Summit Journal Chat

Interesting that different browsers have different features, i.e., spell check on the post page works on the browser Safari but not on Explorer.

Dave, your button (link) looks great! Thanks a lot!

Hey folks. I shouldda done this a long time ago. I've created a link from my website to this one ( scroll down to se ) as well as updated my site on the winter Fuji climb I made in Japan
See http://www.everest.org.sg

The classic case of many people strung out or pushing too far. Check on EN's report by George Dijmarescu, possibly the most accomplished non-sherpa Everest climber ( 6 summits incl one or more without bottled 02 I think ). The old Japanese lady as well as the 3 Koreans just pushed their luck too far

Tim: thanks for the Alaska account. The skis vs snow shoes thingy is a classic reasons why I have doubts about joining guided groups - the guide callsthe shots for the greater group benefit. If you were there with your own small team, your could have just snow shoed up. Sleeping: It may be that you have a low hypoxic ventilatory rate ( HVR ) . This measurement related to howwell your body responds to decreasing amounts of available 02 and triggering an unconscious ibcrewase in breathing rate. When asleep, can often determine how well you rest... I agree with using sleeping bags that are ' flexible' ie ones yo ucan shake the down thru the baffles to 'thin' out the top part if warm and vice versa if cold. Or using the bag as ablanket if you sleep very warm instead.

just hauled off my dive gear--guess this means I have aspirations of being a climber ... or at least that I'm going to accumulate different toys.

Sad news indeed, but I agree that this season could have been much worse is Chomo wasn't as merciful as she was. Take a read of the Chilian team's summit day. They arrived at the summit at approx 1pm (I forget exactly and I will not muddle back through that report again) then stay on the summit until 2:30pm. They then promptly ran out of Os on the knife ridge annd did not get back to C4 until after midnight. Had the weather turned, DB would have been shooting another documentry instead of a hollywood pic.

Thank you Magoo. That is sad news. But, better than I had expected with so many going up.
The other day it was 40-50 people going up at the same time. Really crazy IMHO.
I guess people still don't realize that sending search parties out high on the Big E does not make sense.
I noticed the climbing gear pop-ups on that page.
The Altitech looks good, but the crampons look bad. They qualify for a new design concept.

4 deaths on the North side http://www.everestnews2004.com/everestnews3/deathcountgrowsoneverest05212004.htm Others missing, also on the North side.

Also, this on CNN. Sherpa breaks speed record.

FYI - at Harvard

Graduate School of Design

"The Archive of Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust/The Eduard F. Sekler Archive" celebrates the acquisition of drawings, photographs, publications, and other materials related to the preservation and restoration of Nepal's traditional architecture. (Through July 31) - Special Collections Department, Frances Loeb Library, Lower Level, Gund Hall, GSD. Department hours are Mon-Fri 1-4:45 p.m.

Harvard Museum of Natural History

"In the Mountains: Photographs by Bradford Washburn" features 35 photographic images selected by this acclaimed photographer, mapmaker, mountaineer, and native New Englander. The exhibition covers 50 years of his legendary career and includes some of his earliest shots in the French Alps when he was barely 19 years old, and dramatic photographs taken in Alaska during his 70th year.

Thanks Rose - that's interesting

Hi Everyone,
Good to see you back, Tim. Just a bit of an update on the M&I search. So far nobody seems to have made a discovery but it seems unlikely that folks would mention given all the competition up there. There are varying reports of searches by various groups, including an Italian team that ENews seems to be highlighting for some reason- it doesn't seem that the Italians are working with the ENews group. Graham Hoyland apparently went back to Kathmandu earlier than expected due to illness. One interesting tidbit is that Dave Hahn has apparently camped out at Camp 6 for several days. And Jake Norton did go to the North side with an IMG expedition to the North col. There has not been any coverage of either Jake's or Dave's activities but I can certainly think of a few possibilities. ;-). Who else has been up there is not clear but ENews doesn't seem to have gotten up to the search area as of yet. So this has kind of been a tough year to get real excited about the M&I search. Although the active searching appears at it's max, no one is reporting on any of it. Also, I think the weather has not been good, with high winds and more snow on the ground than is conducive to finding artifacts.

