Listen to Gavin talking after reaching Namche Bazaar

The last few days coming down from the mountain have been fairly dramatic, and it always surprises me that people switch off the moment a summit is reached or nearly reached. It is only half way!

My descent from 8500 metres to 6200 metres (camp 2) and then down to base camp in an icefall which has the consistency of wet sugar, is another great memory of Everest which I will savour over the coming years. It was not easy. The old lungs are quite badly ‘burned’, seared by the minus 40 air I was forced to breathe (read: pant at extremely frantic rate) when the intake valve on my mask completely froze and I started suffering the effects of hypoxia. Quite frightening. My breathing rate increased to something like 140 and I avoided blackout by borrowing Danu’s mask on occasion. The three of us - me, Danu and Pasang - juggled masks in the dark on the steep slope to the Balcony until we reached 8500 metres but I knew the game was up by then. In fact I should have gone down much earlier, because the ensuing descent was difficult for both me and the lads. It was so cold that when we eventually reached the south col each of us had the front of our down jackets coated with thick slabs of ice, which we had to knock off with my ice axe before getting in the tent. Danu was wasted and very cold, he dived into his bag, while Pasang struggled to get one of the masks working since I was still panting like a locomotive and clearly suffering the effects of severe lack of oxygen.

It takes quite a lot of willpower to get back out of the tent and descend the long way down the Lhotse Face to Camp 2 but at that time I thought I was having a repercussion of the pulmonary oedema which nearly scuppered me in
2007 on the north side. My coughing was so bad I was convinced that my lungs were once again brimful of liquid and I was counting my hours left. Frankly, the thought of HAPE is so frightening that it mobilised me to desperate measures to get down. Poor Pasang spent the day in a permanent fug of fear as I slowly negotiated my way down the mountain, coughing and panting. At one point on the steep blue ice above camp 3 I nearly took a fall and later he told me he started crying at that point.
Unfortunately suncream does not apply well at minus 40, so I spent the entire day without it. My face and lips have suffered since, and only today can I take a hot drink properly.

Eddie Greene meanwhile had been behind me and overtaken in the dark of the night when I started my trouble with the mask. He was part of the train of 120 people labouring up the slope at snails pace, and he waited for a while at the Balcony with Lopsang (his Sherpa), as many people passed him. He should have continued because at that level you are basically climbing with your Sherpa to the summit, or as far as you can go. By the time they did reach the south summit dawn had broken and there was still a huge queue for the Hillary Step. Some people were waiting 2 hours, while descending climbers were waiting an hour at the top of the Step to come down again.

It was not a deadly situation as such, the wind was still despite desperately low temperatures, and the visibility was excellent, but clearly the sheer slowness of the moving line of people was putting the whole summit day under pressure. Eddie reports that he was completely stationary on the south east ridge for long periods of time. In 2000 I climbed from the Balcony to the South Summit in about 2 and a half hours without stopping, so the difference is evident.

Meanwhile back at base camp Helen Lee had come back from Kathmandu and was waiting with our BC manager Chewwang for the outcome. Camps rang with shouts of joy as some of the teams began to summit.

I was certainly very, very annoyed at my mask failing me but at that particular moment I was on my way down with a mission, since HAPE was still on my mind. At Camp 2 I immediately visited Lana, the doctor for the Croatian team, who pronounced my lungs free of liquid, but that I probably had advanced mountain sickness, for which she gave me an injection of dexamathasone. I was breathing oxygen now, the mask worked lower down, but I knew my lungs were shot. Next day at Base Camp, after a pretty tortuous descent in very slippy conditions, Eric at HRA did more tests and suggested that in fact I had suffered acute hypoxia at 8500 metres and was pretty strong to walk all the way down unaided.

Eddie meanwhile had slept a night at the south col after his descent, and was now at camp 2, enroute back to base camp. We were nearly all back together again after several days.

Base Camp was falling apart; boulders falling down everywhere as the ice just gave way. You had to be careful walking around. We decided to get out quick since in a few days there would be a shortage of yaks as all the big teams began to dismantle their operations. I went to say cheerio to Damien Benegas. His selfless behaviour at the Balcony to save the life of Martin Byrne (and of course the heroic climb back up to the Balcony of his brother  Willie) was reflective of an attitude he has maintained throughout the whole season. He helped save the life of my cook Ngima, along with the all the doctors, he helped organise the search and rescue of the Sherpa who died in the icefall collapse, and he was always there at the right time, doing the right thing, when it was necessary. And he got his team to the top. A pleasure working with him.

I knew it would be a hard walk down but I didn’t expect my body to react so badly! The weather has been awful, really cold and wet and windy. A fever set in almost immediately. What with the knackered lungs and tiredness I have struggled to get here to Namche. Yesterday the hill after Thangboche nearly broke me, I was quite delirious, but I made it. I have an appointment with a monastery about a hundred miles away which Moving Mountains has completely rebuilt in the past year. It is going to be a big affair with lamas and monks coming from afar.

