Tim Mosedale, Author at Tim Mosedale

The Khumbu Icefall

So we’ve been at Base Camp since the 20th and we are well and truly settled in. The first day involved us getting our hands on our freight from the UK and KTM and generally sorting ourselves out. Needless to say there was plenty of washing water and shower activity as well.

The next day we were supposed to be up at 5 for an early breakfast followed by a foray in to the Khumbu Icefall. However, it snowed most of the night and the visibility was pure white out conditions. I had a quick chat with the Climbing Sherpas and we decided it was prudent for me to stay put with the group.

The Climbing Sherps headed out and I woke people to tell them not to get up!

I was up and in the kitchen at 7 and the Climbing Sherpas came back having made it 2/3rds of the way in The Icefall – apparently in some quite challenging conditions so I was glad we’d stayed put (we later heard about waist deep snow being ploughed through between C2 and C1).

We were up for the usual 8 o’clock to get breakfast and it was still claggy but by now the wind & snow had stopped. Half an hour later and the vis cleared and we were eagerly scrabbling to get ready and go for a recce in The Icefall.

The start of the Icefall is only 5 minutes away from our camp and we were soon donning crampons and harnesses and taking our first steps on the lower slopes of the mountain. The initial 40 minutes or so of the route are relatively straight forward and unroped (glad we weren’t in there in the early morning white out) and then when we hit the ropes I ran a tech session to acquaint everyone with safe travel techniques.

Another hour or so and we were encountering our first ladders. The first few are for climbing up and then a few horizontal ones are in place to aid progress over the increasing number of crevasses we were encountering.

If folk are together then they can assist each other by pulling the ropes tight to create a kind of bannister for the ladder crosser to use for balance. Once across the first person then pulls the ropes for the second person and so on and so forth.

What to do, however, when you get to a ladder and you are on your own? Well you clip in, as usual, pick up the ropes and lean forwards thereby taking up the slack from behind and creating your own tension. This position means that you’re leaning forwards and looking down and into the vast yawning chasm that you are about to cross. It’s all very well saying to yourself ‘don’t look down’ but you have to to see where to put your feet. Needless to say it takes a bit of getting used to.

So in and out took around 4 hours and we were soon back having a late lunch followed by my usual array of snacks and goodies that I provide including pâté, crackers, cashews, liquorice allsorts, fruit pastilles, pistachios, olives and gherkins.

Unfortunately we were then unable to manage much of tea on account of being thoroughly stuffed, so we settled down to a couple of series of Green Wing – thoroughly recommended by the way – and retired to bed.

As generally happens when staying at Base Camp nights become better and sleep easier and it’s great that there isn’t a sign of a headache or any adverse reactions to altitude amongst the group.

That, however, is possibly all about to change as we ready ourselves for our first foray to Camp 1 (and hopefully on to Camp 2) tomorrow. All being well we’ll have 3 or 4 nights on the hill before returning to Base Camp for a few days’ rest.

Hopefully the luck we were all bestowed with at yesterday’s Base Camp puja will see us well and the snow will have settled down. There have been the inevitable avalanches pouring down the usual faces and gullies following on from the snow fall we’ve had but the icefall is, by all accounts, in good condition beyond where we recce’d to the other day. Next time we’re there we’ll be carrying a reasonable load so it will make for fairly slow progress me thinks.

I’ll keep you posted when we get back down.

Cheers – Tim & Co

Arriving at Everest Base Camp

We’ve arrived at Gorak Shep in fine fettle. There’s a lot of people on the trail and it suddenly feels quite busy (and impersonal).

The fact that we are all well, acclimatised and having a super great time completely justifies the leisurely 3 week trekking schedule.

The past few days have seen us sleeping higher than Everest Base Camp, we made a mass ascent of Pokalde (5,800m), crossed the Kongma La and descended to Lobuche.

We awoke to a snowy trail and cloudy skies but the trek here was super easy – especially compared to the hoards of trekkers who are having difficulty along the trail. They all seem to be having a great time, and I hope that they’re enjoying the highlight of their trip, but I am sooo glad that my group are in much better shape both physically and mentally.

