Cho-Oyu, Tibet Journal

August – October 2007

Map

 
After leaving Colorado on 8/1, I flew up to Seattle to pick up some Millet boots at Marmot Mountain and a down suit I had ordered from Feathered Friends.  This was the weekend for the Seafair Festival in Seattle and the Blue Angeles performing frequently in the skies above the city snarled traffic.  I was able to meet up with Peter & Meg Gotch one evening for dinner and also saw Ang Temba Sherpa and his wife who are working on Bainbridge Island for the summer.

CALIFORNIA

There was a birthday celebration for Dad & Carolyn in Colfax on August 5th where we spent a few days.  By mid-week we returned to Marin where I started about making the final purchases for my trip.  Locating items suitable for minus 40-degree temperature in California during August proved to be challenging, but I finally completed my shopping after several trips.  I spent a whole day at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco getting a 90-day visa with permission to enter Tibet.  I already had two 30-day visas, which they insisted on canceling before issuing the new visa.  The demonstrations outside the consulate to free-Tibet were the largest I have ever seen.

Carolyn brought Ayden down for a couple days and we went over to Stinson Beach to hike up Mt. Tamalpais  Ayden mostly rode on my back, but he knew that when he did hike, he had to use poles.  The trail that Carolyn chose wound through redwood groves and had great views of the Pacific Ocean.  We ended the day on the Dipsea Trail, famous for the annual Dipsea Race.

Ayden cannot say my name yet and calls me ‘G’.  Dad and I made him a collage of photographs of he and I which we glued onto a large G-shaped piece of plywood, which I envision hanging on the wall of his bedroom in Colfax.  He instantly liked it and would point and say ‘G’ every time he walked by.

I continued working out during my stay in Novato.  I spent two days a week with Kelli at Healthworks and would run the other days.  It is so much easier to run at sea level than it was in Breckenridge.  I’d easily run seven miles in an hour whereas in Colorado I’d struggle to complete five.  I went completely off my diet, eating my Dad’s cooking, coupled with a trip to Morton’s one night and another to the South Bay to have dinner with Jay Hoey and David Auerbach whom I met in Nepal last month, and gained ten pounds in two weeks. On August 21st, Mom & Dad invited my brother Paul and the neighbors, Bob, Rick & Jeannie for a small going away party.  Rick gave me a Cho-Oyu survival kit which everyone had fun with as I opened it.

BEIJING, CHINA

The next day I flew to Beijing where Cindy had arranged to have me picked up at the airport and driven to The Ascott where we planned to stay for four days. On Friday night, Cindy’s friend Fei came by and we went to dinner at The Temple Kitchen. This restaurant is located inside The White Pagoda Temple, creating a very serene atmosphere. In a private room, we enjoyed a 10-course meal of exceptional delicacies.

Saturday Cindy had arranged for Tao, Lilly, Iola and Fei to come for dinner. We went to the local supermarket, Wal-Mart, where we purchased what she needed to prepare dinner. I am always amazed at the unusual variety of food in China and its unique translation. Squid or octopus tentacles in China are called ‘fish feet’, which makes more sense than the western term calamari.

Monday morning I checked out of The Ascott and took a taxi to the Beijing Airport.  My flight to Lhasa was at 7:00 AM and my luggage was 60 pounds overweight.  Fortunately, the excess baggage desk was not open so I avoided having to pay the $100 charge.

LHASA, TIBET

We took-off and landed on-time.  Two people from the China Tibet Mountaineering Association, who are Alpine Ascents partners in Tibet, met me and we rode about an hour into Lhasa.  I checked into a small single room at The Himalaya Hotel with a view of The Potala Palace.  I had arrived in Tibet a day early to get a jump start on acclimatization.  Our guides arrived later Monday afternoon from Kathmandu where they had spent the previous five days organizing gear and buying supplies.  Guides for this trip are Lakpa Rita Sherpa, who I met at Everest Base Camp a few months ago, Eric Larson, Todd Passey, Eric Murphy and David Kratsch, all of whom I met when they arrived at around 3:00 PM.  I was feeling the altitude and decided not to go out to dinner and retreated to my room and went to bed early.

Tuesday we met for breakfast and then Eric came up to my room to get the gear check out of the way.  Afterwards we met up with Dave and went over to Barkhor Square and the Jokhang Temple where we spent a couple hours sightseeing.  We returned to the hotel to meet some other members of the group coming in today.  Arriving from Beijing on the same flight I took yesterday were Horst Baier from Miami, Janet Bull from Vermont, Stephen Coney from the Bay Area, Danielle Fisher from Seattle, Armand Musey from Manhattan and Kathy Setian from Greenwich, CT.  After checking in, we all went next door for lunch.  Michael Boni from British Columbia arrived later from Kathmandu and Michael Girard from Denver had taken the train from Beijing which was delayed eight hours and he did not arrive until 4:00 AM Wednesday.

