For the complete set of pictures from my Nepal trip, click on the pictue below and have fun.
October 26, 2010
Island Peak Summit
Standing on the Summit with Lhotse (Everest's younger and small twin and the 4th highest mountain in the workd) behind me.
Last Push for the Summit
Recovering from the ice climb - before the last push up to the summit
Cramponing
Cramponing up the "flat snow" that is the Ice Cliff ahead
October 22, 2010
Island Peak
As promised, the truth about the summit attempt (or summit success it should be) - only a week or so late since I have been back in civilisation for a week but it has taken me that long to come down (as it were).
Island Peak - as seen on the right here rising from the valley. It is just under 6200 meters altitude (that is 20,100 feet) and rises 1300 meters from the valley floor (that is the same height as Ben Nevis from sea level for the brits) - although of course that valley floor is about 5000 meters (17,000 above sea level). It is described by the Himalayan Mountain Guides association as a trecking peak - since it is "easy" - and by the climbing sherpas as "a small hill" - both of which say more about sherpas than about the mountain. (BTW after a successfull climb we were told the true translation of the sherpa phrase "a small hill" - which is "if we told you how hard it is you would give before you started" :)
Island Peak is actually higher than any mountain in Europe ... any mountain in North America... any mountain in Africa ... almost any mountain in Asia outside of the Himalaya. There are some mountains higher in places like Tajikistan and South America - but not many! It is big and has technical stuff on top.
We started from base camp (5000 meters) at 02:00. It takes 12 - 15 hours to go up and down and you want to be at the top in the morning to get the views - and avoid the avalanches! This also means - as we discoverd later - that you cannot see just how steep and technical the climb up is until you come down :) The climbing sherpas have this all worked out :)
You start climbing up the scree slope. it is dark and cold and the air is thin so you labour your way up for a couple of hours and the phrase ' there is a bit of rock climbing here" just seems to slip by you ... after another couple of hours you sort of realise that you have been scrambling up near vertical rock faces for rather a long time now! As one person said - "I shone the light to each side and there did not seem to be anything there - and then I decided not to think about it!" - that would be because we had been climbing up a steep shoulder of rock with sheer drops on each side!
With impecable timing just as rosy fingered dawn stuck her glorious head above the horiizon we reached the snow line and the "crampon point".
The day before we had training in the use of crampons, ice axe and "fixed ropes" - with the assurance that the training was much harder than the real thing - which was "all flat"! I am sure that by now you are starting to understand the ways of the climbing sherpa ("grasshoper!") and wil not be surprised when - after changing into waterproofs, climbing boots, crampons and roping up - we headed off UP a 60 degree slope! Flat! Harumph!. we then dropped down into a valley and around a very large crevase before finally heading up another 60 degree talus field to the base of a cliff. By this time we were hot, hungry and tired.
Now we come to the "little bit of fixed ropes to get to the summit" - which is where the 150 meters of vertical ice cliff above our heads comes in. Luckily - we had a bit of rest while the climbing sherpas (who do not seem to get tired) fixed up the ropes but Lhakpa was worried about avalanches and so gets us moving as soon as possible - up the fixed ropes. Climbing up an ice face at 6000 meters is the hardest thing I have ever done. The body just wants to go away and give up! Every movement seems to take breathfulls of air. The only thing that got me up the cliff was the bloodyminded determination that I was not going to be the first of the group to give up (and talking later - they mostly thought the same thing).
And then - finally - the summit. A feeling of pure achievement and I would have jumped up and down for joy if we were not roped together on a small (2 meter square ) area of the summit with 1000 foot drops on all sides. The air was like crystal and the views were amazing - as were the smiles on everyone's faces.
The climb down was just hard work in the hot sun - across the snow and then down the cliffs and scree slopes (try 500 meters of scree slope when you have been climbing for 12 hours in 50% air pressure and you get what tired is :)
But the achievement of the climb was definately worth it!
