Hola people!!!
Today we manage to erect up another comms tent for Ting Sern since the last one has the fly torn off by the strong winds up here. The good news is that Dave and Gill will be back from IC at Base Camp tomorrow. They are one cycle ahead of me and Beng Cheong for acclimatisation at the higher altitudes. Looks like they will be very hungry once they get back here, we usually are starve once we get back to Base Camp.
Meanwhile, we are getting better, the coughs are still there but its a little bit dry and also the head colds are getting better. Personally, I can’t wait to get back up the mountain, maybe its because the food’s too good in Base Camp.
Tomorrow we hope to hear Dave and Gill tell their story of their climb up the north col and how they feel up there. Beng Cheong and myself, we are still struggling to get healthy and hope that within the next 3 days, we will be ready for our next round of climb. I am looking forward to a good climb.
cheers
Mohd Rozani
Hi everyone,
The day before yesterday (Tuesday), one Kuwatii climber was carried down from ABC to BC by a chain of 12 porters and guides. He suffered from HACE (High Altitude Celebral Edemna – a problem of AMS). He was okay on the way up to I-C and was walking up with us from BC to I-C.
Yesterday, David & Gil came down from North Col to ABC. Today, they will be moving down from ABC to I-C. They should be down in BC by tomorrow afternoon.
Yesterday, both I and Beng Cheong with 2 other American climbers took a very long walk from BC to Rongbuk Monastery and back. Distance is about 8 miles (13 km). The Tibetian Monastery is very badly maintained and bear the ‘works’ of the Chinese Red Guards that destroyed nearly 2000 monasteries in Tibet alone during the Cultural Revolution of 1975. Compared with the Nepali (Tibetan) monasteries of Manang and other regions of Nepal, this monastery is a long way from its original beauty.
Along the route, we saw lots of Chinese ‘blasting’ works – using TNT – but without much warning, the workers will set the explosives off. The closest shave we had was about 50m away !!
Rozani is nursing his very bad cough which was acquired from ABC.
Ting Sern
APPLE
Once again, Apple Powerbooks go high! Since 1998, we’ve used Apple Powerbooks as the hub of our satellite communications and news broadcast devices. Operating well over their manufacturers’ specifications our G3 Powerbooks are working well at over 5000m and in temperatures which range from 15 C to – 15C. It’s also very windy and dusty at Everest Basecamp Rongbuk (Tibet) but this is a challenge we hope that the Apples wil rise up to.
See http://www.apple.com
Roz and Ting Sern hard at work at Rongbuk Base Camp’s communications tent. On their laps are Apple G3 powerbooks.
Hello everybody.
This is Roz. Just came back from Advance Base Camp, leaving Gill and Dave to go on to the North Col all the way. I’m having the worst cough in my life when we decide to let me go down back to Base Camp. Its quite sad for me not being able to join them up there. Beng Cheong is also back at Base Camp, also due to a bad cough.
Before this problem occured, we made an attempt to go up to the North Col on the 21st Apr. It was10am, we began moving up, but the wind was so strong that barely leaving camp, Beng Cheong retreated. He began having a blocked sinus and could barely breathe the words that he did not wish to continue.
“It’s only a gust, we can continue” I shouted to him but I think the wind was too strong. He couldn’t hear me. I didn’t see him after that. David was more relaxed, saying to me that we should go as far as possible before turning back. So the three of us continued moving slowly to the cramponing area, just before the glacier. All of us were very tired from breathing the thin air and carrying loads at this altitude. The wind was beating on us and we could see some other climbers turn back due to the wind.
As I reach the wall near the fixed ropes, I turn my head and could only see Gill behind me. I suspected that Dave has turned back too. I continued jumaring up the fixed rope and Gill followed behind. After reaching the middle of the wall up approximately 300 meters rope length Gill caught up with me. I was so tired and cold. I signaled to Gill that I’m out of breath and wished to turn back. The cold wind was chewing me big time!! By then I was almost blown off twice.
I started to cough at the base of the ice wall. And it continued until we reach ABC. The cold dry air was not helping. That night I could barely sleep. The cough continued through the whole night and on the next day I woke up late. Realised that Beng Cheong had left ABC. Planned to rest on the 22nd before going up to stay at The North Col but with the hacking cough, I had to go lower to recover. Sadly the next morning, on 23rd, I see my buddies go up, and me to go down back to Base Camp.
The good news is that Dave and Gill arrived at the North Col, 7200m to sleep after a good time climbing.They will stay there for 2 days before coming down to ABC then BC.
