Patrick Heads Up

2nd May

Having dined on parma ham with the French, eaten undersize sardines with the Spanish, refused dog from the Koreans, stolen a heater from the Irish and discovered untold gems in Russell Brice's outfit, we have decided that there was no other option but to banish him from Base Camp for a few days. Nic, given the unenviable role of official escort, quietly led the despairing Patrick around the moraine and up towards Interim Camp.

Surprisingly enough, life is much quieter now Patrick has gone, although I must admit I already miss him. Unfortunately he left his guitar case unlocked and Pauline has taken over as chief crooner. Patrick come back, all is forgiven.

Today we have nominated as Chris's birthday. Yesterday he returned from Camp 2 at 7500m, (round of applause please) and he has been craving chips. Pemba our accommodating chef duly obliged and this afternoon we are making him an apple crumble. I just hope that Ro and I get the same treatment if and when we make the North Coll.

Base Camp is smelling sweetly today as Pauline, Phil, Chris, Nigel and myself all enjoyed our first shower for over a week. Ro has been industrious and fixed the holes in Sarah's walking boots whilst Sarah looked on in sheer admiration. If Ro ever chooses a new career, cobbler could be on the menu.

Well as we are down to 7 at base camp I better tell you where the rest of the team are:

Interim: Nic, Patrick

ABC: Seb, Andre, Jamie, Dom, Andrew

As a small aside I must comment on Seb and his mountain goat tendencies. He is the only member of the team to walk directly to ABC in one go and takes less time to do so than it takes the rest of us to get to Interim. Jealous – damn right!

Posted by Dickie

Climbing harness for dummies

1st May

Forgive me if you know all this already, or if it's too patronising. ‘Proper' climbers stop reading now. There has been lots of discussion amongst the team as to what the best set up on your harness is and it struck me that there would be people at home for whom our climbing set ups would be totally alien but quite interesting. For rock climbing there's one set up, for touring in the Alps another, and for climbing Everest another set up again. Some people have opted to use a number of slings but the majority of our group are using a cows tail. “A what tail?” was my question when this was first proposed. You've heard lots about the shear effort needed to climb the North Col (and Nic and I can confirm that it's jolly hard work) but here I thought I'd give you an idea of how and with what.

On the right is a picture of a ‘cows tail' attached to my harness. It's basically a 4m piece of rope tied into a number of loops that I've labelled A-D. Clipped onto the cows tail and harness is the gear you need to climb safely on the fixed ropes which have been placed all the way up the north side of Everest by a team of Sherpas earlier this season.

On the way up you click on your jumar (the big red thing on loop A that slides up the rope and grips allowing you to pull yourself up) to the fixed rope and also click on your safety carabena (the metal D-shaped thing on loop D). I had my carabena above the jumar on the rope as it stopped the length of rope attached to the carabena flapping around my legs. Every 20m or so the fixed line is anchored into the ground using snow stakes (very, very big tent pegs essentially). At these points you take off your safety carabena from the end of the last line and attach it to the next one and then do the same with your jumar, so you are always attached to the fixed line and hence to the mountain.

On the way down you have a choice. On the steeper sections it's comfortable to use a belay devise (on my harness the metal thing in the shape of an 8, called a “figure of 8”!) but if the rope is fixed too tightly or if there is someone already on the rope then you can't attach it so you need to use the prussic (the yellow bit of rope). The prussic works by looping it around the fixed line and then clipping it to a carabena. It will slide up and down the rope if you push it but if you suddenly fall on it then it locks and won't move – I tried it to make sure! At all points you also have the safety carabena clipped onto the line so again, you are always attached to the mountain. The prussic or belay devise is attached to loop B as it is closer to the middle than loop C because it needs to be easily within your reach whereas loop C is just a spare spot to put your safety carabena. Loops B and C also allow you to tidy away any spare rope preventing tripping – important!!

It's hard to see but loop D has got gaffa tape close to the knot. This is to limit the movement of the carabena. All of the ends of rope have been melted, sealed and gaffa-taped too. You can imagine the scene of us all measuring out rope and sealing the ends – it was like something out of Blue Peter!

We've all tried to minimise the amount of gear on the harness. For example look at how the cow's tail is attached to the harness, it's looped through itself (called a larks foot) rather than using a carabena. It all counts!

That's it for the harness, it might seem complicated but if you try it out then you'll realise that it's actually quite straightforward. In addition to the harness you have a pair of crampons on your boots (big spikes that dig into the snow and ice) and some people had an ice axe. There wasn't any technical ice climbing to reach the North Col and most people used their axe as something to steady them, others binned the axe entirely and used a walking pole instead. And that's it!

