My trip to the top of Everest
Discussion
We spend a few days at the village - we've gone up in elevation a fair bit so letting our bodies get used to this before we start the trek to basecamp. During our days here we take a few hikes around the area to gain a bit more elevation and just spend some time there, all in the name of acclimatisation and staying fit.
For our days at the village, Manaslu itself was annoyingly hidden by clouds, but we occasionally got a very quick peak of what was towering over us
Much to my relief, cards and beers are still a thing on these trips
A second day of general trekking around keeping active
For our days at the village, Manaslu itself was annoyingly hidden by clouds, but we occasionally got a very quick peak of what was towering over us
Much to my relief, cards and beers are still a thing on these trips
A second day of general trekking around keeping active
After our time at the village, it was time to head to basecamp. Unlike a basecamp trek to Everest, this is only a matter of hours from the village rather than days and days of trekking
Interesting fact, the first time this mountain was ever climbed, this was built as a basecamp hut, WAY below where basecamp now is
After about 5 or 6 hours of trekking uphill, we get our first glimpse of basecamp. We were warned that Manaslu BC can be a very wet place to be, and our arrival confirmed that!
Our first visit into the dining tent, where we would spend many many hours in the weeks ahead
Interesting fact, the first time this mountain was ever climbed, this was built as a basecamp hut, WAY below where basecamp now is
After about 5 or 6 hours of trekking uphill, we get our first glimpse of basecamp. We were warned that Manaslu BC can be a very wet place to be, and our arrival confirmed that!
Our first visit into the dining tent, where we would spend many many hours in the weeks ahead
Early into our trip the ceremony to bless the team and our expedition took place
And the weather started to clear so we could actually see what was our new home as well as all the way back down to where we had come from
With clearing weather we finally get to see the giant mountain properly. Before this it had been totally covered by cloud, so it was very strange waking up to find this absolute monster sitting above us
We then start doing our trips further up the "hill", first one to 'crampon point' where the snow starts
5,000m reached for the first time:
Next day we make our first trip up to camp 1. All the while the mountain looms over us
Back down at basecamp we were making a bit of a damn to use the small hydro electric pump we had.....relying on only solar power at Manaslu is never ideal, so our expedition leader's experience over the years meant he knew how to get more power
And the weather started to clear so we could actually see what was our new home as well as all the way back down to where we had come from
With clearing weather we finally get to see the giant mountain properly. Before this it had been totally covered by cloud, so it was very strange waking up to find this absolute monster sitting above us
We then start doing our trips further up the "hill", first one to 'crampon point' where the snow starts
5,000m reached for the first time:
Next day we make our first trip up to camp 1. All the while the mountain looms over us
Back down at basecamp we were making a bit of a damn to use the small hydro electric pump we had.....relying on only solar power at Manaslu is never ideal, so our expedition leader's experience over the years meant he knew how to get more power
The following day was our first trip to camp 1 to spend the night, which involved our first experience of carrying some gear up with us, adding a fair bit of weight to our trip!
Our bed for the night.....always being watched over
And first time doing something we'd do a lot of - melting snow for water bottles
Pretty good view from the camp 1 tent
The top of the mountain looked pretty cool at sunset. Or was it sunrise. Can't actually remember
I think it must have been dawn
And a good look at what was surrounding us with clear skies
And a bit of ladder work for the first time
Starting to feel like a proper climb
Back at basecamp I demanded a picture with the expedition leader and world famous Sherpa Phurba Tashi, who was acting as basecamp manager on this trip
And a team shot with the main goal behind us
Our bed for the night.....always being watched over
And first time doing something we'd do a lot of - melting snow for water bottles
Pretty good view from the camp 1 tent
The top of the mountain looked pretty cool at sunset. Or was it sunrise. Can't actually remember
I think it must have been dawn
And a good look at what was surrounding us with clear skies
And a bit of ladder work for the first time
Starting to feel like a proper climb
Back at basecamp I demanded a picture with the expedition leader and world famous Sherpa Phurba Tashi, who was acting as basecamp manager on this trip
And a team shot with the main goal behind us
Really enjoying this thread, thank you for taking the time to share your adventures!