Otherwise, the Russian expedition up the North face is still on. Interesting that they have been complaining of nearly being hit by falling oxygen cylinders from the more usual North side routes.
Apparently EV summited last weekend on the South. I haven't checked his website recently though.

Best regards,
Rose

GBS - That's a fake picture - everyone knows Nepal is real poor

Tim, you didn't include a woman in the itemized list?

I think this is one of the places my son visited -
http://www.indiatravelite.com/Internationalhotel/fishtailpokhra.htm
He wrote of getting to the lodge via boat.

Are the members of your team stranded on the glacier because the planes can not fly in for some reason?

Thinking about the FOOD made me hungry - I am going for lunch!

That is allot of stuff you can bring. A room sized average for moving is about 3K lbs.
I would take mostly sleeping equipment and favorite foods.
Those eating places you mentioned sound great.
I am surprised from the report BB posted that people radio-down'ed orders of favorite foods on their way back. I would have thought that they had been prepared to eat a different diet while there.

In fact, I would punt the hauling in of stuff and just go to the Fulbari!
"The Fulbari Resort and Spa is situated in the metropolitan valley of Pokhara. It is approachable both by air and road. By air a thirty minutes flight. By road 200 kms from the capital Kathmandu. En route you halt at the famous wish fulfilling goddess temple The Manokamna. From the Pokhara airport and bus stand, The Fulbari Resort and Spa is a 15 to 20 minutes luxurious drive."
ha ha ha

when we were originally weighed by K2, total was about 2100 pounds. I think it was approx 1220 for our personal weight (seven people including cameras and climbing boots) and around 880 for everything else we brought.

Tim -

On the "Posting" page, go to "Edit Posts," and then you can delete the extra copy of your post.

Why two +degree bags and not the -10 bag for Peru?

Sounds like being in a tent is the key to being able to achieve a good climate for sleeping.

Of course I would need a tent with three rooms (sleeping, eating, and hanging out) and a deck with two deck chairs, a cot, a portable tea/coffee maker and a refrig for milk and other dairy products and Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial Rose champagne. A solar powered power source, digital camera, handheld TV, PDA, computer and lots of flash and memory sticks would have to go along. Instead of snowshoes I would try for a snow version of a Segway and use the Enhanced Traction Tire (and Wheel) - ha ha

in Talkeetna, you can get excellent burgers and beer at the West Rib; homemade soup and bread for lunch at the RoadHouse, pizza across the street. The RoadHouse has killer breakfasts.

We had bacon and eggs for our first breakfast on the glacier, bagels afterwards. plenty of snacks were provided; burritos, pasta, and chicken and rice for dinner. we had one large sack of dehydrated meals for emergency rations--I assume they've been dipping into those.

From Mountain Madness:

Dispatch #42 - May 18, 2004
This is Sarah Henley reporting from Everest Base Camp. The whole Mountain Madness team made it down to Camp 2 around 1:30 pm today. Everyone feels great but they are definitely tired from what they have just put their bodies through. They plan to leave Camp 2 in the morning at 5:00 am to be back to Base Camp around 9:00 am. The reason for leaving so early is because the days are getting much warner lately and the Ice Fall is much safer earlier in the day before the sun starts to melt things. They are also just simply ready to be back to Base Camp to prepare to leave. We have been here a long time and it will be nice for everyone to get a change of scenery even thought the scenery is amazing in this place. Today on the radio the guys were passing it around to ask for different food requests when they get back to Base. They asked
for eggs, bacon (can't do that), frech toast, pancakes, and even chocolate cake. They will be happy because I was already planning on making a cake for their arrival...

Tim -

Looking forward to the pictures.

Also, like GBS asked - give us more details on the food

thanks for the ideas. I seem to remember doing okay in the Himalayas, when i had two bags and just used them like blankets. However, I lucked into a tent by myself on that trip. My -10 bag can be unzipped from either end, and I did have it opened at my feet on this trip. For my Peru trip, I'm thinking about taking one +20 and one +45 bag (supposed to bring a 0 degree bag).

