Bed tea - a good way to start the day

Highlights - on the way up

Children liked to see their picture on the camera.

Hinku Valley and view of Peak 39 (Helen)

Tag Nag

Nepalese Scouts

We were supported greatly during the community part of the trip by the Nepalese Scouts who let us hire their bus for the week and took us on a tour of their city. Three Scouts joined us at Kakani and helped us with the digging, teaching English and playing with the children.

Meeting the Chief Commissioner of Nepal - Mary, Margaret and Christine (our Doctor).

Scouting friends

Keshav Bahadur, Manager, Kakani International Training Centre, Nepal.

www.kakani.org

Prem Krishna Awale, Maharjan Rajendra, Naresh Awale
Rover Scouts, Lalitpur District, Kathmandu



Sowyambhunath Stupa, Kathmandu - and we saw the monkeys.

Digging - laying stepping stones

Kakani International Scout Centre - Nepal.

The strong British women in action, linking the stepping stone circle to the dinning shelter with the help of 3 Nepalese Scouts.

Ok - the bum still needs working on. Jayne, Helen and Karin showing their good side.

Digging, finding bricks, carrying concrete - mission completed.
In the monsoon, the campers will be able to get from their tent to the dinning shelter and not need to walk in the mud.

Afternoon Tea at the British Embassy - Kathmandu

After 3 weeks in the mountains, what a delight - cakes, and on the

Queen's Birthday.

Thank you Dr and Mrs Hall.

Myself, Anne (our technical leader - what a woman), Jayne and Helen in the Embassy gardens

Giving Stirling Council gifts to Mrs Hall, wife of the British Embassador.

The whole team at Kakani

The 18 strong British women became 22 when our technical leader (Anne) returned to the UK and the community team of 5, Anne, Liz, Katya, Stella and Jules met us in Kathmandu and we all went to Kakani where there was much activity.
3 classrooms painted in the local Primary School.
Children taught english, games and sport activities in 3 schools.
Teachers and Kakani Scout Centre staff taught first aid.
Orienteering Course and maps developed for Kakani Scout Centre.
Safety fence designed (by Sarah) and funds left for the Scouts to build at the Primary School.

Money donated to Shree Kaule Devi Primary School, Okhar Pauwa raise by Stirling Council which will enable the Headteacher (Shiva Lal Shrestha) to buy school uniform, there are 40 children in the area who cannot attend school because they have no uniform. The money will also help the school with items we take for granted. On the Heateacher's wishlist was toilet paper and electicity!

View it for yourself - world's highest mountains

Expedition Highlights

Helen and Everest, dawn breaking.

Makalu,Chanlang and me.

2 weeks to walk here and worth every step. I've seen dawn break over the worlds highest mountains, I've seen them with my own eyes, and will remember that view all my days. Fortunate to have this on video clip, hope I don't wear it out!

From here we saw 5 (Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Nuptse, Cho oyu) of the 6 highest mountains in the world (K2 is in Pakistan). At 6,245metres, sharing this view with friends, Jessica, Amy, Mary, Helen, Me and our Sherpa's mit!

Adventure Over

Returned home one week ago and what a busy week it has been catching up with everyone.

Arrived at Manchester Airport on Sunday morning (29th April 2007), standing in the baggage hall waiting, 20 of us (Sue and Jessica had flown home to Heathrow), nothing arrived, we waited and waited and wondered if they were still in Kathmandu or whether they were in Doha. Check-in at Kathmandu had been different - all 42 bags had been weighed and then put into a pile and then labelled but not with our own names, think Jayne's name had gone on the lot and she lives on the Isle of Man.

Eventually baggage attendant found that the lot had been sent to the Cargo Bay and had to be retreived, we waited and eventually they arrived with a big cheer from us. All I could think of was what Jayne would do if they had been late and forwarded onto her!

In the arrival hall family and friends of those who lived near Manchester were waiting, I still had a drive north to complete with Mary, Lorranie and also Suzie, Liz and Anne who were driving back together. Was nice to have a cuddle from Helen's daughters to keep me going.

