High Hope Baruntse 2011

(NOTE: A NUMBER OF BLOGS HAVE BEEN INSERTED AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE EXPEDITION. THIS RESULTS IN SOME TIME SEQUENCING ISSUES. THE MOST RECENT UPDATES BELOW ADD MORE DETAIL AND PHOTOS BUT MAY CONFUSE THE TIME SEQUENCE. JUST READ ON AND ENJOY! REMEMBER THAT THE POSTS APPEAR IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER WITH THE MOST RECENT FIRST. At the bottom of these pages, you can click to view older entries. )

The team is together to take on Baruntse, a 7220 meter peak in the Everest region of Nepal.  Alex Harvie, of Kelowna, BC and David Graham, also of Kelowna, along with Michael Brownsdon of London, U.K. are committed to go.   Adventure Thamserku and Dawa Geljen Sherpa will provide the logistic support and the climbing sherpas to get us up there safely.

( See dawa’s website at: http://www.adventurethamserku.com). The Climbing Sherpas are Pema Chirri Sherpa and Saila Sherpa, both of whom are very experienced high altitude climbing guides in the Nepal Himalaya. Pema’s favorite saying is “No problem” which is particularly concerning when he uses it in reference to making the summit of Makalu, one of the world’s most challenging 8000 meter peaks.

Baruntse is climbed more frequently than Pethangtse but is a tougher climb. It’s bigger and at times steeper and narrower. The approach trek will be equally beautiful, this time coming up from Lukla, through the 5200 meter Mera La and to the remote Baruntse basecamp below the West Col. We crossed the 6200 meter West Col on our Pethangtse expedition.  An added bonus for this expedition will be a climb of the 6500 meter Mera Peak. It will be a big effort but will pay us back with the fitness and acclimatization benefits.

Baruntse sits at the head of a giant amphitheatre with Chamlang at over 7300 meters  and Ama Dablam at 6812 meters, (one of the world’s most photographed mountains), rising from the giant arc of summits extending from the ridges of Baruntse.   Basecamp is in the high basin among them.

Pasang takes the load

The Sherpas divide duties thus: Sirdar (the boss and manager), Climbing Sherpa (guide on the mountain), Cook, Kitchen Boy, and Porter.

The title Kitchen Boy does not begin to convey the hard work required. He assists with all food preparation, serving,  and clean up so he is slicing, dicing and scrubbing before we are up in the morning and after we go to bed. He carries the food, fuel, pots and pans, dishes, stoves, cook tent, climber’s dining tent, and toilet tent. He also is a high altitude porter handling loads over difficult technical terrain. There were 500 liters of kerosene for this expedition so loads were always very heavy and as you can see, bulky.

Pasang was exemplary. Always helpful, always smiling, and always doing his job well. Here he is just as we were loaded up to move on from Baruntse.

Back at Baruntse Basecamp and moving on

Back at Baruntse basecamp, we considered the possibility of trying for the summit again but rejected the idea. We were not convinced that the snow conditions would allow for solid anchors and without them, a summit try is a crap shoot with our lives on the line. So there was a strong consensus between Michael, Alex and I.

Alex Can’t Resist

 

The lake is at about 5500 meters of elevation and fed entirely by snow melt and glaciers. What’s the record for the “highest swim by a Canadian”  ? By ANYONE?  The pic below (cropped at the knees) is not as good as the un-cropped version.

“David upside down.” Nuru Sherpa

Being upside down when rappelling is generally considered to be a serious problem. The rappel device can release and let you go. Nuru noticed my inversion from the foot of the West Col while he was watching me rappel down the fixed line. Alex was with him and by the time he looked up to where I was, my feet were pointing straight up and my head was down in the rocks. I didn’t fall or lose my balance. The figure eight rappel device was locked solid. I was holding it tight and nothing slipped. The prussik attached between the figure eight and  my harness also held tight, backing up the figure eight. Neither budged 180’ed my head.  So why was I upside down?

After finishing with the steep and snowy gulley shown in the picture below, I paused at the top of the rocky cliff to figure out how best to negotiate the rocks. My body weight was off the fixed line. When I put my weight back on, it stretched. Even though the line is not designed to stretch, with almost 200 meters of it above me,  it did. As I leaned back into the rappel, I just kept going as the rope stretched out. Head down and belly up  in the rocks, feet to the sky and pinned by my pack,  Pema called “Don’t move!” He was about 20 meters above me and worried that I could fall further. I knew that both the figure eight and the prussik were holding me well so I was not worried about falling, only about how to right myself. Once Pema pulled my pack out from under me, I was able to spin around and stand up again.

The person in the rocks , lower left in the first picture, is located very close to the location of the inversion. The second pic was take just after I righted myself. The rest of the rappel down onto the glacier below was no fun. My nerve was somewhere up above in the rocks.

Lead climbing guide Saila says “Falling is learning.” I learned that really long ropes stretch.  I also learned the luck is good when you have it. No serious injuries. This little incident could have been a show stopper.

Michael Summits Ama

After leaving us at Namche, Michael Brownsdon, our Isle of Man man, made the summit of Luboche and then moved on to Ama Dablam. His report below is nothing less than hair raising. Suffice to say,  we are glad to have him back on solid ground…and oh ya…some pretty serious congratulations are in order too!

Quote from Michael’s email: “The Ama Dablam expedition was mixed.  I successfully summited but my partner was too ill (chest infection caught from a sherpa on the LMC trip!).  Unfortunately there was also a tragic accident.  A British climber who was sharing our base camp fell to his death between Camp 1 and Camp 2 on the day I summited.  I spent the 3 days above base camp terrified (even before I found out about the accident).  Some anchors are shot and it almost seems pot luck which rope to use.  I had a snow shelf collapse beneath me leaving me dangling off the side of the mountain and I pulled a snow stake out whilst abseiling (rappelling). Beautiful mountain to look at, very scary mountain to climb!”

Above Camp Two

Photos from the summit attempt will come from Michael at  a later date.

Scenes from Camp Two

Camp Two at 6500 M.

Alex prepares for the day.

Camp One 6100 M.

We watched a helicopter evacuate an injured climber at 6100 meters. A few years ago helicopter rescues at this elevation were not possible.   

Alex and Michael at the top of the West Col