Inside the monastery is a coat, a golden coat which is 350 years old, and was hidden behind some wood panelling during the Maoist troubles. It hasn’t seen the light of day for 20 years. I was shown it last year and told that it possesses magical powers. Many years ago, the original gurus who had migrated from Tibet to Nepal, especially after the Chinese occupation, used this coat to fly from Bumburi (the name of the village) up to Thyangboche monastery and even over the Himalaya. Nothing like it exists elsewhere. The coat is now on display in a special glass case which we built in the porch of the monastery, a piece of Buddhist legend which MM has now helped to preserve. I could have done with that coat the other night..!

Actually I’ve decided to rest today here in Namche, the fever has gone down this morning (103 yesterday!) but the cough is still there. My body is producing a phenomenal amount of mucus to protect the lungs, so thats all good.
Eddie is good too, but he also was unable to apply suncream for his descent and his face looks like someone has placed a very burnt pancake onto it. He looks about 70 at the moment as it crusts and peels. Two little surprised eyes peer out from the wreckage of sunburn, but he is at least enjoying drinking beer again.

Helen unfortunately suffered a pretty bad bout of the Khumbu cough on her last day at base camp and she has had her own tribulations coming down, coughing and hacking. Sometimes these coughing fits are so bad that you retch, and are left trembling and panting for many minutes afterwards. It’s completely unfair really, since Helen had come back very fast from Kathmandu and was caught out literally on the last day.

As Messner said, “the mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous”.

My Sherpas are all over the place, but I will see them all again in the village for the big puja (ceremony) at the monastery. Danaru, strongman that he is, left Pheriche yesterday morning, and got to his village Puiyan last night (yes, that is a distance of 50 miles and, yes he did walk it in one day with a rucksack, and no, I don’t know how he did it). Lopsang and Kami Dorjee (Camp 2 cook with the ever ready smile), dropped down to Phakding this morning to pick up their salaries. Gelgen, loyal to the end, is still with me (he often just walks along holding my hand) and had one of the worst military haircuts I’ve ever seen. Pasang has pretty bad sunburn too, and is still with me.
We will go down towards Lukla tomorrow, and I will leave Helen and Eddie to fly to Kathmandu, while I continue to the villages.
Yesterday, wandering down the valleys with my temperature soaring, I made all sorts of plans for spending some of this MM money. It needs to be ratified by my committee but Kami Dorjee (from such a poor family) will hopefully benefit from a professional catering qualification and a spiffing reference to get him regular work as a cook; Lopsang should find himself back in college in July doing computer skills, management and literacy with a view to being employed by Adventure Alternative Nepal; Danaru should end up on an advanced mountaineering course and of course Pasang Tendi will probably come to Ireland for training on managing my company affairs in Nepal full time. Gelgen takes over as paid co-ordinator of MM Nepal.

For all these guys, this expedition is more than just a climb of a mountain; I want it to be a turning point in their life. A time which they can look back on as a benchmark, after which the perpetual struggle for security, money and progress became a constructive future. This is surely what moving a mountain is all about.

And for me, and my fifth time on Everest? Naturally annoyed, but also fully understanding that to come back from an oxygen failure at 8500 metres is something to be thankful for. People die for a lot less on Everest. It is always important to maintain the perspective which doesn’t let summit fever get in the way. Judgement is crucial, and easily lost in that nocuous atmosphere. Carefully laid plans at base camp become hypotheses at high altitude, forgotten in the moment of iminent glory. For me, its nothing to do with glory, it is to do with loving the mountains, loving mountaineering, loving climbing Everest. I can go back. Everest won’t change. And hopefully I will still be pragmatic and down to earth about it, enough to realise that there are always more important things in life than standing on top of a mountain, including the highest one. I don’t want my eulogy to read ‘he died doing what he loved, he never knew when to stop’. Besides, I am a guide on mountains and I am nothing if not utterly clear about the nature of climbing them. After all, the mountain just sits there, it is humans who kill themselves on them. It is all a matter of training, judgement and perspective. I’m glad I did the right thing this time and came back to tell another tale, and to see once again the people I love.

GAVIN
Namche Bazaar
May 24 2009

**UPDATE ** Posted by Gavin Bate : Thursday 21st May 2009 at Everest Base Camp :

Battered and still suffering the effects of hypoxia at 8500 mts, I’m back in basecamp and recovering, lungs quite badly seared from the minus 35 temps up there, but otherwise doing okay.

How can I say thank you for all the interest and support?  I don’t know, but I am totally humbled by the following that my trip has gained.  It’s been incredible, as has the amount of donations for MM.   I’m off tomorrow to open the monastery which we (Moving Mountains) have built in Bumburi, about 120 miles from here. I’ve got 3 or 4 days to get there!
Computer battery is out and the charger is burnt out too, so this is my last few minutes of cybertime!   Its great to be back here, Eddie and Helen are safe here too, and as usual on +8000 metre expeditions, the important thing is just getting back in one piece.

