Adventure Consultants Cho Oyu Expedition
web log date 28 august 2011
day one
So this is day one. The team have all
arrived safe, sound, and on time. What is more, all the bags seem to
have arrived on time too. The freight cleared on schedule, almost...
(24 hours late is early by Kathmandu standards).
We have gathered
from the ends of the earth, from Scotland (one end) to New Zealand
(the other end) collecting members from intervening countries;
England, Switzerland, Poland, Australia and the UAE.
Some of the team
are highly experienced, while for others this is the first visit to
the sub-continent. Through their eyes we see Kathmandu through fresh
eyes again. “Traffic bumper to bumper with patched-up old cars
trailing bits of suspension; scooters and bicycles with entire
families on board, animals and pedestrians crossing the road traffic
as as if wading through streams. Half naked holy men selling
benedictions and charms, monks and nuns in safron robes sailing past
with higher thoughts. The sides of building festooned with telephone
wires massed, tangled and in need of a comb.” All these things we
old hands no longer see as we hurry to the next meeting.
The final
meeting of the day was with all the our Sherpa staff and team
members. We introduced ourselves one by one, Felix, Dale, Iza, Greg,
Marcus, Claudio, Neil, Paul, Victor all trying not to be too
immodest. The then our Sherpa team members stood to face us.
“My name is Da Jangbu, I am from
Pangboche and I have climbed Everest 10 times, Cho Oyu, Amadbalam
...”
One by one Pemba Chhoti, Nawang
Chongba, Kami Rita, and Sange Dorgeee told us their name, their
village and the number of 8000m peaks they had climbed, each one
seemed to have more Everest summits under the belt than the last,
Kami Rita with 11 summits is our high scorer there.
Our team has 39
Everest summits in total. Quite a lot of experience there.
The 'old hands' nodded in approval,
those with fresh eyes were open mouthed. It was nice to see.