After gear checks, we went for an uneventful dinner and returned to the hotel.  Armand, Michael and I went back over to the bar next door where Michael told us of his attempt to climb Everest last year with Wally Berg.

Wednesday morning, we all met for breakfast and then headed out for our scheduled tour of The Potala Palace. We had tickets for the one-hour tour at 8:30 AM and met up with two other groups that CTMA had scheduled for the same time,

The Potala Palace is the iconic symbol of Lhasa and affords a commanding view of the city.  The traditional home to the Fifth through Thirteenth Dali Lamas, the palace contains over 1000 rooms, although our tour was limited to about 25 of them.  There were no photos of, or reference to, the Fourteenth Dali Lama, currently exiled in India.

We returned to the hotel for lunch and then boarded our tour bus again and drove to The Sera Monastery where we spent an hour visiting this important teaching facility that once housed 5500 monks.    Of particular interest was the debating session held in an outdoor courtyard at 3:00 PM.  Over 100 monks paired off and demonstrated the art of debate through very animated body language.

Wednesday night we went to The Shangrila Restaurant where we enjoyed a Tibetan buffet followed by a show of traditional Tibetan singing and dancing.  The grand finale depicted the story of how Tibetan people capture wild yaks and train them for useful purposes.

Thursday we did not have to be ready until 10:30 AM but I was up well before that and took a walk around the city.  I was looking for a place to transfer some photos onto a CD but could not find one.  I did walk through the meat district just as large open trucks were dumping carcasses onto tarps which had been spread on the sidewalk.  Retail meat merchants were picking through the heap and carrying quartered yaks back to their shops for further butchering.  I also saw a large pile of sheep heads which may have been for sale.

At 10:30 AM we drove up to The Drepong Monastery where 800 monks currently live.  In addition to the customary tour, we were able to see hundreds of monks studying in a large open, but poorly lit, room.  For lunch, we drove to the Snow God Restaurant near the front of the Potala Palace.  We shared a table with a group of six women climbers from Norway whom we had met on a couple of occasions around town.  We were served an assortment of Tibetan food family style.  One dish which we found to be particularly delicious tasted like eggplant, but turned out to be yak lung.

We returned to the hotel and some of us went for a hike while others returned to the market for further shopping.  The climb up the ridge was steep enough that I wish I had brought my poles.  We traced animal tracks up about 1200 feet in about an hour and then returned via a different route.

For dinner, Dorja had arranged for us to go to another Tibetan buffet and floor show.  This buffet included sheep lung and I was beginning to think that eating all this lung may help our breathing when we start climbing next week.  The Norwegians were at the same restaurant and we all decided to go out for drinks after dinner.

THE DRIVE TO CHO-OYU

Friday we checked out of the Lhasa hotel and started driving towards Chinese Base Camp.  We took the Northern Friendship Highway which has replaced the dirt road just in the last few years.  There is an interesting speed control system on the highway.  Every 20-30 km we would stop at a traffic station where our time would be recorded.  If we arrived too early, we had exceeded the speed limit and were fined.  This did not prevent our drive from barreling down the road at break-neck speed with one hand on the horn…we simply stopped for 10 minutes before each traffic station so we would not arrive too soon.  We stopped for a good lunch at a roadside restaurant.  We also stopped to see incense and sampa (ground barley) being produced using water wheel technology.

Early in the afternoon we turned off the highway to take a short-cut.  Although we did not get stuck, the road was very bumpy and our progress so slow that I wonder if we actually saved any time.  At 4:30 PM we arrived in Gyantse where we checked into the Jian Zang Hotel.  The town is quite large and we quickly found an Internet café with several dozen computers.

We ate at the hotel and ordered a la carte for the first time.  Unfortunately, the chicken I ordered tasted bad so I did not eat it.  Dinner lasted until almost 9:00 PM, much to the dismay of the hotel staff who finally refused to serve us anymore, just to get rid of us.  We are all doubled-up now in our rooms and I am sharing a room with Stephen.

The next day we visited the Grand Stupa of Gyantse in the morning before leaving for Shigatse.   The drive was only a couple hours and we arrived in time to have a delicious lunch before checking into The Gang Gyan Orchard Hotel.  In the afternoon we visited The Zhashenlunbn Temple which was founded by the first Dalia Lama in 1447 and is now the seat of the Panchen Lama.  The temple contains the largest Buddha statue in the world which is covered with gold.  The temple also includes the stupas for the Fifth to Ninth Panchan Lamas and the golden stupa of the Tenth Panchan Lama.

Sunday we checked out and continued along The Friendship Highway. At several points, the relatively new highway had been washed out and repairs were underway. In each case we detoured down into a wash  and once forded a stream before resuming our journey. At another point the driver had to slow down to avoid two automobile-size boulders which had crashed down onto the highway. We took a rest stop at 4500-meter Tropu Pass and then continued on to Lhatse where we had lunch. After lunch we drove over 5220-meter Gyatso Pass where we took another break. There were a couple of children here for whom I made some balloon animals.