Everest is a very hard mountain to climb, and so much can go wrong. I had a mask failure at 8500 metres which rendered me completely without oxygen. I may aswell have been holding my breath and trying to summit. I’m pretty glad I had the strength to come down, ably assisted by Pasang and Danu. At that height and that temperature, it’s easy to visualise simply never making it back. In fact, its so easy that I just forced myself to descend, descend, descend.

Its the second time in my life I’ve done that and I can vouch for just how hard it is, without rest or respite.  Every step was fraught, and now sitting here in base camp I’m just happy to be able to write to you all and say, once again,  thank you! 
 
Special thanks to Chris and Andy in my office back in Northern Ireland and to all the people at Cybercom in Dublin, especially one man (he knows who he is)  who kept me in touch with the world, and you in touch with me and Moving Mountains, it’s been a huge digital success.

Im not sure where I’m going next but perhaps you might wish to join me on a 2009 or 2010 Adventure Alternative trip,  the profits from which go towards supporting the Moving Mountains charity.  

Watch this space and my twitter messages for continued information about the work of Moving Mountains and implementation of future projects, many of which will be funded by your kind donations to MyEverestChallenge campaign 2009.   Please drop off any final donations <HERE>.  Thank you so much.

Listen to Gavins last audio blog from Base Camp and his story of the last 72 hours.

Take a look at the website and if you fancy your own challenge… just pick up the phone and give Chris or Andy a shout…..  there is a wonderful world full of Adventure Alternatives out there! 

Gavin Bate

Everest Base Camp Signing Out.

Thursday 21st May 2009 - 17:23 (12:38 GMT)

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Posted by Support Team in Ireland 20/05/09 @ 14:39   - Gavin is now charging (via solar) laptop and phone for personal blog, audio and twitter updates again soon.

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Gavin has just called in (thanks to the lend of another teams sat phone) and has reached Base Camp in three hours from Camp Two which is a very fast pace.
 
He immediately checked in with the doctors at BC and had a lot of tests undertaken.
 
After Gavin’s experiences high on the mountain yesterday when his mask failed at 8500m he reported being very frightened as he felt all the traits of HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) hitting his body, as had happened to him in 2007.

After all the tests it shows that Gavin was not hit by HAPE, HACE (High altitude cerebral edema) or even AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) but did suffer Acute Hypoxia.  This hit at the very minute when his mask failed to deliver oxygen to his body.
 
He is now in Base Camp and considering yesterday he was at 8500m on Everest with no oxygen is feeling really good! At altitude your body is always deteriorating especially in the death zone - above 8000m, yet Gavin reports feeling well. For most, the amount of body fat you lose, the constant physical activity and pressure on you climbing Everest really wears you down physically and mentally, so it’s great to hear that Gavin is feeling well today. 

Gavin sends his continued thanks to everyone who has been following him here on Myeverestchallenge.com and also via twitter and via youtube .     In particular he wishes to thank also those who have donated to Moving Mountains, the purpose for his Everest attempts.

He will hopefully send us an update and voice message later on.

** Update by Support Team in Ireland - 14:43 GMT **

Gavin has just called in from Camp 2 however the line was very bad.  At this time we can confirm that neither Gavin nor Eddie summited the mountain. We are all disappointed for them here but over the moon that they are all alive and well.

Gavin reports that he was going good but in very cold weather, not windy but extreme cold, his mask started freezing up. This reduced if not fully stopped his oxygen intake and quickly brought on the same symptoms of HAPE as he experienced last time in 2007. 

Without Oxygen to warm his blood and fluid building in his lungs he felt a collapse of life quickly approaching as he had experienced in 2007. He had no option but to get off the mountain and was assisted by his already proven guardian angel Sherpa Pasang along with Sherpa Danu. We are not certain at what height this occurred but are guessing it was below the South Summit at about 8500m. Gavin with the assistance of his two friends dropped down and eventually after a dramatic descent reached Camp two where he was checked out by the medics who confirmed his suspicions and administered dexamethasone, with a comment that he is lucky to be alive.

Gavin reports becoming hypothermic and very scared and just knew his body was shutting down.

We are obviously so happy to hear that he is safe at camp two and will hopefully drop to base camp tomorrow. Due to the extreme cold and his physical condition he was unable to send his tweet higher than camp 4.  Had he removed his gloves he would definitely have lost fingers. It simply was not viaible on this occasion.

 We can report, via Gavin, that the heightest tweet would have been :

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“highest tweet in world @team_woolies = Why shout it from roof tops when u can tweet it from #Everest: www.Woolworths.co.uk back this summer!”

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Thanks to @team_woolies for their very generous donation to Moving Mountains.

======================

Meanwhile Eddy reached the South Summit however due to lots of queues he also had no option but to turn around.  He is now resting at the South Col and will drop down tomorrow.  The reports are that there were a lot of people unable to summit due to the sheer number of climbers aiming for the top.

Gavin Bate Support Team in Ireland

PS - Gavin requests that rather than sending good wishes please simply donate, not matter how small to his charity Moving Mountains.

———————————–

** Update by Support Team in Ireland - 9:36am GMT **

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Thanks everyone for following Gavin’s progress on the mountain.

