Updates From Everest Tumpach The Power and Desire Wednesday, September 3, 1997 (Everest North Face base camp, Tibet) Everything is swell. Our group arrived to EVEREST BASE CAMP on Monday, Sept 1. We left the village of TINGRI at 9 am. The weather was overcast, but as the day went by it cleared again and the temperature reached 90F in the sun. Actually it is too hot. In the shade the temperature is in the high 70sF. The temperature here at TIBETAN plateau changes within minutes, as soon as the sun gets behind the clouds and it is little windy, the temperature drops 10-15F. To travel to Everest BC we had to continue for 50km north east on FRIENDSHIP Highway towards village of XEGAR.The 920km stretch of Highway between KATHMANDU and LHASA is one of the most SPECTACULAR journeys anyone can travel through. It is a gravel highway in EXCELLENT condition, but very dusty, it reminds me of DEMPSTER Highway in YUKON TERRITORY from DAWSON CITY to INIUVIK.. We spent two days in the Village of Tingri, elevation, 4342m (14328’) for acclimatization reasons. To my experience and so-called "old timers" climbers’ experiences is the 12500' and 14500' are the most important elevations to acclimatize for two days, some people need four to six days at 14500’ if they plan to go any higher. Many expeditions rushing to base camp and within a couple of days some members have to go back because of severe headache, which might develop to Pulmonary Edema. One way to be successful in reaching the summit without any problems is #1- "LUCK", #2- WEATHER , #3- TIME and LOTS OF SUPPLIES to be able to wait out bad weather. Many expeditions rushing to get to the summit mostly for economic reason and running out of visa and permit time; as is happening to the Swiss team right now. The Swiss are led by very experienced climber Jenn Troillet and they tried for the summit last week, Aug. 31. They established, successfully, camp at 8200 meters with the cooperation of the Colombian team. They installed 1000 meters of fixed rope to reach 8200m. Unfortunately, it snowed too much and they were not able to continue in waste deep snow; both teams are now resting at base camp (17200’) to rejuvenate. The less time you spend on the mountain, the less expensive the expedition is — even if they jeopardize their lives . Good, old, experienced climbers know what it takes to reach the summit, but most importantly to come back alive. Today, mainly because of the publicity, all young climbers go for the EXTREME and they get hyped by the media. I am not speaking just of climbing, but sports in general. Is it the PUBLICITY, the FAME or the EGO? In most cases it is all three; egoism is very prevalent in the mountain climbing community and some climbers do anything against common sense to be recognized for their achievement. It is a very dangerous way to live and, in the long run does not get you anywhere else but six feet under. Japanese, Korean, Polish and Slovenian climbers are the prime example in the statistics of casualty on the high elevation mountains — Himalayas and South American Andes. My goal on this trip is to fulfill my childhood dream — to climb the highest mountains on each continent: MT. EVEREST in Nepal; MT.SAGAMARTHA in Tibet; MT.QOMOLANGMA, the mother of UNIVERSE. The Mountain itself is like magic for anyone — especially for climbers, but only a few of us have the opportunity to "DO IT." I climb the highest mountains not because "they are there," as famous mountain climber Hillary once said, I climb the highest mountains "BECAUSE I CAN." Being a professional mountain climber is not any different then being a fireman or a mechanic or a CEO. It is all in your mind — HOW BADLY you want to do it. After that it is nothing else but experience and the most important — "COMMON SENSE". Today’s news in EVEREST BC. It is after 11 pm Wednesday . Our time is 11 hours ahead of PST if you go by NEPALI time. If you go by Chinese local time we are 13 hours ahead of PST. Temperature right now is 7C (45F) with clear skies. In the tent 3C (27F) outside During the day it was overcast in the early morning. It cleared during the day and the temperature rose in the sun to 33C (90F), it was a beautiful day with MT EVEREST in our sight. One has to be very careful not to get sunburned. The temperature in the shade was 18C (65F). The moment the sun gets behind the clouds the temperature drops within a minute. There are no Expeditions on the mountain today or for the next four to five