moosmom
04-04-2004, 06:21 PM
Well, the still don't have their visas. If they don't get them by tomorrow (Monday) they'll have to wait a week. Here's Carolyn's update!
Everest K2- WEBLOG
This file will be updated as soon as reports are received from the climbing team. The writer, Carolyn Moreau, is traveling with the team and producing these written updates.
7:45 AM EST,April 3, 2004
Saturday April 3, 7:20 a.m.
KATMANDU - The rest of the Connecticut Everest Expedition team arrived in Katmandu last night. But their flight got in late from Bangkok, so we were not able to get their passports to the Chinese Embassy before it closed to get the visas we need for Everest base camp in Tibet.
The political situation here is getting worse. Our Sherpa tells us there was rioting in Katmandu last night outside a soldier barracks. Today, the hospitals are full of people with broken bones, and gunshot wounds. We haven't seen any English language newspapers today, so we must rely on the Sherpa, who get their news from the street.
Mingma Sherpa, who is Lhakpa's brother, says that Maoists closed down schools in Nepal yesterday to prevent children from taking their final exams.
We knew nothing about this. A violent thunderstorm knocked out the power in Katmandu, so we ate dinner by candle light. The streets felt safe and tranquil as I walked back to the hotel about 10 p.m.. At that time, I thought my worst problems were that I couldn't charge all the batteries for computers, cameras, videos and satellite phones because of the outage.
Today, you could feel the tension building on the streets. People were standing around looking anxious, as small bands of Maoists marched through the streets waving red flags and shouting.
I'm worried about the journey to the Tibetan border that we're supposed to make on Monday. The visas probably won't be ready until at least midday, so we are facing a night time drive through a countryside where roving gangs of Maoists regularly stop trucks and buses and demand money. Elizabeth Hawley, the Reuters correspondent in Katmandu, has warned us to hide our cameras and phones during this trip.
We are trying to flee Katmandu before Tuesday when the Maoists call a general strike. If we are delayed for the three days, it will make the climbers late to base camps and reduce the time they have to adjust to altitude.
But no one on the team seems concerned about the Maoist threat. They are engrossed in packing large plastic drums full of mountaineering equipment and making last-minute preparations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll admit, I'm a little worried. These people are my best friends and I HOPE everything goes well. Imagine not being able to travel at night and having to hide your camera equipment and cellphones!!! Glad I live in the good ole USofA!!!
moosmom
04-05-2004, 06:06 PM
Everest K2- WEBLOG
This file will be updated as soon as reports are received from the climbing team. The writer, Carolyn Moreau, is traveling with the team and producing these written updates.
Monday April 5, 6:30 a.m.
Katmandu turned on a party for the Connecticut Everest Expedition last night.
Lhakpa Sherpa is very famous here, for being the first Nepali woman to climb Everest. Her return to Nepal, along with the Connecticut Everest Expedition, was an occasion for a big press conference and a party afterwards.
"We may not be the best Everest expedition, but we are the best-connected,'' laughed Climber Chuck Boyd, as he helped himself to a plate of curry at the party. As well as local print and television reporters, there were local politicians, business people and officials from the Chinese Embassy.
We leave today for Tibet, racing to beat the strike which starts Tuesday. Team members are mostly unconcerned about the dangers of Maoists on the road to the border.
"I don't think Asian Treking or Nepali officials would allow us to go if it was really dangerous,'' said Climber Bill Driggs.
Even so, I will be glad when we are safely across the border in Tibet. Katmandu has become a very tense city in recent days, with street demonstrations and fighting. The night before last, two bombs exploded close to our hotel, rattling the windows and our nerves.
This may be the last dispatch I file for a few days, because the satellite modem and computer should probably remain hidden while we are traveling to base camp. I'm writing this at day break, sitting on a roof top overlooking Katmandu. It's time to go finish packing for the journey.
moosmom
04-13-2004, 12:46 PM
I feel kinda hopeless right now. The team is going through alot of illnesses right now. Mike has a lung infection and breathing problems as they escalate to the Summit. Pray for all of them. If you want to wish them well, here's the messageboard link:
http://www.ctnow.com/features/custom/hc-evk2-gb.graffitiboard
Here's Carolyn's log:
Everest K2- WEBLOG
This file will be updated when reports are received from the climbing team. The writer, Carolyn Moreau, is traveling with the team and producing these updates. She is married to Michael Kodas.
April 9, 2004
Tuesday April 13, 11 a.m.
Everest Base Camp, Tibet – It was a long scary night, during which Photographer Michael Kodas suffered breathing problems.
His lung infection – which antibiotics have largely cleared up – seems to have left him predisposed to the kind of breathing problems that come with altitude.
