Former Nepalese royal place reopens as a museum

The former royal place in Kathmandu, known as Narayanhiti, opened as a public museum today. Hopefully The Mountain Company will incorporate visits to the Narayanhiti as part of sightseeing tours in Kathmandu before/after our treks.

For more information please take a look at the BBC website


Roland Hunter
www.themountaincompany.co.uk

UK Celebrities attempting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Red Nose Day 2009

Photo: Kilimanjaro

UK celebrities including Chris Moyles, Cheryl Cole, Alesha Dixon, Fearne Cotton, Gary Barlow and Ronan Keating are attempting to climb Mount Climb Kilimanjaro to raise £1 million for Red Nose Day 2009. Money raised will be used to purchase malarial nets as well as fund other good causes in Africa and UK. They have an eight day trek to get to the summit of Kilimanjaro at 5,895m.

Good luck to them all!

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Everest climbing season 2009

Everest climbing season 2009 is fast approaching with most teams planning to arrive in Kathmandu towards the end of March. If you are interested in following the events on Everest then I suggest you take a look at Alan Arnette's website. Another good source of mountaineering news is MountainEverest.net, this website posts regular updates on all 8,000m expeditions in the Himalayas and Karakoram. 

Roland Hunter 

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

World record attempt for staying on the summit of Mt Everest

Photo: Everest summit

In May brothers Pemba Dorje Sherpa, Nima Gyalzen and Phurba Tenzing will attempt to break the world record for staying on top of Mount Everest. The current record is held by the late Babu Chiri Sherpa at 20 hours. They are all very experienced Sherpas having between them made 16 Everest summits and Pemba currently holds the speed record for ascending to the summit in an amazing 8 hours and 10 minutes!

Winter Broad Peak expedition back in Base Camp after summit attempt

Since December Artur Hajzer, Don Bowie and Robert Szymczak have been on a winter expedition to Broad Peak in Pakistan. The team have just got back to Base Camp after a summit attempt where they reached Camp 3. You can see the brutal condtitions they are experiencing on the video uploaded to Don's website and another video by Robert on HiMountain.

Roland Hunter

First winter ascent of Makalu!

Yesterday Simon Moro and Denis Urubko made the first successful winter ascent of Mt Makalu in Nepal at 8,462m. This is an amazing achievement as climbing at 8,000m in winter is incredibly difficult and of course very, very cold!

Makalu is the last 8,000m peak in Nepal to be climbed in winter, however none of the five 8,000ers in Pakistan have yet to be summitted in winter (although Simone has twice attempted Broad Peak in winter).

It is interesting how the mainstream media have missed this landmark climb in the Himalayas, probably because it is not another "first" by a tourist climber on Everest. I have copied Denis Urubko's description below of his attempt last year to climb Makalu in winter:

"In conditions like these, the route becomes a death trap. It's possible to try and reach the top over Makalu Col, but if the wind increases you won’t make it back. The wild funnel reaches up to 200 kilometers per hour making human survival impossible. The western storm will carry your frozen soul towards Lhasa; to soar over Tibet in search of the eternal beauty you couldn't find in your life.

Life in BC: crazy tunes from above. Even life in BC is a mental test. Only those who have experienced it can fully understand the terrible conditions of Makalu BC in winter. Lakes are frozen over by deep frost into a surface similar to pineapple peel. The tent never stops rattling over your head. The ropes scream and the wind incessantly deposits handfuls of snow and sand inside your shelter.

The fragility of life is also underlined by a furious rumble from the summit high up above. She sings mad tunes; she cries out, "poor suckers," at us for not braving her slopes. She mourns and she threats, a mute question of "when?" sounding in each high pitch."

For more information on Simone and Denis's Makalu climb take a look at Explorersweb article "Tina, we closed the games!" Simone Moro and Denis Urubko make winter history on Makalu

New Trailblazer guidebooks

Trailblazer Publications have recently published two new or updated guidebooks to the Himalaya region: the 5th edition of the Trekking in the Everest region by Jamie McGuinness and also the 1st edition of Himalaya by Bike by Laura Stone. I have just read Jamie’s Trekking in the Everest region and can recommend it as the best trekking guidebook to the Khumbu. I like the Trailblazer approach of covering a region rather than an entire country resulting in a more comprehensive and informative read. 

Trailblazer also publish trekking guidebooks to the Annapurna and Ladakh regions. I have used all three of these guidebooks while trekking in the Himalayas. One reason I find them so useful is due to their superb maps, not only are they very easy to follow but also include accurate walking times. Therefore, you can decide where to stop for the night whereas other guidebooks tend to include “day by day” itineraries which results in everyone staying in the same campsite or lodge each night. 

Laura’s book Himalaya by Bike covers the classic rides of the Himalayas: Karakoram Highway, Manali to Leh, Leh to Srinagar, Spiti and Kinnaur, Bhutan, Sikkim and Friendship Highway between Tibet and Nepal. This guidebook is clearly a labour of love; over the last three years Laura has cycled all of these areas while researching the book. As in all Trailblazer books, the author’s passion for travel comes through in her guidebook and no doubt will provide inspiration for many to start cycling in the Himalayas. For more information take a look at www.himalayabybike.com (currently being updated). To find out more about Trailblazer Publications take a look at their website at http://www.trailblazer-guides.com/

Roland Hunter