There may be a few photos to follow :)
Everest again
Yep - you guessed it - another view of Everest (with the south summit in front and Nuptse on the right) - from Kala Pattar
Everest from Kala Pattar
Standing on the top of Kala Pattarwith Everest behind
October 07, 2010
October 05, 2010
Everest base camp
Made it to Everest Base Camp this afternoon - a long hard day of 8 hours walking at 5000 meters (or 15000 feet)
We trecked up from Dingboche to Labuche yesterday - about 7 hours walking though pleasant alpine meadow and then up the Khumbu g;acier - that looks like nothing so much as a giant quarry and building site :) Today we trecked from Labuche to EBC and then back to Gorek Shep - where I am at the moment in the worlds highest internet cafe.
Very hard walking to day on glacial morain and across glaciers.
Tomorrow - we head up to Kala Patta at 5800 meters for view of Everest and tgen back to Dingboche
October 03, 2010
September 29, 2010
Trecking to Everest part 1
I am in Nepal - trecking towards Everest Base Camp and then on to a small peak called Island Peak (6300 metres). After surviving the famously exciting landing at Lukla, we trecked for two days to get to Namche Bazaar - the centre of the Sherpa and gateway to Everest.
Today we took a short treck up to about 3800 metres (that is about 11000 feet) to get the first views of Everest. It was stunning in the clear blue sky.
Now we just have to take about 5 days to treck upto the Base Camp and another week to bag the peak.
July 11, 2010
Luang Prabang
Spending my birthday weekend in Luang Prabang for peace and quiet. There is also some Beer Lao involved as well.
April 11, 2010
Easter Part 2
After Tioman, we spent the weekend in Kota Kinabalu (KK) in Sabah, Borneo.
On Saturday, I took a trip to Tenom and the Padas River Valley for some White Water rafting (while Gwyneth spent the day on Pulau Gaya where there is a very good Marine Research Centre. Padas River was fun - if a very long day (See) - and the nly rafting I have come across that comes with an excellant jungle train ride :).
Sunday was mostly taken up with the excellant Gaya Street Market and the search for a coffee sock for G.
On Saturday, I took a trip to Tenom and the Padas River Valley for some White Water rafting (while Gwyneth spent the day on Pulau Gaya where there is a very good Marine Research Centre. Padas River was fun - if a very long day (See) - and the nly rafting I have come across that comes with an excellant jungle train ride :).
Sunday was mostly taken up with the excellant Gaya Street Market and the search for a coffee sock for G.
Easter 2010
A busy Easter with Gwyneth in Singapore.
We started off with a week spent in Tioman. Gwyneth spent time on the beaches and I went diving. Lots of good sites and a rather nice turtle or two.
We started off with a week spent in Tioman. Gwyneth spent time on the beaches and I went diving. Lots of good sites and a rather nice turtle or two.
Zermatt for Xmas
This post is a little our oif synch - but a few pictures from a skiing trip to Zermat for xmas. I was far too busy skiing in acres for white powder to take too many pictures :)
February 13, 2010
CNY Diving
It is Chinese New Year time again so I have headed for the Similan Islands for four days of diving heaven. First - however- a day on the beech in Phuket waiting for the boat. Snooze ....
October 12, 2009
Dawn over Sougia, Crete
Another 4 ancient cities done - no more diving yet but a good beach at Elafonissi
October 09, 2009
Hania, crete
Another sunset from another hotel balcony - this time in Hania
October 07, 2009
sunset from kea
From the hotel balcony
Kea footpath number 3
The long one - most of the length of the island over the central mountains to Karthia ancient city. 8 hours walking there and back!
October 06, 2009
The end of path 1
reached the sea!
October 05, 2009
kea footpah no 1
walking across the mountains
on the way to Kea
the ferry from Lavrio to Kea
October 03, 2009
September 27, 2009
Pulau Anambas, Indonesia
A few photos from last week's diving trip
September 13, 2009
diving in Aur
beutiful weather in Aur, some good dives and acting as a divemaster for first time - hard work!!
September 06, 2009
Gent Festival
Managed to arrange it so that I could join Gwyneth on her annual trip to the Gent Festival.
This is a sort of urban festival - with many musical stages in city squares mostly featuring some very bad music although there are some gems.