At present the support team back in Ireland are not quite sure of events on the mountain. The tracker is showing a descent presently from camp three to camp two.

It could be that the team had to turn around for some reason or it could be that one or two of them had to descend and are carrying the tracker unit which is not with Gavin but in one of the Sherpa’s packs.

There are hundreds of possible scenarios but nothing at present can be confirmed until we hear from Gavin.

Due to his lack of contact we can only assume that he is either higher up and queuing to summit without the tracker or on his way down and the phone battery has died with the cold weather.  Obviously laptop and hence twitter updates cannot operate without the sat phone link up.

Be assured as soon as we hear anything it’ll be posted here.
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**Updated by Support team back in Ireland  - 15:48  GMT **

Final Pre SUMMIT audio message from Gavin at  “Ireland.com Camp4″

He states that he is leaving for the summit in one hour.

He has also just tweeted the following :

Time to go for a walk to the top of the world.Audio http://short.ie/5vkq2j Why = http://short.ie/xt3fpz Leaving now. Pls charity donate Gav

**Updated by Support team back in Ireland  - 13:24  GMT **

Reports coming through to the AdventureAlternative office  that the Moving Mountains staff expedition team has reached the top of Mt Kenya in support of Gavin on Everest.    Talk about great timing !!

**Updated by Support team back in Ireland  - 12:57  GMT **

Camp 4 now called “Ireland.com Camp 4″

Picture taken by Gavin last week at Base Camp !!

**Updated by Support team back in Ireland  - 12:38  GMT **

Audio blogs just in :

Audio blog  45 :  THE SUMMIT BID IS ON TONIGHT

Audio blog 44 :  Drama on the Lhotse Face on route to Camp 4

Audio blog 43 : Arrived at Camp 4 (8000m)

**** Updated by Support team back in Ireland  - 12:20  GMT ****

Gavin has yet to make contact by twitter, bloging or satellite phone but we can see that his tracking device now has him at Camp 4.  Check back soon for some information direct from the man himself on the mountain.

i’m sitting in the little tent with eddie and pasang, surrounded by loads of rucksacks, down gear, boots, clothing and stuff! Eddie just filled his pee bottle. its baking hot, the tent is perched on a shelf up the lhotse face and we’ve been drinking continually to keep hydration up.
i left camp 2 this morning and was here in under 5 hours, feeling good. still wind over everest summit, we’ll have to suck it and see, some people going up tonight but it’s touch and if go for tonight. it’s going to be a windy one.
laptop working (obviously), but low battery and notsure about weight, it was a bugger to carry this morning.

tonight we breathe on oxygen and hopefully leave here about  u8am tomorrow, about 6 or 7 hours climb upp.
feelingokaym, thanks everone fror the supplort, especially rashid boys school and woolworths for sponsoring the camps and raising so mjuch.

it may  not be inspiring to be climbing everest up here, but i think that my dream and vision of creating and running a great charity for the past 15 years is perahsp a bit deserving! I’m clinmbing this big mountain to help hubndreds and hundreds who climb something harder every day of their lives
over and out
 
Gavin
7200 metres, camp 3 ,everest

Sunday 17th May 4:38pm - (11:53 GMT)

*** (This post was prepared as a draft by Gavin at Base Camp on Thursday 14th May and has been posted live today by the Support Team back in Ireland) ***

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For those of you who have been following my blog over the past month you will know that life here on Everest hasnt exactly been quiet!  For new visitors, I urge you to read on after this post to see just exactly what is involved in the run up to any Everest summit attempt.

So what is this all about then!?  Why on earth am I back here again for a 5th attempt to climb the highest mountain in the world.  I think that you deserved to hear the answer directly from myself so please take 3 minutes to view my video diary entry below.

This is why I am here, this is my lifes work -

To donate, no matter how small, please just click on the Moving Mountains logo below.

Thanks must go to Richard at Cybercom, who as part of their 10 year birthday celebrations was lucky enough to be chosen by his colleagues to come out and join me here at Base Camp for a night last month.  Richard helped shoot the video and then brought it back to Ireland  for editing.  I have been keeping it to blog as part of my summit cycle communications.

Thanks also to Stephen from Cybercom who also visited me at Base Camp last week and who is now in Kathmandu on route back to Dublin with yet more pre summit video for editing next week.  

By the time my support team in Adventure Alternative post this blog entry, I will be resting at Camp2 (hopefully on Saturday 16th May), rehydrating and preparing mentally for the push to Camp 3 (sponsored by Shop Direct Group) on Sunday the 17th May, at which point we will most likely start to use oxygen (O2) should the summit bid continue. 

Sleeping on bottled oxygen (O2) at 7,200 meters  (approx 23,621 ft) up in the sky is a very strange experience. (NB - I dont suppose there is anyone out there from O2 who would like to make a charity donation to sponsor Camp 4 !!!)    I can assure you that the dreams are spectacular!!  Rest will however be so crucial at “Shop Direct Group - Camp3″,  as once we go beyond 8000m into the “death zone” the body simply starts to regress and time at this height must be kept to a minimum.    