AAI feels like there are a lot more opportunities with skis and if you were the only one using snowshoes you couldn't keep up with the rope team.

Food was plentiful and good, although i hate to see them pour in the dehydrated vegetables, which (IMO) are far more potent than beans for creating gas.

Four of the members of our team were still stranded on the glacier as of yesterday afternoon. As they say, flexibility is an essential element for Alaska climbing.

My guess is something to reduce the sweating and something that lets air circulate inside the bag. What about a tent-bag? Something that lets you expose your face. Hummmm... I would try to zip two bags together and insert a pvc frame so air could circulate over my back. A good pillow would help. Do you take a good pillow? One that lets air circulate inside of it like high grade foam?

I like using a hooded fleece sweatshirt and a fleece vest to keep warm. I like fleece because it seems to keep my temperature constant while the outside temperature changes - unless it becomes too hot outside.

The ski thing sounded bad. I am not happy when my feet hurt. I just returned from a trip during which I was happy to give away an almost new pair of shoes because they did not fit very well.

Why didn't they let you use the snow shoes?

Where there planes coming and going while you were in camp?

How was the FOOD?

It sounds like you need to take three weeks when you go up there.

Guess I should have read the posts first, as BBob's succinct transcript rendered mine fit for the Department of Redundancy.

The sleep thing has become a big issue for me and i don't know the solution. Some of it is mental, but there is also the problem of regulating temperature--I am a warm sleeper and cannot snug up a sleeping bag without getting overheated. But obviously when you open up your bag in freezing temperatures it doesn't take long to get cold, especially if you've been sweating in your bag. if i can't figure something out by the end of my Peru trip, I may reconsider going on any more expedition-type trips.

I'm not sure what to think of my trip! We met up in Anchorage and arrived in Talkeetna Sunday a.m., ready to fly onto the glacier. Well, the weather wasn't ready for us--there was a slight break on Monday and we loaded up two planes and were heading in when one of the pilots decided he didn't like the look of things and turned us around. One member of the group bailed on Tuesday but I decided to give it one more day. Three days waiting in Talkeetna was depressing, although it is allegedly the town that Northern Exposure was based on (and it definitely has some characters there). Anyway, we flew onto the Ruth Glacier on Wednesday and I immediately found out that I would feel task-loaded most of the time. We got off the plane, put on our packs, put on our skis, put on a sled harness and went off to make camp. The campsites are much closer to the "runway" than i had realized--definitely would have brought more stuff (like a camera tripod and a crazy creek chair). After taking over a previously-used site and setting up tents, the guides were eager to catch up on lost time--we roped up, i put on a coil of rope, my pack and skis and we headed out on the glacier to find a suitable crevasse for practicing rescues. Very hot day with me trying to develop a decent style on the skis resulted in a HUMUNGOUS blister on the bottom of my right foot. The skiing was very frustrating to me--the alpine touring setup allows you to release your heel or lock it in, but wearing mountaineering boots doesn't seem to give you much control.

The Ruth Glacier, where we landed, is truly amazing, with the south face of the Moose's Tooth one of the highlights. To the west of us was Denali, with a view of the Cassin and East Ridges. If I needed any convincing not to try "the big one," watching Denali go from idyllic to horrific conditions in a matter of minutes confirmed my opinion. Most of the time there was evidence of very strong winds (no one had summitted when we started) and you have that coupled with -30 degree temps at the high camp. We had light 24 hours a day and with warmer than "usual" temps, night climbing is certainly the way to go for better snow conditions. Didn't get hardly any climbing in, but I'll probably go back. The American Alpine Institute (the original AAI), seems like a pretty good outfit and has good relations with K2 Aviation. We got to know the folks there pretty well and I can definitely recommend K2--I flew out on Saturday and sat in the front seat of a Dehavilland (sp) Beaver and should have some decent photos from that ride. Most of the team chose to stay an extra day on the glacier and they may still be there! A flexible travel schedule is pretty much essential for this stuff.

