Leeds Metropolitan University

Everest West Ridge 2006

	Welcome
	About
	Lunchtime Lectures
	Everest News
	Multimedia Gallery
	Links
	Message Board

David Jackson

Location

Base Camp and beyond

Time

1 May 2006

The ‘walk’ to Tilman’s Camp, where the Main team are based, looks easy on paper but in reality is a challenging six hours covering eight kilometres and an undulating height gain of nearly 400 metres. For those still feeling strong after a day’s acclimatisation at 5600 metres (17000 feet) the next climb up to camp 1 at 5835 metres stretched four of the group into an impressive but arduous performance. John O’Hara achieved his own personal goal for the expedition by reaching camp 1, but the extraordinary difficulty of operating at these sorts of altitudes on minimal acclimatisation were clear to see.

One arduous day for four was followed by another for the whole group on the return trip to Road Head Base Camp. The first part of this trek is undulating and difficult and not just a run down the hill. By the time the team emerged back in camp there was the complete spectrum of tiredness etched across the faces of the whole team, but after some food and sleep there were clear signs of recovery and the realisation of an outstanding achievement. As well as the physical accomplishment of reaching both Tilman’s and camp 1, the Leeds Met team carried out valuable work with a number of the Army’s Main team members, which continued our support of the expedition and contributed to the research data essential to move our knowledge base forward. The good rapport, so essential to this work, is clear to see and provides us with an excellent platform for future work.

The following day we were up early and left Road Head Base Camp on the long drive to the Tibet/Nepal border. This proved to be an ‘interesting’ off-road experience in our Landcruisers over the Tibetan plateau, a 5000 metre high desert with extraordinary panoramas.

Once over the final high pass, with views of the 8000 metre peak of Shishapang, we began the long descent to Zhang mu on the border. Going down the valley of the Sud Kosi (cold river) was a bit like going down the plughole, dropping inexorably to lower altitudes and moving from desert to occasional vegetation to one or two trees, until finally we were in the depths of a steep sided gorge several thousand feet high covered in lush vegetation.

An evening meal in Zhang mu marked the return to ‘normal’ altitudes before we set off again over the Friendship Bridge into Nepal and through stunning landscape back to Kathmandu. Whilst travelling across the border we came across another Leeds Met colleague, Peter Khoo, who was cycling from Lhasa to Kathmandu. It is a small world!

There is much more to tell of the expedition both in terms of the trip itself and the work carried out by the team. More to follow!

Carnegie Visiting team 26 April

John O'Hara 24 April

John Allan 24 April