Forgive the questions;
Around the time you climbed, Everest had a bit of a reputation as an unregulated wild west.
Did you have any issues regarding oxygen supply? Everybody got what they paid for, and all the gear worked ok?
Any stories of theft on the mountain? This was a massive issue at basecamp and even further up the mountain for many years.
You did absolutely the right thing by not going budget, those doing it on a shoestring usually end up becoming a liability for everyone else.
Was anyone trying to mooch off your team on the way up?
Funny how long these adventures can keep you inspired.
I did a year in east Africa (including a trip to the mountains) which was 13 years ago now and i'm still buzzing from all the crazy scrapes i got myself into.
Forgive the questions;
Around the time you climbed, Everest had a bit of a reputation as an unregulated wild west.
Did you have any issues regarding oxygen supply? Everybody got what they paid for, and all the gear worked ok?
Any stories of theft on the mountain? This was a massive issue at basecamp and even further up the mountain for many years.
You did absolutely the right thing by not going budget, those doing it on a shoestring usually end up becoming a liability for everyone else.
Was anyone trying to mooch off your team on the way up?
Funny how long these adventures can keep you inspired.
I did a year in east Africa (including a trip to the mountains) which was 13 years ago now and i'm still buzzing from all the crazy scrapes i got myself into.
Jake899 said:
Really enjoying this thread, thank you for taking the time to share your adventures!
Forgive the questions;
Around the time you climbed, Everest had a bit of a reputation as an unregulated wild west.
Did you have any issues regarding oxygen supply? Everybody got what they paid for, and all the gear worked ok?
Any stories of theft on the mountain? This was a massive issue at basecamp and even further up the mountain for many years.
You did absolutely the right thing by not going budget, those doing it on a shoestring usually end up becoming a liability for everyone else.
Was anyone trying to mooch off your team on the way up?
Funny how long these adventures can keep you inspired.
I did a year in east Africa (including a trip to the mountains) which was 13 years ago now and i'm still buzzing from all the crazy scrapes i got myself into.
Don't be sorry, I'd have questions if someone had posted a thread like this a few years ago!Forgive the questions;
Around the time you climbed, Everest had a bit of a reputation as an unregulated wild west.
Did you have any issues regarding oxygen supply? Everybody got what they paid for, and all the gear worked ok?
Any stories of theft on the mountain? This was a massive issue at basecamp and even further up the mountain for many years.
You did absolutely the right thing by not going budget, those doing it on a shoestring usually end up becoming a liability for everyone else.
Was anyone trying to mooch off your team on the way up?
Funny how long these adventures can keep you inspired.
I did a year in east Africa (including a trip to the mountains) which was 13 years ago now and i'm still buzzing from all the crazy scrapes i got myself into.
The wild west element is somewhat true. Our team had some oxygen bottles stolen at camp 4, as well as a tent. This happens every year, pretty much down to the, frankly, s
t cheapo operators (mostly out of Nepal itself) who simply don't plan enough for their own trip, so when it comes to it they think it's fine for them to just go around stealing at the top camp. As you can imagine, at 8,000m it's not exactly possible to have 'security' guarding your stuff and checking for people on the steal. It's a disgrace, and can and will lead to deaths at some point as people find they don't have the supplies they expected to find at their own camp. The year we were there we heard of some issues with people's oxygen regulators which was not good. Luckily we were absolutely fine, but some people's equipment didn't work properly, which again is very dangerous at that altitude.
Sadly Everest is getting worse every year for crowds, stealing of equipment and the sheer scale of rubbish left from basecamp all the way to the top. When we were at basecamp we'd spend some free time just going around basecamp with bin bags picking up litter. Russell who ran our company was one of the first people to pioneer this expedition style of doing Everest, so he'd been there from the beginning and HATED seeing what people were doing to the place, so always encouraged us to do whatever we could in terms of cleaning up. We didn't leave a single trace of our team on the mountain.
As an aside, it's the base camp trekkers who are some of the worst for leaving rubbish.
UTH said:
Don't be sorry, I'd have questions if someone had posted a thread like this a few years ago!