Should have some pics posted at my website in a few weeks (I still haven't gone digital), and i'll let y'all know when they're up.

And now let me catch up on the new posts here.

Thanks Dave

Thanks GBS! The programmes are really excitingin terms of design and delivery. Speaking pays well but is often more like ' edutainment'. The programmes are, in many ways, muchmore enriching, esp when you see tramsformational cchange in individuals or teams. You can find out more by going to my business website: htpp://www.everestbusiness.com

Hi Boulder Bob. Thanks for all the updates.
40 - 50 people going up at one time sounded pretty scary to me.
I am glad that the team made it up so early in the day and can get back down in daylight.
Also interested in knowing more about both EV and DB. I think that it is odd that they are back.

Hi Dave. Interesting to hear about your work.

ABout 70% of my work is in travelling ( lagely Asia Pacific region ) delivering minspirational presentations. 30% of the work is creating and delivering actual programmes on leadership, teambuilding and motivation. Ovverthe last few years, I've become accredited in abouta half-dozen tools like adventure-based experiential learning, quantitative psychological profiling in a variety of instruments. These can measure one's risk quotient, workplace/type profile.8

To Dave,

If you have the time please explain more about what you are doing with you business. Is it motivational speaking? Team building? ???

Hi everyone, just checking in from Hong Kong where I am for a coupleof days on a corporate job. Further to the view about CO climbing - I think it's an excellent place to acclimatise for the bigger peaks. SInce most walk ins take you to a basecamp in the 4500 - 5200m range, climbing 14000ers inCO must be good for building a foundation . Of course, above basecamp, youwould be about as acclimatised (albeit with a better foundation ) as the rest of a team.

Lots of interesting ( andboring ) action on the Big Hill this year. I was kinda interested in keepingtrack with a few friends on the Hill, sincenot a huge deal ofnew stuff happening. Interesting to note that after 8 years from the 96 tragedy EV and Db are back on top ( literally ).Looks like it's tough to stay away!

BBob: I dont know about a 3rd book, but probably notfor quite a longwhile , and more to do with corporate stuff than a pure adventure narrative

Cheerio
David

And finally from Mountain Madness:

Dispatch #40 - May 17, 2004

Summit Day 8:40 am

This is Sarah Henley reporting from Everest Base Camp.

I am very happy to inform you the Gene Rehfeld, Murray Rice, Willie Benegas, Undi Sherpa, and Mingma Sherpa made it to "the top of the world" at 8:40 am this morning. We had an exciting night at Base Camp awaiting their calls to hear their progress. They made great time from Camp 4 to the summit in eleven and a half hours. We will be keeping tabs on the team during their descent which we know will also be a strenuous and challenging part of the climb. However, they are in good shape because they have a full day of daylight. I will send an update when they get back to Camp 4.

Congratulations to the Mountain Madness team of 2004!!!

Dispatch #41 - May 17, 2004

Summit Day 2:45 pm

This is Sarah Henley reporting. The Mountain Madness team successfully made it safely back to Camp 4. They will stay the night at Camp 4 breathing oxygen while regaining some strength back from the strenuous day they have had. All team members are doing great other than very exhausted. I suspect they will go to sleep very soon.

I would like to congratulate the whole team, once again, for doing an incredible job!!!

Mountain Madness:

Dispatch #39 - May 17, 2004

Summit Day 6:30 am

This is Sarah Henley reporting. Willie, Murray, Gene, Undi, and Mingma have arrived to South Summit. There is some low fog but they are above the clouds. They reported that there is practically no wind to speak of - great news! They are all tired but are hanging in there. At this point they head to the Hillary Step and then it is not too far to the top. I would expect them to be at the summit in an hour or two. I will continue to give updates.

Gary and Phendon made it back to Camp 4 and are warm and resting in tents.

Thanks for the updates,BBob.

Mountain Madness again:

Dispatch #38 - May 17, 2004


Summit Day 9:00 pm

The Mountain Madness team left the South Col. around 9 pm. They all seemed in good spirits but anxious for the unknown.

