A Diary of Events from The North Ridge 2002

Update 16 May 2002

Adventure Peaks Summits Everest

Today, Thursday 16 May, Dave Pritt, Chris Mothersdale and Stuart Peacock reach the top of the world!
The three of them are all safe and well at camp 3 and will return back to advanced base camp tomorrow.

The rest of the members are all safe and well back at base camp awaiting their return.

Each member reached the following height before returning back to camp:

Congratulations to the whole team on a huge success, everybody acheived their personal goal.

The team and sherpas are in the process of clearing all the camps on the mountain, they will leave Everest base camp on Sunday 26th May to return to Kathmandu, then return to the UK on 30th May.

On behalf of Adventure Peaks and the team I would like to thank everyone for all the interest, support and best wishes the team has received over the last 64 days, it's been greatly appreciated.

It's been a great success to the team and to Adventure Peaks.

We are now starting to build our team for 2003, interested? Call us for a chat on +44 (0)15394 47301

Jill Pinkerton

Update 13 May 2002

The team have returned to ABC following a good weather forcast and will be making summit attempts as follows:

Andy, Chris M, Stuart, Dave H, Murray and Dave P
Mon 13 to North Col
Tue 14 to Camp 2 7800m
Wed 15 to Camp 3 8200m
Thur 16 to Summit

Patricia, Chris B-W, John
Tue 14 to North Col
Wed 15 to camp 2 7800m
Thur 16 to Camp 3 8200m
Fri 17 to Summit

Good luck to all

Update 9th May 2002

The past two weeks has seen the team progress onto the North Col at 7010m where members have spent between one and four nights sleeping in bitterly cold conditions -28C (plus wind chill) for this time of year. Very strong winds saw a variety of teams tents blown from the col, fortunately ours escaped. Our only casulty was our toilet tent at ABC. Our North Col camp is now firmly established and well stocked.

Andy, Stuart, Chris M, Murray, David H were all able to progress up the North ridge to 7500-7600m for aclimatisation. Dave P, Jill, Patricia, Chris B and John stopped at the North Col. Gordon is still hoping to climb to the North Col.

Our Sherpas have established camp 2 at 7800m and are currently stocking it whilst also helping to fix lines.

The team have returned to base camp to rest and prepare for a summit bid. It is hoped a summit bid could be made soon after the 16th May however this is ALL dependant on the weather which upto now has not been very helpful. The team may move back upto ABC on Saturday or Sunday.

On return from the North Col Jill was diagnosed as having Pluracy or Pulmonary Odema and has since been evacuated to Kathmandu, she flies back to England on Thursday. We are sorry to see her leave and wish her a speedy recovery.

Update 21st April 2002

11/2/02 The group left base camp as planned along with 54 Yaks and numerous Yak herders for Intermediate camp at 5800m. The journey was quite uninterrupted, arriving at camp after about 5hrs. On arrival we were greeted with Sherpa soup (vindaloo strength) & some extremely cold weather, but most important moral was high.

12/4/02 Having almost been blown back to base camp during the night we woke up feeling very much refreshed. Leaving at 8am, very much refreshed we headed towards Advanced Base Camp 6400m passing through some incredible scenery. The ice pinnacles being extremely impressive. Our pace was good with everyone arriving between 4 and 6 hours.

13/4/02 A day of rest relaxation, acclimatisation, admiration of the wonderful views and appreciation that we were on Everest.

14/4/02 Acclimatisation walks were taken to the bottom of the North Col from where it was possible to gauge the route and to take on board the type of distances involved. No other group had fixed lines to the North Col yet, although it was rumoured the Korean team who had arrived a few days earlier may do so tomorrow.

15/4/02 The Korean Team keen to make good use of the weather did start to fix lines today. Full credit to them they completed the task in good style today. Due to acclimatisation we were only able to watch through binoculars and agreed to move additional rope upto the North Col for future fixing. Our moral hit a new high knowing the job was done and that we could move upto the North Col soon ourselves.

16/4/02 After an energy regenerating breakfast of cereal, porridge and fried eggs, a large proportion of the team and its Sherpas set off for the North Col with equipment and supplies for Camp 1 at 7000m. A successful day was had and the team returned to celebrate good progress and the prospect of a rest day.

17/4/02 The sherpas continued the work of the previous day and returned to the North Col to finally establish our camp on the North Col, from which we would be able to push further up the mountain in future weeks to camp 2 at 7800m. Jill, Dave and Holly dropped back down to base camp to allow Jill to rest and recover following a ten day period of sickness, which made acclimatisation at ABC difficult.

18/4/02 The rest of the team had planned to ascend to the North Col to sleep before returning to Base camp for five days of rest, a normal process for acclimatisation. On reaching the bottom of the North Col it was obvious the winds were far too strong to make a comfortable safe ascent so the decision was made to return to ABC.

19/4/02 Still with strong winds the whole team decided to drop down to Base camp for a well earned rest and to build up their strength with much eating, drinking and sunworshiping.

21/4/02 Plans for the next week were made. Dave and Jill will move back upto ABC tomorrow (Mon) following the end of their rest period and the group will meet up with them on Wed/Thur. All members will aim to sleep on the North Col this week and to progress towards camp 2 at 7800m.

Full report soon.