We’re just having some lunch at Gorak Shep, the last ‘village’ on the trail, and then we’ll be mooching the last hour and a half to EBC where we’ll be settling in to ‘home’ for the next 3 to 5 weeks.

We’re destined for a complete rest day tomorrow where we’ll be unpacking all the freight and baggage that we’ve been separated from since departing KTM. I imagine the shower tent will receive some use as well as bowls of hot water for doing some laundry. On the 22nd we’ll go and have a look see in the lower stretches of The Khumbu Icefall where I’ll acquaint the group with how to negotiate the ropes and ladders. After that we are having a Base Camp puja (blessing) on the 23rd and then we’re aiming to be sleeping at Camp 1 (and Camp 2) on the 24th onwards for 3 or 4 nights.

So this is the end of the (easy) fun trekking phase and the start of the transition to the more serious (but fun) expedition phase.

I’ll keep you posted. Cheers – Tim & Co

Resting

Just a quick update … we arrived Dingboche (4,400m) yesterday and are now having a nice day resting, washing, showering and generally chilling. Watched Monty Python & The Holy Grail last night which is being requoted and re enacted today with much hilarity.

Tomorrow we’re off to a beautiful camp site above Bibre and after that we’ll be gaining height up to the Kongma La (around 5,300m) – the campsite with the best views in The Khumbu. We’ll be there for two nights before dropping down and making our way to arrive EBC on the 20th.

Comms may be limited until EBC bit if I get a chance I’ll fire another update across.

Out for now – Tim & Co

Down and round

Today we dropped down from Gokyo to Phortse – a rarely visited village on the ‘other’ side of the Gokyo valley. It’s reasonably inaccessible unless you make the effort – and we made the effort and have been dutifully rewarded. We saw only 4 other trekkers all day and this is the start of the high season!

The route drops down towards Machermo passing the 2nd and the 1st lakes which are in a stupendously brilliant setting. Just before the hike up towards the village of Machermo we hung a left and crossed a make shift bridge to be on the eastern side of the valley.

I haven’t been along this trail for about 14 or 15 years and I had forgotten what a brilliant trail it is. It is much narrower than the more oft trodden trails in The Khumbu and Gokyo valleys and has precipitous drop offs for a lot of the way. It is quite an undulating path and follows around ridges and in to valleys quite a bit, so is generally furhter than you think, but generally the vistas that you are rewarded with are spectacular.

So we have dropped around 900m and are spending the night here before following the trail around to Pangboche – again a rarely trodden path by the multitude of trekkers (and thankfully so).

It’s only a couple of hours to Pangboche so we’ll be having a chance to catch up on some washing and laundry before mooching up to Dingboche.

A porter sparking up on the top of the Renjo La (around 5,350m)

Mani stones and the view across the 3rd lake to the Renjo La from Gokyo

Looking back towards Cho Oyu (8,201m) the 6th highest mountain in the world

Our team of porters on the trail.

The magnificent path to Phortse

Great trekking

A random Yak

Drying yak pattes on the walls in Thare

Up the Thame valley and over the Renjo La

Sorry to have been off line for as few days but we have been up a fairly remote valley and over the first of our high passes. There’s been zilch in the way of signal which, in many ways, has been quite refreshing. We’ve been able to enjoy the trekking and the sense of isolation as well as having little in the way of distractions. And to that end we have started to enjoy each other’s company and the team are getting along really well.

We’ve had the first couple of our chats where we’ll be covering poignant issues before we get to Base Camp or on the hill. Subjects have included Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), HACE and HAPE as well as frostbite prevention, how to avoid getting cold hands and feet and the importance of concurrent activity. We’ve also been chatting through various permutations that we may encounter during our acclimatisation rotations on the hill and the group feel that they are actually a part of the expedition rather than just being treated as a commodity. I’d like to think that they are starting to have a sense of ownership of the expedition – after all it is the trip of a lifetime and it’s nice to know what is potentially going to be happening through the next few weeks. I also hope that they will all be taking away some top tips, handy hints and a sense of awareness of how to organise and run an expedition so that they can build on the skills and knowledge they have already.