I just heard from Willie at the Balcony, which is amazing timing (five and a half hours). Gene, Murray, Undi Sherpa, and Mingme Sherpa are with him and are feeling strong. Gary and Phendon Sherpa turned around about a half hour ago. When I hear that they are back to Camp 4 I will send an update. The next time I will hear from Willie is when they are at the South Summit. With the time they are making I would expect that to be in four or five hours.

Tim called from Alaska...

He is back in Anchorage. He said that after 3 days of waiting out bad weather one guy took off for home but Tim decided to stay just one more day and they finally got out there - 2 guides and 4 clients. Although Tim signed up under the understanding that he could use snowshoes he was forced to use skis which he has no experience with. The motion of the skis with his boots created one giant blister on the first day which was a bit of a problem. They spent 4 days and 3 nights on the glacier and he learned a lot of stuff. The conditions of the snow was really bad he said and there were times when he was trying to climb some peaks but he got into snow up to his waist and decided it was stupid and that he didn't need to climb up some dumb unnamed nob. He heard that no one had summitted Denali yet and he said he would never try now that he has seen the weather. He said the peak would be completely clear one minute with no clouds in site and 10 minutes later you couldn't see the peak. He also siad he had lots of trouble sleeping (a problem hs has had in the past) and got very little the whole time he was on the glacier - including no sleep the first night. He hopes to remember some of the stuff he learned before heading to Peru in August to climb a couple of peaks.

From Mountain Madness:

Dispatch #36 - May 16, 2004

This morning the Mountain Madness climbers left Camp 3 at 7:30 am for the South Col., also known as Camp 4. Gary and Gene reached the Yellow Band at 11:00 am and then continued on to the Col. arriving around 3:00 pm. Murray was quite a bit behind them on account of his crampon breaking again. They managed to fix it and Willie waited for him to get to the Yellow Band. Willie and Murray arrived at Camp 4 around 4:00 pm. When I spoke to them this morning everyone was feeling as well as expected. I asked Murray how he was feeling and he said, "things are good for all things considered". I thought this was a perfect response because once you get to these elevations everyone will and expects to feel a little off. Last night they slept with oxygen and other than it being awkward I think they all managed to sleep some. Today climbing to Camp 4 was their first time actually moving while breathing oxygen. This can be very challenging at first because ones breathing pattern has to completely change, the dry air can cause a sore throat, and the mask limits ones vision. Now they are all trying to rest as best as possible before they head to the summit tonight. Gary will be climbing with Phendan Sherpa, Gene is climbing with Undi Sherpa, and Murray will climb with Mingma Sherpa.

This morning I got word that there were 20 people on the summit around 9:30 am and there were more folks waiting below to get their turn. There was also another 20 to 30 people still on their way up. Twenty people on the top of Mount Everest is definitely tight. The route up to the top last night was one huge highway which can make it difficult for individuals to find their own personal pace. In a lot of places it is not as simple as just passing someone slower than you. We have been told here at Base Camp that the route is not all the way fixed with lines. The past two summit rounds have not been using fixed lines for some of the way past Camp 4. Willie is aware of this and he intends to be ahead of the rest of our guys and will fix lines where needed. I will be in touch more frequently when they begin their summit attemp tonight!


Dispatch #37 - May 16, 2004

Summit Day

This is Sarah Henley reporting form Base Camp. I just got word from Willie at Camp 4 and they are all attempting to rest. Gene and Gary are feeling good. Murray feels good but he is a little tired from the day. At this point Murray's crampon seems to be holding so we'll just hope it stays that way. Their departure time from Camp 4 for the summit is 9:00 pm tonight. Willie will try to radio sometime during the night to give an update but it can be challenging to stop when they are in a huge line up of people all going to the same place. He will definitely call us at Base Camp when they reach the Balcony and then again at the South Summit before they get to the Hillary Step. We will also of course hear from them when and if they reach the summit sometime in the morning. I will keep you posted...