Over and out.
Mohd Rozani
TRANS-EQUATORIAL ENGINEERING
Many thanks for Mr CK Phua’s corporate contribution. An unconventional businessman and most UNtypical of Singaporean businessmen, CK Phua saw opportunities of this expedition in not only furthering SIngapore nation-building but also as a platform to show that disabled people aren’t necessarily unable to participate and compete in the most challenging activities.
From left, Beng Cheong, Roz, David,Ting Sern and Gil.
Hi everyone,
First a correction to yesterday’s report –
The team of climbers did NOT manage to climb to North Col. They only managed to climb half way up the ice wall. They might attempt it again today,
Beng Cheong has returned to Base Camp YESTERDAY afternoon – following some physical difficulties adjusting to the environment of Advance Base Camp.
According to radio broadcasts, Rozani is supposed to come down today to Base Camp too. This leaves only 2 climbers left in ABC (David & Gil).
Today, we woke up to very cloudy and windy weather (cold too).
Our communications tent (which houses all the hi-tech communications equipment) was ripped apart by very strong winds yesterday afternoon. Today, we had to spend the whole of the morning improvising a repair with an American, who was attached to Eric Simmerson’s group. We are now waiting for more manpower and better weather to erect the Mountain Hardware “Golf Ball” tent, which is bigger and hopefully, better equipped to withstand the winds of Rongbuk Base Camp.
Ting Sern
“Dick the tent repairman”.
He was the one who helped us patched the comms tent after it was ripped apart by strong winds yesterday.
SINGAPORE AIRLINES:
Thanks for SIA’s generous baggage allowance, the expedition has been able to transport all its mission-critical equipment (1000kgs!) without a hitch to (and later, from) Kathmandu in Nepal. See SIA’s neat website at http://www.singaporeair.com.sg to see why it’s often regarded as the world’s best airline.
Looking cool in their SIA caps, from left, Beng Cheong, Ting Sern, Gil and David; and front Roz
Report from EBC
Good morning everyone,
This is SUNDAY morning at Rongbuk Base Camp.
Weather – well, little change from the past 2 days – bright sunshine, very cold and windy, but no clouds. The team of 4 climbers managed to ferry up loads from ABC to North Col yesterday – but I have no idea how much load was carried up.
The team will rest at ABC today.
Beng Cheong, one of the 4 climbers will be returning to Base Camp today – no reason was given in the radio broadcast from ABC. He is expected to be in Base Camp by tomorrow late morning or early afternoon.
Ting Sern
Today’s sponsor focus features:
SINGAPORE SPORTS COUNCIL:
The main sports provider in Singapore, the SSC has not only given a cash contribution to the expedition but has also provided the team with advice re strength programmes as well as dietary/ nutritional advice prior to the expedition via their Sports Medicine Centre.
See advice, fitness tips etc on http://www.ssc.gov.sg
From top left, Beng Cheong, Roz and Ting Sern, bottom David and Gil
Hello everybody,
Today, the four climbing members of the Singaporean-Latin American expedition will attempt to move up from ABC (Advance Base Camp – 6500m) to North Col (7000m). They will be ferrying loads (food and mountaineering equipment) up from ABC. This marks the first time they will be encountering real ice since they arrive in Everest Base Camp.
The weather at BC today is beautiful – windy, sunny, and no clouds.
TS
Today’s sponsor focus features:
CANON:
Canon has supplied us with digital cameras; making them our Official Digital Cameras and Camcorders. All digital images featured during our Everest 2001 climb were taken using either a Canon Digital IXUS or G1 Powershot camera. Digital video cameras include MV3is, MV300s as well as an XM1. See http://www.canon.com.sg
From left, Beng Cheong, David, Roz, Ting Sern and Gil
The YAK story
Some fun facts about our favourite gear carrier.
In Nepal, especially in the Everest region, many trekkers have seen black furry beasts of burden which they think are yaks. In fact, the majority of these animals are yak hybrids. A cross between yaks and cows, these are dzopkyos; smaller and more docile than the real yaks. They produce more milk and are thus more domesticated than the thoroughbreds.
Over here in Tibet, you get to meet the real yaks – large, often capricious beasts up to a tonne at times. When some hapless trekker’s duffel bag bothers a yak, it is not uncommon to see it bucking and thrashing about until the offending baggage is thrown off. I’ve even seen a duffel being twirled around on a horn tip of an enraged yak. Yak herders are contracted by the various authorities to carry our expedition kit to basecamp or beyond at times. After a harsh winter, the yaks carry less, so post-monsoon expeditions benefit by paying less (since the costs are calculated per yak head).