10th April 2002
The team met up at Heathrow on 28/03/02, while checking in the luggage a film crew from the fly on the wall documentary Airport where filming for a new series.
Dave Pritt and Jill Pinkerton, Adventure Peaks Leaders, was interviewed regarding the Everest expedition. Chris Mothersdale was also interviewed regarding the experiments he will be carrying out for internet based science education for schools and Guiness book of records. So all being well you will see us in the new series of Airport in June.

Although it is quite a long flight to Nepal, time seemed to pass quickly and before we new it we had arrived in Kathmandu. The only hiccup being Patricia Mc Guirks luggage had been delayed. From the airport we were taken to the Hotel, after a whirlwind tour of some of Kathmandu's back-streets we checked into the Hotel Manang. A Nice Hotel on one of the main streets. Here we were joined by Holly Gushe who had previously been travelling in India.

We had a couple of days in Kathmandu before we could start our journey to base camp. This was spent sorting out kit to be loaded into the lorries, buying last minute luxury items and taking in the sights.

On the 1st April we set off on our journey to Everest Base Camp. First we had to cross the border into Tibet. We travelled through Nepal to a Place called Friendship Bridge. Thankfully we crossed the border into Tibet before a Mauist strike was called, on the Nepalese side, which we understood could have delayed us for up to 6 days.

Just over the border was our first stop in a town called Zhang Mu. Away from the cities, the towns are quite sparse and so places to stay and restraunts to eat in become limited. However knowing that you're going to be spending nearly 2 months under canvas makes it easier to accept that two and a half star accommodation is a luxury not to be scoffed at.

We had one night in Zhang Mu, we then had to wait for our main luggage and freight to catch us up. Then it was onto Nylam, this took us along some of the most breath taking roads (Roads is a bit of an overstatement) I have ever been on. Breath taking from both the scenery that we were passing through and how sheer the drops were at the side of the narrow dirt tracks we were travelling along. At just over 3700m we entered Nylam as it began to snow, nobody was quite prepared for the heavy downfall and the cold weather so early on into the trip.

The next day gave us our first chance to stretch our legs and get some acclimatisation. We all headed for a 4370m peak just outside Nylam. It felt good to be out on the hills after a few days couped up on bus and in hotels.

April 4th, we headed out to the village of Tingri (4320m) this would be our last stop before reaching Everest Base Camp. The road into Tingri gave us our first sights of Everest and Cho Oyu. Even from a long distance there is no denying that the view of the North Face & North East Ridge of Everest is a spectacular sight.
Tingri is only a small village and more basic than the other two places we had stayed, however I preferred this place over the others. Again we had a day put aside to acclimatise. So we headed up a giant sand-dune like peak which took us to around 5000m.

April 6th, On the road one last time final destination Everest Base Camp. For this part of the trip we had 3 Land Cruisers to take us over the rough terrain. The trip took us over a pass at 5100m dropping down the other side we stopped to take in probably the most impressive panorama I have ever seen. The view covering virtually the whole Horizon gave us the sights of 7 of the highest mountains in the world and there sitting proud in the middle was Everest.

Before arriving at Base Camp (5165m) we made a visit to the Rongbuck Monastery, which also gave us the best close-up views of the mountain. We finally reached Base Camp and unloaded what kit we had, we then had to wait for the lorries to turn up with the rest of the kit. Unfortunately when the lorries eventually turned up Gordon found he was one bag short. This had all his high altitude down gear in, Gordon thought this was the end of the trip but fortunately between the team members we were able to gather everything he needed.

Well today is the 10th, we have had a few days acclimatising. Tomorrow we leave for Advance Base Camp, this will take two days to get to at height of 6200m and a distance of 20 km from Main Base Camp. From there with the combined effort from 5 other teams we will be fixing lines up to the North Col, were we hope to stay for a night and then head back down to Base Camp, around 18th - 20th April, for a well earned rest. The next update will be at this time.

Report by Stuart Peacock from Everest Base Camp

27th March 2002
On thursday 28th March the Adventure Peaks Everest team will depart Heathrow airport bound for Kathmandu.

The team are:-
Dave Pritt and Jill Pinkerton - Adventure Peaks expedition leaders
Andy Mayers, Gordon Read, Christopher Mothersdale, Murray Campbell, Christopher Burrows-wood, Stuart Peacock, David Horrox and Patricia McGuirk and John Neville from Ireland.

The team has been formed over the last sixteen months, with the majority of the members meeting on a monthly basis, either in The Lake District, North Wales or Scotland to climb and walk together, with the opportunity for all to get to know each other. The past year has seen a good bond grow amongst the team, hopefully a good grounding for a supportive, successful expedition.

The team will depart Kathmandu over the Easter weekend, crossing the border into Tibet, from which it will take 5 - 6 days to reach Everest base camp at 5200m. On route the team will benefit from some acclimatisation walks.

Base camp will be established on the Rongbuk Glacier at 5200m, from here the North Ridge follows the original Mallory and Irvine route. After several days at base camp the team will begin acclimatisation walks up to their intermediate camp at 5600m, then move further up to their advanced base camp at 6200m which is situated high on moraine below the North Col.

Once the team reach Everest base camp at the end of next week, progress reports will be e-mailed from base camp on a regular basis so you can follow the teams progress.