Breathing isn't too much of a problem during the day at base camp, unless you try to move too quickly. But during sleep, the breathing mechanism can be disrupted in thin air. A sleeper can actually stop breathing because the brain isn't getting the triggers it needs to regulate inhaling and exhaling.
Poor Michael suffered this Cheyne-Stokes breathing every time he dropped into sleep last night. He'd awaken in a panic, feeling like he was drowning, until he was too scared to shut his eyes. I stayed awake with him, just to give him some company in the cold dark night.
Cheyne-Stokes breathing is terrifying to experience, but it is not especially dangerous because the sleeper will awaken before they suffocate. The biggest problem is that Michael isn't getting any rest. He started taking a drug called Diamox today, which should help him regulate his breathing during the night. He will have to remain on Diamox for most of the expedition.
The rest of the team is in various stages of healing. Chuck Boyd had another flare-up of his stomach bug, so he lay around camp today reading. Dave Watson went for a long hike up the nearby hills; Bill Driggs hiked part way up to the advanced base camp and came back down with a headache while Anne Parmenter tried out her new high altitude boots and crampons on a small ice flow near our camp. Guillermo Charro Blaizac, the Mexican climber who is on the Connecticut expedition's permit, has spent most of the last two days fixing the computer belonging to veteran Everest Climber George Dijmarescu.
- Carolyn Moreau
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday April 12, 11:59 a.m.
Everest Base Camp, Tibet – The difference in temperature between day and night is amazing at this altitude – about 17,000 feet according to our global positioning system.
When we arrived at base camp, shortly before lunch, it was shorts and t-shirts weather. Not that anyone stripped down. The sun is brutal here and will burn skin in minutes and the wind is still raw. After the sun leaves the tent the temperature really plummets because there is not enough atmosphere to hold in the heat. I expect it will drop below freezing tonight.
We are very comfortably set up here, with a tent for each team member, plus a big kitchen tent and a dinning tent with a table, chairs and even a table cloth. The food is amazing after eating bad Chinese food on the road for the past week. We had salad for lunch today, with grilled cheese sandwiches and slices of watermelon for dessert. The various health maladies that most people suffered over the past week seem to be slipping away, thanks to the good food and clean tents. Our Sherpa are working very hard. They cook all our meals and do the dishes.
Everest sits right in front of our tents. It was clear when we arrived, giving us wonderful views of the route the climbers will take. But then a storm rolled in up high, obscuring the summit in dark angry clouds.
Our goal is to rest here for a couple of days and adjust to the altitude before moving up to advanced base camp, where the real climb will be staged from. Over the next couple of days we need to sort gear and somehow find more than 70 yaks to transport all our gear, food, kitchen and dinning supplies and tents up to advanced base camp.
- Carolyn Moreau
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday April 11, 11:44 a.m.
TINGRI, Tibet – The Connecticut Everest Expedition split into two groups this morning, with Michael Kodas and Chuck Boyd and me remaining in Tingri for another day because of sickness, and the rest of the team moving on to base camp.
Chuck is still battling his stomach ailment, while Michael has a lung infection. (I feel fine.) The only reason we could remain at Tingri another day was that a British expedition had space in their Land Cruiser to take us all to base camp tomorrow.
Paul Noble and Serena Brocklebank, both British nationals, fell several days behind their expedition because Serena had trouble getting her visa for China. She works for the British Foreign Office in London, and the Chinese took extra days to scrutinize her diplomatic passport. Paul and Serena are now traveling alone through Tibet, trying to catch up with the rest of their team, which includes a documentary crew from the BBC.
Paul and Serena told us how fortunate we were to make it out of Nepal when we did. They were traveling the same road, a few days behind us, and they were turned back to Katmandu because the Maoist guerillas laid mines in the road. They ended up hiring a helicopter to fly to Friendship Bridge, because it can take the Nepalese army days to clear the road of explosives.
We heard from a Chinese liaison officer this morning that Nepal is shut down again by strikes. The main road through Tingri, which should be full of trucks, is deserted, indicating that nothing is coming across the border from Nepal.
"It's been such an adventure just getting here, we're worried that climbing Everest might be a let down,'' joked Serena, whose grandfather Tom Brocklebank climbed Everest from the North side in 1933, but did not reach the summit.
We took a long hike today up to a little over 16,000 feet to help with our acclimatization. Chuck wanted to delay the trip to base camp, because once we get there, the Chinese will want $800 per person to bring people down early. The only cure for altitude sickness is to go down fast, so going to base camp before we are ready could prove to be expensive.
We got splendid views of Mt. Everest, and the north ridge route that the climbers will take.
