DESTINATION Kathmandu: Where life slows down & up a gear at the same time...

There’s something about Kathmandu, the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Nepal, which heightens the senses. A city where chaos rules. Where life both slows down and up a gear at the same time.  

Dust clouds swirling around in the sticky heat, bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling at a snails pace accompanied by the persistent honking of horns at decibles which pierce the ears, generators grinding and humming loudly echoing in the alleys, cell-phones ringing, chimes tinkling as they sway in the warm breeze against the red-clay buildings framed by green windowpanes and trimming that has gone grey from the pollution. Flea-bitten dogs laying lazily in the middle of the broken sidewalk with concrete slabs jutting in all directions as barefoot pedestrians walk non-chalently past… Children laughing and running through the streets, zig-zagging around the cars and kicking up swirls of dust as they go with red cheeks and huge smiles… the entire scene framed by bright pink-fuchsia bougainvillea which emit a sweet incense over the city… 

Heading into the ‘backpacker’ area of Thamel one is overwhelmed by huge photos of Himalayan panoramas juxtaposed against brightly coloured signs “Best Expedition Everest”; “Helicopter flight to Everest”; signs as big as the shops themselves selling every outdoor brand and trekking combination you can possibly imagine in a multitude of colours. 

The dust is omnipresent and the pollution and cacophony of the city's 'hummm' is overpowering as hundreds of motorcycles fight for space on the narrow dirt roads, zig-zagging between cars, pedestrians, dogs and the sacred cows roaming the streets…  weathered-looking peddlers selling Tiger-balm out of small wooden boxes while women and children sit alongside the broken streets with their hands outstretched for money or food. Bamboo scaffolding towering precariously toward the sky - the playground for barefoot construction workers keeping up the pace of this rapidly modernising and expanding city of over 975,000.

The soothing sound of the ‘Om mani padme hum’ mantra gently keeping the calm through the chaos. 

Looking up at the darkening sky it’s clear that a storm is brewing as the sound of thunder can already be heard rumbling in the distance – no doubt about to be proceeded by a downpour of biblical proportions to clear the air and send people running indoors, tourists looking for cafes offering cheap internet, cinnamon buns and some of the best pizzas on this side of Italy..... 

The city takes a breath.

And tomorrow I get to do it again as the preparations and an an almost endless cycle of packing, packing and repacking continues. This city fascinates me. It reminds me of the unexpectedness of living, throws me into remembering to experience the joy of the unknown, the start of many past adventures and many more to come...

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The People You Meet Along the Way: Time to get my 'Diva' on...! Shishapangma and ChoOyu 2015

Just 7% of sports media coverage is devoted to women. Only 1 in 10 people who enquire about expeditions are women. Research by universities and other sports foundations in the UK found that 2 million fewer women regularly participate in sport or exercise than men - despite 75 per cent of women aged 14 to 40 saying they’d like to do more. (source: Sport England)

But why?

It’s not about women being less adventurous than men or about there being fewer women who embrace outdoor activities. I think it has more to do with the image that it’s only Amazonian, super-athletes who go on expeditions, supported by production teams and sponsorships. There’s a perception that in making the decision to ‘see the world’ you must put both career and family on the backburner. That you have to grit your teeth for every photograph and morph into a female, long-haired mascara-wearing version of Bear Grylls.

But I know that this isn’t the case at all. I know this because the description above definitely doesn’t describe me and it doesn’t describe most of the women who I’ve met in the outdoors.

The Challenge:

From early April through to the end of May 2015 I’ll travel to Tibet to complete a ‘double header’ expedition, climbing two remote 8,000m peaks which - Shishapangma and Cho Oyu - respectively the 14th and 6th highest mountains in the world.

However, this expedition is about much more than mountains and my goals are clear:

1. To raise the profile of women in the outdoors
2. To lobby for more coverage about women in the outdoors in mainstream media
3. To increase the number of women involved in outdoor activities in every level – from those who watch it, to those playing it, all the way to those in the boardroom 

I’ll be climbing to raise money and awareness for Wellbeing of Women, a health charity dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of women and babies around the world through research, training and education.

