back in kathmandu
May 2007
I am back in Nepal following a three year hiatus
after my last expedition to Everest. This time
around, I hiked to Base Camp to thank some of the
Sherpas who helped me reach the summit and to see how
the London
Business School Expedition was faring on the
mountain.
I arrived at the foot of Everest just as a jubilant Tori emerged through the Icefall for the final time with the summit in her pocket. This is Tori's second 8000er (she summitted Cho Oyu last autumn); not bad for someone who took up mountaineering just a couple of years ago! Tori becomes the first Welsh woman to climb the world's highest mountain. A few days earlier, Tori's team mate, Omar, became the first Egyptian to summit Everest. Over the past 18 months, I have spoken to Tori and Omar a few times about the challenges that they were likely to face, and it is great to see them both achieve their ambitions. Congratulations too, to Ben and Greg who also summitted. The team's guide, my good friend Kenton Cool, has just become the first Briton to summit Everest twice in one season.
Whilst in the Khumbu, I spoke to several Everest expedition leaders who described May 2007 as 'the season of seasons'. Normally, one hopes to enjoy two or three windows of summit-suitable weather lasting a few days apiece. This month, there has been around three continuous weeks of perfect weather.
As this season's Everest summiteers relax in Kathmandu, my next destination is the Tibetan border.
I arrived at the foot of Everest just as a jubilant Tori emerged through the Icefall for the final time with the summit in her pocket. This is Tori's second 8000er (she summitted Cho Oyu last autumn); not bad for someone who took up mountaineering just a couple of years ago! Tori becomes the first Welsh woman to climb the world's highest mountain. A few days earlier, Tori's team mate, Omar, became the first Egyptian to summit Everest. Over the past 18 months, I have spoken to Tori and Omar a few times about the challenges that they were likely to face, and it is great to see them both achieve their ambitions. Congratulations too, to Ben and Greg who also summitted. The team's guide, my good friend Kenton Cool, has just become the first Briton to summit Everest twice in one season.
Whilst in the Khumbu, I spoke to several Everest expedition leaders who described May 2007 as 'the season of seasons'. Normally, one hopes to enjoy two or three windows of summit-suitable weather lasting a few days apiece. This month, there has been around three continuous weeks of perfect weather.
As this season's Everest summiteers relax in Kathmandu, my next destination is the Tibetan border.