Just Keep Climbing

^{When climbing a mountain of Everest’s magnitude, there’s so much outside of your control.}

^{And for a control freak…that’s hard to take!}

^{But yesterday afternoon we returned back to base camp safely, and now wait for mother nature to hopefully provide a suitable weather window for us to launch a summit bid.}

^{A trip up the mountain always provides excitement, and brings about the usual levels of pain and discomfort.}

^{It sounds crazy but sitting in your tent at base camp- at 5250m…in less than – 10 c temperatures…surrounded by the sound of avalanches…and resting on collapsing frozen covered in moraine  provides a comfortable safe haven for us.}

^{Apart from the usual challenges Everest throws up, the big thing we gathered over the last four days is that “the madness of crowds” is going to be another major challenge.}

^{With the Chinese effectively throwing everyone’s acclimatization programs into chaos and shortening the summit window of opportunity…trying to get through the icefall quickly and then up the Lhotse face was a disaster.}

^{On Sunday we set off relatively late from Camp Two to try and avoid most of the expeditions aiming to climb up the Lhotse face to their Camp Three’s.}

^{Unfortunately we encountered two groups who were agonizingly slow…yet were also cramped together putting massive strain on the ice anchors.}

^{Through a radio call into Henry, we explained the risk to be too great to climb behind them, so we waited for an hour or two before climbing several pitches and having a break under a protruding ice schrund at around 6900m.}

^{We all climbed with helmets and needed this protection as climbers above kick ice and small rocks down upon you…although it’s spectacular climbing…it’s simply not a place to hang around!!}

^{So from today, there’s going to be a wait for the weather window, coupled with Henry’s (and our) desire to try and avoid the “crowds” as much as possible.}

^{There may be some hope we can climb back up in four days or so, but heavy snow  is forecast over the next few days together with unsuitable jet-stream winds.}

^{We certainly know about the heavy snow falls and white-out conditions…as these are what we came down in from Camp Two!}

^{I decided to leave my camera up in Camp 2 to save the weight in carrying it up again, yet have some nice pics of our day on the Lhotse face to show you in time. But seeing I haven’t sent too many pictures to you lately, I’ve borrowed a couple from Tanner, Andre and Trumpy to break up the monotony of simply receiving a written blog.}

^{Unfortunately camera’s don’t fully capture the magnitude or depth ( ie steepness !! ) on most occasions, but hopefully you get to appreciate just how spectacular the scenery is during the challenges we encounter every day.}

^{On the home front I managed not to forget mothers day and made my calls from Camp 2….so a special hello and well wishes to all the mums out there looking after their beautiful children. ( And apologies once again to my mum and wife for all the worries I cause them…but I promise to keep making the right decisions up here).}

^{Also special hello’s to all my clients and work associates; many of whom I now classify as close friends. I’ve been in contact this morning with my team after listening to the news on BBC shortwave radio at 6am Nepali time regarding Gail Kelly eating up her old lover.}

^{I’m hoping that I’ll be able to hug and kiss little Harry and Chloe in person very soon…instead of the kiss they get each nite over the phone and on my pillow…and there’ll be hugs and beers aplenty for all if the mountain gods are kind to us in our summit attempt.}

 

^{I’ll let you know in the next few days how things are progressing.}

^{Love to many…warm regards to everyone else.}

^Georgie

 

 

 

I wonder how many of you can remember that song? But it kept going around in my head all morning. Especially the “no more no more” bit!!

Well I’m positive you’ve  heard the news now… the Chinese have summitted and  our climb can continue in earnest with the real adversary left to do battle with ie weather, altitude and pain!!

I heard the jets screaming over our tents at around 5.45 am and they continued for a couple of hours. Cheers rang out through base camp and the rumours started…and finally confirmation.

No big cheers in our camp…just thoughts of hearty congratulation then -NOW PLEASE GO AWAY. ( I said it a bit differently).

