Bluedome

Challenge 8000 - The Makalu Diaries

Sunday 25 April 1999

Alan Hinkes has sent back his latest report from low Makalu base camp at 4500m:

"Despite my plans going slightly off course over the last two weeks, I am finally at Makalu base camp. As I sit in my tent, I have a fantastic view; I can see Lhotse and the south col of Everest very clearly to one side.
Towering above me is the south-west face of Makalu. It feels good to be here.

I left Kathmandu as planned on Monday 5 April on a twin otter turbo-prop plane heading for Tumlingtar at 950m. My equipment had left Kathmandu a few days earlier by road, with my Nepalese staff Dawa and Pemba and I was due
to meet up with it at Tumlingtar. The airstrip is a dirt strip above the Arun River and as we approached the weather closed in. The pilot decided not to risk landing and diverted to Biratnagar, which is a large town close to the Indian border. The temperatures here were unbearably hot and the Malaria risk very high. I was forced to spend the night there.

In the morning, things seemed even worse. The plane developed a navigation system problem and another plane had to be called from Kathmandu. Finally the second plane took off and, with lighter winds than the day before, managed to land at Tumlingtar.

It wasn't until Wednesday 7 April that we set off on the twelve day trek to Makalu. I had 40 porters carrying my climbing equipment, tents, food, communications equipment and everything I would need for the next two months.

To start with we walked through lowlands with paddy fields terraced up the hillsides. The nearest road was about three days walk the other side of Tumlingtar and so we were walking on tracks and pathways between the fields. We pushed on through Kanbari, the 'market' town and a sort of headquarters for the region. The climate here is almost sub-tropical, very humid and hot. We camped for the night just beyond Kanbari.

The next day the route started to head uphill, following the Arun River, and we went past the spot where I slipped and fell off the path in 1995. A branch was the only thing that had stopped me falling further.
Unfortunately it stopped me by skewering my leg and giving me a nasty injury. It proved to be the end of my attempt on Makalu that year.

That night we stopped on an exposed ridge at Chichilla and there was a horrendous thunderstorm. The lightning crashed all around us and gave our tents a thorough testing.

We trekked along the ridge the next day to Num at 1500m, a village with about twenty buildings and a school which was typical of the region; a single storey building with a tin roof, mud bricks and a bare earth floor.

By Saturday 10 April I was beginning to feel unwell. Since leaving Tumlingtar I seemed to have no power or energy, but I didn't believe that there was anything seriously wrong. The higher I climbed the weaker I became. It felt almost as if I was at high altitude already. I suppose I am used to putting myself through suffering on the mountain and I continued to push myself quite hard.

The path took us down again quite steeply, dropping to 650m so that we could cross the Arun river using a rickety suspension bridge. We then had to climb back up to 1490m through a forest and to the village of Seduwa where we camped for the night. All that day I felt shivery and cold despite the heat, suffering stomach cramps and pains.

From this point we started to get higher. On Sunday we walked as far as Tashigoan, at 2200m, the last village that we would be passing through. Beyond Tashigoan the country is uninhabited and wild. We continued up to Kongma at 3500m.

By Tuesday 13 April I couldn't go any further. I was very weak and felt much worse. I had to be helped back down to Tashigoan where I called for an emergency helicopter to come and rescue me. I could not have walked any
further, the next part of the descent was too steep and there were no doctors or medicine and nowhere for me to try to recover. I didn't know what I was suffering from. All sorts of possible diseases crossed my mind including Typhoid and Malaria. I was deteriorating quickly and urgently needed medical attention in Kathmandu.

The heli whisked me back to hospital in Kathmandu where tests established that I had a virulent parasitic intestinal infection - Giardia and complications such as dehydration. Apparently Giardia can be fatal if left untreated. I have no doubt it was the right decision to get back quickly to Kathmandu. The hospital gave me some strong medication, rehydrated me and ordered complete rest and quiet. I felt very ill for a few days. I also believed at first that this was the end of my expedition. I thought that I might have lost too much time to be able to get back to Makalu before the monsoons close in at the start of June. I need at least five weeks at the mountain to be able to acclimatise and climb. Time was running out.