At 5:00 PM, we reached Tingre, our destination for the night. We checked into The Snow Leopard Lodge, the nicest accommodation in town. This will be our last night of lodge living for the next month. We walked into town for dinner and met our Sherpas who had brought our gear overland from Kathmandu in two trucks and a jeep. Our group now numbers 21 which is quite large.

After dinner, Steve and I walked up to a shop in town to buy water. Downtown Tingre is one street with more cows than vehicles. We made some animal balloons for the local kids and attracted quite a crowd. The power in Tingre only functions a few hours each day and it was scheduled to come on at 8:00 PM. We returned to the lodge to charge our electronic gear one more time.

Monday, September 3rd, we checked out and ate breakfast in town. I gave a quick lesson in balloon blowing at breakfast and Armand spent the next hour attempting to blow one up. After picking up a butchered yak which we will eat during the next month, we boarded the bus and set off for Chinese Base Camp. The drive lasted only an hour, passing the cutoff for Everest Base Camp en route. We arrived to find teams with several dozen tents already set-up. It took only an hour to unload the trucks and set up our tents.

We set our watches back 2 1/4 hours to Nepalese time which will give us more daylight. After lunch we walked up the road about a mile for exercise but it started to rain so we returned to the dining tent where we spent the afternoon playing hearts. Dinner was served at 6:00 PM and after another round of cards, we went to sleep.

Our second day at CBC started with a beautiful view of Cho-Oyu.  Since setting our watches back, we were all up early. Chinese Base Camp is set in a valley that is overlooked by a Chinese Army outpost. There are strict rules as to where we can and cannot go. During our two hour hike today, we were chased off a trail by an army patrol for getting too close to the boarder. Last year two Tibetans were shot by the army as they tried to cross the Nang Pala Pass, where we head tomorrow. We passed the afternoon playing cards. The weather here is surprisingly mild with occasional rain. The sun heats up our sleeping tents to the point where is is more comfortable to spend the day in the dining tent.

On Wednesday we took another acclimatization hike after breakfast. We hiked up to 17,800 feet in just under three hours, an altitude gain of 1700 feet. CBC is surrounded by rocky fields where yaks graze during the day. Most yaks have bells so you know where they are. They seem to be friendly, but we do not go out of our way to approach them. There are also huge ravens whose wing beats are quite loud as they swoop down from overhead. We passed the afternoon reading and playing cards again. For dinner we had yak steak which has been hanging in the blue tent.

Thursday morning we broke camp at CBC and piled everything up to be loaded onto yaks for the trek to Intermediate Camp. Carrying only daypacks, we started off on the six-mile hike at 8:40 AM. The trail follows the dirt road up towards Nang Pala Pass and we ascended the 1400-feet in just over 4 hours. Arriving several hours before our yaks, we took refuge from the occasional sleet in a tea house run by a Tibetan woman with two small children. After blowing up some balloons for the kids, we enjoyed hot chocolate and played cards. I bought a necklace with a raven to remind me of my stay at CBC.

Several other large groups arrived at Intermediate Camp during the afternoon, including another woman’s team from Croatia.

I’ve had a very difficult time sleeping. As we go higher it is important to drink lots of water. I find myself forcing four liters a day into my system, including 1 ½ liters during the night. All this liquid means I have to pee 6-8 times each night, but I have not had any headaches yet so I suppose I am hydrating well.

ADVANCED BASE CAMP & BEYOND

Friday we broke camp and started up to Advanced Base Camp. Since all groups only stay in Intermediate Camp one night, everyone was moving at the same time. The trail quickly narrowed to single track and we shared it with the yaks that were carrying our gear. Our group alone has 44 yaks so there were probably a couple hundred in total going to ABC this day.

Yaks are normally quite docile, but with 150 pounds on their backs, sometimes extending five feet across, they can be dangerous. The herders throw rocks at them to keep them moving. On a couple of occasions today, a yak was hit by a stone and started running along the single track and trying to pass other yaks in front. The speeding yak got his horns caught in the load of the slower yak ripping the gear from its back and scattering it all over the trail. Fortunately the gear was not damaged and the yaks calmed down and were reloaded. We did pass the carcasses of several yaks that were not so fortunate.

We hiked over one glacier and then up the lateral moraine of the Nang Pala Glacier. At one point, an army squad raced past us to check the border. We hiked about five hours, mostly in good weather, but it started to sleet as we approached ABC. The altitude here is 18,500 feet. This will be our home for the next three weeks so each of us will have our own tent. Tea and dinner were served and I went to bed early. I slept poorly again Friday night.

Saturday morning was a spectacular day with pristine views of Cho-Oyu and surrounding mountains. While we passed the time reading, our Sherpas decided to build a stone platform 20 feet long with a table at the end for communications equipment. Later in the afternoon, they built stone countertops around the full-size oven they hauled up from CBC, giving it a built-in appearance. If we were not on a moraine, these constructions would last for centuries.