"You can see why Everest is called Goddess Mother,'' said Serena, looking at the massive mountain in the distance. She did look like a Goddess with outstretched arms.
Halfway up the hill we reached a flat top area decorated with prayer flags that whipped in the wind. This was a sky burial site, where the Tibetan bring their dead. They cut the bodies into pieces on the flat rocks and leave the flesh for the Goraks, the big black ravens, to devour. Only the clothes of the dead remain fluttering in the wind. Walking around, I found a tiny sneaker, the last earthy possession of a dead Tibetan child.
- Carolyn Moreau
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday April 10, 12:40 p.m.
TINGRI, Tibet - It is pretty much impossible to stay healthy here.
We've been eating the same food for a week now – oily Chinese food and French fries that tasted good on the first day, but is now making climbers cringe every time they sit down for a meal.
Lhakpa Sherpa is urging everyone to eat, regardless of how they feel. Tomorrow we drive to base camp at almost 18,000 feet and those who skip meals will find themselves unable to start the climb.
Most people are taking a multi vitamin to offset the horrible diet we are following.
"I actually look forward to it because it's chewable and it tastes good,'' said Climber Bill Driggs. "My Mom offered to buy me some stuff before I left and I asked for chewable Flintstones vitamins."
Back home, Bill sticks to a strict health food diet to compliment his training regiment for triathlons. Last night, desperate for calories that won't make him sick, Bill drank his first soda – a Sprite – in 10 years.
Chuck Boyd was violently ill last night from something that he ate. Lhakpa cooked up a ginger-garlic soup, which she gave to Chuck. It made him feel better, he said.
Michael Kodas spent most of the day in his sleeping bag with a fever and cough. Other climbers are nursing sore throats and upset stomachs. We have to get well in base camp over the next week, but people are optimistic that this will happen.
Mostly we are eager to leave this town. It's a rough place. Anne Parmenter watched in horror as children stoned a puppy to death today. Later, these same children waged a mock battle throwing rocks at other children.
- Carolyn Moreau
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday April 9, 1:04 p.m.
TINGRI, Tibet – The floor of our hotel room in Tingri is made of dirt. Electricity is provided by generators, and it only comes on at sunset. We will stay in Tingri for the next two nights, which seems like a long time right now. However, we can now see the summit of Mt. Everest in the distance, so the first part of our journey is nearly over.
The main street of this town reminds me of the Wild West. Small carts, pulled by ponies, trot up and down the street. Mangy dogs and shaggy yaks roam at will. Every time we step outside the hotel compound – more of a truck yard, really – we are surrounded by packs of ragged children.
"Hello! Money!" the children yell, stretching out grimy hands.
Anne Parmenter had an adventure today, when a group of little girls coaxed her over to their outdoor classroom. Anne picked up their schoolbook, written in English, and gave them a short lesson.
The girls had other ideas.
"Bon-bon?" one little girl interrupted.
"I have nothing,'' Anne said, turning her pockets inside out to prove that she had no hidden stash of candy.
But the girls could not be put off. They dragged Anne up the street, singing happily, and guided her to a shop where she bought them chocolate.
"Bye-bye,'' the girls sang, as they headed back up the street, each clutching a chocolate bar.
I shot a video of Anne's encounter, and put together a rough clip that I will try to send back to the Courant via the satellite modem. I threw it together quickly, with two little girls pushing against me and squealing as they pointed to the laptop screen. It was kind of stressful working like this.
Michael Kodas has started taking antibiotics and seems to be getting better. It is difficult to know, without a doctor, when to start taking the medicine that we brought from Connecticut. Michael asked members of other expeditions for advice about his cough and fever, and they all said he should start antibiotics now before we get to higher altitude and it is harder for his body to fight off infection.
The trucks and our Sherpa will go ahead tomorrow with most of our luggage, and they will set up base camp for us. We will follow a day later in the Land Cruisers. The Chinese drivers have asked us to pack lightly because the road is terrible and they want their vehicles as light as possible. So for the next day, we will have just our sleeping bags and toothbrushes until base camp.
- Carolyn Moreau
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday April 8, 8:37 a.m.
NYLAM, Tibet - The hardest part of the journey from Katmandu to Everest Base Camp is staying healthy.
Climbers Anne Parmenter, Bill Driggs and Michael Kodas all struggled with upset stomachs after that one meal in Kodari, the filthy border town next to Friendship Bridge. I'm happy now that I only ate potatoes, fried to a crisp, because I wasn't feeling that great. My problem at the time was just exhaustion from traveling.
But Michael also ate a plate of fried rice and a piece of the worst chicken he'd ever tasted. His stomach has churned ever since, and worst of all, he's developed a cough and fever. It might be time for him to start taking Zithromax, or Z-pac, an antibiotic especially for respiratory infections.