Hire car was nice, Peugeot, 407, 6 gears, very comfortable and we just managed to get all the bags in without requiring Lorraine to have one on her lap the whole journey. Straight onto Tebay where Anne had also made a stop, then onto Kincardine to drop off Mary and Lorraine. Met Graeme, so nice to be together again and we drove to Edinburgh Airport to drop off the hire car.

Lovely welcome back at the house, Rona, Cameron and Hannah had made welcome home posters, had converted one of Graeme's old climbing ropes into a prayer flag - and with it went all my scraps of material. Mum, Dad, Jeanette, - Heather, Derek, Emily, Finlay, Macy - Laura, Kit and Mia - Stuart Wendy, Eilidh and Kathryn were all there. Having travelled through the night and lost 6 hours along the way, pretty shattered but managed to talk non stop of the adventure. Don't think I'll stop talking about it - sorry folks, but trip of a lifetime and what an impact such an experience has on your life, and then there is the stone I've lost in weight - yahoo!

Received a disc of Helen's pictures during the week and I'm so glad she had her camera out all the time.

Kakani

We are now in Kakani, the national Scout Centre in Nepal and we are working out with them some projects to do in the next few days. A team of us are going to the primary school tomorrow (Tue) to paint the classrooms, there is a national holiday, so hopefully the children will be surprised when they return.

They have a problem with the playground, it goes out onto a slope with a drop and some children have fallen down and hurt themselves. One of our team, Sarah is an Engineer and she is going to take some measurements and work out what can be done to help stabalise the ground in order to put up a fence, but this will be something we might be able to help financially and give resources for the work to be done at a later date.

We are here until Saturday morning. I hope to assist the teaching team some time later this week.

We had a lovely afternoon on Saturday at the British Embassy. It was the Queen's Birthday and the Embassay had been given a big chocolate cake by one of the big hotels, and we got to eat it!!
Very grand house and beautiful garden. We had lovely sandwiches, cake and coffee. Dr & Mrs Hall were lovely.

Also talk of 6 of the team meeting the Prime Minister of Nepal on Wednesday, he is interested in Scouting and wants to meet some of the team.

Tea time now

Kristine

Fab News!!

Hi everyone!

This is great news! I am so glad to hear from her! It is so good to hear her voice again! Today I had my first lesson on my cycling proficiency.

Rona

Hello everyone - from Kathmandu

Namaste

What a journey this has been so far and it is so nice to pick up all your comments and continued support. The photos Graeme has put on are just how things are over here and as they don't seem to have broadband, I'd rather not miss the Adventureworks drink in the bar this evening trying to load pics on.

We have been through so many different types of countryside, from Lukla, huffing and puffing the minute we got off the plane. We immediately started on a walk down hill. To then walking through jungle, bamboo and all. Our support team included 30 Porters, 7 Sherpas and a cook team. Having a team of 18 women is pretty unusual and in the Summit Hotel, the contact for Summit Treking said it was the first time he had known of it in his 9 years being involved in the company. Other trekkers, all nationalities, had heard of us and we became known as the team of 18 strong British Women.

The loads carried by the porters was amazing, the in the countryside there are no roads, just tracks and everything is carried by basket with a strap over the head, no fancy rucsacs. Parkas was the porter who carried not only my black bag, but Bridget's also. Porters carried two black bags, there were also Porters who carried the two Mess Tents that we sat in for meals, pitty the poor chap who carried the tables and chairs, what an awkward load that looked on the tiny and quite narrow paths at times.

We walked in the beginning, usually for 8 hours a day. Then as we got higher, day shortened until the day we went to High Camp. We set off from Khare and went straight to High Camp and what a huge day this was. We set off at about 8 am and walked continuously until about 4.30pm. High Camp is about 5,800 (don't have my diary to be exact). Everyone was exhausted, walking was a slow business - I kept a pattern of 20 steps, then 10 breaths, but felt fine.

picture this, to keep morale going, the cook team who came to High Camp made hot orange juice and I thought I was seeing things when I looked up and saw them coming down the hill with the kettle and a bag of mugs. We were all walking up the hill, some slower than others, and the two chaps went down the line to make sure everyone got a cup of hot orange. Best cup of hot orange ever!

