Expedition Dispatchs

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Expedition Everest Dispatch #7

25 April 2004 How much more frustrating can it get? After 4 nights at Base Camp I was ready to move up to Advanced Base Camp again. As I was preparing my gear to leave early on the morning of the 25th when I detected some tightness in my chest... a chest cold is now setting in. Back on the antibiotics again. This will further delay my departure from Base Camp for 3 to 4 more days. The only thing I can say positive is that I am well acclimatized to 5,200m.

The weather up high has not been the best but most of the team is moving up to sleep on the North Col and foray up to Camp 1 today. From Base Camp it appears there is a lot of snow up high. This in fact may make walking up high a little easier.

For now there is not much to do but try to get better.

For Expedition Everest.Com - Kevin Donovan - Mount Everest Base Camp

Expedition Everest Dispatch #6

20 April 2004 I've been battling a stomach bug and altitude cough. The cough is to be expected. At 21,000 ft. you generally do not recover very well from any illness. I had two bad night’s sleep and awoke feeling breathless and concerned that I was really getting sick. I’d been experiencing Cheyne-Stokes breathing pattern and it was not relieved by Diamox. My tent mate was Dr. Mike and I roused him about 2 am. He checked me out and said I was not too bad but because of my continued deterioration at ABC it might be best for me to consider going back down the next morning. My blood oxygen saturation levels had dropped over the past two days from around 74% to 63% (61% is normal for this altitude) according to the Pulse-OX meter I've been using. It is a definite sign that I am having some difficulty acclimatizing. I did manage to fall asleep for about 5 hours.

Monday April 19 I walked down from ABC back to Base Camp with 3 others. It took around 8 hours but we were held up for over an hour by the train of Yaks carrying loads up the mountain for all the teams moving to ABC. We were met by intermittent snow but by the time we reached Base Camp the sky had cleared. I made a pass around the Chorten we had used for our Puja and thanked Chomolungma for our safe return to Base Camp.

Approaching my tent I found that the fly had been shredded. As it turned out a marauding Yak had crashed through Rick's, and my tents, slightly damaging his but mine was uninhabitable. I had to relocate to an empty tent.

I am planning on staying down at least 5 more nights before going back up. I need some time to recover and hopefully feel stronger.

For Expedition Everest.Com Kevin Donovan - Mount Everest Base Camp

Expedition Everest Dispatch #5

15-16 April 2004 After 5 days at Base Camp it was time to move up to Advanced Base Camp. Before we left I had a chance to stop by International Mountain Guides camp and have a chat with Dave Hahn from Taos New Mexico.

The move to Intermediate Camp was slow since I was carrying way to much gear. I felt really stupid for hauling such a big load. The trip from BC took nearly 8 hours. The Sherpas made a grand effort with food and drink that night considering the limited facilities they had. I slept pretty well but was still tired the next morning from the previous day's effort.

Smartly I ditched half of my load into the barrels to be taken up by the Yaks. I was last out of camp. Within a few hours I caught up with 3 other members. Another hour up the Rongbuk we gathered up two more members. About a hour away from ABC one of our Sherpas was waiting with a thermos of hot lemon drink. Just what was needed. The trip took about 7 hours.

Arriving at ABC I headed strait to the dining tent and some hot drinks. At dinner I found it hard to swallow since my throat was so dry from sucking in all the dry air so I skipped most of the meal.

I was really warm in my expedition bag. The night was not too restless considering we are now at 21,000 ft., Mount McKinley is 20,850 ft.

For Expedition Everest.Com Kevin Donovan - Mount Everest Advanced Base Camp

Expedition Everest Dispatch #4

12 April 2004 We finally escaped from Tingri. Two days there was more than enough. After our acclimatization walk I got an altitude headache that was a 9.5 on the 10 scale. I finally resorted to Diamox since I was still feeling quite bad from the Kathmandu Bug I caught.

The drive to basecamp was fantastic. As we passed through the villages we would roll down the windows and say 'Hello' to the groups of Tibetan children standing by the side of the road. They would all smile, wave and reply with a cheery 'Hello'. There were great views of the mountain along the way and we stopped to shoot some photos.

The roads have been significantly improved by the Chinese and it made the drive much shorter that in previous years. It was not long before we arrived at the Rongbuk Monastery. This is a very special place and, the highest Buddhist monastery in the world. The photographs from there are fantastic but far to big to upload via the SAT Phone. We spent about an hour there before heading to basecamp.

Everyone spent the first day getting settled in. On day two most set out for acclimatization walks. I purposely took it very slow and went up only about 150 meters.

Today, Sunday April 11th a lama came up from the monastery to conduct the Puja Ceremony. We all brought our ice axes and crampons to be blessed. The ceremony lasted over an hour. There were lots of photos taken and the BBC filmed the entire proceedings. A raven landed atop the pole supporting the prayer flags, a very good omen. We were all given Sungda, the sacred red thread as part of the ceremony; I waited till the end of the Puja and asked the lama to tie mine on. I still wear the one I had tied on at a monastery in Nepal three years ago.

We will begin moving up to Intermediate Camp on Thursday. Next report from Advanced Base Camp.

For Expedition Everest.Com - Kevin Donovan - Everest Basecamp, Tibet

Expedition Everest Dispatch #3

4 April 2004 Yesterday was a really bad day. I woke up sick as a dog at 4:30 am. The Kathmandu Bug struck me first. It is to be expected in that at some time on these trips everyone will suffer some distress. Dr. Mike dispensed some anti-nausea pills that really helped. I was pretty miserable on the ride out of Kathmandu. Between diesel exhaust and the air pollution I was really feeling like crap. As the air b egan to clear and as the day wore on I got much better.