Beyond this height I hope to send the hightest tweet in the world to my friends and very generous charity sponsors over @team_woolies . I am going to attempt this on the summit but to be honest survival on the summit of Everest demands the highest levels of concentration and it isnt somewhere to push your luck!  Trust me, I will try my best but only time will tell.

Wish me sweet dreams. (in an amazingly warm Berghaus 4 seasons sleeping bag)and please spread the word and help me maximise my fundraising potential for Moving Mountains.

Good night from “Rashid School for Boys, Dubai - Camp2″  and sincere thanks for following “My Everest Challenge” on Mt Chomolungma (Everest)

Gavin

(To be posted Sat 16th May 2009 @ 3:15pm GMT - 8pm Nepal)

Great news just in from my support team that our “Worlds Highest Tweet” offer has been taken up by my new sponsor Woolworths.co.uk .

The guys over there @team_woolies  heard about my charity efforts on Twitter and got intouch when they saw our charity auction up on ebay. 

After a few calls to the satellite phone a donation figure was agreed and I am delighted and looking forward to delivering the worlds highest tweet for them in the coming days.

Matthew Jacques, Head of Brand Woolworths.co.uk told me……. “Woolworths.co.uk has been using Twitter to keep people informed about its return as on online brand in the summer.  When we saw the opportunity to help yourself, the charity and break the record for the Worlds Highest Tweet it really inspired us, we had a whip round in the office and are now pround to be onboard. We are going to get some suggestions from our twitter followers about what the worlds highest tweet could say, no doubt Pick n’Mix will figure in there somewhere!”
 
What would you say ?  Please fire the guys a tweet now over at team_woolies . You never know they might even send me on your 140 characters for me to set the record !   Also make sure you check out the Woolies Blog ….. they are coming back soon !!

Thanks for reading my small comments on the trip here, we’ve had a hard couple of days with ngima being so sick from methanol poisoning but the work of the HRA docs and the people who helped out has given us a miraculous recovery. i’ve been in touch with kathmandu and they report that he is doing just fine, with no long term effects like blindness.
 
The mood round base camp was pretty grim after the Sherpa was killed in the icefall and then the cook was found dead with an empty bottle of poisoned whisky next to him. Staff were looking distinctly uneasy, and with the cycle of stormy weather it just seemed to heighten the general gloom. A lot of people were down the valley so things were quiet here, but now people are coming back. In a funny way the work of the docs to save Ngima became a sort of talisman for the whole of base camp. The HRA tent was buzzing with people just looking in. As the hours drifted by and he hung in there, it seemed like the gods were smiling once again and the Sherpas began to look up to the summit with a bit of optimism.

 
This morning the skies are clear and it’s obvious the good weather is back in. A train of people were traipsing up the icefall at 5am and you can feel the relief in the air. People are suddenly busy packing and checking. Summit window time is starting from the 18th and already teams are lining up. There is possible about buried ropes up high above the south col, and of course the ever present danger from a very loaded west shoulder overhanging the icefall route.
 
We will go up tomorrow and look for summitting on the 19th. So far it looks like a possible 60 people for that day - Damien and Willie are both planning for it, some of the Croatian team, an IMG group I think, and several others. If the forecast is right then it will be a busy day on top and it will be the usual play off of safety in numbers against traffic jams and queues. I’m happy that climbing with Willie and Damien, we’ll all work out a good system for keeping things flowing.

 
 
Obviously it’s been a bit stale since the first summit on the 5th, nobody has even camped on the south col since that early success. To me, it’s a big no-no to just sit around and fester, so we’ve been really keeping busy and active. The acclimatisation is there, and the camps are in, we’re just maintaining a healthy positive outlook. I’ve really enjoyed meeting so many people, it’s been a great social occasion. Clearly, part of the challenges of climbing this mountain is coping with the long term erosion of general health and mind. You just have to keep on eating the right number of calories, working enough to sleep soundly at night without exhausting yourself, drinking the requisite litres and keeping a good sense of humour! People on their first time up here find this difficult, but it’s always clear that the guides have the experience to cope with this. I’ve just been chatting to Damien and I feel an affinity with his style, keep busy and active, don’t get too introspective, and get on with the job.
 
The climbing of Everest is fraught with more concerns than existed years ago, and they are reflective of the increased popularity of coming here. At one level, keeping healthy here at base camp is harder; more people means more likelihood of passing minor infections around and, as we’ve seen recently, dodgy alcohol coming in because there’s a bigger market for it. Then the simple increase in numbers means the probabilities change for potentially getting caught in an avalanche or a collapse in the icefall. Sometimes when you’re up there it feels like russian roulette. But when you’re on the final 12 hours to the top, forget about objective dangers or falling off the mountain, the main concerns are about standing around waiting and using up precious oxygen, queuing at the Hillary Step and then waiting your long, cold turn to get that summit photo. It needs co-ordinated leadership, consensus of opinion and a general selflessness to ensure everyone gets their moment of personal ambition. Let’s hope that the next week will be as good an example of that as we have recently seen at the HRA tent.
 