At High Camp I was sharing a tent with Jayne and Karin and the normal two in a tent went to 3. We all just went into our sleeping bags, but my tent partners were unwell, poor Jayne was being sick into a bag. Sleep was impossible really. The tent pitching was amazing - if I went out the back door of the tent, I would have slid off the mountain. The tent was held down with boulders and we had to be careful not to knock any going out the front door, but really the place was just a scree slope.

Lying in the tent, the wind was blowing outside and we had been told that those wanting to go for the summit, would get bed tea at 1am. This time passed and I just thought they had cancelled the attempt because of the wind. Anyway, 2am came and there was noise outside. We had been told to get fully dressed, harness, crampons etc on inside the tent, but I needed the loo (more than the pee bottle would cope with), and with Jayne and Karin being ill, I just got them to chuck my stuff out of the tent, they did. I had slept with the inner boots inside the sleeping bag, but what a carry on to get the outers on, in the dark, in the cold.

Finished the loo, put on harness, crampons, tried to eat some porridge, but that was hard work. I went to the rope and was first ready on rope 2, so hooked on behind the Sherpa. Helen was ready next, then Jessica and Mary at the end. Rope 1 had already left with Margaret, Bridget and Amy.

Bright starry night, they were huge with us being so near to them. Started walking, tried to continue my previous pattern, 20 steps, 10 breaths, but that was hard going. Being first behind the Sherpa it was my job to set the pace as the Sherpa would walk without stopping. Then to 8 steps and 8 breaths. Very slowly we progressed up the mountain. Crisp snow, jumped over a few crevasse - down looked a very long way.

Up narrow snow ridge, Helen slipped and I just sat down and held her fall. Saw dawn break over Everest and I managed to capture this on video to share with you all at some future date.

We got to 6,245m and were feeling the altitude. I admitted I was finding it hard to breath, others felt the same. We discussed going on or returning. Summit was 2 to 3 hours away and we had a long way to get back down to Khare. All agreed to return, and at this point Amy joined us from rope 1 who had just been above us, she too struggling to breath.

We spent some time enjoying the views, blue sky, clear, could see all around. Teamwork, friendship, tremendous shared experience.

We headed down and arrived back at Khare at 4pm - 13 hours on the mountain. Lovely welcome by all, and Jayne had made my bed for me in the tent - she was responsible at High Camp to pack the lot up for the porter to bring down - but she admitted to jumping onto my thermarest when I left the tent at High Camp and used my sleeping bag as an extra pillow.

Celebrated the Nepalese New Year with the Sherpas at Tag Nag on the way down, but we left the drinking to them and refrained until returning to Lukla, when we had an end of expedition party.

And there is so much more to say, but you will all just need to wait for that.

Yesterday (19th), arrived in Kathmandu, lovely shower - needed half the bottle of shampoo to get any bubbles on my head! Lovely letters from Rona, Cameron, Hannah and Graeme - Anne delivered them and it was nice to meet up with her, Liz, Jules, Stella and Katya.

Lips still blistered on the inside from the cold wind up the mountain, but no frostbite or other injury - not one of us sprained anything which was amazing given where we had walked.

Shopping and exploring Kathmandu today - have to haggle, got quite into this - weight limit will be interesting on the return flight!

Going for a beer - have 3 weeks to catch up on!

British Embassy tomorrow afternoon (21st).

Nepalese Scouts taking us on a tour on Sunday (22nd), then we are off to Kakani for our community project.

See you soon.

Kristine
xxxx

Hold the front page!!!

I’ve just had a phone call from Kristine! It was so good to hear her voice.

It sounds like they’ve all had a fantastic trip but there was too much information to squeeze into the short call.

