Sixth Update from Xtreme Everest
NOTE: In this sixth dispatch, life at base camp enters a holding pattern, waiting for the return to high altitude of the the Caudwell Xtreme Everest expedition. The expedition is being covered by MacGillivray Freeman Films for their forthcoming "Return to Everest 3D" IMAX release. For the complete story, download the PDF Update.
The weeks continue to tick by for the Caudwell Xtreme medical researchers stationed at Everest Base Camp—and for a while there, things were beginning to look bleak. “We ran out of treats about two weeks ago,” said communications director Kay Mitchell, “and things were getting pretty grim. We had placed an emergency order a while ago, but then one of the other climbing teams heard we’d run out of treats and came over with a rucksack full of goodies. That was very, very welcome.”
Though the incident seems humorous, it brings home an interesting point of study for the Caudwell Xtreme Everest team. “At such altitude, your appetite isn’t always very good, so you need things that tempt you to eat,” points out Kay. “That’s not saying that the Sherpa food isn’t good, but we have to eat a lot because we lose weight. That’s part of being at altitude.”
While this seems like a selling point for trekking to Everest Base Camp – gain altitude, lose weight – there’s a down side to it as well. “At altitude your muscles just waste away, and that’s the battle that the climbers are constantly fighting. They have to stay up high to acclimatize, but they also have to be careful because they’re losing weight and becoming weaker.”
But does chocolate taste different at altitude? Is that a subject for future testing? “I don’t think there’s a lot of difference, really, but I’m not a chocoholic. Maybe you should ask Araceli,” laughs Kay. Araceli Segarra, that is, of Everest fame and now Return to Everest—known for her love of chocolate. ...
“The Best Climbing Partners We Will Ever Have”
One of the unusual aspects of this Everest season is the attention that the Sherpas are receiving, which is long overdue according to most veterans of the mountain. “The Sherpas love what they do and take great pride in their role,” Michael Brown told us earlier in the expedition. “I think that the best we can do is honor and respect their role in our expeditions. They are the best climbing partners we will ever have.”
As well as fulfilling their usual support role for foreign expeditions – from Japan, New Zealand, India, Italy, and many other countries including the U.S. and U.K. – the Sherpas are mounting their own expedition to climb Everest, known as the Super Sherpa Expedition. Among them are Lhakpa Sherpa (all Sherpa use their tribal name), who holds the record for quickest ascent time, less than 11 hours from base camp to the summit and just over 18 hours round trip, and Apa Sherpa, who holds the record for 16 Everest ascents, and counting. (Note: As we go to press we’ve just received word that the Super Sherpa Expedition succeeded in reaching the summit on May 16, Apa for the 17th time.)
While the MacGillivray Freeman and BBC media teams film Xtreme Everest, and film crews are a common sight at Base Camp, the Super Sherpas are filming their own ascent in HD video. Such technological sophistication would have been unheard of even 10 years ago, when the IMAX Everest was released; that it is possible at all is because of the increasing control the Sherpas are taking over their own cultural destiny, thanks in large measure to the annual injection of funds and support they receive from the climbing industry in Nepal.
“It is so appropriate to be featuring the Sherpa story in our film,” says Barbara MacGillivray, “because of what, up to now, has been a blatant oversight of their contribution. All the spectacular successes of Everest mountaineering are nothing without the physical, spiritual, and personal characteristics of the Sherpa rope layers, load carriers and trail blazers.” ...
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For the Caudwell Xtreme team, the research into low oxygen in the blood continues, no matter what the weather – they have another 5 trekking teams to host before the end of the month, and then there is the push for the summit itself.
“The plan is to go up any day now,” Kay Mitchell tells us. “The reason that our team has been hanging back is because they have to go up to the South Col and complete their science and come back down to Camp 2 again before they try and summit.”
Which raises a question increasingly on the minds of those at Base Camp this weather-troubled year. Should they not attain the summit, what would constitute a successful expedition from a scientific point of view?
“The policy of the expedition has always been Safety First, Science Second and Summit Third. The only science we’re doing at the summit is taking some arterial blood samples and possibly doing some breathing samples as well. So if we manage to get some science done at the South Col, and no one gets to the summit, that would still be a successful expedition for us.
“Particularly if we get everyone down safe.”
But wait, there's more. Download this Update for the full story.