Some context...

The journey

I’ll be traveling overland from Kathmandu, Nepal, into Tibet through to the basecamp of my first objective - Shishapangma. Along the way, we’ll be stopping in the ancient Tibetan towns of Zhangmu, Nylam and Tingri, experiencing Tibetan culture, while stopping to walk each day in the surrounding hills to acclimate to the increasing altitude. This acclimatisation period offers a great chance to encounter the vast Tibetan plateau, the surrounding Himalayan Giants and experience the ancient Tibetan culture.

Shishapangma - the 14th highest mountain in the world

The first mountain-objective will be to climb Shishapangma, the 14^th highest mountain in the world at a height of 8,027 metres (26,335 ft). The initial 3-4 weeks will be spent acclimatising on Shishapangma, allowing my body enough time to get used to the thin air of higher altitudes while working with my Sherpa to set up the 3-high mountain camps - Camp One (6300m); Camp Two (6900m) and Camp Three (7,300m). Conditions dependent, my intention is to climb the East Peak which is the true summit of Shishapangma. The exact date of our summit push will depend on the weather window, marked by the decrease in summit winds which historically takes place around mid-May. 

Given that Shishapangma is only the first of two mountains in the challenge the timing of our ascent will be critical.

Cho Oyu - the 6th highest mountain in the world

After climbing Shishapangma we’ll will descend and immediately travel overland across the historical Tibetan plateau, stopping 20kms west of Mount Everest to make the most of the short weather window and begin our ascent of Cho Oyu, the 6^th highest mountain in the world at an altitude of 8201metres (26,906 ft). From our Base Camp of 5,650m we’ll move steadily up through the three mountain camps, making the most of the ‘pre-acclimatisation’ from the 3-4 weeks spent ascending Shishapangma. On our ascent of Cho Oyu we’ll pass through the high mountain camps of Camp 1 at 6,400 metres, Camp Two at 7,000 metres and Camp Three at 7,400 metres.  The summit climb from Camp Three will involve climbing through a short rock band just above the top camp before heading into an open couloir, which in turn leads to the 8201m summit plateau.

I certainly won’t be undertaking this tremendous challenge alone. A small team of Sherpas will accompany the entire expedition and will be integral to its success, providing a great portion of the ‘carrying power’. Having worked with teams of Sherpas on past expeditions including Everest, Lhotse and Makalu I’m very much looking forward to the insights, experience and friendship that the Sherpas bring to form the backbone of the team.

The Diva in Down

In the past 6 years I’ve spent over 13 months in total living above 5,000 metres thanks to a passion for experiencing new cultures and seeing the world from a different perspective.  

I have a full time job. I have family commitments. I have to train. 

And no, it isn’t always fun.

But yes, I do bring lipgloss.

I’m proud to be a sporty woman, a ‘Diva in Down’. And I’m proud to have earned my place in the mountains through sheer discipline, commitment, courage and creativity. 

And I’m going to keep climbing these mountains – both real and proverbial – and hope that I can inspire others to do the same.

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The People You Meet: The Sherpa People of Nepal

I opened my eyes, shuddered and wiggled deeper into the down depths of my -30C sleeping bag. The wind was howling and I could tell by a dark-ridged shadow along the outside of my bright yellow tent that a fresh layer of snow had fallen overnight. Ice condensation lined the inside dome - sparkling in the light coming from my headlamp. Over the sound of the wind I could hear a 'crunch crunch' - it sounded like someone walking over styrofoam. Early morning chatter was heard coming from the tent next to mine and then suddenly there was a rustling at my tent-flap. 

"Heather di-di - Good morning to you..!" sang a cheery voice as my tent was unzipped and a thick-gloved hand lay a tray of biscuits and a cup of warm tea at the foot of my Thermarest. I smiled to myself as I fumbled for the warm thermos, marvelling at the gracious hospitality of the Sherpa culture. I couldn't believe that I was actually getting tea and cookies in bed..! I don't even get this kind of first-class service at sea-level, let alone 6000m..!!