Kristine, Helen, Jessica and Mary were on rope number two going for the summit. They set off at 3am with the temperature at –38°C. Kristine said that the stars looked so close she thought she could touch them. They saw dawn break over Everest and reached a height of 6245m (just 400m short of the summit) before they turned back because of the altitude and lack of time. Rope number one had three of the team, one of whom turned back but the other two made it to the summit. However, we got cut off before she told me their names. Sorry! She’s phoning back tonight.

She also said that four French climbers set out for the summit at the same time as them but only one made it to the top. Three of the French guys got frostbite but none of our team were affected by it.

They’re now all back in the luxury of Kathmandu for a couple of days. Kristine was saying there’s a beauty parlour in the hotel and she’s just had her legs waxed ready for wearing her shorts - it's no longer -38°C, it's now +32°C!

More news tonight!

Kristine's phoned again - those on rope number one were Brigitte, Margaret and Amy. Amy turned back with Kristine, Helen, Mary and Jessica - Margaret and Brigitte went on to the summit. Well done to them and everyone on the team.

Return to Lukla

Still no further news from the team but they should reach the end of their trek at Lukla tonight (the picture above is of the terraced fields above the village). Weather depending, they should fly back to Kathmandu either tomorrow or Friday so hopefully we will get some proper news and photos of the trip on the blog rather than Graeme's Virtual Trek.

Lukla Village

I think the other part of the team will arrive in Kathmandu tomorrow to meet up with the trekkers and get ready for the project in Kakani. Before that, there is the daunting prospect of the flight back from Lukla...

Into thin air (again)

The team should be climbing back up over the Zatr La tomorrow (a high mountain pass at 4600m) and will get their last look at Mera (below) before the descent to Lukla.

Hopefully they don't bump into some of the local inhabitants of the area; this is a photo taken at the Zatr La:

This is obviously the very rare three-legged snow leopard wearing one climbing boot - I think Kristine should be able to out-run it...

Heading for home

After the sketchy information from the satellite call, I'm not entirely sure of the team's timetable but they should (might?) be camping at Khare tonight on their way back to Tangnag and the Zatr La.

This is a photo taken from the camp at Khare:

Hopefully we'll get another call soon with a bit more information.

Good luck to the other 5 members of the team who fly out to Kathmandu on Tuesday (I think!). (Some people have said they've had problems posting comments on the blog so I've changed it so anyone can post without having to register. )

News from the front

Just back from hols to an e-mail from Annie, the text of which is below:



Hey,
We've had a phone call from Nepal, they had a satellite phone call and were told-
16 people made high camp, 7 tried for the summit and 2 people made it to the top. they are all now coming down safe and well, and are expected down at least one day early. Unfortunately they could not get the names of all these people but hopefully I will get an email soon.

Annie

Great to hear some news and that everyone is OK. However high the various team members got, I'm sure they've all had a fantastic experience and we're really proud of them all. I'm looking forward to all the stories!

Don Whillans, the great Himalayan climber, was talking about pushing yourself too far to get to the summit and putting yourself in danger when he said "The mountain will be there next year, the trick is to make sure you are".

Back on the road again

Their rest day over, the team will head down into the Hinku Valley tomorrow heading for Kote by Saturday night and the village of Tangnag the day after. This is a photo from Tangnag taken at sunrise.

And this is of a porter in the Hinku Valley.

I don't know what the Nepalese is for, "What the hell has she got in this bloody bag?" but you can be sure that Kristine's porter will have been muttering that several times a day since Lukla.

The Virtual Trek might be a bit less frequent from tomorrow as we're off on holiday for a week (unless there are any burglars reading this, in which case, I'm just popping out to buy a new machete). If any proper news comes through, I think Stella should be able to post it first (- how are the preparations going for the second wave of guiders hitting Kathmandu on the 16th April?). If our cottage at Kingussie has an internet wireless connection then I'll be OK but given that it has a 1 pound electicity meter, I'm not sure that's very likely!

Day of Rest

The team will have arrived at Chunbu Kharka this evening and will have had views of Jannu (above) along the way. I'm sure they'll all be looking forward to tomorrow as it's a rest day (although the guide leader I know best can't stay still long enough for it to be called resting - maybe if they get two porters to sit on her it might work).

