so I'll get a photo to send. We head up the mountain on Sunday to our Advanced Base Camp (ABC).

Will post some time after that.

Anne at base camp

Thursday April 27, 2006

April 27, 2006 Basecamp

Well the team is finally at basecamp. We arrived 4-26 after a 4 hour ride by Landcruiser from Tingry. I have been eating very carefully through the Tibet portion of the trip as last time everyone got some form of food poisoning. When we arrived at camp the cook safe had great food for us in a clean tent and lots of hot water for drinks. The team spent the afternoon organizing tents and equipment, a pattern that we will continue many times before we've finished on the mountain. The program now is to wait until our oxygen arrives a lot with some bags we left in Nepal. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow and then we will move up to ABC (advance base camp) on Sunday.
If all goes well we will spend sometime at ABC before climbing to the North Col.
If anyone wants to access all the trip reports and photo they can be found
at www.humanedgetech.com/expedition/dcxp4/

Also I can receive email on the following account anne@explorersweb.com If you do write please ANNE in the subject line.

Feeling good and signing off from Basecamp.

Anne

Monday April 24, 2006

April 24, 2006 Out of Katmandu

Well just to let everyone know that the team made it out of Katmandu yesterday even with a curfew on. We were told to be ready for 1pm and were bused to the airport through the empty streets all the way to the airport. The only people in the streets were military police and soldiers. Once again we hopped on board the same Russian Mi8 helicopter for the 30 minute flight to Kodari, the last town in Nepal before the boarder with China. That trip would have taken 6 hours of off road riding in the jeeps, so we were happy for the flight. Hopefully the road blocks will be filled by the time we need to get back to Katmandu. A relatively painless crossing of the Freedom bridge into China and off we went to Lilam for the night. Tomorrow the ride will take us over the Tibetian plateau to Tingry, a small Tibetian village at 17,000ft. From here the team will get their first views of Everest from the North side. Next time I write we should be at base camp.

Signing off, Anne

April 23, 2006 More Photos and a brief update!

So here are a few more pics for now! The buzz about the Aerogel products is sweeping our team and people are eager to learn more! Everyone has ideas about what kind of improvements could be made to existing products not only here on the mountain - but elsewhere as well!! On the mountain - there is the potential to really make a difference in terms of safety and comfort. We will see! The products will be tested for sure but there is little doubt they will exceed all expectations!



Common Prayer Flags in The Khumbu



Porter with Dinner



Village of Dingboche 15,000 ft

April 23, 2006 Some Photos

Here are some pics as we ascended through the Khumbu!

Anne atop 18,000++ ft. Chukung Ri



Anne on way to Namche Bazar



Anne with 5 day old Sherpa family member



Bill & Anne @ Everest Base Camp



Child on way to Base Camp

April 22, 2006 Back to Katmandu

Just to let everyone know that we arrived back in Katmandu Yesterday, Friday 21st. We had to wait 3 days in Lukla before we could get out. The first day the weather stopped flights, the second day there was a general strike in the country which grounded all the planes. We made arrangements to charter a helicopter but the weather closed in, in the afternoon and we were informed that the helicopter had gone onto somewhere else. Oh well another night with all the rest of the guests in the lodge. Some Friday dawned with the sound of the first plane zooming up the run way at 6am. By 11am 21 planes had come and gone. We were now committed to wait for the helicopter. At about 11:30 a big Mi8 old Russian helicopter along with a Russian pilot, landed and we all jumped aboard for the hour long flight back on Katmandu. Once on the airstrip we had to be searched before taxiing to the teminal. Friday and today had curfews for the Nepali people, the only traffic is tourist buses going back and forth to the airport with a police escort. It has been difficut to get laundary and last minute items bought as the shops closed to day at noon due to the curfew. There was a large demonstration around the Royal Palace this afternoon and although we could hear it we are safe and far enough way form the trouble not to get involved.
The plan as of now is to go to the boarder tomorrow either by bus or helicopter, we should know more this evening. By tomorrow night we should in Tibet on our way to the mountain. Once we stop we will send another up date.

Anne & Bill

Thursday April 20, 2006

April 20, 2006 Still in Lukla..

