from Stu in the USA office
14th September 2009
Chris has called in to let me know that all is well and the team has established C1! Yesterday Chris, Italo, Veronika and our two HAP's Raj and Thapa made a load carry to C1 and established the camp at approximately 5400m. After a rest day today they plan to move up to C1 tomorrow. They are planning for a first summit bid on the 21st of September if all goes well and the weather holds. After many days of snow they are having perfect days now and the reports are for at least 4-5 days of good weather ahead. we will revisit the weather each day and hope it holds!
Tom has unfortunately not been feeling well and fighting a GI battle for a week and as such had determined he is not strong enough to make a safe attempt and went back down to Bhujbasi yesterday and reached Gangotri today. Tom called in a short while ago to let me know all was well and that he plans to rest up, enjoy some days in Gangotri and then head off on a few great treks until the team comes out. It is always hard to decide when enough is enough and it sounds like Tom has made a very wise choice. We'll hope he has a great adventure trekking and look for him to have a more healthy time from here on in.
Chris has also left a new audio dispatch and he goes into some detail about the teams movement as well as the story of the evacuation of a group of stranded trekkers who were trapped by the heavy snow snowfall over the last week! He said that they were plucked off the hill by some great flying by the indian army. Chris was not sure what kind of choppers they are and they may be the following.
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/dhruv/
Field Touring Alpine Audio Dispatches #34 - 13th Sept - Satopanth BC reached and C1 established
Chris calls in from BC with an update on the climb. Three members (chris, Veronika and Italo) and 2 HAPs (Raj and Thapa) have established C1 already! One member (Tom) was not feeling great and has gone down back to Gangotri to recuperate and will do some trekking til the rest of the team comes down.
Listen to all FTA dispatches at Gabcast
Chris says the mountain and route are stunning and we'll look forward to a great slide show on the site when the expedition is concluded!
more news as we have it!
stu
Monday, September 14, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Sept 11 - Satopanth BC reached!
from stu in the USA office
11th September, 2009
Chris call in a little while ago to let us know that the members and HAP's had reached BC at 4700m and that they are all doing well but not without a bit of an epic day. Snow has fallen quite hard for the last day and they arrived at BC with nearly a meter of snow on the ground. Just two days ago arriving teams were setting up on grass and hopefully the snow will melt in short order!
The challenging conditions made it impossible for the porters to safely travel and they stopped about an hour short the BC. To travel from where they stopped to BC requires a glacier crossing and cliff traverse and with a meter of snow hidden crevasses and slips on steep slopes had become a real concern. Tomorrow Chris and the HAPs will go back and begin the process of ferrying up the remaining supplies up to BC. The staff and porters are still back a few hours the team was kindly taken care of by an Indian Army group and we thank them for their generosity and hospitality.
The reports are for more snow in the next day or so and then clearing so we hope that the team will be able to make some progress in a few days. Clearly they will need to let the snow settle before getting onto the slopes!
The slowed pace of arrival has had a very positive impact on the teams acclimatizing and they are all feeling excellent with the altitude and should be ready to get on the route as soon as conditions permit. They are looking forward to their first close up of the mountain which til now has been hidden by the snowy weather. They have had great views of Shivling and in general have had some good afternoons for views after rainy and snowy mornings. After a very demanding trek in they are finally able to begin thinking about the climb itself and we look forward to hearing about some progress in the next few days!
More news as we have it!
11th September, 2009
Chris call in a little while ago to let us know that the members and HAP's had reached BC at 4700m and that they are all doing well but not without a bit of an epic day. Snow has fallen quite hard for the last day and they arrived at BC with nearly a meter of snow on the ground. Just two days ago arriving teams were setting up on grass and hopefully the snow will melt in short order!
The challenging conditions made it impossible for the porters to safely travel and they stopped about an hour short the BC. To travel from where they stopped to BC requires a glacier crossing and cliff traverse and with a meter of snow hidden crevasses and slips on steep slopes had become a real concern. Tomorrow Chris and the HAPs will go back and begin the process of ferrying up the remaining supplies up to BC. The staff and porters are still back a few hours the team was kindly taken care of by an Indian Army group and we thank them for their generosity and hospitality.
The reports are for more snow in the next day or so and then clearing so we hope that the team will be able to make some progress in a few days. Clearly they will need to let the snow settle before getting onto the slopes!
The slowed pace of arrival has had a very positive impact on the teams acclimatizing and they are all feeling excellent with the altitude and should be ready to get on the route as soon as conditions permit. They are looking forward to their first close up of the mountain which til now has been hidden by the snowy weather. They have had great views of Shivling and in general have had some good afternoons for views after rainy and snowy mornings. After a very demanding trek in they are finally able to begin thinking about the climb itself and we look forward to hearing about some progress in the next few days!
More news as we have it!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Satopanth 2009 - Snowy day in Nandavan, BC tomorrow!
Sept 10, 2009
audio dispatch from Chris in Nandavan (4500m)
Chris calls in on a snowy day to report everyone is feeling well and they hope to reach BC tomorrow! Enjoy a listen!
Listen to all the Field Touring Alpine Audio Dispatches at Gabcast
audio dispatch from Chris in Nandavan (4500m)
Chris calls in on a snowy day to report everyone is feeling well and they hope to reach BC tomorrow! Enjoy a listen!
Listen to all the Field Touring Alpine Audio Dispatches at Gabcast
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Team In Bhujbasa
From Stu in the USA office
September 8, 2009
Chris has called in every few days with updates on the trip and the team is doing well and on schedule to arrive in base camp in a few days.
The team had planned a rest/acclimitization day in Gangotri at abot 3050m but due to the permit system had to keep on moving! They are making up for this with two nights in Bhujbasa at about 3700m. Everyone is feeling fine on our team though our local agent Arun has had a bad cold and will go back to Gongotri to rest up and the rejoin the team at BC.
Our agents often take very personal approach to working with our teams and Arun has been with them every day so far and going much beyond many other agencies. We have the same wonderful connection in Nepal with Nima and the fact that the heads of the companies get to know our members and join them for the early part of the trips is an unusual aspect to our programs. We'll hope Arun kicks his cold quickly and rejoins the team in BC just a day or two behind.
Here is audio dispatch from Chris in Bhujbasa:
More news as the team makes its way to Satopanth!
September 8, 2009
Chris has called in every few days with updates on the trip and the team is doing well and on schedule to arrive in base camp in a few days.
The team had planned a rest/acclimitization day in Gangotri at abot 3050m but due to the permit system had to keep on moving! They are making up for this with two nights in Bhujbasa at about 3700m. Everyone is feeling fine on our team though our local agent Arun has had a bad cold and will go back to Gongotri to rest up and the rejoin the team at BC.
Our agents often take very personal approach to working with our teams and Arun has been with them every day so far and going much beyond many other agencies. We have the same wonderful connection in Nepal with Nima and the fact that the heads of the companies get to know our members and join them for the early part of the trips is an unusual aspect to our programs. We'll hope Arun kicks his cold quickly and rejoins the team in BC just a day or two behind.
Here is audio dispatch from Chris in Bhujbasa:
More news as the team makes its way to Satopanth!
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