"Am I going to be the first team member to start on Z-pac?'' Michael glumly asked Chuck Boyd over lunch today.
"You have the right idea,'' said Chuck, who is a climbing guide back in Connecticut and has a lot of expedition experience.
Michael is very worried about being too sick to climb Everest, but Chuck is not concerned. Michael still has a long time to rest and recover, Chuck said.
"It is early yet,'' Chuck said.
Apart from Michael, the other climbers seem to be recovering from their ailments. Anne and Bill have color back in their faces, and Chuck and Dave just sped to the top of the 14,000 peak we climbed today to help with altitude acclimatization. Around here, that is less than a foothill.
We are supposed to move on by land cruiser tomorrow to another town closer to base camp. We will stay there for a couple of days to continue adjusting to altitude, and then we will move into base camp. I will file another blog tomorrow, if I can find an internet cafe, or a safe, dry place to get the satellite modem running. We must climb to the rooftops to do this, so it isn't always possible. We should be in base camp in three days!
- Carolyn Moreau
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday April 7, 10:31 a.m.
NYLAM, Tibet - "Did you meet Willard?" Chuck Boyd asked as fellow climber Bill Driggs came into the bar.
"Yeah," Bill replied without enthusiasm.
Willard is Chuck's name for the brownish-grey rat that leaped from his bed to a hole in the ceiling when he went to put his pack in the room.
"He's not New York City-sized," Chuck said, grinning.
We are staying in Nyalam, Tibet, a rambling mountain town at almost 12,000 feet. Our acclimatization period has begun. We will stay in this village for two nights to adjust to the altitude before heading on towards base camp.
Dawa Sherpa, at Asian Treking, has arranged our journey to base camp so we have time to adjust. All of our hotels and meals are prepaid, so although it sometimes feels like we are on our own, we are really being looked after. Our massive pile of luggage is traveling with us in trucks. The sherpa must sleep in these trucks at night to stop thieves.
After arriving in Nyalam by jeep, the team spent the day napping, sending e-mails from the internet cafe, and taking short walks around the village. Despite rats like Willard, this is a beautiful town. It is a mix of traditional Tibetan buildings, with stone walls and wonderful ornate paintings, and utilitarian Chinese-made buildings.
There is an amazing amount of building going on in this area. The Chinese are paving the road and building big truck stops and gasoline stations. Tonight, I read a news report that the Chinese plan to build a highway from Katmandu into Tibet. A team of Chinese surveyors are in Katmandu now, according to the news report on Google.
But while the plans are very modern, the labor is done by hand. We passed laborers breaking rocks and carrying incredible loads.
It's evening now, and everyone is relaxing, or playing on the internet. Michael Kodas is working upstairs, transferring his photographs from his digital camera to his laptop computer. He's lying on a bed lined with Tibetan rugs. I think he's a little sick from the filth at the border town. Anne Parmenter has also not been feeling well.
Lhakpa has warned us not to drink any beer from now on, because it will hinder our adjustment to altitude. I am taking her advice.
Tomorrow we are supposed to take a hike up the mountains. The rule here is climb high, sleep low. It helps with the adjustment.
- Carolyn Moreau
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday April 6, 9:13 a.m.
To go from Nepal to Tibet you must pass Friendship Bridge, a dirty concrete structure over a deep gorge. It is not a friendly place, despite the name.
Almost everyone on the team got yelled at by Chinese soldiers for taking pictures or videos of the military. We waited for hours on the bridge. I eventually dozed off, resting on my pack in the sunshine.
It was a trying morning. Photographer Michael Kodas and I had to pay the Nepal visa fee twice because Katmandu airport did not put the right stamp in our passports.
Last night, we stayed in a flea pit of an inn, in a strip of town in no-man's-land between two checkpoints. I think the town of Kodari exists to provide services to truckers and travelers crossing the border. Our room stank of unwashed clothes, but it was wonderful to sleep after the stress of Katmandu. Michael and I collapsed before the sun set, and didn't wake till after dawn.
The drive from Katmandu, which I was so worried about, went smoothly. The army seems to be in control of the road, at least by day. We passed columns of grim soldiers in full battle gear, with war paint on their faces and clips in their rifles. The only sign of Maoist guerillas were red banners planted by the side of the road and three burned buses from an earlier ambush. We've heard that the rebels have been taking Nepalis off buses and then burning the vehicles, leaving the poor people stranded.
We are now in Zhang Mu, our first stop on the Tibet side. I'm thankful to find the town has an internet cafe, because I don't want to take out the satellite modem until we are further from the border checkpoints. Our room tonight is much cleaner than the last.
- Carolyn Moreau
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.0 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.