The wild west element is somewhat true. Our team had some oxygen bottles stolen at camp 4, as well as a tent. This happens every year, pretty much down to the, frankly, st cheapo operators (mostly out of Nepal itself) who simply don't plan enough for their own trip, so when it comes to it they think it's fine for them to just go around stealing at the top camp. As you can imagine, at 8,000m it's not exactly possible to have 'security' guarding your stuff and checking for people on the steal. It's a disgrace, and can and will lead to deaths at some point as people find they don't have the supplies they expected to find at their own camp.
The year we were there we heard of some issues with people's oxygen regulators which was not good. Luckily we were absolutely fine, but some people's equipment didn't work properly, which again is very dangerous at that altitude.
Sadly Everest is getting worse every year for crowds, stealing of equipment and the sheer scale of rubbish left from basecamp all the way to the top. When we were at basecamp we'd spend some free time just going around basecamp with bin bags picking up litter. Russell who ran our company was one of the first people to pioneer this expedition style of doing Everest, so he'd been there from the beginning and HATED seeing what people were doing to the place, so always encouraged us to do whatever we could in terms of cleaning up. We didn't leave a single trace of our team on the mountain.
As an aside, it's the base camp trekkers who are some of the worst for leaving rubbish.
I can't imagine the disappointment of going all that way and spending all that money just to find your regulator didn't work. I believe at that time there was only one supplier who claimed to have the license to exclusively provide oxygen for Everest (turns out he didn't) and he was a bit of a, shall we say chancer?. Something about using Russian high altitude aircraft tanks? Anyways, I'm very glad your trip worked out and you got up and more importantly down safely.The wild west element is somewhat true. Our team had some oxygen bottles stolen at camp 4, as well as a tent. This happens every year, pretty much down to the, frankly, s
t cheapo operators (mostly out of Nepal itself) who simply don't plan enough for their own trip, so when it comes to it they think it's fine for them to just go around stealing at the top camp. As you can imagine, at 8,000m it's not exactly possible to have 'security' guarding your stuff and checking for people on the steal. It's a disgrace, and can and will lead to deaths at some point as people find they don't have the supplies they expected to find at their own camp. The year we were there we heard of some issues with people's oxygen regulators which was not good. Luckily we were absolutely fine, but some people's equipment didn't work properly, which again is very dangerous at that altitude.
Sadly Everest is getting worse every year for crowds, stealing of equipment and the sheer scale of rubbish left from basecamp all the way to the top. When we were at basecamp we'd spend some free time just going around basecamp with bin bags picking up litter. Russell who ran our company was one of the first people to pioneer this expedition style of doing Everest, so he'd been there from the beginning and HATED seeing what people were doing to the place, so always encouraged us to do whatever we could in terms of cleaning up. We didn't leave a single trace of our team on the mountain.
As an aside, it's the base camp trekkers who are some of the worst for leaving rubbish.
The rubbish and theft issue is still saddening and won't change until the Nepalese government start regulating things better. Climbers bring a huge amount to the economy.
Jake899 said:
UTH said:
Don't be sorry, I'd have questions if someone had posted a thread like this a few years ago!
The wild west element is somewhat true. Our team had some oxygen bottles stolen at camp 4, as well as a tent. This happens every year, pretty much down to the, frankly, st cheapo operators (mostly out of Nepal itself) who simply don't plan enough for their own trip, so when it comes to it they think it's fine for them to just go around stealing at the top camp. As you can imagine, at 8,000m it's not exactly possible to have 'security' guarding your stuff and checking for people on the steal. It's a disgrace, and can and will lead to deaths at some point as people find they don't have the supplies they expected to find at their own camp.
The year we were there we heard of some issues with people's oxygen regulators which was not good. Luckily we were absolutely fine, but some people's equipment didn't work properly, which again is very dangerous at that altitude.
Sadly Everest is getting worse every year for crowds, stealing of equipment and the sheer scale of rubbish left from basecamp all the way to the top. When we were at basecamp we'd spend some free time just going around basecamp with bin bags picking up litter. Russell who ran our company was one of the first people to pioneer this expedition style of doing Everest, so he'd been there from the beginning and HATED seeing what people were doing to the place, so always encouraged us to do whatever we could in terms of cleaning up. We didn't leave a single trace of our team on the mountain.
