Garden of Dreams at Keshar Mahal in Kathmandu

The Garden of Dreams at Keshar Mahal is located on the edge of the busy Thamel tourist area, however once you walk through the door into these gardens you are taken to a calm oasis away from the mayhem of modern Kathmandu.

The gardens and six pavilions were constructed in 1920s by Field Marshal General Kaiser Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, however after his death in 1964 fell into decline and returned to jungle. In 1998 during the Visit Nepal year there were only two pavilions standing and at the last minute the decision was made to save the gardens and remaining pavilions. The project was taken on by an Austrian NGO Eco Himal and the gardens opened in 2006.

If you are visiting Kathmandu I recommend you take time to visit (the entrance fee is only 160 rupees), within the grounds there is also the Kaiser bar and restaurant operated by Dwarikas hotel group.

Photo: Entrance on Tridevi Marg

Photo: view of Basanta pavilion

Photo: view of Basanta pavilion with pond

Photo: statue of Laxshmi

Photo: statue of elephants

Photo: Kaiser restaurant

New website for The Mountain Company

If you have checked our website recently you will no doubt have noticed that there has been a lot of changes!! On October 15th the new website for The Mountain Company was launched.

Our aim was to design a site with increased search functionality to help you choose an appropriate trek as well as incorporating improved information and a clearer layout. We have also included our favourite photos taken from our treks to give you an idea of what to expect, hopefully you will find our selection of images inspiring!

We would be very interested to hear what you think about the new website, please get in touch if you have any comments or feedback. We are planning a second phase of the website's development shortly, so please check in regularly to see the changes and updates.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Ninth edition of Lonely Planet's Trekking in Nepal Himalaya

The latest edition (ninth edition August 2009) of the Lonely Planet's Trekking in Nepal Himalaya has now been released. The classic guidebook has been updated for new treks and also for changes to existing itineraries resulting from road construction in the hills of Nepal.

At The Mountain Company we are delighted to be included under UK Travel Operators on page 26 for the first time. We are also listed in the excellent TrailBlazer guidebooks to the Everest and Annapurna regions.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

WWF Report reveals that 353 new species discovered in the Eastern Himalayas

A World Wildlife Report published today reveals that more than 353 new species have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas between 1998 and 2008. The Eastern Himalayas region includes Bhutan, northeast India, Myanmar, Nepal and southern parts of the Tibet Autonomous Region (China).

However, the report also highlighted the fact that only 25% of the original habitats remain intact due to population growth and rapidly increasing demands for commodities by global and regional markets.

Climbers turn back on K2 summit day

All climbers have turned back on a recent summit attempt on K2. Deep snow above the Bottleneck slowed them down when late in the day the decision was made to descend back to High Camp.

The climbers are on their way descending back to Base Camp except the Kazakhs, Maxut Zhunmayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov, who with characteristic determination have stayed in Camp Four preparing for a possible new attempt today. I wish the best of luck to Maxut and Vassiliy!

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

K2 Summit push coming soon...

Photo: K2 seen from Concordia

Today a meeting was held at K2 Base Camp with the remaining climbers to plan a coordinated summit attempt on K2 taking advantage of the good weather forecast for early next week. For more information I suggest taking a look at Jake Meyer's Blog

If you are interested in seeing K2 and the other beautiful mountains of Pakistan then consider coming with The Mountain Company to K2 Base Camp in August 2010, for more information on K2 & Gondogoro La trek

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Congratulations to Veikka Gustafsson

Congratulations to Veikka Gustafsson of Finland who has now climbed all fourteen of the world’s highest peaks over 8,000m without supplementary oxygen. Veikka’s last peak was Gasherbrum 1 in Pakistan summitted on July 25th 2009.