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We departed the Shangri La in tour group style fitted out with our new white scarfs. Classy. Off we marched for Jomsom where we planned to stop for lunch, get some cash and grab a shave. Another gorgeous sunny day in the Himalayas, bright blue skies overhead. We walked through a valley which seemed as though it should be a riverbed but apparently it remains dry throughout the year. Light aircraft started whizzing overhead as we approached Jomsom. Jomsom has daily scheduled flights to Pokhara (wind conditions permitting). On arrival we broke away from the group and spotted a German bakery and coffee shop. We poped in and found 4 of the group from the Chris Bonnington anniversary expedition we had met in Manang last week. Suberb, Chris was with them this time! What a nice fella, we all chatted for an hour or so and Chris was happy to have his picture taken with us. At 75 the guy is still full of energy and discussing potential 6000m plus peaks to be climbed. He is also chairman of Berghaus but is incredibly down to earth. It was great to meet him and in this setting it was extra special!
Chris Bonnington
Outside Jomsom's finest German bakery! After a shave at Jomsom's finest 'beauty salon' we eventually continued the days trek to Marpha in horrendous headwinds. Hari had warned us to get the days trek completed as early as possible but what can you do? It's not every day you meet world famous mountaineers such as Bonnington! On arrival in Marpha we located the guesthouse our buddies were staying in fairly quickly and negotiated a better than normal rate of 60NR (about 30p each). Jane tipped us off about some climbers in town who had just returned from Daulagiri. Now this has me very interested! Daulagiri is one of the most dangerous mountains in the world to climb, much much harder than Everest. Who are these people that risk their lives and why do they do it? We located them just outside our guesthouse sitting on the floor drinking cans of beer and frankly looking like a right motley crew. They arrived back at 3pm this afternoon after spending 7-8 weeks on the mountain. I spent some time speaking to a guy called Michael, this was a swiss expedition and he told me they had managed to reach camp 2 before being beaten back by poor wether.
All returned to base camp safely and without serious injury. They had spent an horrendous night at camp 2 in dangerously high winds. Sherpas later returned to camp 2 to make the way for a 2nd attempt but the tents were completely buried and thus the expedition called off. Micahel also talked of the ill fated Cinese expedition which summited on 13 May but lost 3 climbers on the return. Details are still to be confirmed but it is believed the team summitted too late in the day and were forced to bivouac (sp?) on the return to camp 2. 1 climber fell and 2 perished during the night. As we talked the last sherpa returned with a huge pack on his back to loud cheers and applause from the expedition team. One of the other climbers expressed his dissapointment at failing to summit. I could only offer my congratulations to him, everyone had returned alive and well afterall. The team put their beer cans down around 6pm as they were off to Jomsom for their flight early tommorow morning, a shame really as I would happily have chatted to them all evening!
Today we said goodbye to Larry
Michael
Swiss expedition who stayed in Jomsom and will fly back to Jackson Hole in the states tommorow. We will continue our trek south and are looking forward to picking up the trail to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) in a few days.
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Tufael Ahad
non-member comment
Great update sir!
Hey Rich, these travel updates are proving to be extremely entertaining reading sir, including the pictures! You seem to have shrunk considerably! Must be all the high altitude air and walking! Great bit of facial fungus too sir! You look like a salty old seadog! Any, keep the updates coming! I'm enjoying reading them and i'm not ashamed to say i'm feeling a tad jealous!