Now a brief summary of where people are on the mountain at the moment:

Base Camp - Nic, Dickie, Ro, Pat, Phil, Pauline, Chis, Nigel, Sarah

Interim Camp - Dom, Andy, Jamie, Andre

ABC - Seb

Posted by Sarah

High Altitude Research project

30th April

During the expedition I am conducting a research project to try and understand why some people get unwell at altitude. Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is a condition some people develop following rapid ascent to altitudes above 2500m. Its incidence is related to the rate of ascent, and its severity related to highest altitude attained. It is characterised primarily by headache, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. It is still not understood why some people are susceptible to this condition and others not but it has long been hypothesised that AMS may be due to raised intracranial pressure (increased pressure within the skull). It has been almost impossible to test this hypothesis in the field because in order to measure intracranial pressure it is necessary to insert a small pressure monitor into the skull. Over the years there have been very few volunteers for this procedure! My study takes advantage of a new ultrasound technique that non-invasively measures intracranial pressure. The lining of the optic nerve (the main nerve to the eye) is continuous with the lining of the brain. When the pressure around the brain increases the lining of the optic nerve bulges. If this bulge is greater than 5mm this indicates raised intracranial pressure. It is this ‘bulge' that I am able to measure with ultrasound. The first pictures show me scanning Ro's eyes in the relative comfort of Nyalam and the corresponding scan. The other picture shows me holding the ultrasound unit and laptop me outside my 6400m research facility (tent darkened with blue tarpaulin) with Everest in the background. As well as allowing me to answer an important and interesting research question, this study also allows me to closely monitor the health of all members of the expedition and take action when required. This study has been made possible by the generosity of Opthalmic Technologies Inc. who have kindly lent me the ‘Otiscan 1000' worth $26,000. They will no doubt be pleased to hear that the ultrasound is working perfectly despite being in this harsh environment.

Posted by Andy

The truth about basecamp!

29th April

Its funny but the extraordinary is now familiar. Walk a hundred yards and Everest fills the sky – each side of the valley the Tibetan skyline rises up from the glacial plain and there is utter peace save for the wind that falls from the North face of our mountain.

You would think that such a setting inspires lofty thoughts and noble contemplations – not a chance! All meals result in lengthy debates about the favorite food for each member – Dom's is Red Leicester on granary toast, pickled onions, ploughmans…on it goes. Andre is missing beluga caviar, quails eggs and fine Bordeaux, Pauline is missing pot noodle!

Real evolutionary behaviour is occurring as some members source food treats from other camps on the back of Andrew's excellent medical advice.

Our first party invite last night courtesy of the British Army west ridge team – we went in complete darkness down to the bizarrely named Hotel California – which was actually a standard Tibetan guest house and found most of our friends asleep wrapped in duvets. Three hardy souls were awake to greet us and we braved Lhasa beer and some Tibetan rock music. It was time to leave when our hostess fell asleep whilst shovelling sheep droppings (a good fuel) into the little stove that you find in each such tent.

Three of us heard a real party and nervously peaked in to find Tibetan men dancing and singing to a guitar. Our arrival was greeted with surprise but we were made very welcome particularly when we clapped which our hosts found very funny. A perfect experience of daily Tibetan life, which we were briefly allowed to share.

We walked back warm and the night was bearable – at dusk and sunrise the temperature plummets – we have recorded minus 13 degrees. Its tough but its fun!

Posted by Patrick

Recovering at Basecamp

28th April

As a team we are all at different stages on the mountain and this has been dictated on how we each as individuals have acclimatised. Through the guidance of Andrew our expedition doctor we all know the importance of listening to our bodies before pushing higher. I came back to base camp yesterday afternoon after spending five days high on the mountain and pushing up to the North col. As for most of us on the team this was a record height for me personally and the physical effort required to get to the North col certainly takes it toil on your body and especially your lungs. Life at base camp now feels like being at sea level, even though we are some 400 meters above the summit of Mont Blanc, one sleeps better here, it is not quite so cold even though it can fall to -15c at night, the days are warmer and Pemba our Nepalese cook provides great food for us. Today we had one of the best lunches on the trip as we got re-stocked from Kathmandu yesterday and had fresh cucumber and carrot salad, potato and aubergine curry and yak cheese and sausages with chapattis followed by mango. So for once on the trip we are starting to feel replenished.Even though the climb from advance base camp back to base camp is 22km and you know that you will have to repeat the painful climb back to ABC in a few days time the good life at base camp beckons one down the hill as soon as possible.

We thought it would be useful for those back home to know where everyone is on the mountain.