The last few days, since departing Thame, have seen us trekking in almost complete solitude. We saw a couple of other trekkers on our way to Marylung where we stayed for a couple of nights and hiked up above the settlement to around 4,800m. Then we continued past the turn off for the Renjo La to go to Ayre (around 4,450m) where we had the place to ourselves. After a night here we trekked up the hillside to join the main trail over the Renjo La and are now camping in idyllic surroundings at 4,950m. So we are out of teahouses for the next week or so and under canvas and being tended to by Bhim, one of the best cooks I have come across. We have worked together a few times and he is exceptional and the great news is we have him with us for the next two weeks as well as for the duration of our stay at EBC.

This is the first of our high camps and we’ll be gaining height and trekking over the Renjo La tomorrow before dropping down to Gokyo. There seems to be a keen contingent to go up Gokyo Ri for sunset so we may be in for a long day tomorrow but this is then followed by a relatively easy day down to Tagnag the day after.

So apart from the odd tummy rumble (which have been successfully been blasted with a ‘Cipro Bomb’) everyone is in fine fettle, we’re all sleeping well and just enjoying the fantastic environment.

A selection of random photos and out for now.

Yesterday was a great trekking day. We departed Kyanjuma bidding farewell to Tashi and Lakpa and trekked up to Khumjung where there are the most amazing mani walls.

The trail steadily gains height to a small col where we then dropped down to the tiny airstrip at Syangboche, above Namche.

After a well earned tea break we carried on down and picked up the trail through the woods to Thamo. This valley has a completely different feel to the Gokyo and Khumbu valleys and the trail is gently undulating in the most amazing forested area.

We stopped in Thamo for lunch before continuing to Thame which is at around 3,800m where we are now spending 2 nights. It was also the day that we met up with our final team member, Ilina from Macedonia, who trekked in a day behind us. It’s great that we are now a full complement.

That was yesterday – today has been a most auspicious day. Unbeknownst to us there was going to be a very special puja taking place at the monastery above Thame. It’s a fantastic monastery in the most amazing setting sitting high on the hill side and almost built in to the hillside.

We mooched up to the monastery, which is situated at around 4,000m, and were able to attend the most amazing spectacle of horn and trumpet blowing, bell clanging, drum beating and chanting.

Usually a spontaneous puja when you arrive at a monastery will be conducted by one monk who happens to be around at the time. It is always a great intimate affair and generally lasts around 30 to 45 minutes.

This one was being conducted by 35 monks and lasted for around 3 hours! Although it was a general puja we were accepted in to the monastery as well and blessed individually by the head monk.

I’ve only happened upon one of these big pujas before – which happened to be at The Rongbuk Monastery on our 20005 Everest Expedition on the North side. To witness one again, especially bearing in mind what we are here for, was a fantastic event.

This afternoon we have had a chat about altitude and acclimatisation, AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Oedema), HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema) and the importance of hydration. The team are starting to refresh their knowledge about how to avoid problems associated with ultra high altitude mountaineering and how to deal with any problems that may occur. They are really starting to look out for each other already. This is definitely a positive aspect of trekking together as a team, away from the hustle and bustle, where folk start to morph together in to a team. Having a disparate group of competitive individuals accomplishes very little and indeed can undermine the safety of the expedition as people become competitive with each other as well as with the mountain. Having a group who help each other along the way, however, is mutually beneficial to the expedition and makes for a far safer experience all round.

From here we will be heading up the Thame valley for the next few days before heading on up and over the Renjo La. We’ll be having our first night under canvas below the pass as part of our acclimatisation before going up and over to Gokyo. I guess that reception will be very limited so this may well be our last proper update for a while.

Remember to check our progress on Twitter (timmosedale) and FaceBook (tim.mosedale) as I’ll be able to text updates when we get sporadic signal.