I’ll be taking my laptop up with me and attempting the worlds highest tweet, if i can get it set up properly at 8000 metres. I have quite a little bag of gizmos next to me on the table here, wires and plugs, solar panel, video camera, telephone, laptop, satellite dish, camera, batteries and of course my Yellowbrick, the satellite traxcking device that has been virtually glued to my back since we arrived in Lukla 6 weeks ago. It’s an amazing gadget but it’s a bugger to carry, half a kilo of squat yellowness which I reluctantly stuff into my rucksack.   Whilst carrying kit it is the memories of those that I love and those whom I know Moving Mountains will help in the year to come that I carry in my mind…… this is my motivation, so please DONATE, no matter how small.

 
Although I’m climbing up from tomorrow there’s a little dedicated team of backroom boys who deserve mention. In no particular order of importance, Chris and Andy in the Adventure Alternative office up on the north coast of Northern Ireland have been keeping me loaded up with satellite minutes and sending out the bulk emails to everyone and of course managing the little empire which is going very well despite current economic climes (geddit?). 

Then down in Dublin there is Gareth Irvine and his friends at Cybercom which includes Alexis on the website, and Lucy and Richard on the social media side. Thanks also to the lads over at Ireland.com for adding my blog to their site. All of them have shown unstinting commitment while snowed under with other work. Thanks everyone, it’ll all be over soon!
 
Gavin
2.30pm, 14th May
 
Gavin Bate
myeverestchallenge.com
Posted from Base Camp at 2:45pm Nepalese Time (10 AM GMT)

These are the most up to the minute pictures of base camp tonight at 6.30pm. You can see it is a clear evening with a beautiful light over the west shoulder of Everest which hangs so menacingly over the Icefall. In the other photo Lingtren is beautiful and shining in the background of this city of tents.
With Helen now in Kathmandu I am here with Eddie and my four climbing Sherpas. The photo shows us about ten minutes ago in typical bedraggled pose!

From left:
Lopsang Sherpa who has climbed Everest once before in 2007 by the north side. He is 23 years old. In 1991 his father died on Annapurna and Lopsang has been the senior male member of his family since then, even though he was only a child. Lopsang eventually cancelled his education at college where he was studying management in order to raise money for his Mum, younger sister and brother. He did this by climbing Everest at aged 21, and earning $6000.00. Now he is unsure of his future. He wants to study English and advanced computer skills, but he has no money for this extravagance. Therefore Moving Mountains will help him, and also assist with his siblings’ schooling. This is a classic case of MM assisting Sherpas who are forced to climb Everest for nothing other than the need to support their families.
Apart from ensuring that he continues using his mind in college, Adventure Alternative will employ Lopsang in the office since is competent at typing, and computer skills.

Danaru Sherpa is 32 years old and the uncle of Lopsang. He has climbed Everest 7 times (6 from Nepal, 1 time from Tibet). He first summited Everest in 1999 when he was just 22. Danaru comes from an illustrious family of Everest summitteers; between him and his two brothers Lama Jangbu and Lakhpa Gelyu they have racked up a total of 32 times. Lakpha Gelyu broke the world record for the fastest ascent of Everest in 2003 when he climbed from base camp in just 10 hours 56 minutes. I climbed with his brother Lama Jangbu first in 2000, and he now works in a restaurant in New York.
Danu has two children, Darinji who is 8 years old and Ngawang Yenden who is just 3. He lives with his wife Dadiki in a village called Puiyan which is very close to Bupsa and Bumburi (where MM does its main projects). Despite climbing Everest so many times, Danu does not have a school leaving certificate and his English is not so good, therefore he is stuck in trap. He cannot do anything except climb Everest. He also supports Lopsangs younger brother. Therefore, like many heroic Sherpas, he needs a sponsor and some guidance. With MM’s support he will do language courses in Kathmandu, and an advanced guiding course with the Nepal Mountaineering Association. He will also get regular employment with Adventure Alternative on smaller mountains, earning a proper salary. MM will also help his two children in their education.

Pasang Tendi Sherpa (on my right in the picture) is 34 years old and has climbed Everest 2 times, once by both sides. He is married to Sarasoti and has a boy called Jubilee who is 6 years old. Pasang met me first in 2007 when he and I climbed Cho Oyu and Everest together. This was the time I attempted to make an oxygenless traverse of the mountain, and nearly died from a pulmonary oedema about 160 metres from the summit. It was Pasang, my ‘insurance policy’ who brought me oxygen and saved my life. He was very exhausted but he epitomised every characteristic that we have in the West of the selfless Sherpa, putting his own life at risk for another person.
Pasang is now manager of Adventure Alternative in Nepal and he lives in my house in Kathmandu with his family, and he looks after all my medical students and trekkers. His life has changed from almost abject poverty and difficulty, to a secure income and future. His son is supported by Moving Mountains and he is also a Trustee of Moving Mountains Nepal, so he is busy organising all our projects and sponsorships.