On the way out of Kathmandu we were delayed by the "students" burning tires in the road and holding up traffic. They stopped the Nepali occupied vehicles but ours had a big sign marked "Tourist Bus" which they let pass. They all cheered as we drove past. We were slowed by several Military check points along the way but the delays were brief. Up the road further we came to a complete stop, and the line of buses and trucks stretched for several miles. We were told that two trucks had been attacked by the Maoist guerrillas and burned. Most likely they had refused to pay. By the time we passed by the trucks they were still burning.

We arrived at the Nepal/Tibet border at around 3:45 Nepali time and immediately rolled our watches 2:15 ahead to now get on Beijing time. We missed getting through immigration since they closed at 6:00 pm. Our passports were collected and we were sent on to our hotel in Xhangmu. The incense sticks that I purchased in Kathmandu came in handy to fight off the smell of the stale rooms and rather foul toilets. Dinner was typical Chinese food but I stuck to soup and rice to help settle my stomach.

I got the most sleep I have had since I arrived last night. We were down to breakfast at 9:00 and off to immigration at 10:00. It took over an hour to clear customs and another hour for our drivers to get road permits.

The drive was spectacular. We were traveling in really nice Toyota Land Rovers. Dave mentioned that the road was in much better condition than in previous years. We stopped several times for the BBC crew to shoot some film. This area has many spectacular unclimbed peaks and the light dusting of snow made it ever more beautiful.

We will be here for the next two days taking acclimatization walks.

From Nyalam Tibet - Kevin Donovan for Expedition Everest

Expedition Everest Dispatch #2

April 3, 2004 Yesterday and today were spent making final preparations for our departure to Base Camp Saturday. We plan to leave at around 6:30 am in order to beat the heat of the day and avoid the latest strikes called by the Maoist. The State Department issued an advisory a couple of days ago and it will be great to be away from potential trouble. Other than an increased presence of security personnel near the Royal Palace.

We sent all of our gear off to the Tibetan border last night since it may take some time to get through customs. Dave has been working feverously getting everything handled including a Visa problem for Serena. Her diplomatic status has caused quite a stir in Beijing.

I managed to get a much needed haircut and have some custom embroidery work done. I will be glad to get out of the dust and pollution but will surely miss the vibrancy of Kathmandu.

The next update will most likely be from basecamp in about 7 days.

Please remember that I am not able to respond to email while away.

For Expedition Everest.Com Kevin Donovan - Kathmandu, Nepal

Expedition Everest Dispatch #1

Hello from Kathmandu...

It was quite an adventure getting here. Three days of travel including a stop over in London. Never expect transportation to work as planned . The driver from Krest Transfers was late and was rather disheveled. It was apparent that they had sent a second class driver and a second rate vehicle. I was quite sure that he was going the way which my compass indicated. Having to stop for fuel the drive then proceeded to fill the diesel powered mini-bus with gasoline. As he said "We have a big problem" About an hour later another driver showed up to take me to my hotel. This drive was no less brilliant since he allowed my backpack to roll out of the back of the van. I was in a panic since my Cannon 10D was right on top. It was not till later that I discovered that the hotshoe was slightly bent but fortunately the camera still functions properly. It took 4 hours and 30 minutes to get to the hotel.

Monday March 30th I arrived at the airport early and set about the job of waiting for teammates to arrive. Rick, Ian, and Sandy came rolling up first. A short time later up came Dr. Mike, and Paul. After chatting for some time I finally put my head around the corner and the rest of the team had arrived. This was the first time to meet Ray, Tony, and the BBC crew. A great bunch of folks.

We all braced ourselves for the gear weigh in at the ticket counter. Most of us were slightly over but some of our members had quite an excess. Paul handled the check in smoothly and all of our gear passed on with no problem. One worry out of the way.

The plane ride to Abu Dabi was uneventful but for the fact that the plain was baking hot inside. So much for all the cold weather gear! On our layover in the airport we all had breakfast and chatted about while waiting for our flight to Kathmandu. Other than a brief landing delay the ride was smooth and I slept through most of it since I had had little shuteye on the first leg from London.

By the time I got to baggage claim I found our bags stacked. "That was nice" I thought and soon discovered that our expedition leader, Dave Pritt was the one responsible. We all breezed through customs to our waiting bus.

All I could say was "Beautiful" as we entered the courtyard to the Hotel Vajra. The photos will never do this place justice. In short order we were all checked in and within an hour you could find the entire team in the most likely of places... the hotel bar. Our first stop for the expedition is the world famous Rum Doodle. If you are an Everest summiter meals are free there for life. I think Dave wanted to go just for the free food. There is lots of history there, signatures of many famous climbers, Ed Hillary, Rob Hall, Rhinold Messner, Alan Hinks, and of course Dave Pritt.

Tuesday March 31st I was up well before dawn still suffering the effects of jet lag. We had a brief meeting in the morning before setting off to Thamal for shopping. Just before leaving I checked with the hotel to see how to contact the post office about attempting to retrieve a package I had sent. To my surprise it was there. I had really expected the thing to disappear in the maze of Kathmandu but I was thankful that it arrived. I had to pay a duty of 1,700r, but well worth it. Thats all or now.

We will be departing for basecamp on Saturday. I will attempt to get out at least on more update before then.

Reporting for Expedition Everest.Com - Kevin Donovan - Kathmandu, Nepal