the road to base camp

right now as i write to all of you i am sitting on a prehistoric computer which is running windows 95.yes thats right...windows 95.
i am in the village of nyalam (3700m) in tibet. i have been here for 2 days and this may be my last inet contact before i actually go off to climb the mountain. its cold and the air is getting thinner. but i guess this is the way i like it.
anyway, the transaction from nepal to tibet was the smoothest i have ever had. we left ktm early on tuesday 29th august. where we were transported to the border by bus .took a quick lunch, then walked over the border via the friendship bridge in the pouring rain and into the tibetan frontier town of zangmu
there are so many expeditions on cho oyu this season. i thought this would be bad. but in actual fact it does not bother me. many of the groups are being lead or guided by friends of mine.and many of the groups have sherpas working for them that are close personal friends of mine too. so in that respect its great to catch up with all my friends and get to climb the same mountain with them.
we spent a night in zangmu, then taveled on to nyalam where i am now. today i took the opportunity to go off into the hills nearby for an acclimitisation hike. this is vital to help the body get used to the thinner air and altitude. without doing this the end result would be altitude sickness and possible end of my climb.
so basically you go off for a walk in the hills. gaining a little altitude and getting body used to working in the thin air.then next time you go a little higher it is just that little bit more easier and so on. until eventually you reach the top of the mountain. your ultimate goal.
this morning i awoke and took off for what i thought would be a short walk for a few hours up in to the nearby hills. problem was that half way up the hill i was climbing, the weather closed in. the rain came pouring down and the wind was howling and i was all alone up on this mini mountain.
the clouds engulfed the top of the hill and visibilty was no more than 20m. still i kept climbing up towards the top. each time i would reach what i thought was the top. only to then discover that the hill kept going further up. time and time again this kept happening. i would think i was on the summit. then see that i was actually far from it.
by the time i finally reach the top(4800m) i had been climbing for 3 hours. no sooner did i get there did i turn around and come back down. problem was that by now the weather was down right horrible. i had zero visibilty and no way to navigate my way down. i tried my best to find the right way. but it was inevietable that i would make a wrong turn. sure enought i lost the way and had to navigate my way off the hill an alternate way.
it took a long time to get down the rather steep, slippery moss covered hillside. but in the end persistance paid off and some 2 hours later i walked back into nyalam, just in time to join the rest of my group for lunch and nice cold sprite.
tomorrow we are off to our next destination. the village of tingri. several hundred metres higher in altitude we wil spend 2 days here. again for more acclimitisation. this will be our last place of civilisation before we actually head to base camp for cho oyu. so the chances are this will be the last time i will be able to updaye my blog personally. from now on my father will be taking over this duty for me.
so until then everyone. please stay in contact and i will talk to all very soon.
bye for now
blair

Arrival and departure from Kathmandu to Tibet...again

25 august

hi everybody,
well right now as i write to you i am sitting an inet cafe in kathmandu, nepal. wow!! its feel like i only just left this place after my expedtion to everest earlier this year. it feels nice to be back. this is the first time i have been here at this time of year. and while there are still alot of people around. its not nearly as busy as it is during the april/may season of the year.
about 3 days ago i was welcomed with the news that my sherpa tashi would not be coming to cho oyu(8201m) with me. kind of odd considering i organised for him to come with me 2 months ago. and paid for him to come with me 1 month ago. his name was already on my climbing permit for the mtn. and all that was left to do was get his visa for tibet/china.
i guess what happened was another group he had climbed everest with in 2004 and with big big chequebooks and deep pockets rolled into town and asked him to join them. and so 2 days before i left for ktm i just happened to log on to messenger and he was on line. when i asked him to meet me at my hotel the day i arrived he told me that he was going with another group and that they had already paid him to go with them.
what could i say? i was flabbergasted that this was the way i had to find this news out? he had not even bothered to tell me and had i not messengered him i would never have known until i arrived in ktm 2 days later.
i love the sherpa people. they are incredibly strong. but are equally flaky aswell. this being another fine example of the above mentioned.
anyway. once the problem had made itself aware to me it was time to find a solution. so i got on the phone and tried to call my sherpa, pasang nuru, who i summitted everest with this year. i got a hold of his sister but pasang was in his viallge up in the everest area. his village has no phone lines or inet. and its a multiple day journey to get to ktm. so i gave up on this idea as a solution to my problem.
his sister said she would try get a message to him. but i was not confident that it would get to him and give him enough time to get to ktm before i was due to leave for cho oyu.
meanwhile tashi( the sherpa that had abandoned me) had asked another sherpa, lakpa to go to cho oyu with me. and so while i was packing and flying on a plane to ktm they had actually gone to my trekking office and submitted his passport to get his name on my climbing permit and a visa for tibet/ china. all unknown to me.
when i arrived to ktm and was settling into my hotel my phone rang. it was reception notifying me that my sherpa pasang was downstairs. now i had the heartbreaking job of telling hime that i already had a sherpa organised. and that he had just travelled 3 days and paid for a plane ticket for nothing.
apparently his sister had called to the nearest village with a phone. they had then sent a messenger by foot to his village and told him i was in need of his services. he then ran to the the nearest airport and took a flight back to ktm and straight to my hotel.
the least i could do was refund him the money for his plane ticket and expenses getting there. but i felt horrible that i had wasted so much of his time. and also that we would not be able to climb together as he is a great sherpa and good friend.
so now i am in ktm. i am meeting with lakpa tomorrow to go through the pack and try go through the mountains of mountain gear that i have here in storage in ktm. we will be going relatively lightweight so i have to be very selevtive about what i take and what i leave behind. i dont quite need to be so extreme in the amount of gear i take with me like i did on everest this year.but equally i dont want to be caught of guard either.
i reckon its going to take several hours to sort through it all. so for the next few days i am going to be a busy little beaver trying to get it all done before we take off for tibet.
anyway, its late here and i need to get some sleep. i will post another update before i leave ktm on tuesday morning.
take care all
blair