So seven off us in the first summit attempt team will head up to Camp 2 tomorrow morning ie up at 4.30am in the freezing cold. Quick breakfast and drink and then to tackle the  challenge of the icefall- and the heat of the Western Cwm.
 

The seven includes four aussies- myself, Simon and Travis Holland and Dan Bull.

Then Andre from UK, Tanner from the US and Paul from Sth Africa. A great bunch of blokes and we all really work well together.

We’ll spend a night or two at Camp 2 but our main mission is to climb up close to Camp 3 up the formidable Lhotse Face ie a sheer wall of incredibly steep ice. It’s even scarier than an angry wife.

From there it will be back to base camp in 4/5 days time to recuperate for a day or two…before Henry hopefully calls a suitable weather window for us and directs us back up the mountain….and a summit attempt.

As mentioned previously we won’t be going with other expeditions in the first summit attempt due to potential crowds and delays…but hopefully not too long after.

Apologies for not including too many pictures right now…but at least I’ll have more to show you on my return.

Time to get organized for tomorrow.

Love and hugs to many…warm regards to everyone else.

Georgie

Hello to everyone and apologies for the long delay in communication…but very sad to say there isn’t much to report!

I’ve been down from base camp for most of the above time in the thicker air at Pengboche and Dingboche waiting for some developments with the Chinese.

The concept of “recharging” lower down the mountain instead of waiting at base camp altitudes (where your body deteriorates at a faster rate) was fashioned by Russian teams I believe not so long ago.

We took the opportunity to have a few beers and order a few chickens up from Namche Bizar to try and gorge ourselves to stem the severe weight loss we all suffer up here.

The chickens come up from Namche because due to religious customs nothing can be killed at higher altitudes above Namche- including the blowflies that occasionally sneak into your rooms!

To say this wait has been extremely frustrating would be an understatement. I hate waiting for our chance to climb higher, and feel horribly guilty that this episode could potentially keep me away longer from Nicole, Chloe and Harry.

I have taken the time to keep abreast of all issues at work….although I am treating this break as my twenty year long service leave!!.. and intend to keep doing so whilst back at Base Camp. Thanks to my team for their continued hard work…but please let me know if you call them before 10am and they sound drunk. I’ve given them strict instructions to keep off the grog until 2pm…and not to spill anything on your files.

As you may be aware, the reason we stayed off the mountain longer ie for 6 days, was all  related to the authorities reversing their decision to allow us to climb higher than Base Camp during the 1^st to 10^th of May period.

When this “no climb” period is over and I can write more freely, I’ll let you know what I really think  about the Chinese and their paranoid stunt in not letting us climb higher. ( It will come with an ‘R’ rating I can assure you). We did see jets flying everywhere yesterday morning and were hopeful they summitted; but learnt they were forced back back high winds. No planes this morning…so no go again.

To fill in the time productively I been writing down some “hypoxic ramblings” that one day may find themselves in a book if they can ever take shape…probably will do a first publishing run of about 23…which will cover Xmas presents for my direct family.

(Although I’ll need to check on photocopying costs to ensure I don’t go over budget with their presents).

Time to go for now…but hopefully we will look at going back to Camp 2 and then touching Camp 3 if we are allowed to set it up in the next day or two…to finalise our acclimatization program.

After that it would be a waiting game with the jet-stream winds and a weather window to allow us to go for a summit attempt. As is Henry’s strategy, he will try and avoid the crowds associated with the usual first mass attempt…so we’ll just have to try and be patient.

Great to see the Tigers showing some fight against the stronger teams…the Saints were very very lucky by the sound of it.

Very very special well wishes to my gorgeous mother who is recovering from a fall and broken elbow; and thanks to my sisters and everyone helping her until the plaster comes off.

Love and hugs to many…warm regards to everyone else.

Georgie

“Tip-toe through the Tulips”.

A shocking song indeed, but certainly one that springs to mind as we tip toe through the infamous and treacherous Khumbu Icefall on our way from Base Camp to Camp One.

Finally it starts to feel as if we are getting our teeth into the climb and further enhancing the necessary steps needed in our acclimatization program.

