Leeds Metropolitan University

Everest West Ridge 2006

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Heidi Sparks

Location

Nyalam

Time

28th March 2006

We arrived in Kathmandu late afternoon on Thursday a mixture of emotions; excitement and expectations. We had been warned that we may get ripped off on arrival as there are many people waiting to relieve you of your dollars. First scam is to help you with your bags and then they expect a nice big tip. We had been warned of this but there is always one, and Olly decided he didn’t want to carry his bags. Not knowing what to give as a tip he then gave a $20 note to a very happy porter who would see this a one months salary.

However it really does help if you speak the language and I have been making up for any losses in Kathmandu by speaking a lttle Nepalese and getting us a few bargains. Whilst Phyl Scott has continued the good work with his Chinese in Tibet.

On Sunday morning we left Kathmandu for the journey to Friendship Bridge and into Tibet, stopping in Zamlu for a well deserved if not slightly dodgy chinese meal!

We then got back in our buses to continue the journey up to Nyalam only to be confronted with a 4 ½ hour traffic jam in the noisest place you can imagine. Horns blowing, whistling, people shouting, not the greatest place sit and digest lunch but everyone remained in good spirits and we got moving eventually and into the snow, arriving in Nyalam late evening.

A few people by then were really starting to feel the Altitude. We had travelled from Sea Level at Kathmandu up to Nylam which is 4000 m in one day. This has been fine for the majority of people but a few have succumbed with sickness, nausea and headaches.

We have done a couple of treks and everyone managed to get to the top of our first trek. I have been feeling OK except I had to turn back on my second days trek with a banging headache. It’s important to go to your own limit when acclimatising and build gradually though.

A couple of members of the devleopment team who were a couple of days behind us on the flights over have managed to catch us up which is good. They seem to be coping well too but will probably stay an extra day down here in order for them to get used to the altitude.

There have been a few hiccups in Nyalam but nothing too serious. Our first night here it snowed quiet heavily and so there was a lot of settled snow on the ground and on the roofs. The sun came up early in the morning and can be quite strong at this height. Within hours it had started to melt the snow, turning the roof on the hotel into a resevoir which then came through our ceiling and onto the kit of one unsuspecting team member, narrowly missing the laptop next to it!! Unfortunately this hasn’t put any of the hotel’s resident rats off!!

The weather has got progressively colder and everything is freezing down pretty quickly. I have had a few incidents with trips to the toilet in the night. What with avoiding our furry friends and negotiating the frozen water on the ground, there have been some hairy moments and I have had a couple of near misses with the hole in the ground that is the toilet!!

However we have discovered hot showers and baths down the road which has been a real bonus. We have also done our washing in the baths afterwards. Only problem is that when you hang your washing out it freezes before it dries, so our clothes can stand up in there own!

We had a birthday cake made by the porters for Glynn Sheppard this morning, so all very happy and we will be moving out to Tingri in the morning. We will go over a pass at 5100m from there we should catch a glimpse of Everest. We are all very excited about that, more so beacause we will be leaving Nyalam behind us. There are a lot of mangey dogs and smelly Yaks and a lot of very poor Tibetan children who constantly beg for food and money which is very difficult sometimes.

We also need to move Jules on as he has yet again taken a shine to one of the girls in the town. It was only day 2 in Kathmandu when he started chatting up an Austrailian UN worker!! Must be something to do with the zip up underarm vents he has had specially sewn into his jacket! He just won’t shut up about them!!

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