As an aside, it's the base camp trekkers who are some of the worst for leaving rubbish.
I can't imagine the disappointment of going all that way and spending all that money just to find your regulator didn't work. I believe at that time there was only one supplier who claimed to have the license to exclusively provide oxygen for Everest (turns out he didn't) and he was a bit of a, shall we say chancer?. Something about using Russian high altitude aircraft tanks? Anyways, I'm very glad your trip worked out and you got up and more importantly down safely.The wild west element is somewhat true. Our team had some oxygen bottles stolen at camp 4, as well as a tent. This happens every year, pretty much down to the, frankly, s
t cheapo operators (mostly out of Nepal itself) who simply don't plan enough for their own trip, so when it comes to it they think it's fine for them to just go around stealing at the top camp. As you can imagine, at 8,000m it's not exactly possible to have 'security' guarding your stuff and checking for people on the steal. It's a disgrace, and can and will lead to deaths at some point as people find they don't have the supplies they expected to find at their own camp. The year we were there we heard of some issues with people's oxygen regulators which was not good. Luckily we were absolutely fine, but some people's equipment didn't work properly, which again is very dangerous at that altitude.
Sadly Everest is getting worse every year for crowds, stealing of equipment and the sheer scale of rubbish left from basecamp all the way to the top. When we were at basecamp we'd spend some free time just going around basecamp with bin bags picking up litter. Russell who ran our company was one of the first people to pioneer this expedition style of doing Everest, so he'd been there from the beginning and HATED seeing what people were doing to the place, so always encouraged us to do whatever we could in terms of cleaning up. We didn't leave a single trace of our team on the mountain.
As an aside, it's the base camp trekkers who are some of the worst for leaving rubbish.
The rubbish and theft issue is still saddening and won't change until the Nepalese government start regulating things better. Climbers bring a huge amount to the economy.
Indeed, the government is a shambles from what Russ used to talk about, corruption, constant revolving door of new ministers etc and like you say, the ££ available through Everest is so big, they just want to keep milking the cash cow. For one they should limit the number of permits so they don't have the huge queues, but that means missing out on money, so that'll never happen!
Got a few mins to get a bit more up:
Next up was our first trip up to camp 2 where we'd be carrying up a fair amount of kit to then leave in our camp 2 tents as this stuff would only be needed when heading to the top.
This was the hardest part of the trip, starting early from camp 1
The next day we made a rekkie towards camp 3 to get a bit more elevation before returning to camp 2
And as you can imagine some good views from camp 2
Next up was our first trip up to camp 2 where we'd be carrying up a fair amount of kit to then leave in our camp 2 tents as this stuff would only be needed when heading to the top.
This was the hardest part of the trip, starting early from camp 1
The next day we made a rekkie towards camp 3 to get a bit more elevation before returning to camp 2
And as you can imagine some good views from camp 2
I think these are just random shots I took on our trip down from Camp 2 to the bottom
On our way down the route the fixed rope took went under an area that was starting to drop a lot of ice and rock, so we had to help do an impromptu change of route.....this is my fellow climbing 'client' Frank taking some new rope down
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/ESzRtNFc.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/wUeGu9KJ" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/wUeGu9KJ.jpg)
On our way down the route the fixed rope took went under an area that was starting to drop a lot of ice and rock, so we had to help do an impromptu change of route.....this is my fellow climbing 'client' Frank taking some new rope down
After a bit of resting at basecamp we were ready to head for the top. From memory I think we went base camp to camp 1, camp 1 to camp 2 where it was decided we'd only rest there for a bit then head straight for camp 3. Which made that day seriously long, but put us in a good position to head for the summit from camp 3.
Our guide Richie had developed a weird pain in his arm so he decided to stay at basecamp and run things from there, which meant that Phurba Tashi tapped in to lead us up the mountain. He'd 'retired' from doing 8,000m summits, so this was an amazing one off chance for me to be climbing one on one with one of the most famous sherpas in the world!
