September 26, 2007 -From Keith in the Swiss base camp...

The Swiss have kindy lent us a computer to email our latest update.

Attached are a couple of photos. The first is from base camp at 4800m. In case you do not recognize us... from left to right, Gonzalo, Dave, Toby, Neil, Keith and Mike crouching. The second photo is Neil sucking wind at about 7100m, the view is north looking into China. If you look very close in the picture you can see a small dot of red in the center right of the shot...that is Gonzalos tent in our camp two.

Our latest attempt at the summit was not a complete failure. It takes about 5 days for a summit and return. The trip to camp one is taking us about 3 hours but from camp one to camp two is a killer. It took us 10 hours of climbing and walking to get to camp two. On day three our intention was to make camp three, rest for a few hours then go for the summit. We made it to 7200m where we were to set up camp three, then go for the summit starting around 2am. We got a radio call while we were setting up camp three that called for a storm coming in. We decided to pull the pin and head down to camp two. Good thing we did as it started snowing around 6pm and has not stopped.

We made an epic decent in a white out blizzard the following day, we left camp two at 10am (slow starters) and arrived in base camp at 8pm. So far the mountain has been very kind to us, weather has been good and the conditions have been great. We are now two days into a snow
storm that has dropped over a meter so far. The snow is wet and it collapses our tents if we do not dig them out.

We are here with two other expeditions... a Swiss commercial team of seven and a smaller team of four from Germany who are sponsored by Dynafit and are making an extreme ski film. Everyone is getting along great and the teams are working together for another summit bid. The Swiss have two climing Sherpas with them, Pemba and Norboo. They are great and have appreciated the route the Canadians have set up through the icefall.

Our plans are to watch the weather for a couple of days and then assess what we will do. We still have a lot of gear up the mountain so we do need to go again. We have good weather intel so we are able to make decisions about what to do. Hopefully all goes well.

To all who sent messages... thanks, they mean a lot to us.

Keith

September 25, 2007

No summit for the boys yet. They got as high as 7200 meters but were halted by huge amounts of snow. Had they started one day sooner for the summit, they probably would have made it. For now, the window of opportunity is closed. They had a harrowing journey back to base camp through white-out blizzard conditions (falling into crevasses etc.) but have made it safe and sound. Keith says that up until this point, the weather has been like a "holiday". So, for now, they wait.

September 21, 2007

It's official... The boys left this morning to conquer the summit of Manaslu.

It takes 5 days from base camp to summit and return. The schedule goes like this: day 1 hike to camp 1 and sleep, day 2 hike to camp 2 and sleep, day 3 hike to camp 3 and sleep, day 4 summit and down to camp 2 for sleep, day 5 back to base camp. From the weather report they received, conditions are ideal for them to make the attempt.

Stay tuned for further adventures of Manaslu 2007...

September 18, 2007

Liz heard from her man this morning.

During this past week the group has gone beyond camp 2, to an elevation of 6900 meters. To reach that height, they had more ropes to fix and a glacier to cross. To Keith's surprise, only the Canadians rope together for glacier travel. He also said there has been a TON of snowfall. They are now at base camp for about 2 days of rest. Last time they were at base camp almost everyone felt the effects of a foriegn diet (you know what I mean) so Keith said he's going to take more care with what he eats while in base camp. (I think that means he'll drink more beer, God knows his diegestion is used to that!) Tomorrow the group will decided what step is next ie: are they ready to go for the summit or not?

The next five days or so will likely see the boy's attempt on the summit -weather permitting. Sounds like things are going well and on track for a successful expedition!

reporting from my warm office chair...
dave

September 11, 2007

Liz got word from Keith this morning.

They are all back down at base camp for rest and supplies. Keith said he was really tired but in good shape. The three Canadians in the group had a big day of ice climbing yesterday to fix ropes. They will use the fixed ropes to help them get up the ice sections without having to technically climb the sections every time.

The weather has been excellent so far, very warm. Yesterday, the camp cook sent dinner up to them. Yak dumplings were on the menu and were reported to be "awesome". Liz thinks these plush meals are going to spoil the boys...

Some of you have been having problems with the link Keith sent for the blog site. Here it is again, if you can't link to it by clicking, then try typing it in. Apparently Gonzalo will be making regular updates to the blog while at base camp.

http://www.manaslu2007.blogspot.com

Also, Keith said you can send him text messages through the blog site and he'd love to receive some.

You can send an SMS message to us by going to

https://sms.thuraya.com/

The number is 0088-216-87710215 on Thuraya network.
you just need to input the last numbers "87710215" to get it to work

peace. out.
dave

September 8, 2007

Finally some news, though not much. Liz received a call from the team's base camp manager. The group was heading up to camp 2 yesterday after 3 days at camp 1. She tried to ask questions to get more details, but they had language issues. Obviously, the satellite phone isn't working, but other than that, no problems or glitches were mentioned.

It appears that they are making good progress.

We will probably continue to recieve updates from the base camp manager if the sat phone continues top give the boys grief.

dave

News From Keith

As I write this the Manaslu team is just about to head up to base camp. It's roughly a 7 hour hike. They are anxious to get out of the village as sanitary conditions are poor at best. The good news is the expedition cook "makes awesome food". Blessings and prayers have been bestowed upon them by the local monastery. The plan is to hang out at base camp for 3 days.

There are problems with the satellite phone they are using. If, as they go higher up in elevation, the reception does not improve, they will have another phone sent up with a Swiss expedition that will be following them sometime within the next week. It is possible that there will be no news for a while.

Keith

News from Neil...

I received a call from Neil night. The group is up at base camp. A couple days prior they had visited the Monastery in the village and were blessed by the Buddhist Lama. He will then make the trek up the base camp and perform a “puja’ where he will burn juniper and give his blessings. Some of the team were ill and were looking forward to leaving the village and getting to base camp. Neil, with the help from Keith, had to operate on himself with his pocketknife as he either had a piece of ‘stick’ or ‘a tick’ in his leg – the phone reception is not always at its best. He now has another scar to add to his many others. They are currently at 4700 M and the air is quite a bit thinner. He indicated that his pulse in Katmandu was 46 while resting, and in camp it is 55 to 60. His oxygen saturation level is near the 80 level while it is normally would be between 95 and 100. Quite the difference!.

Wendy