Keith here...
I haven't had the time or the inclination to read all of the posts so far on the Blog, just the last one that details some of the reasons we are done.
Here is the skinny:
We set out with the Swiss group to make a last summit attempt. There were 10 Swiss which included a guide, two climbing sherpas and one sherpa "trainee". Our entire group was with them except for Dave. We did make camp one with no trouble, in fact the initial glacier crossing had become quite a bit easier with all the snow. Our camp one included Toby's tent and Neil's tent. Both were under about 1.5 meters of dense packed snow. We dug them out, repaired many rips and busted poles and spent the night in C1. The Swiss were in a similair predicament in their own C1, except they had a couple of spare tents with them.
Next day we made it to camp 1B2. By this time we have stayed all over the mountain and we just started naming all the subsiduary camps. We had C1A through C1C and this camp was between B and C...long story short it was around 6200m. Once again it was the Canadians up and breaking trail for everyone else. While we were discussing the late hour with the Swiss guide and what to do, Norboo Sherpa screamed AVALANCHE!!! We all looked down to him expecting to see the avalanche BELOW him. It was above us. We were looking straight up a serac we were under and the entire sky was filling with snow on top of the serac. We ran around like ants at a picnic looking for some kind of shelter. Fortunatly the avalanche was on it's last legs and the cursed wind helped to blow the snow back up the mountain away from us. Very exciting stuff.
The five of us borrowed a couple tents and some down suits from the Swiss group and stayed at 6200m for the night. Next day we went up the slope toward our C2 at 6800m. The wind was very strong this day...60-80km maybe and of course blowing in our faces. We found the Swiss C2 by a peice of nylon and a busted pole sticking out of the ground. Our C2 was a hundred meteres higher and when we got there an avalanche had changed the whole area. We spent two hours digging and probing for our camp. By 3pm we new we were done and would have to get down to C1 or freeze.
Our C2 had a tent from Gonzalo and my Mountain hardware tent along with most all our high altitude gear...like down suits and mitts. On our decsent we found both tents 400m lower and a couple of kms from where we hd left them. Both Gonzalo's tent and mine had been carried down the slope with a very big avalache, probably the same avalanche that sent the blast down that wrecked everyones base camp.
We were able to recover most all of our gear. The tents are both destroyed and we did lose some gear. Happily we have the stuff if we ever want to try this again.
We are all now in Kathmandu except for Mike who has stayed on Manaslu with the Swiss and two members of the Dynafit(German) team. They will try for the top one more time.
Thanks to all for the text messages on our sort of reliable sat phone...they were a big part of our base camp "therapy". We fly out on the 11th and will be checking personal emails till then...if we can stay sober long enough.
Out
Keith Sanford
domingo, 7 de outubro de 2007
sexta-feira, 5 de outubro de 2007
October 4, 2007
Got a Voice mail from Keith last night. The dude sounded tired. Really tired.
So, Last time we heard from them, the German camp had been destroyed by the wind from an avalanche -not an avalanche; just the wind from it totalled the entire camp! They have been digging out the tents every hour on the hour for three days. "Adjusting" to the local fare. I think that means a few trips to the crapper. Using up the booze someone had hauled up -well, someone had to. ...and waiting. most of you know what that's like. Laying in a tent for days on end waiting for the weather to break so you could do the thing you came to do. ...and that smell. What the H E double hockey sticks is THAT??! ...and who knew that sweat could be semi-solid? anyway...
Like the last post mentioned, they where going to go up with the Swiss Team and see how far they could get. They got to camp one, dug it out and reasserted their toe hold on the mountain. Continued on to camp two at 6800m only to find the camp had been completely destroyed by avalanche. (Thank God they did not decide to try and wait out the storm there.) They were turned back. They found the tents on the way back from where camp two used to be and while the tents where completely ruined, they were able to retrieve some of the gear that was stored there.
So, the expedition has ended. The boys are headed back to Kathmandu today and I expect to hear from Keith when he gets there. Probably after he has a shower and gets drunk, or gets drunk and has a shower, or gets drunk, sleeps and has a shower... I'm sure there will be a glass of wine or two in there somewhere.