The promise of a heli to take me to as near to base camp as possible spurred my recovery. By cutting out the long trek up to Makalu I could make up some of the lost time. By Friday 16 April I was feeling well enough to start to plan my return. Unfortunately the doctors put me on some new medication that day and I felt a bit rough again for a while. The
medication wouldn't allow me to drink beer - how bad could things get? But I quickly felt better again.

I had hoped to leave Kathmandu on Monday 19 April, but the Prime Minister of Nepal needed the helicopter pilot for his general election campaign!

I was at Kathmandu airport by 6am on Tuesday 20 April and, taking one porter, Pasang, with me to help carry my equipment to base camp, the heli took me on the two hour flight to a spot called Yangre Karka at 3500m. The heli was quite small and although we went up to about 5000m to look at Makalu, it could only land at 3500m, about a day's trek away from base camp. Unusually, the heli pilot 'parked' his helicopter and got out to stretch his legs. He was hoping to find some of the locally grown sweet potatoes to take back with him, but we hadn't landed near enough to any cultivated areas for him to find any.

The porter who had travelled with me set off for base camp. He had recently been at a high altitude and was already acclimatised and was able to alert my Nepalese staff, Dawa and Pemba of my arrival. I camped for the night where I was. To go suddenly to 3500m is quite dangerous, but in fact I felt fine. For a short time I had a headache which was probably the early signs of mountain sickness, but after a sleep during the afternoon I felt OK.

In the morning I felt good and trekked up the Barun Valley to about 4100m. Again I felt fine and relieved that I was acclimatising so easily. I camped for the night and then trekked further up the valley to about 4600m. Here I did feel the altitude for a while, but again after a rest and a night's sleep I felt fine.

On Friday 23 April I set off for lower base camp which had been set up at 4950m. I was joined by two porters helping me with my equipment. Half an hour from base camp disaster nearly struck. We needed to cross a fast flowing and very cold stream; the meltwaters from the Makalu glacier. Most of my equipment had been carried to base camp in large waterproof barrels, but everything which I had taken back to Kathmandu with me had been travelling in soft dufflebags. One porter was carrying the bag with my communications equipment, laptop computer and video camera. He slipped at the edge of the stream and he and the bag were totally immersed for a few seconds. The other porter was nearest to him - I had stopped further downstream taking photos - and laughing at his friend, grabbed both the
porter and the bag and dragged them to safety. The porter was fine, if rather wet, and they both had a good laugh about it. After checking he was OK, I quickly opened up the bag and took out all of the equipment and
spread it out in the sun to dry. I was extremely relieved later to find that everything worked.

We pushed on to lower base camp and arrived by the middle of the day on Friday. My equipment was all waiting for me and my first task was to sort out what I needed to take up to high base camp at 5800m (nearly 19,000 feet). I need to feel well acclimatised at this height before moving up higher so I have settled in for a couple of days. Saturday I spent sorting equipment, taking gentle treks, reading Tom Clancy and Iain Banks books and listening to the World Service.

Today I am doing the same. To get some exercise and help my acclimatisation I went for a three hour cliff scramble on a slanting rock face above lower base camp, up to about 5500m. The view was fantastic.

I returned to lower base camp and started to put together my kerosene heater, checked my emails and enjoyed a good meal and some real coffee. My cooks are looking after me well - I've had porridge for breakfast, tuna and potato pancakes and something resembling pizza - a soggy pastry base topped with cabbage, hot dog sausages, tomatoes and cheese. Today I ate the last of my fresh fruit.

I hope to be ready to move up to high base camp on Monday or Tuesday and after a couple of days there, I should be ready to start climbing Makalu. I have to cross the Makalu glacier to get to high base camp, a six hour climb with avalanche, rock fall and deep crevasse dangers. Part of the glacier is about 50m below where low base camp has been set up and I can hear it creaking and groaning below me.

Although I intend to climb on my own, there are three other expeditions at high base camp and I am looking forward to meeting up with climbers from Danish, American and Australian expeditions in the next few days. The weather is good at the moment, mostly clear with some snow falling in the afternoon. I hope it stays that way.

My next report will come from high base camp after I have spent some time on Makalu."