That’s all for now but just a final word to say many thanks for all the well wishes and texts that have been coming in – it’s nice to know that you guys and gals are following our progress and rooting for us.

It’s started …

Well it’s very nice to be in The Khumbu after the hectic arrival and transition through Kathmandu. Despite the fact that the baggage allowance for the Lukla flight is only 10kg Iswari managed to do a fantastic job and we arrived in Lukla with all our bags and barrels for the next 3 weeks. The main Everest gear will be shipped directly to EBC at a later date and will be there for our arrival.

We trekked to Monjo and stayed with my friend Pasang Dawa. The beauty of being based on the 1st night at Monjo (instead of Phak Ding) is that it makes the next day to Namche so much shorter and indeed we were there for 11a.m. Coffee and doughnuts were gratefully received and after lunch we grabbed another coffee before heading to Kyanjuma to stay with Tashi and Lakpa.

Today we trekked up to The Mong La (just short of 4,000m) via the hidden staircase and had a leisurely lunch before heading back down to Tashi’s again.

Tomorrow we’re off to Thame and the day after that we are going to be meeting up with Ilina, our final teammember for the expedition.

So far so good and everyone is enjoying the trekking and each others company. There’s been a bit of snow around so we’ll have to see if the high passes are open but we’ll just take it a day at a time.

Everest … here we come!

Intrinsically I am going back to Everest to lead a group of 6 trusty experienced mountaineers aiming for the summit.

5 of us are taking a leisurely 3 weeks to trek in to Everest Base Camp and I’ll be taking them over 3 high passes along the way. We’re crossing The Renjo La, The Cho La and, after a couple of days resting at Dingboche, we’ll be crossing the Kongma La as well. We will be sleeping a few hundred meters below each pass – the idea being that we are spending time at higher and higher altitudes prior to arriving at EBC. We are also ascending a peak called Pokalde as part of our acclimatisation which is just short of 6,000m.

When we arrive at Base Camp we will be joined by our final member – a fellow expedition leader I have worked with a few times – and then we will start our acclimatisation rotations on Everest. This involves going through The Khumbu Icefall which has a bit of a reputation. It is a like being in a maze with ice walls (seracs) towering all around. Some areas are perfectly safe and other areas are places where you wouldn’t want to stop and take a picnic. Other teams will go in, come out, go in and up to deliver gear to Camp 1 (around 6,000m) and back down again and then they’ll go and sleep at Camp 1 and then onwards to Camp 2 (6,400m).

Because we will have spent 3 weeks acclimatising elsewhere it means that we can go straight through and sleep at Camp 1 on our first visit – so lessening the journeys, the nervous energy and the exposure to risk.

At least that is the plan!

Last time it worked really well and there’s no reason why it won’t work out that way again – the main thing beyond our (my) control here is the health of the group but all being well we will be sleeping at Camp 1 and then on to Camp 2 on our first rotation on the hill.

After a few days loitering at C2 we’ll drop down to Base Camp for a few days to rest and recuperate. No matter how hard we try, and no matter how efficient we are with our time, when we are on the hill we won’t eat enough, we won’t drink enough and we won’t sleep enough. There is only so long that you can go in to deficit before it starts to impair performance and judgement. Indeed if someone becomes seriously dehydrated it can lead to other complications making people much more susceptible to frostbite, hypothermia (too cold), hyperthermia (too hot – it can be in the 30s in The Western Cwm and if we are too slow and get caught in there in our down clothing it is difficult to regulate the core temperature and cool down), Acute Mountain Sickness and the two killers that everyone wants to avoid – High Altitude Cerebral Oedema (fluid on the brain which can affect brain function, decision making ability, eyesight, balance and coordination) and High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema (fluid on the lungs which affects the ability to breathe. It is difficult enough breathing up there anyway without having fluid sloshing around in your lungs making them less efficient).