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27/28 august

back again.in a few days i will be leaving the relative safety of ktm and departing for tibet again. as the time gets closer to leaving now i am starting to think more and more about the climb ahead. i wonder what the mtn and mother nature has in store for me. will she be nice to me like this year on everest? or will she attempt to punish and hurt as she did in 2003.
3 years ago i attempted cho oyu in april/may season. it ended in disaster. 2 climbing friends passed away on the mtn, and i froze 9 of my fingers ( see photo)whilst pushing for the summit. for 1 yr i wore bandages on my hands while the ends of my fingers slowly died and dropped off....literally.
the healthly tissue regenerates, and the dead tissue seperates itself and demarcates. eventually i had the bones of 2 fingers sticking out of the end of my fingers. i persisted with this for many many months before finally i accepted that the fingers would not heal without the help of surgery. and so almost 1 yr to the day i went in the a sydney hospital to have the ends of my fingers cut off.
cho oyu to me means a lot. it was my first 8000m mtn. i have a lot of history on this mtn some good, but most of it bad. and to say that i am not nervous about the climb would be a lie. anytime something or someone gets the better of you. and you have the chance to face them again, you are nervous. like an old adversary, with cho oyu..... i have unifinished business.
i just returned from a visit to a local lama with my sherpa. its very important to the sherpa people that they visit a lama to be blessed for good luck before they leave for the mtn. so if its important to them, its important to me.
logisitics and preparation are coming along well.yesterday i did the last of my food shopping, picked up a new polarising filter for my spare camera and took some gear of mine in for a few repairs. namely my downsuit which i tore coming down from the summit of everest. and my north face mountain 25 tent. which my sherpas managed to put several holes in during their haste to pack up and get off the everest after we had summitted.
other than that i am pretty much done. last night i went to dinner with some friends from russell brice's (new zealand) himalayan experience group. they are also in town to go climbing.
i really like russell. i have enormous respect for him as an expedition leader and as person. he is a very generous and caring man. he also happens to be the best exepedition leader on the mtn.
for over decade he has safely guided/lead hundreds of climbers to the summit of everest and some other of the highest mtns in the world. and during this time he has never lost or had a member die. this is an incredible track record when you take into account the nature of the territory and enviroment that we put ourselves into. which is less than hospitable and somewhat dangerous to say the least.
over recent years some members of the climbing fraternity have been unfairly critical of russell (due mainly in part i think to straight out jealousy).to me this is a huge injustice to him and his staff.. not only does russell's incredible sherpa team fix the route with ropes on everest every year. but his team is and has been involved in countless high altitude rescues helping save members of other expeditions who have nothing to do with him at all. dubbed by some climbers on the mtn as the "mother teressa of everest". due in part to his unselfish readiness to assist with any medical emergencies or rescues higher on the mtn. i have never seen russell turn away a climber that has walked into his base camp for advice, assistance or medical help. and for this russell....i salute you.
guides and good friends dean staples and mark whetu form new zealand ( oh well , you cant help bad luck) are working for russell this year and are leading/guiding the climb on shishapangma (8015m). while russell will be leading himex's ( himalayan experience's) expedition to cho oyu. the same mtn that i am trying to climb.
talking with russell yesterday we calculated that there will be anywhere up to 35-40 expedition groups on cho oyu this season. that means there potentionally will be around 300+ on the mtn. so in other words...we will not be alone.
we all shared a few beers ( well not me off course) in the local watering hole in ktm called tom + jerry's. off course i copped the brunt of their jokes for being the only aussies out of 5 kiwi's (new zealanders). but it was all light hearted and in jest.
i have to run now people. i have a expedition group meeting this morning and then i need to go pick up a few supplies ( gas canisters, rope and snow stakes) for the climb. i will try to get another post up before i go. but it will be hard seeing as i am off tomorrow morning. failing that my father will be updating this blog for me regularly as i will be in contact with him via my sat phone whilst i am on the mountain.
take care all.
see you soon
blair