We took a short hike in the afternoon through base camp and on up towards the mountain. We passed the camp of Russell Brice, famous for The Everest Series on TV last year. Several groups, including the Norwegians, contract their logistics to Brice, and handle the climbing portion themselves. Weather turned bad in the afternoon and our hike was completed in sleet. After dinner, several hours were spent trying to get the computers set-up and developing a system for equitable access to email.

I had another terrible time sleeping Saturday night. I do not think I have gotten more than a few hours total sleep in the last three nights. I hope this sleep depravation does not catch up with me all at once while I am ascending a critical portion of the mountain. I went over to the dining tent at 6:00 AM and drafted some emails. Not having access to my AOL address book, I am unable to remember the email addresses of some people to whom I would like to write.

Breakfast was at 7:00 AM and we prepared for our hike shortly thereafter. Leaving at 9:00 AM, we retraced our steps of yesterday and then continued on in the direction of Camp One. We only gained 500 feet in altitude but hiking over the rocky moraine was miserable. We stopped about ½ mile from where the trail turns sharply up and headed back. The hike today took four hours and the weather was great.

We had a late lunch and then I washed out some clothes. I tried to nap in the afternoon, but could not fall asleep. Eric has suggested I take some Diamox tonight to help get some rest.

In the afternoon we packed up our climbing boots that we will be carrying up to Camp One tomorrow. Everyone was pretty tired so only a couple people took advantage of ‘Movie Night’. One of the two doctors on the trip suggested to Eric that he give me an Ambien instead of Diamox so I turned in early anticipating a full night rest.

Monday was a very long day. I awoke feeling minimal affect from the Ambien. We ate breakfast and then started off for Camp One. On previous hikes, we had gone about half the distance to the camp, but only about 20% of the altitude. After hiking for about three hours, we started up a very steep section of loose rock. I fell behind the rest of the group, but with Eric’s prodding arrived at the top about 15 minutes behind the others.

We dropped our climbing boots in tents the Sherpas had set-up for us the day before. Camp One is at 21,000 feet so today’s hike is the equivalent of summit day on Denali. The weather has been great all day and after about 45 minutes acclimatizing we started back. We stopped at the base of the mountain to refill our water bottles and then headed home. I was last in line and did not have the energy to keep up with the rest of the group. Eric & Lapka stayed with me as the rest of the group continued at their pace. The three hour trip took me four hours with the final half-hour being completed after dark with headlamps. In addition to Eric & Lapka, Dave and two other Sherpa came out to meet me. Dinner was underway as I arrived back from my 11-hour trip, but all I could manage was a bowl of soup. I took another Ambien and went to bed.

Tuesday morning I felt better but it was not because I had gotten a good night’s sleep. Today is our first true ‘rest day’ and most of us used it to do laundry, shave, wash ourselves and catch up on reading.

The email situation is straightened out. None of us can use our own personal email accounts, but we can send and receive email through Alpine Ascents. If someone wants to email me, you can do so at climb@alpineascents.com, and put Cho-Oyu climber Gary Bacon in the subject line. This way the email can be sent to my folder without being opened. Email should each me within 24 hours.

We had sushi for lunch and yak steak for dinner. We are eating pretty well but I personally find it difficult to eat much. Tuesday night was another movie night. I watched for awhile but my feet got cold and I decided to go to bed. Again Tuesday night I did not sleep much.

Wednesday was another rest day. Dave taught me to play cribbage in the morning and in the afternoon we worked on our fixed line skills. All critical portions of Cho-Oyu have ropes fixed to the mountain that one can clip into as one climbs. This system allows for independent travel as opposed to traveling in rope teams. In the evening we packed up our gear to carry to Camp One tomorrow. This trip we are taking a sleeping bag, pads, summit suits and anything else we will need to spend the night at Camp One tomorrow night. Tomorrow is also Stephen’s 40th birthday, making him the second youngest climber on the team. The cook prepared a birthday cake for him which we enjoyed at dinner tonight.

Thursday morning I awoke more refreshed thanks to a tablet of Melatonin which Danielle gave me. We ate breakfast, finished packing for Camp One and then gathered at 8:00 AM for our Puja.

A Puja is a Buddhist ceremony during which we ask permission to climb the mountain. Four of our Sherpa are also monks and two of them performed the 90-minute service. There were many offerings of snacks, baked goods, soda and beer which were blessed, distributed and eaten. Our ice axes and crampons were placed on the alter and blessed by the monk who smeared each with a small amount of yak butter. Lots of incense was burned and rice was distributed which we threw in the air on queue. A pole was erected on the alter and prayer flags extended over 100 feet in five directions. At the close of the ceremony, sampa was distributed which we smeared on each others faces.

