Well so much has happened since my first blog that I haven't had time until now to write an update. At the moment I am staying at my friends Hotel in Kathmandu and having a rest day... Finally! It is such a beautiul place the Courtyard Hotel and is situated hidden away right in the heart of Thamel. The greatest thing about the hotel is definately the hosts Michelle and Pujan. They make such an effort to welcome everyone and make sure they have a great time while they are here. I really feel like I am at home and very relaxed. Michelle put me such a beautiful room with the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in so I am feeling very well rested.
So in my last blog I mentioned that I had no sponsorship to date. Well since then alot has changed and I have been overwhelmed with the amount of support I have received. Firstly Mike Garben from Villawood Indoor Climbing Gym sponsored me a free membership. This was very unexpected and appreciated as it is my favourite indoor gym to train at with fantastic lead climbing facilities. This meant plenty more trips to the gym and it was great to keep climbing even when the weather in the Blue Mountains was raining.
I sent quite a few gear sponsorship proposals out and Sea to Summit (Tim Macartney-Snape) decided to support me by giving me some gear and selling me the rest of the things I wanted from them at a pro-deal rate. This really helped me alot as I needed to update alot of my
equipment for this trip. Through Sea to Summit I got some fantastic Smartwool thermals and socks and Vasque approach shoes given to me. I ordered alot of Black Diamond gear at pro deal and also Acteryx. I bought all my Backcountry Kitchen high altitude food off them too.
David Edwards from Mont also offered to sponsor me some gear and ended up giving me their top of the line Main Range sleeping bag, an Icicle down jacket, a pair of Julbo glasses and two giant sized duffle bags. This was fantastic and I cant wait to try out the bag on the mountain.
The North Face offered me pro deal on the last of my clothing and pack needs which was very helpful so I managed to get the rest of the items I needed for a great price. During all this I was told that it was possible to apply for a financial grant through The Australian Geographic Society so I rang Kylie Piper about it. She said I should apply for the The Nancy-Bird Walton Grant which is specific to women adventurers. I really didn't think I would be awarded this however I found out a few days before International Womens Day that I had actually got it! It was so exciting and the grant was for $5000 so I was very happy to put that money towards the trip as it definately helps. I went down to the office in Sydney to do a photo shoot, get interviewed for Outdoor magazine and pick up my Australian Geographic paraphenalia which included a flag to take to the summit.
When the Society press released that I was awarded the grant lots of newspapers published the story. Andrew MacMahon from Northcote Pottery happened to read the article in the Melbourne Herald and he and his family became interested in my trip. They wanted to support me with financial sponsorship and to provide me with an ipad and iphone which I am about to get sim cards for so I can update this site at base camp. As I only just researched how all this works a short time before I was to leave I was a bit under prepared and realised I would need something to charge this stuff. Luckily I saw an advertisement in Outdoor magazine for a solar charging system called Goal Zero. Adrian Kelly from Goal Zero was kind enough to sponsor me the equipment I needed to charge this new stuff and it arrived just in time for me to pack it! I am really looking forward to setting this up and seeing how it all works. Meanwhile Nikon supported me with two cameras an L22 and a L110 both of which have AA batteries as I have found this works best at high altitude. The L110 supports HD footage which is fantastic that I can shoot some video on the mountain. Goal Zero also included a recharger for the AA batteries so my cameras also can be powered by the solar system.
I am so very grateful for all this support and I never expected to get anything which makes me even more appreciative of it. I am certainly less stressed now about my budget and being able to tip my Sherpas well at the end of the trip. I am very happy that I pretty much have the best gear possible for my expedition so now its just up to me to get on with the job! Hopefully years of training, guiding and climbing will culminate in a successful trip....Not to mention the weather gods need to smile on me! Anyhow I am not thinking about the summit so much right now just the steps along the way and trying to really enjoy my journey and the people I meet. For me the summit is number three on my list of priorities which goes Safe, Social then Summit. Obviously I want to be safe and return home, priority number one. Social is next and that means meeting people, hanging out with the sherpas, learning more about their culture and also that people are more important than the summit. If I come across someone that needs help I will do my best to help them before focusing on my summit attempt. You hear horror stories of people walking past sick climbers on their way to the summit and not stopping to help them. I think that is horrible and crazy that someone would do that. I understand in some circumstances it may be hard to help but people can certainly get summit fever and ignore what is going on around them when they could potentially help save someones life.
So just hanging out in Michelle and Pujans gorgeous library and deciding where to head for dinner. Hard choice in Thamel as there are so many fine establishments here! Tomorrow I will get back to organising things to fly in on the 2nd to Lukla. Need to set up my communications, finish buying my high altitude food and then pack all the gear going to Base camp seperately as that will head in on yaks as Dawa Sherpa and I head off to climb Lobuche first. Babu told me that my cook Pasang is working on a Manaslu expedition which is sad. However I am sure I will have a great cook I just wanted to catch up with him and hear how his family is going. I have heard rave reviews about my climbing sherpa Dawa and can't wait to meet him.
