Bluedome

Alan Hinkes has set off on the next stage of his Challenge 8000 and has sent back details of his progress from Kathmandu in Nepal:

"It is good to be on my way at last.

After all of the preparation and build up of the last few weeks, when I finally left Heathrow I could at last believe that everything was coming together. I have now got Makalu firmly in my sights and can gradually start to focus on the mountain itself.

Hi to all my friends, supporters and sponsors; you may find a name drop in this report!

On Saturday 27 March I parked my car in the SAP car park very closed to Heathrow Airport. It was a sunny spring day.

I arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday 28 March after a pleasant flight with Qatar Air. I was met at the airport by one of Bikrum Pandey's helpers. Bikrum is a friend of mine and also senior tourism professional in Kathmandu who is helping me to sort out some of the myriad of local administrative and bureaucratic issues which need to be resolved before I can set off.

For most of Sunday I felt pretty jet-lagged. Although I left the UK in spring sunshine, the temperatures in Kathmandu are around 50oC in the sun and over 25oC in the shade and this, combined with the jet-lag, takes some getting used to. I'm far too white from the winter and my Dermatone sun screen and Vuarnet sun glasses are proving essential!

On Sunday evening I sampled the locally brewed Nepalese Guinness - a little different to the UK version but very quaffable. It has only just started to be brewed here and is only available in bottles, but it helped to wash down my quail and chips. Yes quail. It was a pitiful sight on my plate a tiny squashed charred carcass but quite tasty and so were the chips.

Monday was spent in meetings with Bikrum wrestling with the admin, getting used to the time difference of 43/4 hours ahead of BST or 53/4 ahead of GMT and adjusting to the way of life in Kathmandu. I met up with some old
acquaintances, some Aussies, Brits, Americans & Scandinavians, all out here setting up their own expeditions. I also carried out an interview with the Kathmandu Post who ran an article the next day entitled "British climber here on a climbing mission".

That evening I went to a bar where I have been particularly welcome since summiting Everest in 1996 - Rum Doodle the 40,0001/2 feet bar. Every person who has climbed Everest can sign the autograph boards inside the bar. My name is up there alongside other mountaineers from around the world who have climbed Everest - seeing it brought back a few memories for me of friends I have climbed with. Understandably, the boards are kept locked up.
They don't want other names added when no one is looking! The bar is actually called the Rum Doodle, named after the satirical book about a mythical mountain Rum Doodle 40,0001/2. I met up with an old friend of mine in the bar and we enjoyed a local beer and a meal of trout and mashed potato. So far I have been avoiding the chapatis.

My equipment, which had been air freighted out for me by Britannia Movers International, arrived on Monday bang on time . By Tuesday it had cleared customs and I could start the process of sorting through everything and packing it into loads of 25-30 kilos in weight ready for the porters to carry to base camp. My equipment has come from a variety of sources and seeing it spread out at the warehouse was the first time I had seen it all gathered in one location. My climbing clothing and rucsacs have been supplied by Berghaus, my tents have come from Terra Nova, Lyon Equipment provided my Charlet Moser, ice axes & crampons and my trusty Petzl head
torch. Casio have provided their Protrek watch, Sharp my video camera, Ricoh still camera and Esse have provided my one concession to comfort at base camp, a lightweight kerosene (parrafin) heater. Scarpa have provided plastic mountain boots.

It never ceases to amaze me how much space I need to make for food. I have to take enough to last me 60 days; some I brought with me such as the nans, tortilla and chapattis from Pride Valley Foods in Seaham, Co Durham; fresh food I bought locally. Special attention was given to packing the Albert Ale from the New Mill Restaurant at Eversley! Even in Kathmandu, I am not happy about drinking the water supply and I have been using a Pur Water
Filter to avoid the Kathmandu Kwikstep. The last thing I need before setting off for the mountains is to be laid low by drinking dodgy water!

I hope to have time before I leave Kathmandu to meet with the local representative of Water Aid, a charity which is supported by Northumbrian Water and which carries out projects around the world helping to set up clean water supplies for the local people. Water Aid has many projects underway in Nepal.

By the end of the day on Wednesday my kit was all sorted out and on Thursday I saw it all leave by road with my Nepalese staff, Dawa & Pemba, who will be my cooks at Makalu base camp. It will take them more than 20 hours by road and three days walking to Tumlingtar, where I will fly in to meet them. There will be around 40 porters to carry all of my equipment to base camp. The twelve day arduous trek to base camp is quite dangerous. There are rockfalls and avalanches and high passes above 4000 metres (13,000 feet) to cross before base camp at 5700 m (nearly 18,000 feet).

I was able to relax a little on Good Friday although I still had several things, such as the final details of my trekking and mountaineering permits, to sort out. I also needed food for eating on the mountain - including treats such as chocolate, flavoured drinks, biscuits and tins of tuna. I needed new small pans for cooking and melting snow for water on the mountain, which is only used for drinking. Washing on the mountain is not possible. Here in Kathmandu I have worn a clean SAP T-shirt every day and showered everyday.

Much of Kathmandu & Nepal are Buddhist and Hindu. Saturday is the holiday and a quiet day in Kathmandu when offices and most of the shops are closed. Further into the mountains the local religion is more predominantly Buddhist. There is little evidence of Easter being celebrated here as there are very few Christians. I spent Saturday tying up a few loose ends, writing some of my postcards printed by Silverscreen and carrying out some interviews with UK journalists from TV, Radio & newspapers as well as writing my Hinkes on Hills for Trail Magazine. I also tested out my communications equipment which has been set up for me by BT Syncordia Solutions. Having an email link will mean I can send updates of my progress.

Sunday will be my last day in Kathmandu. I leave in the afternoon of Monday 5 April on a 50 minute flight on a twin otter turbo-prop plane to Tumlingtar which is at 950 m above sea level. The plane will land on a dirt strip above the Arun River, which I will be following on the trek to base camp for several days. The weather should be clear and I hope that we will get a good view of Makalu, twelve days trek away, as we fly in.

I hope to be there by 16 April. It is over 100 kms trekking distance. There are a few small remote villages to pass through for the first four days then the route traverses wild uninhabited country. My next progress report will come from base camp".

Date: Sunday 4 April 1999