There is something about Everest and its neighboring cultures that intensifies our desire to better understand it. Its profound presence, geography, glaciology, the Sherpa culture, Buddhism, the mighty Yak and even legend of the Yeti seems to draw us deeper into Everest's mystique. The 'social geographer' in me prompts me to include an entry here on the Sherpas culture and the Sherpas themselves - the local people who are employed as guides for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas and who will form an invaluable part of our climbing team on the mountain. They are, for me, an awe-inspiring part of the 'Mountain Experience' -- or the "Nepal" experience for that matter..!  

Sherpas are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local terrain, renowned for their hardiness and experience at high altitudes and were of immeasurable value to early explorers of the Himalayan region, serving as guides and porters at the extreme altitudes of the peaks and passes in the Himalayan region.

While the climbers use their base camp as a place to acclimatise, recuperate and make training runs up the mountain, the Sherpas will be busy servicing the camp and looking after the climbers. More importantly, they will constantly conduct essential repairs to the route up the mountain - fixing ropes, breaking trail and conducting crevasse reconnaissance. 

In a single day the Sherpas may make multiple trips up the formidable mountain to fix ropes and the ladder bridges across the crevasses and to maintain the supplies on the higher stages of the climb - with loads significantly heavier than my own and at triple my speed..! It is not a wonder that during the first Everest expedition in 1921, the skill, expertise, honesty and dedication of the Sherpas impressed English climbers such as George Mallory on his early Everest attempt. From that point on, the Sherpas became an integral part of international Himalayan climbing as guides and partners. The affinity of Westerners for the Sherpa/Buddhist civilization eventually grew into an increasingly close sharing, understanding and friendship between these two cultures and today form an integral and vital part of many Himalayan expeditions.

Sherpas moved to the Everest region from Tibet over 500 years ago.  The name "sherpa" literally means "people from the east" because they originally came from the Kham in eastern Tibet and went on to settle in the mountain valleys of northern Nepal. Today approximately 30,000 Sherpas live in Nepal, and around 3,000 of them live in the Khumbu region, the gateway to Everest.  Sherpas are traditionally farmers and traders, raising yaks and growing and trading barley, buckwheat, potatoes, wheat and animal products however since the 1950s, tourism has become the dominant source of employment and income in the area.

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It's official... Makalu 2012 expedition confirmed!!

Not only do you learn about mountains and cultures in this wonderful world of mountaineering, you also learn about politics... and the art of being flexible and always looking on the bright side of life (flashbacks of the Olympic Closing Ceremony spring to mind here....). To put it mildly, a change of plans in mountaineering terms is a little bit more complex than changing your Saturday evening plans from Plan A: 'The White Horse Pub'  to Plan B: 'Tiger Tiger Disco Bar'....  To keep the nightclub analogy going, today my Plan A: 'White Horse Pub' plan (a la Cho Oyu) officially changed to Plan B: the equivalent of a an all-nite rave bar in Shoreditch with a lot less oxygen (although am sure that the effect on brain cells is not dissimilar).... Welcome to Makalu. At 8463m it's the 5th highest mountain in the world, just 385 small metres lower than the summit of Everest and an unpredictable beast of a mountain with an absolutely gorgeous silhouette.... 

Over the past 5 years Tibet has occasionally been closed to climbing by the Chinese government. When I decided to head back to Tibet this year to climb (and ski) Cho Oyu, the 6th highest mountain in the world, I knew that this political uncertainty was one of the logistical risks. I've been keeping my eye on the border situation in Tibet for a few months now so it wasn't a massive surprise when I received confirmation from my expedition guide, Adrian Ballinger from Alpenglow Expeditions, that the border was well and truly shut  and that the Chinese Tibetan Mountaineering Association (CTMA) were not handing out climbing permits this autumn. Hence, the move to to Plan B.  Makalu, one of the most difficult mountains in the world to climb, will be a massive challenge for various reasons - not only because of the altitude (the obvious answer!) but also due to factors such as the remoteness of the mountain, the distance between camps, the tremendous summit day, the technical nature of the mountain (have I sold it to you yet?). 