Gelgen Sherpa is a very old friend of mine, a Trustee of Moving Mountains Nepal and the husband of Bambale Sherpa in Bupsa. He owns two lodges there, but business is not good. It has not been good for well over ten years, but Gelgen manages to also support his four children in school and college. He is 41 now, and climbed Everest back in 1999, not summitting but rescuing a member from the south col.
Moving Mountains supports his son Pema Tenjing in school, and also pays him a salary as co-ordinator of all our projects in Nepal. This is now quite a big job and hopefully will get bigger! Gelgen really helps to run the monastery in Bupsa and co-ordinates our monk school, as well as keeping an eye on all the teachers we support in villages.

Over my many years here in Nepal I have of course met many Sherpas who have become like family to me, and I have understood the difficulties of their lives. They all come from uneducated, rural backgrounds, but they all strive only to provide an education for their children. They understand and know that this is the key, and they do not want their children to suffer the same disadavantages as they did. Many of them never went to school, so they are stuck. They look for sponsors, and they do this by going trekking or climbing. As a kitchen boy at first, then a porter, then perhaps a trek guide. The trick is learning English. Then they might, if they are lucky, get a position on an expedition. They might climb Everest. For this they will earn around $6000, but the bigger opportunity is access to foreigners. It is not for me to decide who is more worthy than others, frankly they are all worthy. Gelgen, Pasang, Lopsang and Danaru will not only climb Everest, but they will gain a future for themselves and for their children.

This will require your help. My climb here enables me to provide the awareness for the greater public to help support Moving Mountains and Sherpas like the four in this picture. They are special people. In our society they would be heroes, multiple climbers of Everest. They would be motivational speakers, authors, highly paid guides. But here they are husbands and fathers, spending their every waking day thinking how they will ever afford to put their children in school. I regard it as my duty to help them, now that I know them.

Help me please, we are talking about the lives of the future movers and shakers of Nepal.   Please donate….. no matter how small.

Gavin, Base Camp, May 13 2009

9:46pm  Nepalese Time (17:01 GMT)

I’m not sure I would ever want to repeat the last few days, on a mountain or off. It has been remarkably stressful but finally immensely inspirational.
 
For the past 48 hours we have been keeping a man alive against all the odds, in the most difficult of environments and with limited resources. I say ‘we’, but I should pay tribute to the staff of the HRA (Himalayan Rescue Association) and to the other doctors and specialists residing here at base camp, and also to the dedicated group of lay people who have literally cancelled all thoughts of summits to concentrate on this one faltering life.

 
Ngima Sherpa is my cook here, and a ridiculously happy chap he is too. He also enjoys the odd drink, like most of the staff here, and the other night he went next door to the Mountain Top group and polished off a bottle of Nepali Royal Stag deluxe whisky with his mate Kaji Sherpa, the camp 2 cook from this group. They come from the same village called Thaksindu, three days below Lukla.

 
Unfortunately this wasn’t whisky at all, it was methanol, part a stock of illegal brew made in Kathmandu and delivered throughout the Khumbu in the last few months. The dealer in Lukla is a Gurung called Lama and so far four other people have died in the region because of this poisoning.
 
At this moment, as I type, I am surrounded by liaison officers and we are calling the police inspector in Namche Bazaar to push for a formal investigation into murder or manslaughter.
 
A few hours after enjoying their late night whisky, Kaji was lying dead on the ice outside and Ngima was fighting for his life. Methanol poisoning is quick and deadly. Within a short time the Indian Army team doctor found Ngima and attempted to help him (he was conscious enough to drink some coffee) but very quickly he was going into renal failure. My staff carried him to the HRA medical emergency tent, and then began the first desperate 24 hours of trying to keep him alive. Ngima was lucky, he was attended to by some of the finest medical minds in wilderness medicine. Eric and Torrey, who run the HRA here, were immediately forced to think outside the box. This was almost a lost cause from the start, but they persevered with dogged tenacity. Other doctors started to attend the scene - Jeff from Adventure Consultants, Lana from the Croation team, Melissa from RMI, Donald from Summmit Climb and also Felix from the German team who amazingly had a mobile utlrasound machine with him.
 
My team here attended round the clock, but we were supported mostly by both Willie and Damien Benegas, who carried out procedures and assisted from beginning to end, eschewing sleep and even their own climbing teams to keep Ngima alive, right up until the moment that we finally loaded him aboard the helicopter this morning. Also worth mentioning is Adele from Jagged Globe who kept on turning up to help at the just the right moment with typical common sense and quiet competence.
 
I had been in Lobuche meeting my trek group and Chhongba, and I got the message first thing in the morning. From Gorak Shep I ran to base camp to find everyone preparing for a second death. Kaji was already laid out in the kitchen, with groups of Sherpas volunteering to carry him down the valley. The mood was awful. Truly awful. To Sherpas this is the ultimate sign of anger amongst the gods, and every camp was affected. Somehow, keeping Ngima alive represented something profoundly more reflective. After the death of the Sherpa in the Icefall last week, this tragedy would perhaps define a rapidly deteriorating season on the mountain. We needed to keep him alive.
 