Phurba doing a bit of ladder fixing on the way up
And some more general shots of the route up
Photos don't really do it justice but this section of the route was called the hourglass and was steep and tiresome
Quick pause at camp 2 before moving on up again
Time to bed down before waking up before dawn for the summit push:
Our guide Richie had developed a weird pain in his arm so he decided to stay at basecamp and run things from there, which meant that Phurba Tashi tapped in to lead us up the mountain. He'd 'retired' from doing 8,000m summits, so this was an amazing one off chance for me to be climbing one on one with one of the most famous sherpas in the world!
Phurba doing a bit of ladder fixing on the way up
And some more general shots of the route up
Photos don't really do it justice but this section of the route was called the hourglass and was steep and tiresome
Quick pause at camp 2 before moving on up again
Time to bed down before waking up before dawn for the summit push:
SUMMIT DAY!!
Waking up before dawn, can't remember exactly what time, and we headed out. We'd been well prepared and this meant we were the first ones of the season to be heading to the top, so we were breaking trail and we were heading up before the usual camp 4 had even been setup, so we were well ahead of everyone else on the mountain.
Frank heading up a bit behind me
Feels like it's getting closer, but it's still a long way off
I'm stopped here at what's called the false summit. There's a bit of contention over the summit of Manaslu, because the bit behind me that is the true summit is only accessed by climbing what is essentially just a slope of fairly loose snow. So many climbed who have got to the 'top' of Manaslu have actually only got to the false summit where I'm sitting. Luckily having Phurba Tashi with me as one of the most experienced there has ever been meant that he was happy to go and fix a rope to take us to the true summit
Phurba's summit shot
My shot, first time at over 8,000m!
Uninterrupted view above the clouds
I then headed back to the false summit and Frank went up
So after our success and being a true boozy brit, I had it firmly in my mind that if there was any chance of enjoying a beer that night, lets make it happen. So Phurba and I agreed we'd go as quickly as we could and get from summit to BaseCamp in one push.....so off we went at pace! No time for any photos on the way down, but we managed to get there in near pitch black by the time we arrived, but it was time to open the cigar and whisky I'd picked up at the airport for this exact moment. Sadly Frank was a little slower to he and his Sherpa stayed at camp 3 for the night and would head down in the morning
And that was it really. We stayed at basecamp one more night I think, a few more beers etc, then packed off and headed back down to the village for a night, then helicopter back to Kathmandu to carry on celebrating with many many beers and nice food, then headed home!
So, having competed all of this......next up was EVEREST
Waking up before dawn, can't remember exactly what time, and we headed out. We'd been well prepared and this meant we were the first ones of the season to be heading to the top, so we were breaking trail and we were heading up before the usual camp 4 had even been setup, so we were well ahead of everyone else on the mountain.
Frank heading up a bit behind me
Feels like it's getting closer, but it's still a long way off
I'm stopped here at what's called the false summit. There's a bit of contention over the summit of Manaslu, because the bit behind me that is the true summit is only accessed by climbing what is essentially just a slope of fairly loose snow. So many climbed who have got to the 'top' of Manaslu have actually only got to the false summit where I'm sitting. Luckily having Phurba Tashi with me as one of the most experienced there has ever been meant that he was happy to go and fix a rope to take us to the true summit
Phurba's summit shot
My shot, first time at over 8,000m!
Uninterrupted view above the clouds
I then headed back to the false summit and Frank went up
So after our success and being a true boozy brit, I had it firmly in my mind that if there was any chance of enjoying a beer that night, lets make it happen. So Phurba and I agreed we'd go as quickly as we could and get from summit to BaseCamp in one push.....so off we went at pace! No time for any photos on the way down, but we managed to get there in near pitch black by the time we arrived, but it was time to open the cigar and whisky I'd picked up at the airport for this exact moment. Sadly Frank was a little slower to he and his Sherpa stayed at camp 3 for the night and would head down in the morning
And that was it really. We stayed at basecamp one more night I think, a few more beers etc, then packed off and headed back down to the village for a night, then helicopter back to Kathmandu to carry on celebrating with many many beers and nice food, then headed home!
So, having competed all of this......next up was EVEREST
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