well it's that time off year again. it's expedition time in the himalaya.
right now i am sitting in my hotel in thamel,kathmandu,nepal. it's been a frantic last few days. what with last minute running around and packing. getting everything ready and making sure that nothing is forgotten or left behind. which sounds funny enough except despite all my years of travelling and climbing expeditions i do manage to go away without the most logical of things sometimes ex:going to the airport without a passport. yes that's right, sad but true.
this year i am climbing kanchenjunga(8586m) and the world's 3rd highest mountain. it is also the worlds most remote 8000m mountain and normally requires a 2 1/2 week walk into base camp alone.
the mountain lies to the extreme east of nepal close to both tibet and india.it is its location which makes this one of the least climbed 8000m mountains. something which really appeals to me after years of climbing crowded mountains full of many climbers with romantic "dillusions of granduer". kanchenjunga will be different. a real mountaineers mountain. only a handful of expeditions and small amount of climbers will make for a long and hard expedition. something i am really excited about and relishing.
i have always dreamed of climbing this mountain known affectionately as "kanch" but due to its geographical location and the fact that it is not commonly climbed mountain has made it difficult and expensive to organise an expedition.
this year a once in lifetime opportunity arose for me to not only climb kanch, with a group of friends and strong high altitude climbers, plus instead of a long and length trek up and down and up and down into base camp, this time we get to fly into a small village 2 days below base camp.
at first i was nervous about another helicopter flight into base camp. especially after my last helicopter flight ended with the helicopter dropping out of the sky and crashing into the rocks below(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkIQFqRlOTw). except this time we are flying into the high skies in the new french built helicopters that successfully landed on the summit of everest 6 years ago. this news made sleeping at night a little easier.
tonight all the group are meeting for team dinner to talk about the expedition ahead and enjoy the last comforts of dusty kathmandu(namely food) lol!!!!
as per usual i will sending updates from on the mountain which i will be forwarding on to all of you. if you would like to email me directly whilst i am climbing i can be contacted at blair@myeverest.com please remember to start a new email everytime you write to me here otherwise i have to download the rest of the email body aswell. please no company logos or photos.
i will also have my sat phpne too. short sms's and well wishes can be sent directly to the phone simply by going to
1. https://sms.thuraya.com/
2.enter my number 21370843 into the box
3.enter your name and msg
4.click send sms
too easy. always nice to hear afl results, cycling results and surfing results and stay in touch with everyone while i am away.
this potentially will be a long long and dangerous expedition. kanch is a huge mountain. and although there is not the rockfall and avalanche danger of other mountains such as K2. summit day involves a lot of route finding. zigging and zagging and the chances of getting lost,especially while descending in bad weather, at night or with extreme exhaustion are a real worry. 2 of the greatest high altitude climbers of the modern era (benoit chamoux and wanda Rutkiewicz) both lost their lives descending from the summit of kanch.hopefully i will not become another statistic and my expedition will be a safe and happy one.
hope to hear form you all in the coming days and weeks.until then take care
blair
www.blair8000.com
