April 1999







 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 1999


THIRD POLE EXPEDITION
April - June 1999

Thursday 6th May, latest news

First successes

 The first climbers made it to the top of Everest, via the South Col (Nepal), yesterday 5th May. After waiting for the wind to die down, the first group reached the summit at 11.30 am, with the second arriving at around 3.30 pm. So far this spring 99, fifteen climbers have succeeded in reaching the top. Other attempts (again via the South Col) are scheduled for today.


Thursday 6th May 99

Need a fill up? Let's take a look…

The most recent news received from the base camp dates from this morning, Wednesday 5th May, in which Alain Hubert talks about his attempt - or at least about his climb up to the upper altitudes accompanied by Manram, Pascal Debrouwer and Joao Garcia. The party left the base camp last Sunday (2nd May, the day after Mallory's body had been found by Conrad Anker from the "American 1999 Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition"). They then left the ABC the following day, Monday, for the North Col, where they bivouacked. The story has it that that evening, Manram (who is a chef by training) surpassed himself in preparing Raras, the famous pasta dish that every traveller to Nepal will be familiar with. On Tuesday, they set out again to do some climbing, with everyone in great shape. Towards the middle of the day, the team reached the spot where they had left a cache the previous week on a little ledge some 7 800 metres up. When they got there, they discovered that one of the two tents they had left had been ripped to shreds. "I probably didn't weight it down sufficiently with stones," says Hubert. And the wind had had a field day. So it was quite a disappointment, especially since much of the food exposed by the rips in the canvas had been eaten by birds of prey.


photo : Karl Huyberechts


Now that expeditions to Everest come and go with such regularity, the local crow population has learnt that between April and May there is often a great feast to be enjoyed on the slopes of this funny old mountain…
So as far as Manram and Hubert were concerned, they were unable to go on and came back down. Since the tent and equipment belonging to Debrouwer and Garcia was still intact, they decided to stay up there for a few more hours to see if the weather would allow them to continue. But it was not to be - the sky darkened and they had to come down, too. So everyone met back at the ABC, which was blanketed under 15 cm of snow; then, at around 7.00 in the evening, the sky cleared again. The following day, the Belgians descended to the base camp because the weather forecast made it impossible to even think about going back up the mountain for a few days. "Tomorrow, I'll go back down to the base camp," Hubert wrote to us. "Then I'll spend a couple of days at the first village below the BC at 4 200 metres to lose a good bit of altitude, drink a few Chinese beers and then climb back up to the BC to wait for the first good break in the weather with no wind before making an attempt on the summit. Let's hope that this is the big one! I feel extremely well prepared, which is a good thing. Obviously the news on the weather is very important, especially as the wind hits you full in the face when you're climbing the North Ridge."



chronological summary
of the expedition to date

  • Monday 5th April : departure from Katmandu for the Tibetan base camp.
  • Friday 9th April : arrival at the base camp after a journey of 4 days
  • Monday 12th or Tuesday 13th April : up to the advanced base camp (6 400 m) with Manram.
  • Thursday 15th April : arrival at the North Col (7 000 m) with Manram, Pascal Debrouwer and Joao Garcia, after a 3-hour trek and back down to the ABC.
  • Saturday 17th April : up to the North Col again and bivouac there.
  • Sunday 18th April : the four climbers progress to camp 5 used by the British and stash equipment on a small ledge 7 800 metres up: they are the third team to arrive there.
  • Monday 19th April : bivouac at the North Col.
  • Tuesday 20th April : the group goes back down to the ABC.
  • Wednesday 22nd April : return to the base camp, rest.
  • Sunday 2nd May : Hubert, Debrouwer, Garcia and Manram go back up to the ABC.
  • Monday 3rd May : the team makes its way to the North Col.
  • Tuesday 4th May : they climb to the equipment cache (7 800 m), where one tent is torn (Hubert's and Manram's), who then quickly return to the ABC. Debrouwer and Garcia wait until the end of the day to see whether the weather improves. As the news is not good, they also come back down.
  • Thursday 6th May : they all return to base camp to wait for a better break in the weather. According to the latest despatch, Hubert takes advantage of the wait to go back down to the first Tibetan village (4 200 m) and fill up (red corpuscles and Chinese beer).

 

 

 
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