FTA Cho Oyu 2010 - C1 Established!

from stu in the usa office
16th September, 2010

Over the last few days our team has made the acclimatization runs up to C1 and established the camp site with tents and some gear. Despite a significant amount of snow fallingt they have been able to move quite easily from BC to C1 and back. Today they head up to C1 to spend the night for the first time and in the next day or two will hope to push up to C2 if the conditions permit. A few other teams have already made the trip to C2 so we know the route is open. The winds remain very low at this time and the temperatures have been quite warm. If the clouds do not drop too much snow our tem should be able to make some good progress on the hill in the days ahead.
Fabrizio plans to post audio dispatches regularly and we’ll pass them on as we have them! We did have a good talk yesterday and he said that everyone felt great that they were looking forward to sleeping at C1 with the great views of the climb!

More as we have it!

Cheers,

Stu


Cho Oyu from BC © stu remensnyder




Cho Oyu from just above C1 © stu remensnyder

FTA Cho Oyu 2010 In Base Camp!

From Stu in the USA Office
September 12, 2010

Cho Oyu Team in Base Camp

Our team is now safely settled into the official Cho Oyu BC at 5700mm and everyone is feeling well and ready for a well earned day of rest and relaxing tomorrow. Having completed the long journey to base camp, our team can finally leave behind the worries of travel, landslides, border crossing, permits and the like and focus on the objective before them. Some 3500 vertical meters of climbing now stands between our crew and the top of the 6th highest peak on the planet. With good luck they will begin to make an acclimatization run to C1 on Tuesday and make the first steps onto the 8,201m peak. We'll look forward to following their progress and hope for good weather and good conditions!






Fabrizio has left a Gabcast dispatch in which he notes that there are quite a few expeditions in BC and a few more still to come. Among the expeditions are lots of friends from previous expeditions including our Makalu trip last spring and our Broad Peak expedition this past summer. Sounds like it should be a nice and friendly atmosphere for our crew.


Gabcast! Field Touring Alpine Audio Dispatches #106





Ahead of Schedule

Fabrizio also mentioned that they had great fortune in getting their yaks on time and did not end up spending too many nights in Chinese BC (CBC) waiting for them. This can happen in some years when there are many groups arriving at the same time the demand for yaks is very high. The need to acclimatize for more than one night in CBC is limited so extra nights there essentially go against spare summit days. In 2008 and 2007 our teams had at least two nights and took the time to make acclimatization walk high in the barren hills near CBC.



What this means for our team is that they are now 2-3 days ahead of schedule and this will give them more time for acclimatizing rest between runs up Cho Oyu. As the BC is so high members typically need more rest between acclimatization trips and a longer rest before a summit bid.

We’ll expect to hear every few days from Fabrizio by Gabcast and will post them here!

Upcoming Trips Reminder

We have spaces still on the following confirmed trips:

• Nov 4, 2010 climb on Ama Dablam & Island Peak (with Fabrizio)
• Nov 4, 2010 Everest BC trek (with Island Peak option)
• Dec 11, 2010 Aconcagua False Polish (with Ben Kane)
• Jan 10, 2010 Aconcagua False Polish (with Fabrizio)
• Dec 18, 2010 Aconcagua Polish Climb (with Fabrizio)
• Jan 5 Ecuador Volcanoes – Cotopaxi (with Brad Boehringer)

We have lots more trips filling up to Aconcagua, Ecuador, Kilimanjaro, Denali (upper West Rib), Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, K2 BC and more!

Visit the FTA site www.fieldtouring.com or drop us a note at info@fieldtouring.com for more!

FTA Cho Oyu 2010 En Route to BC!

From Stu in the USA office
10 September, 2010

Our Autumn 2010 Cho Oyu trip is well under way and has already reached CBC. Fabrizio called to check in and said that the trip to CBC was one of the easiest trips he has had in the mountains and must seem quite simple compared to the ride to Askole in Pakistan. The road is now fully (and beautifully) paved from lower Zhangmu all the way to Lhasa and the drive time was 1.5 hours from Zhangmu to Nyalam, 2 hours from Nyalam to Tingri and 45 minutes to Chinese BC.

These numbers are almost unthinkable to anyone who travelled this road in the 80s or 90s when spending nights by the road side awaiting cleared landslides was not uncommon and even in good conditions these times were at least 5-10 times longer. As recently as 2008 when our last FTA expedition drove this route our times were still 3-4 times longer.

The most difficult part of the drive was on the Nepal side where the road is still in very rough shape. Our Nepal agent, Nima, took two full days (normally 5-6 hours) to return to Kathmandu due to landslides and is now safely back in his office.

The team spent one night in Kodari on the Nepal side of the border, crossed the next day and spent the night in Zhangmu before coming up to Nyalam the next day. The team then enjoyed two nights in Tingri (which they have nicknamed “the town of dogs” given the all night howling they encountered!) before the short ride up to CBC today.

Along the way they have acclimatized well and are in good spirits as they finally get out of the car seats and onto their feet! The trek up from CBC is quite gentle and mostly along a road for two days until just a few hours from the Cho Oyu BC (ABC). We expect a gabcast disapatch on the 12th or 13th when they are safely ensconced in their rocky home looking out over the Nangpa La.

Accompanying our team are two crucial staff members Ratna and Mama who have both been to Cho Oyu with FTA in 2008. Ratna has been a head cook on at least 8 FTA expeditions and is widely held as the best disco dancer in the Himalaya and in the top elite as a cook. Mama (Siddhi) has made the full growth on FTA trips from cook assistant to Sherpa guide over the last 5 years and we are very proud of his achievements and progress. In 2008 he was an assistant Sherpa on Cho Oyu and acquitted himself very well working the route up to C3. He is the best nepali teacher on our staff and our members are sure to be ready to gab it up in the shops back in Thamel at the end of the trip!