At 10:30 AM we hefted our large packs and set off for Camp One. The weather was good and we covered the relatively flat portion of the moraine to Lake Camp in a few hours. The torturous ascent from Lake Camp to Camp One was brutal and by the time I arrived, I did not even have enough energy to help Stephen level our tent.

Dinner was soup and noodles brought to our tent. By 7:30 PM Stephen was sound asleep. A half-hour later, I began looking at my watch to see if it was morning yet. I had a miserable night; no sleep at all, a pounding headache, and around midnight I began hyperventilating for several hours to force more air into my lungs. I felt as if I was suffocating and almost woke Stephen to have him get Eric to get me some oxygen. At 6:00 AM I dressed and walked over to talk to Eric about my experience and tell him I thought Camp One should be my high point. My concern was that we were headed back down to ABC this morning and I had a lot of gear I had brought up during the last two carries that I did not want to leave at Camp One if I wasn’t going to return. Eric said that my gear could be brought down anytime by Sherpas and he suggested I return to ABC today and take some sleep medications tonight and see how I feel tomorrow. This seemed like a reasonable suggestion so I left my gear at Camp One and returned to ABC with the others Friday morning.

It snowed on the way down, but I began feeling much better as I descended. We ate lunch and I decided that I would go back up with the group tomorrow.

Saturday morning at breakfast Eric polled the group to see how everyone was feeling. Although the general consensus was good, Eric felt an additional rest day would do us good, and there were no disagreements.

We washed clothes, washed ourselves and played cards most of the day. It started snowing so I brought my laundry in from the line and hung it in my tent. An hour later, a stray yak got its horns caught in the community clothesline sending drying laundry to the ground.

A Tibetan woman showed up at our camp today, apparently the aunt of one of the kitchen people. According to Eric, her son is a Rimpochet, or reincarnate Lama. After dinner we saw lights on the Nang Pala Pass and learned that the woman had crossed the glacier to join this trading caravan to return to Nepal where she lives.

Sunday we headed back up to Camp One. We are bringing all our climbing gear this trip so our packs are big & heavy. Nevertheless, we made the 5-mile journey in about 5 hours, our best time to date. By going slow on the big hill, I was able to get up without taking so many breaks.

Due to the severe problems I had the last time I slept at Camp One, Eric suggested I sleep with one of the guides, Dave, so Stephen moved in with Armand. I got into my tent at 3:00 PM and dinner was brought to us at 6:00 PM. Dinner was simple but surprisingly good considering that our cook was back at ABC and the guides are doing the cooking on the mountain.

I took 125 Mg Diamox and was trying to sleep by 7:00 PM. I think I slept for 5-6 30-minute intervals during the night, but I awoke feeling better than I did the last time I slept at Camp One. The day was beautiful, the temperature warm but becoming hot. After breakfast of hash brown potatoes, cheese and bacon we prepared for a four-hour climb up towards Camp Two.

Camp One is a small place and must support everyone who is climbing the mountain. Situated at the end of a ridgeline, and bolstered by the top of a glacier to one side, it is difficult to walk between tents without tripping on support lines. Our Sherpas set up our tents very early so we occupy the flattest part of the camp. I was a little distressed when Dave dug a pit toilet only ten feet from our tent, but fortunately a German woman decided that that space could not go unclaimed and she erected her tent between ours and the toilet.

The ascent out of Camp One is very steep and we quickly clamped into fixed lines. My energy level quickly depleted and after only about an hour I was too tired to continue and still return safely. I could hear Eric in the lead telling climbers to take one breath for each step...I was taking five. Today’s climb is only for acclimatization; tomorrow we plan to climb seven hours to Camp Two and spend the night. If I cannot climb with the rest of the group to Camp Two tomorrow and spend the night there to acclimatize, I will have to return to ABC and forfeit any chance I might have to reach the summit. I retraced my steps on the fixed lines with another group which was descending, under Todd’s watchful eye and returned to my tent.

The rest of our group returned after only a couple hours, not having attained their goal of reaching the ice cliffs. I stayed warm in my sleeping bag as it began to snow in the afternoon and continued throughout the night. Todd had recommended that I double the dosage of Diamox I was taking to 250 Mg in two half doses which I did. But I still was unable to sleep.

During my sleepless night, I made the decision that I would return to ABC in the morning and discontinue any attempt to reach the summit of Cho-Oyu. The decision was surprisingly easy. Although I had invested almost a year training for this event and spent close to $25,000 to get here, I just did not feel I had enough energy to go on, and still return safely.

I told Eric of my decision in the morning and offered to stay at Camp One another night so I could return to ABC with the rest of the group after they returned from their overnight at Camp Two. But he would not hear of it and radioed for Tashi, the kitchen boy to hustle up to Camp One to accompany me down.

Six inches of snow had fallen during the night which curtailed the group’s early departure until 8:15 AM. The new snow will make their ascent even more difficult as the steps made by scores of climbers over the last few days are now obliterated and only a few climbers have gone up this morning ahead of our group, breaking ground.