I'm disappointed for Keith and the boys. I know they really wanted this mountain. To be denied this accomplishment is a bummer. However, I'm grateful that the team is safe and have suffered no major injuries or losses. I think in the mountaineering game any trip you come home safe from has to be a success. And I for one am looking forward to hearing all about their experiences on Manaslu.
I'll keep you posted.
peace out
dave
So, Last time we heard from them, the German camp had been destroyed by the wind from an avalanche -not an avalanche; just the wind from it totalled the entire camp! They have been digging out the tents every hour on the hour for three days. "Adjusting" to the local fare. I think that means a few trips to the crapper. Using up the booze someone had hauled up -well, someone had to. ...and waiting. most of you know what that's like. Laying in a tent for days on end waiting for the weather to break so you could do the thing you came to do. ...and that smell. What the H E double hockey sticks is THAT??! ...and who knew that sweat could be semi-solid? anyway...
Like the last post mentioned, they where going to go up with the Swiss Team and see how far they could get. They got to camp one, dug it out and reasserted their toe hold on the mountain. Continued on to camp two at 6800m only to find the camp had been completely destroyed by avalanche. (Thank God they did not decide to try and wait out the storm there.) They were turned back. They found the tents on the way back from where camp two used to be and while the tents where completely ruined, they were able to retrieve some of the gear that was stored there.
So, the expedition has ended. The boys are headed back to Kathmandu today and I expect to hear from Keith when he gets there. Probably after he has a shower and gets drunk, or gets drunk and has a shower, or gets drunk, sleeps and has a shower... I'm sure there will be a glass of wine or two in there somewhere.
I'm disappointed for Keith and the boys. I know they really wanted this mountain. To be denied this accomplishment is a bummer. However, I'm grateful that the team is safe and have suffered no major injuries or losses. I think in the mountaineering game any trip you come home safe from has to be a success. And I for one am looking forward to hearing all about their experiences on Manaslu.
I'll keep you posted.
peace out
dave
segunda-feira, 1 de outubro de 2007
September 30, 2007
Yesterday our boys left base camp along with the Swiss group to see how they would fare getting to camp 1. There has been much snow this past week and the Swiss are leading the pack to break trail with the snowshoes they wisely brought along. If getting to camp 1 is manageable, they will continue on up to camp 2 and so on. If the weather co-operates and the snow isn't impossible to navigate through, they will try for the summit again. If that doesn't happen, they will retrieve what gear they can and come down from the mountain. Oct. 9 is the last possible day they have on Manaslu.
Here's what the boys have been doing this past week at base camp: digging their tents out of the snow once every hour (including night time), playing cards, drinking wine and whiskey, and completely adjusting their digestive systems to goat and yak meat. Also, putting base camp back together after it being blown apart by an avalanche blast. This is not the avalanche itself, but the air it pushes when it occurs. Imagine 100km/hr winds. Their camp was hit pretty hard, the kitchen received the worst of it, but they were lucky compared to the Swiss and German camps. Apparently the German base camp was completely destroyed, so they went down to Sama village to watch movies on the portable DVD players they brought with them. Liz says she can't imagine what that blast would have been like, but it must have really been something because Keith's voice was pumped and full of energy like I haven't heard since he's been on the mountain.
Here's what the boys have been doing this past week at base camp: digging their tents out of the snow once every hour (including night time), playing cards, drinking wine and whiskey, and completely adjusting their digestive systems to goat and yak meat. Also, putting base camp back together after it being blown apart by an avalanche blast. This is not the avalanche itself, but the air it pushes when it occurs. Imagine 100km/hr winds. Their camp was hit pretty hard, the kitchen received the worst of it, but they were lucky compared to the Swiss and German camps. Apparently the German base camp was completely destroyed, so they went down to Sama village to watch movies on the portable DVD players they brought with them. Liz says she can't imagine what that blast would have been like, but it must have really been something because Keith's voice was pumped and full of energy like I haven't heard since he's been on the mountain.
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