So I guess my next update will probably be once I fly into the hills. Until then thanks for all the support and comments.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
WELCOME TO MY BLOG!
Well I have been meaning to start a blog for quite some time now so its really great to finally get this going. Very excited now about my trip as things are moving along and slowly getting organised. So far I have paid my permit for the South Col route on Everest, organised Mountain Tribes Trekking in Nepal to do all my logisitics for the trip, bought my plane ticket, starting to get my gear ready and training like crazy.
My plan is to arrive in Kathmandu on the 29th of March and head into the Khumbu flying into Lukla. From there I will trek up to Gokyo, hike up Gokyo Ri and then head into Lobuche East basecamp from Cho La pass. To climb Lobuche before going to Everest basecamp will greatly aid in my acclimatisation process as it is 6119 mts in altitude. This will hopefully mean I will trek through the icefall at Everest alot less times which will be much safer. I am going to have a climbing sherpa with me for my entire trip and still don't know who this will be! Babu from Mountain Tribes is organising this climber for me and I just asked for someone with more than one Everest summit under their belt.We will then continue to Everest basecamp where I will have my own little camp with a cook tent and not much else. From here my climbing sherpa and I will start our ascent up the mountain, carrying gear up and tents to each camp acclimatising before making our summit attempt. I guess this will be around the end of May when we are acclimatised enough and have good weather.
I trust Babu to organise all my logistics as I have used his company on Cho Oyu previously and also when I led trips trekking in the Khumbu and to Island and Mera Peak. He has done such a fantastic job in the past and its really great to work with the same sherpa staff each time. I am hoping Pasang my previous cook from all the other expeditions will work on this one as he makes the best pancakes ever and somehow manages to bake cakes on his little kerosene stove. Here is and example of his masterpiece when I returned from the summit of Cho Oyu in 2007-
I just love the spelling! Brings back some great memories.
In 2007 my climbing partner Jason and I acclimatised trekking in the Khumbu region of Nepal before heading to Cho Oyu basecamp in Tibet. We stocked camp 1 together and headed up the mountain a little higher before returning to basecamp to get ready for our summit bid. Sadly Jason had got frostnip on eight of his toes at camp 1 and revealed the damage the afternoon before we were to head up the mountain. It would have been a really bad decision to climb up so high with these blisters on his feet so he chose to remain at basecamp while I went up the mountain on my own.
I had the good fortune of being able to sleep in my friends tents at the higher camps. He was guiding and the tents were set up but the clients had not made it to them yet. This was such a great help as it meant I didnt have to carry so much gear. I also paid his sherpas to carry some of my gear to high camp at 7500mts so I would have a much better shot at the summit the next morning. This certainly paid off because overnight we had a storm which left alot of fresh snow on the route. The only other climbers heading to the summit that day were an italian guide with his client. They turned around just under the yellow band which is the first cliff at the start of the real climbing. I was a bit sad that I would have to go alone and plug all the steps in the new snow myself but got on with the job anyway. Some of the fixed ropes were buried under the snow so this made things slower. Just before I reached the summit plateau I dumped my pack and just carried my camera, some gel shots and a water bottle in my downsuit as I was so exhausted I feared I wouldn't make it. Once again I was extremely fortunate to follow a crampon trail to the summit along this plateau and not get lost. The wind had actually kept this trail clear but swept all the snow down the steeper part of the route. The plateau is about a kilometer long and seems so flat it is really hard to tell where the summit actually is. I just knew that if I saw Everest I would be at the top as I was climbing up the opposite side of the mountain to Everest. I remember breathing so hard and fast just keep from passing out because the air is so thin. I arrived at the summit at 3pm after 10 hours of climbing and it was absolutely amazing. I felt I worked so hard to get there not just physically but also mentally and to save the money to get there in the first place.
The summit of Cho Oyu May 9, 2007 with Everest in the background. Not such a great photo but its the best I could do taking it myself!
After 3 hours downclimbing and rapelling I returned to high camp. I slept a solid 12 hours before waking up and packing my things to return to basecamp. I was very slow on the descent as I was extremely tired, had a heavy pack and didn't want to make any mistakes as this was when an accident is most likely to happen. It took eight days from when I left the basecamp to summit the mountain and return. It was such a great feeling and I was the second Australian female to climb it without the use of supplementary oxygen. Sue Fear was the first who tragically died on Manaslu in 2006 after successfully summiting five 8000 mt mountains.
I had great dreams after this trip to attempt more 8000 mt mountains and was planning to go to Shishapangma the year after. Unfortunately however the Chinese government weren't giving out permits and I didn't have enough money to climb one in Nepal as it is much more expensive. Instead I organised and guided two trips back to Nepal with clients. Here is a photo of my client Lorne and my cook Pasang on the summit of Mera Peak 6476mt. Pasang was really keen to climb a mountain and it was his first time. He did it in his jeans!
