Climbing around the world

The Chinese authorities have informed us that we cannot enter Tibet via the Friendship Bridge in Zhangmu as planned because the administrative units in Zhangmu and Kerong are still not operational due to the earthquakes last year. Hence we are forced to travel through Lhasa.

We were also told that, since they are still coping with issues related to the earthquakes, only a limited number of climbers will be admitted. The good news is that climbers who had a permit last spring, get priority this year. The bad news is that they won’t accept the revoked permits from last year as they promised when we were evacuated last year. We will have to buy a new permit for this year.

The Dutch Everest 2016 Expedition is on…

On April 10th, I’ll fly to Kathmandu for the third attempt to climb  Mount Everest. Like in 2015, we will try again from the Tibetan side, following the Mallory route.

The blog of the Dutch Everest 2015 expedition can be found here and of the Dutch Everest 2012 expedition here.

This weekend, Namgya, Nima and the other sherpas got safely back to Kathmandu and their homes… as Namgya said “after another frustrating season on Everest Expedition”.

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments, here as well as on Facebook. They are not only highly appreciated but also very important to keep the team going on the mountain.

 

Sunday morning around 9:30 h, I was fetched by Pemba Nuru in the hotel to go to Namgya’s place to see Wongmu with both their daughters, Tashi and Yangkeela. We chatted a bit and Wongmu showed me pictures of her home-town Lukla where the earthquake had far greater impact than in Kathmandu. In Kathmandu you could see an occasional house  being destroyed by the quake, but the overall picture was of a normally functioning city. However, many people sleep in tents (put up in gardens and the city parks) as they are afraid of new quakes and after-shocks.

It seems that the villages surrounding Kathmandu and higher up the mountains  have been more severely hit by the disaster than Kathmandu itself, and – since most roads have been blocked by land-slides, broken bridges etc. – these villages are hard to reach to bring support.

We had lunch, cooked by Pemba who also takes care of his 9-month old niece, and after lunch I went back to the hotel to pack my stuff and leave for the airport. After a pretty un-eventful flight with Air India to Delhi and onwards with the KLM to Amsterdam, I arrived yesterday safely back home.

This morning I spoke with Namgya. EBC has completely be dismantled and all sherpa’s are now in Tingri. They expect to be transported by the CMA to Lhasa in the next few days and to fly from Lhasa back to Kathmandu this Sunday.

 

 

In my previous post I have been too optimistic. The evacuation from EBC was apparently more complex than foreseen. We had to be ready at 6 AM last Thursday, but the Chinese army showed up only at 8:30… We moved about a kilometer and then had to wait for the liaison officer, Mr Lee. After three quarters of an hour it seemed all paperwork had been done and we left EBC direction Tingri, where we arrived well after  noon. ‘We’ is about three dozen climbers of various organisations that were in EBC. In Tingri the CMA (Chinese Mountaineering Association) took over and, actually, they did a marvellous job.

Since the speed limit in Tibet is 60 km/h, we did not reach Lasha the first day, but only got as far as Shigatse. We stayed in the same lodges as on the way in, and actually I was quite happy with that since they have showers there and after more than two weeks without any shower, it felt really good to be under the rather sparse water. The next morning we would leave for Lhasa at 9 AM, but before everybody was there, it was well after 10 AM. We needed to go to the police station to sort some visa issues out. Not really to my surprise (Ciprian and I had been there….) these visa issues took more than three hours, so we returned to the lodge for lunch and actually left for Lhasa only at 14 h. Around 19 h we finally arrived at Lhasa. Again we stayed in the same lodge as on the way in.

The first flight to kathmandu was May 3rd, I was told and everyone had settled for that date. Later in the evening I learned that, by mistake, there was made an internet booking for May 2nd and that they would try to change it to my name. It should be done at the airport and if it failed they would take me back to the lodge.