Eric waited for the Sherpas and Tashi to arrive before he left to catch up with the others. He left me his radio with instructions to call the lead guide at 11:00 AM to see if anyone heading for Camp Two wanted to turn around and go down with Tashi and me. But when I called as scheduled, the report was that everyone was feeling good and wanted to continue so Tashi and I left for ABC.

The snow had covered the whole area so the steep scree slope one encounters just out of Camp One was treacherous. Tashi, who can’t weigh 100 pounds, carried my 50-pound pack while I carried his 5-pound sack. Descending very slowly, we reached the bottom of the slope in about an hour and stopped for water. I was exhausted. Tashi took his pack from me, attached it to mine, and hefted the whole load and we continued. Traveling behind Tashi, it looked as if my pack had grown legs. No other part of him was visible. Tashi became Packman.

The trail continues for another 4 miles over moraine which was wet from melting snow. Whenever we met a new group of climbers going up, I was a little embarrassed to be seen lagging behind this little guy skipping along the rocks, whistling and carrying my huge load while I struggled to support myself with two ski poles. But my embarrassment peaked when, about half-way back, I slipped on some glacier ice, tumbled about five feet and found myself at the foot of Cho-Oyu’s one-legged climber. I used all my remaining energy to get to my feet before he could offer me a hand.

Tashi and I rested before continuing. He speaks no English. I tried to use hand signals and very slow English to ask if he was from Kathmandu, but found that I had instead somehow offered to buy his knife.

We reached ABC after about 3 ½ hours. Gobel, the kitchen manager, greeted me with hot tea and biscuits. After 20 minutes, I went to my tent to rest. I still had Eric’s radio and turned it on to see if I could learn what was going on up high. Sure enough, Todd did a radio check indicating that he was with the lead group approaching Camp Two. Dave seemed to be about an hour behind with a couple climbers and Eric was in the rear with one climber, but no radio since I had it. The guides sounded tired so I can imagine how the clients felt.

For dinner Gobel and Tashi served me a magnificent dinner of spaghetti with beef and vegetables, soup and dessert. It was one of the best dinners I’ve had at ABC. I went to bed immediately afterward.

I would have thought that I would sleep better at the lower altitude of ABC, but I did not. I got out of my tent at 6:00 AM and walked over to the dining tent. Gopal, who usually prepares breakfast for a dozen people, had a hard time scaling down and served me a huge meal including eleven strips of bacon.

I was bored all day as I waited for my friends to come down from Camp Two. I listened to some radio reports regarding their progress and they finally arrived just before 5:00 PM. Gopal served a gigantic meal and most people went to bed immediately afterward.

Thursday and Friday were scheduled rest days before the team was to begin their summit bid on Saturday. The most alarming event of these two days was that Todd, the number 2 guide, became seriously ill and had to be evacuated to Kathmandu for medical treatment. In this case, evacuated means walking (four people accompanied him in case he collapsed) several miles to a place where a jeep could come up from Chinese Base Camp. The jeep would take Todd to Zangmu, a town on the Nepal/Tibet border where he will spend the night, waiting for the border to reopen at 10:00 AM the next day. Once in Nepal, he will be met by Alpine Ascents agent, Jiban, and taken to the hospital in Kathmandu. Coincidentally, Todd’s wife Winslow, is also a guide for Alpine Ascents and is scheduled to wrap up a trip in Kathmandu within a week, so he will have plenty of support.

Friday after lunch, Eric passed out oxygen masks and conducted a class in how to use them properly. This new model of Top Out mask has been used for two years now and is much improved over previous models. Each climber will start using oxygen at Camp Three, sleeping on ½ liter per minute, and then increasing the flow to 2-4 liters per minute as they start climbing the next day for the summit. Climbers will have two tanks of oxygen, each weighing 15 pounds. If oxygen is used too quickly, it will run out before the climber can get back down.

Friday night after dinner, our solar powered electrical system gave out. Stephen and Dave worked on it for awhile, but gave up until morning.

Saturday morning, our group was scheduled to leave for their 5-day summit bid. But a low-pressure system in The Bay of Bengal has frightened all groups at ABC. Although the weather is perfect, no one is heading up today. We will wait to get another forecast tonight before making a decision as to whether we move tomorrow.

We got some good news that Todd was out of the hospital in Kathmandu and now recovering.  The weather system in The Bay of Bengasl is not diminishing and the guides decided that we would take another rest day on Sunday.  Now the plan is to summit on the 27th or 28th, both good weather days, and backup the start date from there.

Sunday proved to be another beautiful day.  There were a few teams at Camp Three on the mountain who were able to take advantage of the weather window and climb to the summit in the early morning hours.

We ate breakfast and Lakpa told me that he had made the arrangements for a jeep to meet me at Intermediate Camp on Monday for the two day drive to Lhasa.  I’ll have to pay an extra $750 for this early evacuation, but it is better than waiting at ABC for 5-7 days by myself.  Furthermore I will be able to get to Beijing before the National Holiday Week begins, avoiding the huge travel traffic during this period.