Fabrizio has left a gabcast audio dispatch and we invite you to listen in on life at near 5000m in the Himalaya looking up at Tibetan Stars and across at Nepalese Lightning!

Gabcast! Field Touring Alpine Audio Dispatches #105 - FTA Cho Oyu 2010 Autumn - Team in CBC!

Fabrizio calls in from Chinese Base Camp (CBC) to let us know that all is well! The team has been acclimatizing well and they are leaving on the 11th for IBC and then hope to reach Cho Oyu BC (ABC) on the 12th. Great weather with views to lightning storms have added lots of ambience!

Pakistan in Need of Urgent Help!

From stu in the usa office
20 August, 2010

The situation goes from serious to dire for millions of people in Pakistan and we hope that you can help. Some 20 million Pakistanis from regions all over the country are being affected by the floods, some have lost family members, some have lost homes, most are in serious need of shelter, food and potable water.

Please read the stories, see the images and act now. This cannot wait til you are home from holidays or until the death toll is large enough to press us into action.

From the bottom of our hearts and the hearts of our friends, the staff we work with and from people we will never know in Paksitan we thank you.

how to donate
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c368.html

CNN
Story
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/20/pakistan.floods/index.html?hpt=T2

images
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/08/world/gallery.large.pakistan.flood/aug.19.html?hpt=T2

NY Times

Pakistan accepts aid from India
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/08/20/world/AP-AS-Pakistan-Floods.html?_r=1&hpw

Aid for Pakistan Lags, U.N. Warns
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/asia/19nations.html?ref=united_nations

Impact on the Swat Valley
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/world/asia/20swat.html?scp=4&sq=pakistan&st=cse

all articles on Pakistan on NYTimes
http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?date_select=full&query=pakistan&type=nyt&x=0&y=0

Editorial on Need in Pakistan
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/opinion/18wed1.html?ref=opinion
The world has been slow to grasp the enormity of this crisis, perhaps because it unfolded slowly, not in a sudden jolt like an earthquake or tsunami. Or, perhaps, the floods were overshadowed by the out-of-control fires in Russia or were neglected because many donors were already fatigued from the challenge of rebuilding Haiti.
The relatively low death toll (about 1,500), the summer vacation doldrums and negative views of Pakistan as corrupt and war-ridden also may have dampened enthusiasm for helping.
The devastation in Pakistan is likely to worsen as the monsoon rains continue. But even an end to the rains won’t end the emergency. Plans need to be made right now to ensure that next year’s crops are planted. Looming ahead is the enormous challenge of rebuilding Pakistan’s shattered bridges, roads, structures and agricultural and economic base. For now, the humanitarian needs are paramount.

K2 Concludes, Cho Oyu next, Pakistan in Need

From Stu in the USA office
18 Aug, 2010

K2 2010 Concludes

Fabrizio has called us from Skardu to let us know that all is well and he and the rest of the team are now fully out from the field. With that the K2/Broad Peak 2010 expedition is officially at a conclusion. We thank all or staff, guides and members for making it a safe and successful summer and we look forward to 2011 already!

I know Fabrizio will look forward to a few weeks of rest in Kathmandu and Pokhara! He is jealously learing that Chris has already flown to Kathmandu and is gorging on food at restaurants all around Thamel! They will meet up on the 24th in Kathmandu with our local agent and great friend Nima T. Sherpa to prepare the autumn trips.

With the conclusion of the Pakistan trips we turn our attention now to the Cho Oyu expedition starting September 5th and prepare for autumn trips to Ama Dablam, Island Peak, Everest BC, Tharpu Chuli and Cholatse. Even now we are looking farther ahead to Aconcagua and Ecuador trips in Dec, Jan and Feb which are filling up. We have had such a good response to our trips this summer that we already are taking signups for Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat and G2 for 2011 and are considering a return to K2 as well. We are looking very much forward to our 9th straight summer climbing 8000m and 7000m peaks in the Karakoram!

Pakistan in Need

No doubt in 2011 we will return to a country which looks quite different and will still be in the recovery from one of the largest natural disasters it has every experienced. Fabrzio’s news from Skardu included a report on the conditions in Skardu which are very serious. The roads from Islamabad and Gilgit have been closed some 20 days to Skardu and the supply of basic needs is growing more limited each day. He said that the local stores are out of staples like sugar and butter and that meals in the hotel consist mostly of tea and chapattis as this time.

I asked Fabrizio what impact Skardu was feeling with the floods and he answered simply “it’s a disater”. He commented that a small town across from the Concordia hotel had a mudlside claim the lives of 59 people just a few days ago and that the authorities are hustling the travelers back to the relative safety of Islamabad as quickly as they can.

Even though he would like a few days to sort gear and rest, Fabrizio is being asked to get on the next available transport tomorrow to Islamabad. Today’s groups arrived at the airport around 8am and finally flew at 5:30pm so Fabrizio is preparing for a full day in the waiting lounge and has a handful of books ready. This small inconvenience for travelers pales in comparison to the ongoing tragedy in Paksitan and we hope that everyone will visit the UN site immediately and help them reach the crucial goal of quickly raising more than 460million USD to support communities and indivuduals all over Pakistan.

See a very detailed report on ExWeb for more on this:
http://explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=19587


We’ll have more news in the week ahead as we transition from Paksitan to Tibet and Nepal but we will now cease to report on any way we can all help the people in Paksitan to survive the floods and their aftermath.