I then decided that I wanted to climb Everest next because its the highest. The last couple of years I have not had the finances to do this trip. I want to climb it from Nepal. Even though it is more expensive I don't particularly want to support the Chinese government in Tibet. I also have some friends guiding the Nepal side so it will be more fun and social for me. To date I have no financial sponsorship or equipment sponsorship but I am currently working on it and hope to have some soon.
So back to work guiding adventures where I live in the Blue Mountains and training. This consists of trail running, road biking, mountain biking and rockclimbing. Today is a rest day as I hurt all over I need to recover so its a great opportunity to start my blog. Thankyou for supporting me and for your interest in my adventure. :)
My plan is to arrive in Kathmandu on the 29th of March and head into the Khumbu flying into Lukla. From there I will trek up to Gokyo, hike up Gokyo Ri and then head into Lobuche East basecamp from Cho La pass. To climb Lobuche before going to Everest basecamp will greatly aid in my acclimatisation process as it is 6119 mts in altitude. This will hopefully mean I will trek through the icefall at Everest alot less times which will be much safer. I am going to have a climbing sherpa with me for my entire trip and still don't know who this will be! Babu from Mountain Tribes is organising this climber for me and I just asked for someone with more than one Everest summit under their belt.We will then continue to Everest basecamp where I will have my own little camp with a cook tent and not much else. From here my climbing sherpa and I will start our ascent up the mountain, carrying gear up and tents to each camp acclimatising before making our summit attempt. I guess this will be around the end of May when we are acclimatised enough and have good weather.
I trust Babu to organise all my logistics as I have used his company on Cho Oyu previously and also when I led trips trekking in the Khumbu and to Island and Mera Peak. He has done such a fantastic job in the past and its really great to work with the same sherpa staff each time. I am hoping Pasang my previous cook from all the other expeditions will work on this one as he makes the best pancakes ever and somehow manages to bake cakes on his little kerosene stove. Here is and example of his masterpiece when I returned from the summit of Cho Oyu in 2007-
In 2007 my climbing partner Jason and I acclimatised trekking in the Khumbu region of Nepal before heading to Cho Oyu basecamp in Tibet. We stocked camp 1 together and headed up the mountain a little higher before returning to basecamp to get ready for our summit bid. Sadly Jason had got frostnip on eight of his toes at camp 1 and revealed the damage the afternoon before we were to head up the mountain. It would have been a really bad decision to climb up so high with these blisters on his feet so he chose to remain at basecamp while I went up the mountain on my own.
I had the good fortune of being able to sleep in my friends tents at the higher camps. He was guiding and the tents were set up but the clients had not made it to them yet. This was such a great help as it meant I didnt have to carry so much gear. I also paid his sherpas to carry some of my gear to high camp at 7500mts so I would have a much better shot at the summit the next morning. This certainly paid off because overnight we had a storm which left alot of fresh snow on the route. The only other climbers heading to the summit that day were an italian guide with his client. They turned around just under the yellow band which is the first cliff at the start of the real climbing. I was a bit sad that I would have to go alone and plug all the steps in the new snow myself but got on with the job anyway. Some of the fixed ropes were buried under the snow so this made things slower. Just before I reached the summit plateau I dumped my pack and just carried my camera, some gel shots and a water bottle in my downsuit as I was so exhausted I feared I wouldn't make it. Once again I was extremely fortunate to follow a crampon trail to the summit along this plateau and not get lost. The wind had actually kept this trail clear but swept all the snow down the steeper part of the route. The plateau is about a kilometer long and seems so flat it is really hard to tell where the summit actually is. I just knew that if I saw Everest I would be at the top as I was climbing up the opposite side of the mountain to Everest. I remember breathing so hard and fast just keep from passing out because the air is so thin. I arrived at the summit at 3pm after 10 hours of climbing and it was absolutely amazing. I felt I worked so hard to get there not just physically but also mentally and to save the money to get there in the first place.
After 3 hours downclimbing and rapelling I returned to high camp. I slept a solid 12 hours before waking up and packing my things to return to basecamp. I was very slow on the descent as I was extremely tired, had a heavy pack and didn't want to make any mistakes as this was when an accident is most likely to happen. It took eight days from when I left the basecamp to summit the mountain and return. It was such a great feeling and I was the second Australian female to climb it without the use of supplementary oxygen. Sue Fear was the first who tragically died on Manaslu in 2006 after successfully summiting five 8000 mt mountains.
I had great dreams after this trip to attempt more 8000 mt mountains and was planning to go to Shishapangma the year after. Unfortunately however the Chinese government weren't giving out permits and I didn't have enough money to climb one in Nepal as it is much more expensive. Instead I organised and guided two trips back to Nepal with clients. Here is a photo of my client Lorne and my cook Pasang on the summit of Mera Peak 6476mt. Pasang was really keen to climb a mountain and it was his first time. He did it in his jeans!
So back to work guiding adventures where I live in the Blue Mountains and training. This consists of trail running, road biking, mountain biking and rockclimbing. Today is a rest day as I hurt all over I need to recover so its a great opportunity to start my blog. Thankyou for supporting me and for your interest in my adventure. :)
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