Communication issues still continue, and I apologise for not  including any pictures with this blog, however I promise to include plenty at the appropriate time.

I climbed with Simon and Travis Holland; Dan from Oz, Andre from the UK; Tanner from the US; and Paul from Sth Africa. We all worked well together as a team and made sure we climbed safely through the icefall up to Camp One at around 6100 m.

The trip from base camp certainly had a few more twists and turns compared to 2005, with way more crevasse- ladder crossings and two massive vertical ladder climbs before surfacing onto the Western Cwm. It’s a very tiring trip especially for the first time before you reach  a very basic row of tents signifying our home for the night.

The next day we set off for Camp Two, which was the first night it had been opened for our team at 6300m. It’s here we have a mess tent and cook waiting for us…together with incredible views of what lies ahead of us in reaching Camp 3 and 4, before tackling the Sth East Ridge of Everest leading to the Summit.

During our two night stay, we ventured up to the end of the Camp Two area to speak to the Nepalese soldiers guarding the perimeter where no-one can climb higher until the Chinese summit from the North. They were extremely nice and wished us well…although we understand their orders are pretty severe for anyone that tries to climb higher above the restricted zone.

After two nights stay in minus 18 C temperatures lying on frozen ice separated only by a thin thermarest ( yes your bum does touch the ice and you freeze all night gasping for oxygen at the same time), we headed down as quickly and safely as we could to Base Camp on the 27^th.

Time for a shower, coke, food and a beer or two –then we all slept incredibly soundly in the relative comfort of our Base Camp beds.

The latest developments- which change by the day- relate to a total shut down of the mountain above base camp on the first and second of May. After that we hope we can go back up to Camp Two for another acclimatization run leading up to the deadline on the 10^th May…when hopefully we can set up our Camp 3 and beyond….and let the weather windows and jet stream winds determine our movements upwards.

Due to the break we intend to move lower down the mountain tomorrow, perhaps to Pangboche, for a few days break where oxygen is a bit more plentiful.

Unfortunately email access doesn’t allow me to receive any of your messages, but via the phone Nicole has read a few of them to me, and I appreciate your support.

Special hello’s to young Ashley Cochrane (hope I got that spelling right!) and to everyone at Tigerland…go boys!  And thanks to Chris McLoed for patching through our horse race at 6300m…just beaten a nose.  My curses nearly caused an avalanche!!

Hugs and Warm Regards to everyone else!

Georgie

PS I expect my next communication will be early May. So you can all  behave until then.

 

 

Mark has just returned to Base Camp from Camp 2 having spent 2 nights there.  All went well and he sounds fit, healthy and still able to give orders!!  (sorry Mark, I have been a bit slack on the footy score updates and horse race result…..thanks to all those who have let him know)

Chloe and I made a map of Mt Everest and included, each camp, snow, rocks etc (and a hot air balloon Chloe thinks her Dad will be using once he is at the top to quickly get back down!!) - with each conversation Chloe asks Mark “are you at number 1 yet or number 2″, meaning camp 1 etc.  Mark told chloe yesterday that he was back at his house (Base Camp) which resulted in a reaction of hysterics as  “Dad didn’t go to number 3 or number 4, he has to go back now and get back up to the top……..he has to get in that hot air balloon”…………………………..arrggghhh the joys of explaining the Mt Everest Climb to a 4 year old.      Nicole

Let the Game Begin.

Much has happened between the above dates. Unfortunately the “black-out” on getting emails out together with the frustrating IT problems associated with syncing my computer to the sat system continues.

I must be brief, as tomorrow I finally head up the icefall to stay one night at Camp One circa 6100m…and then continue to our Camp Two for two nights circa 6400m.

This will be the first time our Camp Two will be open, and we are expecting some pretty rudimentary conditions…but it’s all part of the acclimatization process.

I’ll be climbing with Simon and Travis Holland, Tanner (US), Paul ( Sth Africa) and Andre( UK). All great guys and we’ll work really well together.