Sunday night we obtained another weather forecast.  It seems that the heaviest precipitation of the storm will be on Tuesday.  The plan is for the group to hike up to Camp One on Monday, and be prepared to spend a second night at Camp One Tuesday.  They will climb to Camp Two on Wednesday, Camp Three on Thursday and make a bid for the summit on Friday, September 28th.  This is Eric’s fourth trip to Cho-Oyu.  He summitted once, got weathered out once, and aborted a third attempt due to avalanche danger.  Eric works for Avalanche Control at Telluride Ski Resort during the winter months.

Monday morning I packed early and walked to the dining tent in three inches of new snow.  It is completely overcast and the snow continues to fall.  Our solar battery is dead and there will be no sun to charge it today.  No Internet, no DVD’s, no lights at night and no more charging of personal electronics.  To make matters worse, Eric announced that based on the most recent weather information, the group would spend yet another night at ABC!  This is the last of the five days built into the schedule for weather contingencies.

MY RETURN TO LHASA

I had avoided solid food at breakfast and had skipped visiting our ‘little blue tent’ this morning, comfortable in the knowledge that I would have better options when I got to Tingre at mid-day.  I said good-bye to my friends and wished them well with their objectives.  Although I was sad to be leaving, I was sure I had made the right decision.  Tashi and another porter each donned one of my duffel bags and we set-off on the four-hour trip down to Intermediate Camp where I would meet the jeep.

Light snow continued to fall as I hiked.  On the way up this section a few weeks ago, I remembered it as quite arduous and was therefore expecting to skip and dance my way down today.  But there were many uphill sections I did not recall and can only conclude that the glacier had conspired to shift the moraine against me.

I met the jeep at 11:00 AM as arranged and we drove to Tingre where we ate lunch.  The restaurant had a room with a hole in the floor which I could have used, but I knew I could do better as we drove to Shigatse where we would spend the night, so I decided to wait.

Before leaving Tingre, we took on several cases of foodstuffs which we were to transport to Lhasa.  A large sack containing half a goat was tossed on top of my duffel bags and we were off.  The driver assured me that the trip would take four hours.  We were retracing the route by which we had come several weeks ago so I would occasionally recognize landmarks.  The scenery, to which I had paid little attention while on the bus, was truly spectacular now that I had a front seat from which to observe.

Four hours came and went.  I could feel the small amount of solid food I had eaten accumulating in my bowels and asked how much longer to the hotel; ‘one hour’ was the response…I could wait.

The sun began to go down and I realized that I needed to set my watch forward 2 1/4 hours to get back on Chinese time.  By the time we reached the outskirts of Shigatse, it was 7:30 PM.  We drove into the courtyard of The Gang-Guan Orchard Hotel where we had spent the night three weeks ago, parked and went inside.

My driver checked me into a room on the second floor.  I grabbed what I needed for the night and bounded up the stairs.  My electronic key worked the first time and I entered the room.  Before me I could see the three things I had missed most during the last few weeks; a real bed, a hot shower and a sit-down toilet.  I felt as if Dave had dealt me a straight flush!  The order in which I would use these wonders of the modern world was never in doubt…I went straight for the one that flushed!  I can’t remember which I dropped first, my pack or my pants.  The shear pleasure of not having to use precious thigh muscles to adjust the level of my squat to account for the growing mountain in the bucket below, was marvelous.

I sat for quite awhile.  When I realized that my brand new $185 Mountain Hardware Windstopper jacket, which I had been wearing 24 hours a day for over a week (effectively lowering its cost to less than $1/hour) did not seem to be able to stop the wind I was generating in this room, I decided to move on.

I lifted the stainless steel lid on the wall-mounted paper holder and stared at a brown cardboard tube, about five inches long.  Had there been any wind left in me, it would have all gone out at once.  My straight flush was a misdeal.

I considered my options, some of which I will not reveal.  I was only eight days into my 22-day continuous use underwear and I could not fathom the next two weeks of wear if they had to serve in this emergency.  Three weeks ago, I could have called to Stephen who would, no doubt, come to my aid.  The bathroom had no phone so I could not call to reception.

I sat for awhile more, sub-conscientiously cursing my non-windstopper jacket.  But then it came to me!  For weeks I had been carrying tissue everywhere I went.  I had packets in pockets, positioned in places, in pants and in parkas, to prevent such a problem.  I quickly did an inventory of the contents of my six cargo-pants pockets.  Camera, Ipod, wallet, but no paper.  Then I turned to my jacket…two packages of peanut M&M’s.  But then I remembered that this wonderful jacket has a secret inside pocket which offers more protection from the snow and rain than other pockets.  As I reached inside, I felt what I was looking for, although there were only two tissues remaining in the plastic wrap.  I gingerly judged that I could tear each tissue in half yielding four sections which did the trick.