The weekend is mostly about shopping, eating, shopping, eating and the occasional jazz band.
The highlight has to be if you can crack the coded messages an find the Stroat Ensemble - a crazy experience that cannot be described - only experienced. See picture to right and click below for more.
Stroat ensemble Web Site - yes I know it is written in "forn"
Sangat, Philippines
A really great weekend organized thanks to Lars to Sangat off the island of Busuanga in the Philippines.
Sangat is surrounded by about 13 WWII Japanese wrecks - with a maximum depth of about 42M this makes for some really excellant diving.
The resort itself is really well run and a pleasure to visit - see :
Sangat Resort Web Page
Blue Mountains
A weekend in Sydney for work. I managed one day of skydiving but the weather was not good on Sunday - so I managed to find a long, winding dirt road through the blue mountains. Since I was in a unsuitable hire car and did not have a map - I thought that I would take that route. It was a stunning trip - including wallabies and a kangeroo jumping alongside the car for a bit.
I finished up in Katoomba at a very nice cafe - whose name I cannot remember now which is not much use :) Then a quick rush for the airport it was a good day.
As usual - click on the picture below.
St Anton
In February, I spent a week Skiing in St Anton.
The snow was very very excellant - and about 1 meter fell while I was there ... powder :) So much snow that Gwyneth almost did not get through on the train.
As usual - click below
Similan Diving
I took a trip in January on board the Black Manta to the Similan Islands in Thailand for some diving.
This was about the best diving trip I have ever been on. There is an impressive amount of wildlife - including Leopard sharks and lots of Manta - as well the more lethal types of fish and lots more besides.
As usual - click on the picture below to access lots of pictures.
December 13, 2008
York, Western Australia
I made a weekend trip to York (where there is a dropzone) since I was desperate for some jumps.
It was a wonderful weekend with perfect weather and lots of jumps. I stayed at the DZ for two days and then stayed overnight in York. Since it was Hari Raya Aidilfitri (or Aed) I had Monday off. I took my time getting back to Perth for a late flight - exploring the Hills east of Perth.
York is the oldest inland town in WA and is on the banks of the Avon river. It is a nice, quiet country town and I really enjoyed spending a night there, even if the restaurants did stop serving at 8:00!
Some pictures if you click on the following thumbnail
November 25, 2008
Australian Birds
Especially for Gwyneth, Pictures from Fitzroy gardens Melbourne and the Botanical Gardens Sydney.
Now updated with some birds from York, Western Australia.
November 23, 2008
Still Down Under
In Sydney for the second weekend of the trip. The weather gods are upset with me this weekend - very cold, very wet and very very windy.
So - no fun this weekend either but I did have a relaxing time wandering the streets of Sydney and in the Botanical Gardens and the Domain. Managed to get some Xmas shopping done - anyway :)
Heading back to Singapore today.
November 16, 2008
Weekends Downunder
Spent the weekend in Melbourne on a business trip. I was going to do some skydiving but the gods of the air were not on my side and that did not work out.
So - I have really spent the weekend wandering around and not doing very much. After shopping and eating - I spent some time relaxing in Fitzroy park - which is a very nice city park with an amazing Conservatory and the actual cottage that Captain Cook's parents built - transported to Melbourne in 1930's (transported - there is a word with a history :).
Nice Place
November 08, 2008
Diving Pictures
Someone dangerously asked if I have any diving pictures and since I was posting them on Facebook - I thought that I would go the whole hog.
These are from a trip in 2006 in Tioman.
As usual - click on the following picture to see more and more and more ...
October 18, 2008
Greek Island Hoping
October 2008 - we went back to Greece. This time we did some island hoping.
Starting from Athens - we took the early morning flight to Mykonos from the ever efficient Aegean Airlines (they differentiate themselves from Olympic by actually running flights!).
Mykonos was bright and brash and full of international shops and expensive restaurants. It was also full of cruise ship passengers - 3 or 4 ships a day even at the end of the season. When the two big italian ships were in port we had to take refuge in a nice cafe there were so many people about. That said - it was actually very nice at the right time of day (about 7:30 in the morning).