Hours passed and, by dint of massive medical intervention and a superhuman strength of will from Ngima, he clung to life. Everything happened. Kidney failure, massive internal toxicity, fever and crucially an inability to pass urine all conspired to defeat the tireless efforts of the doctors and all off us who worked through the night. One of the most bizarre episodes was when the doctors decided to combat the toxicity of methanol with alcohol. Ironically, this meant feeding Ngima alcohol! I’m not sure of the chemical theory behind this but all of a sudden the word went out that HRA needed high proof booze, and most people thought it was a joke. One person sent in some Rum and Coke. But suddenly, out of the swirling snow, Russell Brice appeared himself to donate an unopened bottle of best quality Smirnoff vodka. Could he have guessed that this might just save a mans life?
 
Quickly the vodka was syringed out of the bottle and diluted (with all the doctors brainstorming quantities and concentrates), and put into the IV sack, and dripped directly into Ngima’s vein. This was incredible stuff. All sorts of scenarios loomed in the doctors minds, including an increase in potassium in the kidneys, which apparently would cause heart failure. We all prepared for CPR. Meanwhile Ngima strived on, his chest frantically heaving with the massive effort his body was undergoing, while we sucked mucus from his nose and throat and stuck catheters in his wrists and penis. During the night his pulse went crazy and the sweat popping out on his forehead indicated high fever. Another dose of antibiotics needed. Amazingly Ngima hung in there. The doctors voiced continual amazement at the case, and very slowly a note of cautious optimism emerged.

An HRA Helicopter - "Picture courtesy of www.himalayanrescue.org"

 
We wanted a helicopter for the morning but the weather has been pretty bad. Lots of heavy snow, lots of low cloud. But yesterday morning a Sherpa rushed in to say that a heli was coming in a few minutes. Frantic activity to get Ngima on a stretcher, IV’s and all, and carried to the helipad along a boulder-strewn icy ‘path’. So many people helped and poor Ngima was moaning in fear and discomfort. Melissa, a trained paramedic from Montana, did a sterling job keeping him calm, but this was a critical manoeuvre.
 
Then, amazingly, the heli clattered into base camp before we were ready at the helipad, literally as we were grimly working to make it there, and it took off again. The word was that it would go down the valley with two other people needing assistance, and come back for us. We waited but nothing came, and the valley filled with cloud. The doctors were unsure if they could keep Ngima alive for another day, but aatonishingly he started to come round. He took liquid and became conscious. He started to pee. We carried him back to the HRA tent and put him back in the bed, on the drip. Another night loomed, but this time the doctors were openly positive. Torrey, from HRA, was understandably cock-a-hoop. This, she said, counted as one of the most miraculous ’saves’ in the history of HRA.
 
This morning I woke at 5am to clear skies. All my team of Sherpas, plus of course the indomitable Benegas brothers and Adele, plus the HRA team, were ready to move him to the helipad again. There were some tense moments when the heli appeared over Gorak Shep down the valley, and then went away again! Ngima, who has never been in a helicopter before, lay quietly bundled up wondering what on earth was happening to him. And then suddenly it arrived and we got him on board, along with Helen Lee who has offered to descend to Kathmandu to accompany him to hospital. This will mean her summit climb is off. Despite her issues with stomach problems and energy levels in ascending to camp 2 over the past several weeks, this is still a selfless gesture summed up in her own words “The safety of one person is more important than standing on top of a mountain”. 

How can I thank the people who have turned such near tragedy into an example of medical competence and sheer stamina. We agreed that this was an inspiring example of teamwork and co-operation, and especially something to show the effectiveness and importance of the work of the HRA. The HRA is a non-profit organisation here in Nepal and I intend to make a substantial donation to them which you can help with by donating to my climb and Moving Mountains. After all HRA helps saves lives of Sherpas here, as well as western climbers and trekkers, and therefore it falls into the remit of my charity Moving Mountains.  This will be another very important grant from my charity to help support vital work out here.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION

 
No donation can provide proper recompense however for the selfless attitude and sheer knowledge of the doctors here, and also the support of so many people, including the life-saving vodka from Russell!
 
There is often a lot of negative stuff coming out of base camp, stories of arguments and sometimes discontent, but this is a great story. A happy one of survival against the odds. Ngima is the first person to have survived methanol poisoning in Nepal (and there is no doubt that this is a case of manslaughter which I am now pushing through the police channels), and all because of really inspiring medical practise. This needs to go out through all the Everest resource channels.
 
Eric, Torrey, Jeff, Donald, Lana, Melissa, Felix - thank you many times. Damien and Willie and Adele - thank you many times. And to all my guys here, and especially Helen who became known as Mother Theresa - thank you! All of this work has lifted the spirit of base camp, and now we can start to climb again. Even the weather has changed for the better.
 
Over and out from BC.
Gavin  

Wednesday 13th May 2009 @13:07 in Nepal  (8:22 GMT)