There is no such thing as yak cheese. Milk comes from female yaks or ” naks” as the sherpas call them. (In Tibet, female yaks or naks are called “dri “.) So technically, the cheese should be called “nak cheese”! In Nepal, you can find factories (I have seen them in Lantang region) producing the cheese, which are up to 10kg in weight and the size of a large basin.
Yak meat is also eaten in various parts of Nepal and Tibet. It tastes like buffalo meat, except it has a stronger odour and takes quite a while to get used to. The meat and soup is very heaty and is good during the winter months or when the trekker gets cold feet.
Yak dung which litter the trails here is often dried and used as a cheap source of fuel. Sometimes, they can be seen decorated on roof tops and side walls of villages. Unfortunately, we find that it burns very inefficiently and produces copious amounts of pungent smoke which definitely takes getting used to!
Ciao,
David and TS
Here, we see the yak herders loading the expedition’s barrels onto a yak. Notice the leading herder’s hold on the horn of the yak (to keep it under control).
Hi everyone,
Yesterday evening, I received a radio call from David that they have reached ABC (Advance Base Camp – 6500m).
The team will be resting at ABC today. According to schedule, tomorrow, they will attempt to climb to North Col (7000m) for the first time.
The weather at BC is normal – very windy, cold, and sunny. Hardly any clouds today.
This morning, I had a power supply failure (serious). We used solar energy to power all our electronic equipment. The solar panel supplies 24V, 2.5 amps nominal to a “charge controller”, which distributes the electrical energy between the backup sealed lead acid batteries and the equipment.
When I plugged in the battery outlets into the charge controller, I noticed the usual voltage (12.5 Volts) displayed. I then plugged in the solar panel output but failed to see the current (in amps) displayed on the controller. Also, there was no output power sent to the electronic equipment (Apple Powerbooks, Nera Worldphone, etc).
So, I dug out my usual tools and of course, the faithful FLUKE DMM and went to work. In 20 minutes, I saw my problem – a broken wiring (which is very common here – because of the severe environmentals – a daily temperature change from -20 deg C (at night) to 20 deg C (during the day). A 5 minute job with my battery powered soldering iron and presto …. everything works normally.
Thanks, Fluke!
Ting Sern
Today’s sponsor focus features:
SINGAPORE POOLS:
We thank Singapore Pools for their continued support for national mountaineering expeditions. Pools has an extensive community contributions programme and has helped many Singapore cultural, charitable and sporting causes. We’re proud to carry the Pools flag once more. See http://www.singaporepools.com.sg
Top from left: Ting Sern, Gil and Roz;
Bottom from left Beng Cheong, David.
Hi everyone,
Today’s weather is fine, as far as Rongbuk’s standards goes. Bright sunshine, gushing wind, no snow, no clouds.
Last night’s radio report from David came in at 6:20pm. The team was staying at Intermediate Camp (all okay).
Today, there was no radio calls from them. However, according to their schedule, they are now supposedly on the way up to ABC (Advance Base Camp) from Intermediate Camp (I-C). I will wait for radio calls at 6pm.
Ting Sern,
at Base Camp.
BRANDS ESSENCE OF CHICKEN:
Brands has been a staunch supporter of the expedition as well as the 1st Singapore Everest Expedition in 1998. We also have from them numerous food supplements including the famous (dehydrated version for the exclusive expedition use) Essence of Chicken. See http://www.brandsworld.com.sg
Two guys with strange head gear… Beng Cheong, Gil, Ting Sern, David and Roz. Looking very pleased with themselves after a hot Brands Essence of Chicken!!
Hi everyone,
In appalling weather today (wind was up – 25 knots, -20 deg C), cloudy sky (hardly any sun) and snow drifts around (which cuts visibility to 1000m), all 4 climbing members of the expedition left Base Camp (BC) left for Intermediate Camp (I-C) and later bound for ABC (Advance Base Camp) and the real objective, North Col. The team will be away for 8 days from today.
While the route from BC to ABC is mainly trekking on glacial moraine and glacial ice itself, the path up from ABC to North Col is a steep (45 degrees to 50 degrees) ice slope. Members will taste ice climbing (using crampons and ice axes) for the first time since coming to Everest BC.
Health wise, all 4 members of the climbing team are still suffering from some coughs and/or colds in one way or another.