I had had enough excitement for one day so I took a shower, dined on the peanut M&M’s and went to bed where I slept all night.

I had breakfast with my driver Tuesday morning and we drove out of the hotel courtyard at 8:30 AM.  The drive to Lhasa should take about five hours (I had spent plenty of time in the bathroom this morning), but would be lengthened by the fact that we were back in the speed control zone.  I tried to teach the driver the trick of driving as fast as possible, then pulling over to the side of the road and waiting for 20 minutes so he did not get to the checkpoint too soon, but he didn’t get it and we just drove slowly.

The valley broadened and the river widened as we approached the capital.  We pulled up to the Himalaya Hotel at about 2:00 PM.  The driver checked me in, and then called TMA who sent a guy named Pema over to meet me.  The driver left with the half goat and other packages.

Pema informed me that the first available seat on an airplane out of Lhasa was not until Saturday, September 29th…four days from now.  This was more time than I had wanted to spend here, but it was not the end of the world and I was sure I could find enough to do to fill the time.

Pema also told me that the first night at the hotel would be included in what I had already paid, but I would have to pay an additional $300 for the next three nights.  I told him that was a ridiculous price and after a quick call to his boss, we settled on $200, which I paid in Yuan.

I spent the next four days playing tourist.  I had seen the monasteries and the Potala Palace, so I spent most of my time wandering the back streets of Lhasa trying to get a feel what it would be like to live here.  I would not want to live here.  I looked for an Indian Barber where I could get a shave and haircut and although I saw many haircutting shops, none of them appeared too sanitary.  The hotel has a business center where they charge 5 Yuan per hour for Internet use, so I spent many hours writing my journal and catching up on what I had missed in the last month.  In an attempt to wean myself off yak lung, I found a place next door which made a recognizable form of pizza where I ate a couple times.

Everyday I checked on the progress of my friends on the mountain through the cyber cast.  After I left on Monday, they spent an additional four nights at ABC including Wednesday night when three feet of snow fell at the camp.  I think they spent a total of eight days sitting around doing nothing at ABC before they finally went up to Camp 1 on Thursday.  They only should have spent one night at Camp 1 before moving up to 2, 3 and then the summit on consecutive days, but there is no additional information on the website this morning, so I am a little concerned.

On Saturday, I checked out of The Himalaya Hotel and was picked up by Pema who took me to the airport.  My 4:00 PM flight will take me through Chengdu and on to Beijing where Cindy will meet me at 9:00 PM.

I stayed at The Ascott in Beijing for four nights.  Cindy had to work on Sunday and on Monday she flew to Hangzhou, 100 km south of Shanghai to be with her mother who was ill and was scheduled to meet with traditional Chinese as well as western doctors to diagnose her symptoms.  Cindy told me her mom was most distressed to learn that the medicine provided by western doctors made her feel better than the traditional Chinese remedies.

On Wednesday I flew down to meet Cindy in Hangzhou.  We checked into The Hyatt Regency on West Lake.   The hotel’s premier location on the lake makes it a popular destination.  The hotel has a spectacular show-kitchen where we ate many meals.  Chinese tourists enjoying the weeklong national holiday overran Los Angeles-size Hangzhou itself.

On Friday night, we invited Tao & Lilly, and another girlfriend of Cindy’s, together with her son and husband, to dinner at The Hyatt.  As it turned out, the husband owns a garment factory which manufactures lingerie for Wal-Mart and Macy’s.  Sensing my interest, he invited us to visit the next day.  So on Saturday, his wife and son picked us up and we drove 40 minutes to the outskirts of the city and spent a couple hours learning how underwear is made.  We left with enough free samples to last a couple years.

We stopped at a traditional Chinese teahouse on the way back to the hotel.  Here we spent about $10 each for a small pot of tea, but that included as much food as we could eat from a huge, mostly unrecognizable, assortment of delicacies.  It was strange to sit next to a 14-year old boy who was downing chicken feet like French fries.

The Hyatt also had a great spa and health club where we spent many hours.  We had hoped to spend more time exploring the lake, but a major typhoon hit the east coast of China and it poured all weekend.  Our flight back to Beijing was delayed four hours and we did not get back to The Ascott until almost 3:00 AM Tuesday morning.

Cindy returned to work on Tuesday morning and I took CA985 back to San Francisco where I arrived shortly after noon, the same day.

When I got back to California, I learned that Michael Girard and Horst Baier, both of who had been struggling with illness had also decided to turn around and head back to Lhasa early.  A few days later, the rest of the group climbed only as high as Camp 2 where the wind was so ferocious that they, too, decided to pack it in and head for home.  The only real success of the trip was attained by Danielle Fisher and Lakpa Sherpa who, immediately following the Cho-Oyu expedition drove to 8013 meter Shisha Pangma, which they were able to summit using a new route.  Their success made the trip worthwhile for all of us.

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