Bo and I, together with two of the Indians, went to see the old city of Lhasa and then went to some little bar to drink some wine. We had a very good time downtown Lhasa. This morning we got up early and went for breakfast. At 8:30 h I thought I’d better inform when we would leave for the airport. It turned out that that would have been 8 AM…. The CMA, however, is very flexible and they took me in a 4WD to the airport. We coukd indeed change the ticker to my name and within an hour I had boarded China Airlines 407 for Kathmandu; we were about a dozen passengers in an Airbus 319…. That Kathmandu  airport is still not functioning properly showed as we had to circle 45 min over Kathmandy before we could land. I tried to reach several contacts of Namgya in Kathmandu, but could not reach anyone. Hence, I just got a taxi from the airport to the Woodland Hotel. Luckily that was still fully functioning and around 14 h I was in my room, with my stored luggage etc.

I had contacted KLM and they could provide a flight from New Delhi to Amsterdam, but not for Kathmandu-New Delhi. Fortunately, the hotel staff was very helpful and, assisted by the travel agency next door to the hotel, I managed to get a ticket on Air India for tomorrow. So the current plan  is that I’ll fly tomorrow afternoon to Delhi and then very late night with KL 872 to Amsterdam.

In the mean time I’ve had contact with Namgya: he managed to get our mountaineering equipment from ABC to EBC. Furthermore, the CMA has organised that all sherpa’s can fly from Lhasa to Kathmandu in the next week as long as the road to Nepal is blocked (I’ve been told there are 17 land slides on the road, in addition to some destroyed bridges).

While typing this post, I was called by Wongmu, Namgya’s wife, who invited me to have dalmat at her home tomorrow before I leave for the airport. It seems that despite all trouble over the past few days, everything turns out quite well, and I expect to be back in Amsterdam May 4th.

This afternoon in the umptieth meeting with the Chinese Mountaineering Association it became definitive: all permits for all mountains in Tibet for 2015 have been revoked. The permits will be valid though for the next three years.

So no more climbing this season. The omnipresent Chinese Army wants all climbers out asap and some pressure is exerted on us to leave. Hence, the current plan is that I leave EBC tomorrow at 6 am when the army will move me (and half a dozen Indians) some 700 km to Lhasa.  Apparently there are still two flights per week to Kathmandu. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch a flight in a couple of days. On these flights there is a very limited luggagr capacity so my bulk-luggage (which is still in ABC) will be transported by yaks/sherpa/4w-drive as soon as the roads to Nepal are open agsin (which may be weeks). Once in Kathmandu, I hope to collect the luggage I left there and change my flights with KLM to Amsterdam.  At this point in time it is totally unclear how long this entire process will take.

After the big eartquake last saturday at noon some after shocks occurred at 3pm. Early evening, several teams got so afraid that they decided to leave ABC. In my view a stupid idea as climbing down at night seemed more dangerous. Namgya agreed and we stayed. The next day we climbed up to the North Col to further acclimatise and watch for ourselves what it looked like. Actually, apart from some small avalanches it looked ok – although very challenging. We stayed another night and got back today to EBC. A very long (~20 km, 2000 m down and 1000 m up) trip that took me 6 hr.  The routes were pretty safe although you could see the effects of the quake. This afternoon there was a meeting with the Chinese authorities, sherpas, and expeditions. A very tumultuous meeting with conflicting views. It seems that China wants to close the mountain which would imply the season is over and everyone could go home; they would consider extending the permits to next year. However,  nobody can go home since all roads are blocked and all local airports are closed. Everybody agreed that the sherpas would have priority but that would be in vain without any means of transport. Tomorrow there will be a follow-up meeting. However, even if it’s over it might take quite some time to get materials back from ABC and then out of EBC to the civilised world.

A quick update from the Netherlands, given the circumstances in the Himalayas.

We have had a very brief phone call with Peter on the mountain, via the Satphone. He and Namgya are still camping on the mountain and definitely felt the heavy earthquake, but they are both OK. Since it is night at the mountain they are going to bed right now. More updates will hopefully follow soon.