The main reason for going to Mykonos was to get to Delos - which we did. The guidebooks say that 2 hours is a good visit time for Delos. I cannot see this myself- there is so much to see. We took two days!! That did include the little visited stadium and a long trip around the museum - also two trips to the Grotto which is Mycenean in my very humble opinion!
From Mykonos - we went to Naxos by catamaran. Naxos is nice, quiet and has an old town and castle that I could explore for days. It is also a very large Island and we spent a whole day driving around temples and sites.
Leaving Naxos was harder than we thought - we were booked on the cat to Iraklio but that was cancelled due to bad weather - so the next day we took the Blue Star ferry to Thera and changed to the cat there. The ferry was a blessing - modern,fast and very stable. The Cat frm Thera should why you should not take cats if you are at all seasick - as we left Thera across the deep water to Crete the swell deepened and the boat took on an impressive wallowing motion at high speed. Result - everybody on the boat was sick (except me - of course - thanks to the famous Harwood Iron stomach). Particularly impressive was the tour group from Singapore - I have never seen any group as miserable as them when they left the boat!!
Final - we spent some days back at Zakros - which has been mentioned in this blog before. Click on the thumbnails for the pictures.
Starting from Athens - we took the early morning flight to Mykonos from the ever efficient Aegean Airlines (they differentiate themselves from Olympic by actually running flights!).
Mykonos was bright and brash and full of international shops and expensive restaurants. It was also full of cruise ship passengers - 3 or 4 ships a day even at the end of the season. When the two big italian ships were in port we had to take refuge in a nice cafe there were so many people about. That said - it was actually very nice at the right time of day (about 7:30 in the morning).
The main reason for going to Mykonos was to get to Delos - which we did. The guidebooks say that 2 hours is a good visit time for Delos. I cannot see this myself- there is so much to see. We took two days!! That did include the little visited stadium and a long trip around the museum - also two trips to the Grotto which is Mycenean in my very humble opinion!
From Mykonos - we went to Naxos by catamaran. Naxos is nice, quiet and has an old town and castle that I could explore for days. It is also a very large Island and we spent a whole day driving around temples and sites.
Leaving Naxos was harder than we thought - we were booked on the cat to Iraklio but that was cancelled due to bad weather - so the next day we took the Blue Star ferry to Thera and changed to the cat there. The ferry was a blessing - modern,fast and very stable. The Cat frm Thera should why you should not take cats if you are at all seasick - as we left Thera across the deep water to Crete the swell deepened and the boat took on an impressive wallowing motion at high speed. Result - everybody on the boat was sick (except me - of course - thanks to the famous Harwood Iron stomach). Particularly impressive was the tour group from Singapore - I have never seen any group as miserable as them when they left the boat!!
Final - we spent some days back at Zakros - which has been mentioned in this blog before. Click on the thumbnails for the pictures.
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September 21, 2008
Leaving Istanbul
July 1 - I left Istanbul and the bird who has been nesting outside my bathroom came to say goodbye.
It is a wrench to leave Istanbul - I really enjoyed living there.
Efes One Love
The last weekend in Istanbul was taken up with the Efes OneLove festival in central Istanbul. On the line up were Gogol Bordello, the famous Turkish psychobelly amenuensis Baba Zula and Shantel - a real Gypsy Punk feast. I have pictures - click on the thumbnail - and videos.(hint -to see the videos in larger format double click on the name or the video)
Sorry about the sound quality!
Bozcaada
A farewell visit to Bozcaada (Tenedos) before I leave. It actually made an easier weekend trip than I expected - I should have done it more. I mainly spent my time enjoying and buying the wine and eating at the restaurants. There were a lot of cats! Click on the thumbnail below for the pictures.
Hasan Keyf and Diyarbakir
The way home from Mardin was down to the Syrian border in the valley - along the border almost as far as Iraq and then up through the hills to the Tigris valley at Hasankeyf.
Hasankeyf is an ancient fort, religous place and crossing point. It seems that you were not anybody in the ancient world unless you built a crossing at Hasankeyf. After lunch on a chaibench in the river, I went on to Diyarbakr - the Kurdish "capital" for a quick look at the walls and to buy a carpet before catching the plane home.