The weeks continue to tick by for the Caudwell Xtreme medical researchers stationed at Everest Base Camp—and for a while there, things were beginning to look bleak. “We ran out of treats about two weeks ago,” said communications director Kay Mitchell, “and things were getting pretty grim. We had placed an emergency order a while ago, but then one of the other climbing teams heard we’d run out of treats and came over with a rucksack full of goodies. That was very, very welcome.”Though the incident seems humorous, it brings home an interesting point of study for the Caudwell Xtreme Everest team. “At such altitude, your appetite isn’t always very good, so you need things that tempt you to eat,” points out Kay. “That’s not saying that the Sherpa food isn’t good, but we have to eat a lot because we lose weight. That’s part of being at altitude.”
While this seems like a selling point for trekking to Everest Base Camp – gain altitude, lose weight – there’s a down side to it as well. “At altitude your muscles just waste away, and that’s the battle that the climbers are constantly fighting. They have to stay up high to acclimatize, but they also have to be careful because they’re losing weight and becoming weaker.”
But does chocolate taste different at altitude? Is that a subject for future testing? “I don’t think there’s a lot of difference, really, but I’m not a chocoholic. Maybe you should ask Araceli,” laughs Kay. Araceli Segarra, that is, of Everest fame and now Return to Everest—known for her love of chocolate. ...
“The Best Climbing Partners We Will Ever Have”One of the unusual aspects of this Everest season is the attention that the Sherpas are receiving, which is long overdue according to most veterans of the mountain. “The Sherpas love what they do and take great pride in their role,” Michael Brown told us earlier in the expedition. “I think that the best we can do is honor and respect their role in our expeditions. They are the best climbing partners we will ever have.”
As well as fulfilling their usual support role for foreign expeditions – from Japan, New Zealand, India, Italy, and many other countries including the U.S. and U.K. – the Sherpas are mounting their own expedition to climb Everest, known as the Super Sherpa Expedition. Among them are Lhakpa Sherpa (all Sherpa use their tribal name), who holds the record for quickest ascent time, less than 11 hours from base camp to the summit and just over 18 hours round trip, and Apa Sherpa, who holds the record for 16 Everest ascents, and counting. (Note: As we go to press we’ve just received word that the Super Sherpa Expedition succeeded in reaching the summit on May 16, Apa for the 17th time.)
While the MacGillivray Freeman and BBC media teams film Xtreme Everest, and film crews are a common sight at Base Camp, the Super Sherpas are filming their own ascent in HD video. Such technological sophistication would have been unheard of even 10 years ago, when the IMAX Everest was released; that it is possible at all is because of the increasing control the Sherpas are taking over their own cultural destiny, thanks in large measure to the annual injection of funds and support they receive from the climbing industry in Nepal.
“It is so appropriate to be featuring the Sherpa story in our film,” says Barbara MacGillivray, “because of what, up to now, has been a blatant oversight of their contribution. All the spectacular successes of Everest mountaineering are nothing without the physical, spiritual, and personal characteristics of the Sherpa rope layers, load carriers and trail blazers.” ...
[What's missing? Download the Update to find out!]
Stay tuned for more action
For the Caudwell Xtreme team, the research into low oxygen in the blood continues, no matter what the weather – they have another 5 trekking teams to host before the end of the month, and then there is the push for the summit itself.
“The plan is to go up any day now,” Kay Mitchell tells us. “The reason that our team has been hanging back is because they have to go up to the South Col and complete their science and come back down to Camp 2 again before they try and summit.”
Which raises a question increasingly on the minds of those at Base Camp this weather-troubled year. Should they not attain the summit, what would constitute a successful expedition from a scientific point of view?
“The policy of the expedition has always been Safety First, Science Second and Summit Third. The only science we’re doing at the summit is taking some arterial blood samples and possibly doing some breathing samples as well. So if we manage to get some science done at the South Col, and no one gets to the summit, that would still be a successful expedition for us.
“Particularly if we get everyone down safe.”
But wait, there's more. Download this Update for the full story.
“Base Camp is different than what I thought it would be,” said producer Shaun MacGillivray. “In 1996 there were maybe seven or eight expedition camps here, but now there are as many as 1000 people in at least 30, possibly 40, expeditions. It feels like a city.” And like a city, small businesses have cropped up – there’s a massage tent for weary climbers and even a bakery for fresh bread. ...
Jamling, meanwhile, is right at home among his fellow Sherpa. “Jamling has taken it as a challenge to eat at every one of the expedition kitchens, and he seems to know everyone here,” Barbara reports. “It has been wonderful hearing all of Jamling's stories, and fascinating to learn that the largest trekking and mountaineering companies here are now owned and run by Sherpas--another big change since 1996. With this new prosperity, they can now give back to their community with education and medical facilities.”...