Basecamp
Dom, Andre, Andrew, Jamie, Seb, Patrick

Advanced Basecamp
Phil, Pauline, Nic, Sarah, Dickie, Chris, Ro and Nigel

Posted by Andre

Jamie and Andre back for rest

27th April

Today, Andre and myself trekked down through fresh powder snow from ABC for some rest time at Base camp. The North col was a massive achievement for us all but when I woke up this morning feeling just as tired as when I got back from the col yesterday I realised that it was time to leave Advance Base Camp. We broke trail down to Intermediate Camp and then luckily the snow had melted slightly so the path was slightly more forgiving. We arrived back at the luxury of Base Camp just after lunch and Pemba (basecamp cook) provided us with a healthy bowl of pasta.

Advance Base Camp is positioned at the tip of the East Rhongbuk glacier and has a spectacular view of the North Col. In fact if you look at the right angle from the mess tent window, you can just about see the summit towering above. Although the setting for the camp is spectacular, life at 6,400m is never going to be easy. The intensity from the sun during the day means you will burn in no time at all, yet as soon as the sun drops behind the mountains, down suits and summit boots are required to stay warm. Even then it is only bearable till about 7:30pm when the lure of a toasty sleeping bag leads everyone to their tents. What this means is that we then have to endure 12 hours tucked up in your sleeping bag not actually getting much sleep because of head aches, highly disturbed breathing patterns and the constant need to fill and empty your pee bottle. Even if you do finally get to sleep, the frozen condensation that forms on the rim of your sleeping bag wakes you up every time you move, and even drinking some water can leave you so out of breath that it takes about 10 minutes for you heart to calm down enough for sleep. And then just when your heart calms down, the glacier will crack and rumble, as the age-old ice moves beneath you! This obviously means that it is impossible to recover properly at ABC and this is why Andre and I chose to descend to base camp today.

General day to day activities like going to the toilet, or getting out of tents can also leave you extremely short of breath up there. Yesterday, Nic and I organised all the mountain food for the 3 camps up on the mountain and had to sit down for a while afterwards.

Because your heart is permanently racing whilst at such high altitudes, the amount of weight everyone loses whilst away from Base Camp is amazing. I personally didn't think I'd lost any weight during the 5 days I've been away but when I got back to Base camp Dom and Seb said I looked like I'd lost weight – all less to carry up the mountain if you ask me!

Posted by Jamie

Andrew's experience of The North Col

26th April

At the beginning of the expedition I was fairly busy with medical matters, so Sunday was my first experience of ABC. It is a stunningly beautiful walk up from Interim to ABC but with a fully loaded rucksack it is absolutely exhausting. On arrival at ABC I pretty much slumped on the table in the mess tent. Andre took pity on me and kindly made up my tent so that I could get some much needed rest. On Sunday evening the North Col seemed a long way away and sleep was all that I craved. On Monday morning we all sat round for breakfast and discussed our plans for the day. Seb, who had ascended to ABC a day earlier after missing out Interim camp, was full of energy and ambition and firmly had the North Col in his sights. I had had an unexpectedly good first night at 6400m and was surprisingly full of energy. I decided I would join Seb and give the North Col a go. As Seb strode off into the distance I started to worry that may be my 65% blood oxygen saturations would not be enough. (Blood oxygen saturations represent the percentage of red blood cells occupied by oxygen – the best value in our group is about 80%, and Dom for instance had ‘sats' of about 55% when he went down to a lower altitude. At sea level with these values we would all be heading to intensive care!). As we started to climb the North Col , however, we proceeded at the same pace - as you can see from the pictures I had a great view of Seb's rear end for about 4 hours! The only way I can describe it is is absolutely knackering. It is impossible to climb without stopping to catch your breath. Depending on the incline it would be possible to make from 1 – 10 steps before being forced to stop for breath. Some of these stops would require up to 30 breaths before one felt strong enough to start again. Fortunately we were both able to get over the precarious ladder without needing to stop for a rest. Both Seb and I have only ever been as high as 6400m so it was a real triumph to reach the North Col at 7000m. Here the summit of Everest looks deceptively close but we still have another 1850m to go. Seb and I had a very enjoyable 22km walk back down to base camp to rejoin Dom and Patrick. We are now enjoying life at base camp – washing (ourselves and clothes), eating, and breathing an altogether richer air. We plan to stay here a few more days before returning to ABC and then sleeping at the North Col before making an assault on Camp 2 (7600m). As I write this we have heard from ABC on the satellite phone that Phil, Pauline, Andre, Nigel, Chris and Jamie have all reached the North Col today. Everyone is heading back to basecamp tomorrow when we plan to celebrate – may be our first altitude beer?

Posted by Andrew