April 1999 |
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April
1999
Monday 12th
April 1999, 7.15 am
Believe it, or not: the Himalayan giant has become an immense black mountain. So where is all the snow? What has happened to the ice covering the mountain face? "Gone, evaporated, declared Alain this morning during his first satellite link with HQ in Brussels. It's amazing. Nothing like this has been seen in living memory among the Nepalese and Tibetans. Last winter, it practically didn't rain or snow in the Himalayas. Yet another item of proof to add to the many others being observed all around the world that the earth's climate is in the process of changing…". So will this alter the situation in terms of the conditions governing progress? "Of course, explained Alain, because the North-East Ridge is a very stony route and so is not very stable. When the ground is covered with snow or ice, you can get a grip using crampons. Now, because it's bare, we'll have to be extremely careful not to slip…" So Alain Hubert and Manaram Tamang have reached the foot of the job before them, the Tibetan base camp. Their journey by jeep from the Nepalese capital was made at a leisurely pace, and they visited a number of Buddhist monasteries along the way. "It does you good to take the pressure off a little, explained Alain. And this is such a beautiful country…" The trip was uneventful, apart from a little food poisoning caused no doubt by a bad orange juice drunk at the border. "I was a little under the weather for two days - two days when I couldn't eat anything, the Belgian said. But since we arrived at the base camp, I've been a lot better. Everything is back to normal. And in a few hours' time, Manaram and I are off to the advanced base camp which is at an altitude of 6 400 metres. Along the way, we will probably bivouac at 5 800 metres. Once we reach the ABC (advance base camp), we'll take stock. Either we'll decide to rest a little and continue carrying some supplies up to around 7 000 metres - and to do this we'll need to be in good shape, in which case we won't come back to base camp for a week or so. Or, if we're not feeling so great, we'll come back down to base camp sooner, around Thursday or Friday…" So the Belgian contingent (two other countrymen, Pascal Debrouwer and Luc Fontyn are also there, and they'll be trying for the summit) is safely installed at the foot of the giant. They have been lucky, because by leaving relatively early from Katmandu, they reached the base camp in third position - and there are no fewer than 16 expeditions expected on the northern slopes of Everest this spring! This means that they could take their time in choosing where to pitch their tents and get to know the two other teams that reached base camp before them, one from the Ukraine, the other from the USA. This latter group has not come to Everest to reach the summit, but to find the ice-axe belonging to the great G.H. Leigh Mallory, who lost his life accompanied by A.C. Irvine on this same North Ridge in 1924. It's incredible how the myth of these two men clings - they were last seen at a height of 8 450 metres - and we still don't know whether they were the first climbers to conquer Everest, or not! So, the atmosphere at the Tibetan base camp is set fair. In fact, the same way as the weather, which despite a relatively strong wind, is currently set fair as well. In terms of communication, we should not expect any more news from the Belgians before Thursday, or even next Monday. That's because at this stage of their progress, Alain prefers not to take too much on board. However, they may well meet the Americans along the way and they could allow them to use their communications equipment to make a call to Brussels. Nevertheless, in the meantime, we are going to try and get in touch with the Belgian weatherman who handled the winds for the recent Breitling round-the-world balloon trip and ask him to explain about these high-altitude winds and what the Himalayan mountaineers will have to face in a few weeks' time.
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