So it’s back down to Base Camp to rest, eat and drink. At altitude, perversely, people often lose their appetite (again isn’t it difficult enough already) so I always provide loads of extra snacks, nibbles and delicacies to make Base Camp a more appealing environment. We’ve got boxes of Haribo, Licquorice Allsorts and other sweet and sticky goodies, loads of crackers with cheeses and pate, tubs of Pringles, bags and bags of cashews and pistachios, jars and jars of olives and gherkins and, my latest find which I’d never come across before, caperberries They are basically stalks with capers on pickled in a jar. It’s all very well having chocolatey and sweet snacks but it’s savoury that everyone tends to crave.

But it’s not all chilling and resting. I’ll also be conducting the final few sessions of instruction and preparation for the group. On the trek in we will already have discussed topics such as avoiding frostbite, how to prevent getting cold hands, dealing with fixed ropes in ascent and descent, the importance of concurrent activity and the like but at Everest Base Camp, where it is most tangible, I start covering the really serious stuff with oxygen protocols,medical protocols and stuff relevant to summit day.

We are one of the only teams who will spend time practicing how to draw up injections. We have some strong steroidal medicine which can saves lives and buy time for that person to descend. Speak to most people on the mountain and they’ll know the drug – Dexamethazone. But ask them the dose they should give, what it can be taken with, what the dangers and pitfalls are and, most importantly, how and where to inject and they will probably look a little bit sheepish. It is a life saver but people don’t know how to use it.

Trying to talk someone through how to give an injection on the end of a radio is nigh on impossible, so we have a go in the relative comfort of Base Camp just in case we have to do it for real in a life and death situation on the hill. We are, to the best of my knowledge, the only team where every member will be equipped with their own personal supply of high altitude medication and, importantly, know what it is for and how to use it.

With the oxygen masks everyone in the team will know how the masks adjust, how it links to the regulator, how the regulator attaches to the bottle and what duration they can expect depending on the flow rate. For many teams the first time they try with their mask is at Camp 3 (7,100m to 7,300m) and if they don’t get it right, or can’t operate the system properly, then it could well affect their summit bid or even their life. Or the lives of those around them.

I do have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about people turning up ill prepared or not knowing their gear and equipment intimately because, at the end of the day, it is The Climbing Sherpas who are going to go out and try to rescue these folk. I have been working with my Sherpas for a decade and they have families and responsibilities so how would they feel if I brought along a client who clearly shouldn’t be there? How would I feel if one of them became injured in some way because one of my clients shouldn’t have been there in the first place?

Don’t get me started.

So the next foray on the hill is straight to Camp 2 and we will ascend to, and ‘touch’ Camp 3. There’s no need to spend time there if we don’t have to – so we spend a few hours there and then back to Camp 2.

After that we are back to Base Camp waiting for the weather and when the window appears we will be in for a 7 or 8 day journey to the summit and back.

But that’s a different story!

We will be updating where possible via www.twitter.com/timmosedale
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www.keswick-bed-and-breakfast.blogspot.co.uk/

Watch this space and I hope that you enjoy the show!

Tick, tock, tickety tock …

Counting down and it’s the last full day in the UK before I jet to Nepal and meet my trusty team for our forthcoming Everest expedition.

Most of the stuff is in place – just a few last minute things to do like pick up the last of the medicines I have ordered, have a FaceTime chat with a chap in Australia, go to the bank, cancel a Direct Debit, sort some currency, e mail Nepal (again), find my passport and tickets, e mail some of my Ama Dablam clients for their forthcoming trip this November (limited spaces available folks), get some photos printed off for when I arrive in KTM, find my Nepal mobile and charger, collect some deliveries that are (hopefully) going to Needlepsorts later today, buy a wireless mouse, pop some patches on some salopettes to stop the down leaking, finish packing, collect the kids and then spend some quality time with them before bath, books and bed time.

Oh, nearly forgot, there are guests staying at the B&B so I have to clear the dining room, load the dishwasher, hoover the hall and stairs, tidy their room and pop some new towels in for them as they are here for 6 nights.

Whilst I’m at it I may as well put the washing in the dryer and get a new wash on.

But apart from that I’m all ready.

First things first – I’m off for a coffee!