Expedition Cancelled
Well I'm sorry to say that I've had to cancel my Shishapangma expedition this season. To date we've been unable to secure a climbing permit and Hector and I decided that we just didn't have enough time left to give…
Welcome to 2009
Sitting in a flash new coffee shop in Kathmandu checking my emails with free Wi-Fi internet. Boy has this place changed since my first visit in the '80s!! For those who are new to my despatches, my hope for this…
Back to Civilisation
A final message from our Makalu expedition. After a few days waiting for our porters to trek up from the villages down valley, we were able to pack up our equipment and trek down into the forests of the Makalu…
Wish us luck.
We're going for it. All weather forecasts indicate our best chance is to stick to our plan of heading up tomorrow (saturday) to camp 2. We expect some snow showers on the way but Sunday should clear as we head…
Ready to go for it.
We are back in basecamp after climbing to 7400 metres to place our camp 3 on the Makalu La. Having climbed directly to camp 2, we spent the night there but Neil was unable to continue next morning as he…
Camp 2 established.
Since the last despatch we've been busy and enjoying the mountain. The day after the Puja ceremony we made our first foray up the hill to camp 1. The route is very direct, climbing steeply up some lateral moraine beside…
First days on the hill.
We arrived in Makalu basecamp 2 days ago and were greeted with the sight of several other expeditions on the mountain. Some of these had changed their plans from climbing in Tibet, due to the border closure. Basecamp is located…
Makalu at last!
Finally our Russian built MI17 helicopter has delivered us to our mountain. Our scheduled flight for the 16th was delayed until the 19th for any number of dubious reasons but on that day another team was flown into basecamp ahead…