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| VIA A SATELLITE TELEPHONE
AND A LAP TOP COMPUTER, HIMALAYAN EXPERIENCE EVEREST EXPEDITION AND
SPORT-SC.COM HAS PUBLISHED THE EXPEDITION REPORTS.
All news items are published
by Sport-SC.com
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Mailed
the 1st of April
The Himalayan Experience
Everest expedition to the North Ridge got underway last Saturday with
the arrival of team leader
Russell Brice to Kathmandu. The equipment and food has been checked
and packed, ready for departure
to Tibet, hopefully on 04 April. There has been considerable
amounts of snow on the Tibet
Plateau, so our team will not leave Kathmandu until we know that the
road is clear all the way
to BC. |
Mailed the
8th of April
There has been considerable
bad weather in the lower mountains of Nepal, and more than 1m of
snow fell on the road between
Nylam and the boarder town of Zangmu. It has taken a week to have
the road cleared, so our
team is still in Kathmandu waiting. However we will depart early
tomorrow the 9th April, with
the hope of reaching Nylam in one day. I have heard that only one of
the 18 teams
that are on the North side of Everest, has in fact reached BC, so there
are many teams between
Kathmandu and BC at the moment. |
Mailed the
19th of April
The Himalayan Experience
Everest Expedition has had several set backs over the last few weeks,
with the delayed start from
Kathmandu as the road was covered in snow, then we had to porter our
equipment around a land slide,
but eventually we reached Base Camp at 5200m on 15 April. We were to
depart for ABC with our yaks today, however one of our members had not
arrived from Zegar
where he had spent an extra day acclimatising, so it was our prioritry
to locate where he was. In fact
he was in Lhasa and has decided to withdraw from the expedition. After
re-sorting our loads we will
now leave for thye ABC tomorrow 20 April. There is very little snow
on the mountain
and there is quite good progress by other teams who we have agreed to
work together
with in fixing rope and the route. |
Mailed
the 1st of May
I have been busy during
the last few days, the weather has been good and so progress has been
great. We moved up
to ABC 6400m on the 21st April and then established C I on the North
Col 7000m
on the 24th. This camp is now fully stocked with all the equipment required
for the rest of the climb,
and on the 29th wew established C II at 7500m.
Today is a rest day at ABC
before we go back and establish C III (7900m) & C IV at 8300m over
the next 3
days.
If the weather and conditions
stay as they are, we should be looking for a summit attempt about the
20th. |
Mailed
the 12th of May
We have made very good and
fast progress over the last few weeks. Having
established our C I at the North Col 7000m on 24 April, Lopsang, Karsang
my two climbing
Sherpas and myself then carried loads to C I on 25, 26 and 28th. We
then established C II, 7500m
on 29th and carried a load there on 30th returning to ABC for a rest.
Again we carried loads to
C I on 02 May, and went to C II the following day, and on to establish
C III,
7900m on 04 May. All members and Sherpas slept at this camp for the
night, so we are all well prepared
for the summit attempt now.
On 05 May, Lopsang, Karsang
and myself carried loads to C IV , 8300m and established this top
camp, returning to ABC the
same day.
With all camps ready, and
oxygen already at the North Col, we are ready for a summit attempt after
a rest at BC. As it turned
out, the jet stream winds arrived on the mountain on 07 May, the day
that we were
heading down to BC for 4 days rest.
It is now the 12th and the
winds have continued to blow, and there has been no progress by any
team on the hill. The jet
stream has moved from the North and is now South of us, which should
give a couple
of days of less wind, but must again pass over us to the North before
we will have summit
attempt conditions.
In the meanwhile I hear
that my mess tent at ABC has been destroyed by the wind, and we will
now have to
see how all the upper camps have fared.
We can see through the scope
that our top camp at 8300m is still intact, so hope that the other
camps are OK.
Tomorrow we will all leave
BC for ABC along with a new mess tent and spare poles etc for the upper
camps, so the next message
will come from ABC in a few days time. |
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Mailed the 30th of May
At 10.15 on 25 May, Sumiyo
Tsuzuki, Karsang Sherpa and I reached the summit of Everest.
We are all now back at
the Base Camp in good health and with no injuries. Sumiyo
becomes the third Japanese woman (second surviving) to summit Everest,
and the first via the
North Ridge.
There have been 4 deaths on the North Ridge this season, but none
of these have anything to do with
my team, although I have been involved with the removal of two of
these bodies.
- Russell
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Expeditions