I’ve just taken photographs of the three teams Henry’s providing logistics for this year as we ate our lunch in the mess tents. But I’ll include these and do an official “meet the fockers” description of everyone when I return in four days time.

You will notice a few shots of views from my tent and the momento’s which keep me sane while missing loved one’s and the comforts of home.

Although the temperature falls below -10c each night…they keep me warm.

I’ve also included two shots taken at night (can’t wait to show you the complete set of these night time pictures).

Since arriving at Base Camp we’ve completed our religious ceremony called a puja; done a few acclimatization walks/climbs around base camp ie Pumori Base Camp and Kala Pattha…and I’v included a few photo’s for each of these.

We’ve also done some “play” in the dreaded Kumbu Icefall…practicing ladder crossings, ice-climbing, abseiling, arm-wraps etc…as well as re-acquainting ourselves with our crampon techniques.

Always a few butterflies before heading up the mountain, but these only help us to focus on climbing safely.

Special hello’s to my wife Nicole and little Chloe and Harry. Sade’s “Your love is King” remains the song on my ipod devoted to you.

Hugs and Warm Regards to everyone else.

Georgie

At last we finally arrive.

Emotions certainly racng through my veins and mind as the reality again sinks in of the enormity of the task ahead of us.

Time to focus…yet also to try and enjoy each moment despite the obstacles and challenges.

I gain strength knowing that many of you will be climbing with me.

A few more shots of the journey in. It’s a grand arena.

Special hello’s to my family and their friends.

Hugs and warm regards to everyone else.

Georgie

“As I rounded the corner up the hill from Namche Bizar, Mt Everest finally came into view.

Co-incidentally at the exact same moment the next song on my ipod ticked over and the Hoodoo Gurus ballad “It’s Death Defying” greeted my ear drums.

So true…yet extremely climbable given the right conditions, good health and an acceptance of some physical and mental discomfort along the way.

More importantly, with the right decisions the risks can be significantly diminished…and I certainly intend to make the right decisions once again in this my new attempt in 2008.”

Hello once again and my apologies for the long delay in sending these new updates to you. A combination of IT / Satellite issues coupled with the restrictions on any form of communication have sabotaged my attempts to be in frequent email contact.

Unfortunately I’ve not been able to access my normal emails and have reverted to a hotmail address to get these to you, but using “secret squirrel” antics I have been able to keep in daily phone contact with my family and office to keep my finger on the pulse.

Hopefully things will settle down once the torch reaches the top from the North, and I’ll be able to make a few more calls to many of you.

The walk to Pangboche was extremely pleasant and picturesque, and I’ve included a few pictures that hopefully capture the moment.

Special hello’s to all the magnets and their beautiful kids. Hugs and warm regards to everyone else.

Georgie

Communication is still being worked through at Base Camp but Mark has called in and provided me with details to tell you.

He has now been at Base Camp for a few days (for those who don’t know Base Camp is just over 5000m).  Yesterday was Puja. This is a Bhuddist religious ceremony performed by a Lama, who comes up from down the valley especially for the occasion.  Climbers (including Sherpas) offer up items of their climbing equipment to be blessed by the Lama and no one can set foot on the mountain until the Puja has taken place.

Today Mark rested - washed clothes, bathed, sorted through gear etc.  He has also spent time working through communications (ie internet access) as there have been a few complications from the authorities. 

I am hoping that tomorrow night I will know his climbing plan as they are still waiting for Camp 1 (about 6050m) to be set up. 

Overall Mark sounds good and can’t beleive how busy Base Camp is.
Nicole

Spoke to Mark tonight as did the kids - Chloe proudly telling Mark that her Uncle Gavin had been teaching her how to rock climb  so she could go climbing with Dad………”great” I say, just what I need, another climber!!

Mark sounds well and he advises me that he is now 4 days out from Base Camp, so hopefully he will be able to load a few photo’s for us to see.

The site will be updated once he arrives at Base Camp.
Nicole