Through the climbing grapevine that runs thick and fast during Himalayan climbing season, we've learned that a number of climbing teams who had planned to climb Cho Oyu have been in Kathmandu for over a week, visiting the Chinese Embassy and requesting access to Tibet without any success in receiving the climbing permit required to attempt most Himalayan peaks. 

Makalu is our Plan B over other mountains because despite its' challenges, it is believed to be a realistic goal for our very strong team of 4 climbers, 2 international guides and 5 Sherpas. As with so many challenges much will come down to planning and putting in place all of the infrastructure required to manage (and minimise) the risks and maximises the chances of success. This means a high climber to sherpa ratio (1:1), climber to guide ratio (3:1); fresh food, excellent base camp and abc infrastructure... and supplemental oxygen. I'd love to be a 'purist' and follow in the footsteps of so many of the mountaineers that I look up to for their alpine-style climbing techniques (light and fast with no fixed infrastructure) however, I have to be realistic with my approach and my overall objectives about Why I climb... but that is the subject of a whole other blog entry!

In terms of logistics, in order to have Makalu Basecamp established in time for our arrival and expedition, our sherpas and equipment will be flying from Kathmandu tomorrow and then they will start the 8 - 10 day walk into Base Camp. We will be helicoptering into Base Camp at just over 4000m (hence my pre-acclimatisation antics!) around the 11th or 12th of September with a view to hit the late September / early October summit window. This is the window when the normal jet stream winds of 100kph+ subside for a few short days and allow for a summit attempt before picking up to their gale-force speeds.

It will be a tremendous adventure and one that I am very much looking forward to - I won't lie and say that there is no apprehension or nerves but you never know unless you try - and no matter what, it will most certainly be an adventure of epic proportions with so much to do and see and people to meet along the way... and, after all, isn't that what life is all about?. 

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Sounds like vindaloo... and nearly as spicy. Makalu, Nepal. 8,463m/27,765ft. September - October 2012.

"While standing on top of Everest, I looked across the valley, towards the other great peak, Makalu, and mentally worked out a route about how it could be climbed… it showed me that, even though I was standing on top of the world, it wasn’t the end of everything for me, by any means. I was still looking beyond to other interesting challenges." - Sir Edmund Hillary

Having had a similar vantage point from other Himalayan summits, I can certainly relate to Hillary's famous quote and can certainly relate to his character. No sooner had he achieved one goal, he was already looking to the next one..!

Whilst I must admit, my original goal was not Makalu it has turned out this way due to an unexpected change of events which has closed the border between Nepal and Tibet for the autumn season.  Having said that, the prospect of attempting this absolutely stunning 8000m peak (just under 400m lower than Everest) is an exciting yet tremendous challenge. Here are some slightly 'dry' climbing stats but I hope to put them into perspective for you over the coming weeks..!

Elevation: 27,765 feet (8,462 meters)
Location: Nepal, Asia
First Ascent: Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray (France), May 15, 1955

Just 22kms / 14 miles east of Everest, Makalu (derived from the Sanskrit Maha Kala, a name for the Hindu god Shiva that translates to "great black") has a distinctive pyramid shape, with its South East and North Western ridges being most prominent. The latter provides the 'normal' route of ascent for the majority of climbers attempting the summit and will be the route that I will follow. The steep summit ridge is on the border between Nepal and Tibet and is one of the most challenging 8000m peaks with steep climbing, exposed ridges, and rock climbing on the summit pyramid.  Only five of the first 16 attempts successfully reached Makalu’s summit.

The French team led by Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray that made the first ascent in 1955 climbed the north face and northeast ridge  and placed nine climbers, including one Sherpa, on the summit.

Though the pyramid shape of the final ascent makes topping Makalu extremely difficult, just over 300 people have since accomplished this feat in the decades since... compared to over 5000 summits of Everest. 

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