Cheers
Ting Sern
SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS:
Our official media, SPH’s contributes to the community through support for sporting events, writing and reading causes as well as other worthy community activities. We thank SPH for their support and hope to be sending more stories and pictures in the course of the expedition.
See http://www.sph.com.sg
From left guy with strange head gear… Beng Cheong, Roz, Ting Sern, Gil, and David.
Hello again…
Today we manage to our duty for our sponsors, we took pictures.
Managed to take stills and digitals images with our sponsor’s banners. For the stills, we manage to salvage from Ting Sern’s “magic box” a good flash for the camera. As for the digital cameras, we just shift our position so that the sun shines on our faces. I left the G1 Canon digital camera at Advance Base Camp (its going to the summit U know) so only the Ixus are left at Base Camp.
We are preparing to go up tomorrow. This time round, we will be away from Base Camp for at least 8 days. It’s going to be full of action because this time we will attempt to get to Camp 5, this is at 7900 m. If the weather permits, we will try and go higher. The winds are still blowing hard and we hope that it will slow down a little bit. Your prayers could help.
Health notes.
We’ve been eating too much (realised this a bit too late) and we have to get rid of the extras. Guess the climb tomorrow will help us burn off the spares that we have picked up over the last few days. Our coughs are getting OK. I have finished an antibiotics course and quite a lot of cough syrup too. They taste good.:)
Gonna be higher
rozani
Base Camp
16/Apr
Dear Friends,
Our fourth day of rest here. Colds are drying up and coughs a bit better. Thanks for all your email and news from home. Special hello to all my friends at Troy Athens marching band and the Summit Journal Chat. The weather has been ugly up high with snow even down here at basecamp (4 cm a few nights ago). Clouds have obscured views of Everest completely these last few days.
Our plan for the next critical stage is to reach North Col and to spend time up there. We shall be leaving Base Camp on the 18th for Intermediate Camp and then to Advance Base Camp on the 19th. Here, we’ll rest a bit and then hope to reach North Col on the 21st. I would add that the key to able to launch climbing forays higher up or a summit bid is dependent on how we do on this next round up the mountain. The Col is a snowy saddle at 7000, affording spectacular views onto the other side of the north face of Everest and a peek into Nepal over Everest’s west ridge. It will be a grunt to get up – but hey, this is where climbing begins! We’ll be out of touch except of radio calls down to BC for about eight days, so please bear with the skimpy dispatches until then.
Meanwhile, we’re catching up on some reading with Roz tucking into Alex Haley’s ” Roots” and I sneak away daily with Henri Charriere’s ” Papillon”. Since Gil has only one book in Portuguese, he is savouring the adventures of Bilbo Baggins in the translation of JRR Tolkien’s “Fellowship of the Ring”.
Ciao,
David
Olah,
Em primeiro lugar agradeco a todos que tem mandado mensagens de apoio a nossa expedicao. Estas mensagens sao muito importantes pois ajudam a levantar o nosso astral. Muito obrigado.
Hoje completamos 17 dias aqui na montanha e jah chegamos aos 6.600m no Campo 3, ou ABC. O Campo 3 fica no peh do colo norte e bem embaixo de toda a face norte do Everest….eh magestosa a visao. Esta empreitada durou 5 dias, ida e volta ao campo base, e agora estamos descansando aqui no Base…aos 5.400m de altitude. O que fazemos por aqui?…bem, eh um trabalho de paciencia pois o clima e frio e muito vento. Passamos o dia dentro das barracas, com poucas saidas, lendo (estou lendo agora o Sr. dos Aneis), escutando musica e…..esperando a hora do almoco, do jantar, da pipoca da tarde… Tambem o contato com os americanos esta sendo muito bom, cabecas diferentes, experiencias diferentes, etc. Amanha, se o tempo melhorar quero ver se vamos ate o Monasterio de Rongbuk, um importante Templo Budista, proximo ao Campo Base do Everest. Umas 2 horas de caminhada.
Dia 18 devemos retornar para altitudes maiores. A meta sera o Colo Norte a 7.000m de altitude, depois voltamos, descansamos e voltamos de novo para cima…
abracos a todos,
Gil
Translation:
Hi,
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has sent supporting messages for our expedition. These messages are really important. Keeps our motivation up. Thank you very much.