I'm not sure when (if) we are going to get news of the team's actual progress (as opposed to my virtual trek). I think they were going to use the satellite phone to update the Adventure Works office and we were going to get an e-mail but I don't know how frequently - maybe they're saving it for summit day!

Onwards and upanddownwards

The team will have left Nashing Dingma this morning and will now be camping at 12,000 feet at Chalam Kharka, no wonder the tents look a bit frosty in this photo of the campsite! Hope everyone has remembered their duvets.

Tomorrow they head higher still, up to 14,000 feet and on the way will get views of the third highest mountain in the world, Kangchenjunga, seen below, first climbed by Joe Brown in the fifties (spot the mountain anorak).

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary so, on an unashamedly sentimental note, I've included a photo of the last time Kristine and I were on a hill together (above Bridge of Orchy this winter).

Kristine had left my present with the kids - a lovely watch. I sneaked her present into her bag...a small chocolate rabbit....but, hey, it's the thought that counts...

Big Scary Mountain

The team will get their first view of Mera Peak today, which should be something like this. It's a long way away but it still looks BIG. I bet there are a few butterflies when they see this sight. What a fantastic-looking mountain.

The trek to Pangkongma

I noticed that Stella, one of the team going out on the 16th, had left a comment saying that she was trying not to be jealous - very impressive. I got in touch with my inner green-eyed monster weeks ago and have relaxed into it. I like to torture myself by looking at the photos of others that have done the trek - a sort of virtual Mera Peak trek combined with undertones of self-harming.

Today the team would have left Poyan and trekked to Pangkongma. On the path, if the visibility was good, they would have seen this view of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain the world...

Their campsite is at Pangkongma lodge which, I have to say, looks like the Himalayan equivalent of campling outside the Kingshouse Hotel in Glencoe, only a bit more squalid.

However, I'm sure the view from the campsite makes up for it.

Tomorrow is supposed to be quite a hard slog as they head up to Nashing Dingma, however the team get their first view of Mera. I better get to bed, I've got a big virtual day ahead of me...

Lukla to Poyan

The expedition will have started in earnest with the first day of walking (and enough altitiude to give you a bit of a headache).


Our children are charting Kristine's progress with a sophisticated multi-media interactive facility...

...every morning they get to move a small laminated photo of their mum up the mountain a bit further. No expense spared!

The team should have reached Poyan tonight. Hope everyone is feeling well and with no blisters. This will be Kristine's second night with no wine...no one said it was going to be easy...

Fasten Your Seat Belts

Kristine called tonight (the last call for a few weeks, presumably). They'd all just got up at 4:30am for their flight to Lukla. Judging by the amount of heckling in the background of the call, they all seemed in remarkably good spirits for that time in the morning.

I tried to describe the photos of the airport that I'd found on the internet, but I couldn't really do them justice over the phone.

No wonder they have to get their luggage weight down to 15kgs - the pilot probably asks them to flap their arms as well.

I hope they get a view of Everest like this one on the way in...

Room with a view

By the extra clock on our kitchen wall keeping Nepal time, Kristine should have arrived at the Summit Hotel in Kathmandu. I thought we had quite a nice view from our bedroom at home but I have to concede that this view from the hotel is slightly better than Kings Seat and Castle Campbell.

(Amazing - 15 mins after I posted this, Kristine phoned to say that the whole team have arrived safely in Nepal. She was phoning from the small bus taking them from the airport to the hotel. They had all the rucksacks and bags strapped to the roof and the driver was blasting the horn continuously, trying to keep flying motorcyclists out of their way. Sounds very like the Kincardine Bridge at rush hour.)

Saturday 31 March photos

The Scots, 4 in a row, Doha to Kathmandu

Suzie, Mary, Lorraine & Kristine

Some of the Manchester Airport team having a meal
Amy, Jayne, Carole and who am I missing?

Sign to the Summit Hotel, Kathmandu

The bus and our bags, minus the chap on top who had been holding the lot on.

Group chat on our plans for tomorrow.