Hello,
Bill here reporting in from Lukla. We are stuck! The strikes in Kathmandu and some of the rainiest weather many people have experienced here in a while (though it is snow up higher) are wreaking havoc on our schedule. We arrived here 2 days ago, woke up early on Wednesday to get on a plane back to Kathmandu...and the weather caused cancellations of all outgoing flights. Late in the day we arranged to charter an old Russian helicopter to fly our group out, paid for it - and it never showed up! Then the news that the pilots were going to honor the general strike which is ongoing in Kathmandu! That means that though we all woke up this morning with high hopes, again we are stuck with no way out of Lukla.
We have spent the last 2 weeks acclimatizing in the Khumbu Region taking in the sites of the mountains and villages along the route to South side base camp. We visited some of the oldest Monestaries in Nepal including those at Pangboche and Tengboche. We enjoyed a traditional blessing for good luck from the Lama at the Pangboche Monestary on our way back down the valley. Up high, we spent two nights at Gorak Shep - at 17,000 feet it is the last "village" before Everest base camp. We made daily hikes to higher elevations to acclimatize and prepare for our move to base camp on Everest's North side. First things first though - we need to get back to Kathmandu, repack, reorganize and figure out how to get to the border in Tibet (China). There is a possibility that those roads remain closed, with Maoist checkpoints along the way - and so we are looking at the possibility of another helicopter charter. Things change pretty quickly here, we just have to wait and see what happens. Anne and I feel good today though we are anxious to get on with the climb. Once we get to Tibet - we quickly get into things.

Tuesday April 18, 2006

April 17, 2006 Back to Namche Bazar!

Hello everyone! Sorry we have been out of touch for a while but we have spent the last 8 days hiking up to Everest Base camp on the South side - acclimatizing for our climb. Unfortunately we have had no access to internet as we headed through the Khumbu Valley - let alone running water and plumbing. We reached a max altitude of nearly 18,500 feet as we climbed high into the Khumbu to get ourselves ready for Everest. The views have been spectacular as we are constantly surrounded by still dramatically higher peaks reaching over 26,000 feet into the sky. After the full moon a few days ago, the weather which had been pretty bad up high broke and the views of Everest - at 29,035 feet - were clear and amazing. It is unbelievably bright at night once the full moon creeps above the high mountains!
Anne and I are feeling good - little colds are common up here but we have remained healthy for the most part.
We are on our way to Lukla right now to fly back to Kathmandu. Hopefully the political situation there has calmed down a bit though the other day domestic and international flights were suspended.
We will check back tomorrow from Kathmandu and tell you more about our trek thus far.
Bill

Friday April 07, 2006

April 7, 2006 Writing from Namche Bazar

We flew from Katmandu on 4-7-06 in a 12 seater plane with amazing views of the mountains. The airstrip at Lukla which which was our destination has to be one of the most dramatic landing strips situated on the side of the valley with a landing up hill!! From Lukla we hiked Phakding where we spent the night in a very nice tea house. The tea houses are modest accommodations but compared to what we face in Tibet they are palaces. Since my last trip up the Khumbu valley in 1999 there has been big improvements. Our tea house had an up stairs flushing toilet!!

We got an early start yesterday for our 5 hour hike up to Namche our Current spot. Namche sits at 11,300 ft so we really are gaining some altitude now. Today 4-7-06 we had an acclimatization hike up to the Everest view hotel. The weather today has been spectacular and the group got its first view up the valley to a clear view of Everest and Ama Dablam from the balcony of the hotel. Rooms at this hotel are $120 a night with the option of O2 in the rooms. We also visited the Hilary school and hospital in Khunde on the way back to Namche. Tomorrow we head up the valley towards Tengboche. We will post again once we get back to Namche as I am not sure if we can find email after this?

Anne

Wednesday April 05, 2006

April 4, 2006 from Kathmandu

Hello from Kathmandu,
Bill Driggs here from Kathmandu - our Expedition has begun! Thanks to Aspen Aerogels for their support. Anne and I arrived two days ago after 40 hours of travel including an unexpected stay in the Delhi airport - if anyone ever travels through India - even if you are only a transit passenger in the country for less than 24 hours - you MUST have a visa, before you arrive!! 13 hours in the transit terminal was not what we were expecting (anyone ever see that movie with Tom Hanks??)!!
The past couple days have been eat, rest and organize. Kathmandu is a fun city with alot going on. There is a fair amount of civil unrest in Nepal - though the rolling blackouts and protests are just part of every day life. Tourists and climbers are usually very safe and unaffected by the uprisings other than simple inconveiniences. We have been getting all of our gear ready to ship off to the Tibetan border while preparing for our initial 15 day trek to South Side base camp. For those who don't know - there are essentially two sides of Everest and thus two common base camps. One in Nepal, the South side - through the Khumbu, and the other in Tibet/China - the North side. Our trip includes an interesting acclimatization trek to South side base camp first. Then we fly from Lukla back to Kathmandu - re-group, rest, eat and shower for 2 days before heading for North side camp in Land Cruisers - in Tibet, you can actually drive right to base camp at 17,500 feet!
We have some great gear from Aspen Aerogels that we are looking forward to trying out. The sleeping pads are actually are so comfortable that we do not have to carry the inflatible mattress we typically would. The Aerogel insulation will make the cold glacier beneath us much easier to sleep on!! The footbeds fit perfectly in our large summit boots and hiking shoes - the added warmth will be welcome as frostbite is always a concern.
We have a strong team - some really well respected climbers and guides, and we are looking forward to getting on with the expedition. Tomorrow it really begins, and we will be checking in often.
Stay tuned.....
Bill & Anne