Posted by Jo Ingold
We left our camp fire and Yangle Kharka and spent the next two days climbing steadily to reach Makalu Base Camp at 4800m. It was a tough two days with a total height gain of 1200m and most of the team arrived into base camp feeling the effects of the altitude.
On our arrival in base camp we located Colin, Sundeep and Toby from the South East Ridge Team and stopped for a brew and an update on their progress. Under the guidance of Sam, our deputy leader, extra rations of sweets, chocolate and nuts were acquired from the S.E Ridge Team which should keep us going over the next week as we push on upwards to Mera Peak. A happy afternoon was spent munching and swapping rations (Phoebe has eaten all of her chocolate bars already!)
Later Toby joined us for dinner and gave a presentation on the S.E Ridge Team’s efforts so far. Sadly it was our last meal with AVM Kurth who left this morning to continue on to the North Ridge Base Camp and meet up with the Main Team (NB: all emails for AVM Kurth to be directed to Main Team).
Fourteen of our porters also leave us at this point as we have eaten our way through a good proportion of the rations! The customary tipping ceremony was performed- each porter receives a tip of one days pay per seven days work. Dave, our leader, thanked them all for their amazing efforts and each came forward in turn to shake our hands. Two of the female Sherpas (Sherpanis) were too shy however!
We were rewarded with our first views of Makalu this morning. The sheer height and scale of the mountain is breath-taking, dominating the entire valley.
Today was our first rest day and most of the team went for a short acclimatization walk to about 5200m. We will spend a second night here at base camp before ascending again tomorrow. This will give everyone a chance to recover from the effects of the altitude we have gained so far.
The ‘prat hat’ is yet to be awarded for today but seems to have sparked great interest amongst family and friends so here is a list of the winners so far…
|
Winner
|
The Deed…
|
|
Nick T
|
Losing the village childrens ball on a roof
|
|
Dwain
|
The ‘mat’ incident
|
|
Dusty
|
General ridiculous comments
|
|
Jo
|
Dwain & Nick convince the Doc she has HAPE
|
|
Claire
|
Crazy dancing on the Shipton La
|
|
Sam
|
Gross tomfoolery resulting in a nose bleed
|
|
Nick K
|
Being over-zealous on the hill
|
|
Dave
|
Hanging his stinking socks above our heads at night…
|
We will keep you updated!
We will leave tomorrow with a fully charged laptop battery but there is no guarantee that we will be able to continue blogging on a daily basis. Fingers crossed the battery will last enabling us to keep you informed of our progress…..
NB: A video clip has been added for the 12th May, taken on the Shipton La.