days. The SWISS and Colombian expeditions came down three days ago, because of too much snow and to recuperate. Other teams as us two man CANADIAN and four Sherpas; two man Spanish without Sherpas; Seven man second Spanish team with two Sherpas; 15 man English without sherpas; 10 man Korean with five Sherpas; and, one US team member with four Sherpas are resting and acclimatizing. During the day, the weather on the mountain is EXCELLENT and sunny. We can see Everest almost all day only for some occasional clouds for a few minutes and we lose the sight. Activity in the base camp is numerous. The Sherpas established a GAMBLING CASINO where they play a Tibetan, old and very popular, two dice game called "PARASHO." Of course the Colombians brought with them a soccer ball so today we had a soccer match between COLOMBIAIN/CANADIAN and SHERPA team. International team won 6-5, because of more experience, but Sherpa team outran us a few minutes into the match. It was a WORLD RECORD holding soccer match at 17200’ (5200m). There are still two expeditions on the way to base camp: one Japanese and one Slovenian three member team without Sherpas. The English team wants to attempt to paraglide from the summit of Mt. EVEREST, which is without Sherpas, by the words of PINGO BIG TSERING, called "PAPA EVEREST", a TIBETAN boss of liaison officers, who has spent, in basecamp, spring and fall for last eight years, by his experience it is suicidal, virtually impossible. Same goes for skiing and snowboarding which many people are claming to do for publicity stunts and to raise corporate dollars. Those people are doing nothing but harm to the rest of us climbers who are professional and mean business- to deliver for the corporation what they said. People with UTOPIAN IDEAS, who in many instances, have never even seen Mt. Everest before, but claim they will ski or snowboard from the summit and do not even reach camp #2; they give us professional and serious Climbers and the Corporate business the wrong message. For corporations who got sucked in/taken for the $ and get a bad experience will not support another Mountain climbing Expedition. I came across many corporations who are not willing to support new and serious Expeditions because of people like that. Something has to be done and the way us climbers see it, their names should be published and put on the Web. Not to talk behind their back, but to reveal the truth — what they say they will do and what Exactly they have done or accomplished in the past with their promises to the corporate world. In 1995, I took Lawrie to Everest base camp in NEPAL to show her the magic of the HIGHEST POINT on our planet. Once you are near the mountain and had the opportunity, or weather permits, to see the summit, only then you can feel the magic, the power and desire to be at the top — "TOP OF THE WORLD." It took us two years of hard work to raise the substantial amount of money and equipment to be able to climb MT.EVEREST. When I "SOLO" summitted, on Feb 12 ’96, Mt. Aconcagua , the highest Mt. in the Americas and did the first ever telephone broadcast to Canadian TV and radio, I asked LAWRIE from the summit "TO MARRY ME." After a few seconds of silence, still today I do not know it that was because of communication or hesitation on her side, I heard the comment "ARE YOU RUNNING OF DEPRIVATION OF OXYGEN? When I reassured her that I was perfectly OK then I heard the magic word -"YES". That was the highlight of the ACONCAGUA climb and when I return from the EVEREST climb we are getting married. Normal routes from the SOUTH COL, in NEPAL or NORTH RIDGE from TIBET are not technically difficult but what makes EVEREST difficult is the weather, lack of OXYGEN and personal health. Many experienced climbers have to abort their climb just meters from the "SUMMIT" for these reasons and the ones who did not exercise their professional judgment are no longer with us. Once you reach 8200 meters you are so close — so close that it is very difficult to call it quits; your mind and your judgments are so impaired from lack of OXYGEN and exhaustion that you have to rely on your team members from the last camp to tell you to keep going or come back, even in your mind you see yourself taking that last step to the SUMMIT. You must tell yourself that you must listen to your crew, because in the climbing community, we recognize this drive to the summit as "SUMMIT FEVER." — George Tumpach PREVIOUS UPDATE | UPDATES HOME | NEXT UPDATE