Progress Report 1
- Kangchenjunga - Spring 2000 Tuesday 11th
April
Alan Hinkes reports from Kathmandu
just before heading off on the long trek
to Kangchenjunga base camp:
"Monday 3 April was departure date
from England. After fine, dry and warm weather
in North Yorkshire (I had been hearing skylarks
in the fields whilst out training), Monday
turned back to winter. The return to bad
weather made for an arduous and long drive
to London Heathrow.
I was met at the Qatar Airways desk by their
European Regional Manager Mr Salehi and
by ground crew Lorraine and Wendy, who looked
after me before boarding at 21.15 hours
for the flight to Doha. I was relieved to
settle back in the airline seat, sip a wine
and beer and get some Z'eds in - it was
the first time I had been able to sit back
and relax for several weeks. After a short
one hour stop in Doha, it was on to Kathmandu.
The weeks leading up to my departure had
been hectic, arranging equipment, sorting
and packing. Most of my cargo - my equipment
and some food - had been packed up by Britannia
Movers International in Hull a few days
before and shipped to Heathrow for a Qatar
Airways flight to Kathmandu.
Kathmandu is dusty and polluted with traffic
fumes. When I arrived I transferred to the
same hotel that I had stayed in after climbing
Makalu in the spring of 1999. Whilst I had
been staying there, the fifth floor and
all the landings had been burnt out in a
fire. I had risked my life at the height
of the fire by dashing back into the smoked
filled hotel to rescue my rolls of undeveloped
film and video images taken on the summit
of Makalu. To me they were irreplaceable.
I was horrified at the time of the fire
at the lack of fire and safety equipment
in the hotel. Now, a year later, although
the hotel has been repaired, there are still
no fire alarms, sprinklers, fire extinguishers,
fire hoses or fire escapes. Who needs life
on an 8000er to live dangerously?!
Britannia Movers International did a great
job on the airfreight. I cleared it through
customs easily and unpacked the boxes to
organise it into 30kg loads. I shall need
around 40 porters to help me carry my equipment
to base camp. There are no roads near to
Kangchenjunga and everything will have to
be carried. Nepalese regulations specify
that a porter's load should be no more than
30kgs in weight, so I had to pack all of
my equipment into watertight barrels, each
carefully weighed, before my equipment could
leave Kathmandu.
My equipment is provided for me by some
of the leading companies in the climbing
world including outdoor clothing and rucksacs
from Berghaus, tents from Terra Nova, my
trusty head torch and crampons from Petzl
and the latest GPS watch from Casio ProTrek.
I left some equipment in storage here in
Kathmandu after my expedition to Makalu
last year. My Esse kerosene heater for base
camp was still here and has now headed with
the rest of my equipment for base camp to
warm my mess tent. I certainly don't need
a heater here in Kathmandu as it is warm
and sunny. As well as providing a heater
for base camp, Esse has given me a cap to
protect my head from the sun. A cap is not
a standard Esse product, but neither is
my heater. It was specially made for me
by Esse and engraved with my Challenge 8000
logo.
I met up with my base camp crew on Friday.
Pemba my cook, who is a Tumang, was with
me at Makalu last year. He knows I like
egg, chips and spam at base camp, as well
as rice, dhal and chapattis. Pemba Gyolzen
is his helper and the Sirdar (foreman) is
Ang Pasang, a Sherpa who I met in '97.
The crew set off for the road head the next
day, a journey which normally takes two
and a half days. I shall then fly to a dirt
airstrip at Baratnigar to join them for
the twelve day trek to base camp. We will
probably be walking for around six to eight
hours a day, just like fell walking in the
Lake District, only higher and more remote.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of a glitch.
There is a strike in progress across Nepal
and the crew were not able to drive as far
as the road head. They made it about half
way and are now starting the trek a bit
earlier than planned and have begun walking.
This has delayed me by a couple of
days. I suppose an option would have been
to charter a plane to the airstrip, or a
heli, but that was beyond my budget.
During my remaining day in Kathmandu, I
hope to enjoy the fine weather and meet
old friends like Bikrum, Satish and Naryan
- who has been helping me with my laptop
which was provided for me by Diagonal. I
have been practising with a new video camera,
a webcam provided by Sharp, so that I can
send moving pictures back via the Internet
for my web site.
Yesterday I picked up twelve bottles of
The Famous Grouse scotch whiskey which will
be useful for thinning the blood at base
camp! Only joking - but there are a couple
of other expeditions on Kangchenjunga, so
if I can give them a gift of some Famous
Grouse, it should make me a welcome newcomer
when I reach there!
Over the last couple of days I have been
giving interviews to various radio stations,
TV and newspapers, as well as chatting on
a live telephone link from Kathmandu to
the Business Club lunch at the New Mill
Restaurant in Eversley.
I have picked up a slight head cold, probably
from all the dust in Kathmandu, which has
given me a sore throat and blocked nose.
There is plenty of fresh fruit here and
I am taking my Seven Seas vitamins, so I
should shake off the cold before I start
the trek.
I shall be leaving Kathmandu on Wednesday
12 April, so my next report should be in
about two weeks time after I arrive in base
camp."