This area is "open to tourists" despite the ongoing "difficulties" in Iraq. However - there were three army road blocks on the roads and a lot of serious looking people with sub-machne guns!
Mardin
Another trip - this time to the Southeast of Turkey around Mardin and Diyarbakr (the second part is in a seperate post).
Mardin is an ancient silk road city (ninevah is just across the Iraq border - which is only about 20 miles away). It is a stone built gem in the hills overlooking the arid plains of Syria and Iraq. Full of old mosques and madrassas although it does get a high number of turkish tourists. One feature is that the old fort at the top of the hill cannot be visited - it is also a current Turkish army fort full (one assumes) of high tech monitoring gear. This is Kurdish and Arabic country - and my minimal Turkish was of no use (no-one would admit to speaking Turkish :). Lots of piccies if you click on the thumbnail below
Team Building
There was a team building event at Abant Lakes in Anatolia. This is a beautiful part of Turkey - although it is cold at night because of the altitude (and no-one told me :). There was the usual gungho team building - in this case the build a raft version. Luckily for our team - no-one in Turkey has heard of punting and that gave us a real advantage:)
Hattusa
June 2008 - One of a series of weekend trips around Turkey before I left so me driving to Bogazkale in Anatolia - the site of the Hittite Capital Hattusa.
There are some amazing remains- a whole city of temples and palaces spread out across a hill and some nearby stone figures. The village is also a nice place to spend a weekend - quiet, rural and very Anatolian. I also took the Long Way Home and explored some of the countryside around Ankara - thanks in part to a loan of a GPS from Marco. Turkish maps have some peculiarities and the GPS does not know the difference between a motorway and a goat track (yes - it did tell me with increasing urgency that I should turn right on that goat track!).There are whole ranges of hills gleaming red in the sunset that you only ever see if with the help and support of GPS.
As usual - click on the picture below and you will oodles more.
International Skydiving
March 08 was a good skydiving month. Some fortunate timings meant that I had the opportunity to join a jump from a Mil 08 helicopter in Segamat Malaysia. Then I joined the Georgia Skydivers in Skydive the Farm, Atlanta for their 4-way event.
Click the thumbnail for a few pictures - but even better (for me :) there are four videos of me skydiving. We were pretty bad - even for a scratch team. To see me - watch for the yellow arms and blue body. I have linked to three of the vidoes (click on the text) and embedded the best.
First Video - I was not so good
Second Video - we got it together towards the end
Jump 4 was a mess
The best was jump 3
Click the thumbnail for a few pictures - but even better (for me :) there are four videos of me skydiving. We were pretty bad - even for a scratch team. To see me - watch for the yellow arms and blue body. I have linked to three of the vidoes (click on the text) and embedded the best.
First Video - I was not so good
Second Video - we got it together towards the end
Jump 4 was a mess
The best was jump 3
Jackson Hole
Feb 2008 - A second trip to Jackson Hole. This time there was more and better snow than I have ever seen - meters and meters of white powder :)
This picture is the top of the Corbet's Couloir. I did not have the nerve to do this one - although I did do Alta chute :)
Pictures if you click on the thumbnail below - including the tracks of some of the most impressive wipeouts I have ever done.
January 09, 2008
Penzance for Xmas
Spent Xmas in Penzance with Gwyneth. Stayed at the Egyptian House as before and the highlights included the imprtant (and final) parts of the Montol festival with the appearance of Penglaz (or Obby Oss) and being selected to Mark the Moke. Also being able to finally visit the whole of St Michael's Mount since they decided on a bit of winter opening.
Thanks for all the brilliant pressies :)
January 08, 2008
On The Silk Road
- The trip has been divided up into the following albums (click on the text - not the pictures). Back to Travelling Runes
Malaca with Mark
- A weekend with Mark and Al on their way back from the wilds of the Australian outback to the UK. Eating and drinking were the main activities - but there was time for some shopping and a beach. Back to Travelling Runes