Today we complete 17 days here in the mountain and we already reached Camp 3 at 6.600m, also known as Advanced Base Camp. Camp 3 lies at the feet of the North Cole, right under the the north face of Mt. Everest… the view is magnificent. This journey to Camp 3 took us 5 days from Base Camp and back, and now we are resting here in BC at 5.400m of altitude. What do we do here? … well, it’s a patience exercise due to the strong wind and cold. We spend the day inside the tent, with a few going outs, reading (now I am reading The Lord of the Rings), listening to music and… waiting for lunch time, dinner and having popcorn in between… The contact with the Americans has also being very good, different minds, different experiences, and so on. Tomorrow, if the weather gets better, I will try to bring the guys up to the Rongbuk Monastery, which is an important Buddhist Temple, close to the Everest Base Camp, within 2 hours of walking.
On April, 18th we should get back to higher altitudes. Our next goal will be the North Cole at 7.000 asl, then we come back, rest and climb up again…
Big hug,
Gil
Hello everyone..
Today we are actively resting at Base Camp !?!!!!
All of us are eating as much as we can to replace some of the energy burnt off during our last climb to Advance Base Camp.
Last night was snowing. We had a little bit of a breeze from the North. In the morning, there was snow all over camp. For us, from equatorial Singapore, it looked good. We grabbed our cameras and furiously started shooting each other and the Everest.
Mt. Everest is fully covered with clouds and only sometimes shyly revealing itself just for a moment. We took pictures with our sponsors’ badges, flags etc. but the sun was behind us and we all looked even darker than we already are. Thanks to the Apple Powerbooks and Canon Ixus Digital Cameras we saw our attempts immediately. We’re planning for another photoshoot in the evening when the sun will be shining on our faces with Everest on the background. This way, you will get to see our faces too!!!
Health note…
Everyone except Ting Sern is coughing. I still have my head cold and been downing antibiotics down my gullet. We are all resting, drinking lot’s of hot Brands’ Essence of Chicken and hope to be up in the next 3 days. Meantime, life a little bit slow at Base Camp with the wind still blowing now and then.
Mohd Rozani
East of Rongbuk, note the glacier
The trek up to Advance Base Camp.
It was a long walk
Dear Friends,
Thanks for all you messages. Al/ Chris – regards to Bear, Jay and Liz/ SJC – have conveyed hellos to Dave Hahn
After 4 days up high, the team is back in Basecamp (BC). It was a hard slog to get to Advance Base Camp (ABC). Current fast runners are Roz and Gil who both made the legs to Intermediate camp and ABC in very good time. It’s hard work, covering the total BC- ABC distance of over 21 km , most of it over 5900m. I had a particularly bad time, nursing a cold, and got into ABC quite hammered.
The route above the intermediate camp, is more of the same although the route crisscrosses more glaciated terrain, none dangerous, but thin layers of powdered scree overlaying slick ice made for careful walking.
It was hard not to keep looking at the soaring north face of Everest. Occasionally, it would be obscured by Changtse’s north ridge, but in any case, the summit route is easily discerned even from a distance. Closer to ABC, the Raphu-La/ pass revealed itself as well as the difficult northeast ridge. This ridge eventually merges into the north ridge/north face’s shoulder. The NE ridge withstood many attempts, including the ill-fated British 1982 expedition which had Tasker and Boardman disappearing near the crux of the climb , the Pinnacles. The ridge succumbed some years later to a huge Japaneses expedition which seiged it for 2 months.
We spent 2 days at ABC (6500m), scoping out the route to our next objective – the North Col ( 7000m ) .We also set up 2 larger tents at ABC for more elbow room!! From the snowy saddle of the North Col, summit attempts will be launched. However, back in BC, this is still a long way to go. We will head up only in another 5 days or so. The sherpas and American team with which we are sharing resources are pushing the route hard though and some interesting developments are due in a few days.
WIth the ‘circus’ in town – many expeditions here now, it will be interesting to see how many are willing to share the costs of the fixed line to be used on the route as well as the manpower to get the line there in the first place. So far the big teams here are : the Russians, the Aussie Army Team as well as Russell Brice’s outfit.
But for now, we have numerous things to settle – the main is to get rested as well as getting rid of our hacking coughs and streaming head colds. The low temps, dust and bugs around here don’t help.
Ciao
David
This is Intermediate Camp(I-C), situated between B-C and ABC. It is placed on a very rocky terrain, mostly moraine.
News from Tibet (10/4/2001)
Hi everyone,
Ting Sern here …. no change in weather since yesterday. Sun is shining brightly now, but the wind is still very strong (and cold).
I got a radio call from David (this morning) that they are staying one day in ABC (Advance Base Camp, 6500m) and should be coming down tomorrow morning. The team is fine. ABC is really very cold.
That’s all I have for you at the moment,
Bye (from the freezer),
TS