Everest 04 Home
Today's News
Banners Ads
Bookstore
Contact
Downloads
E-mail
(Free)
Educational
Facts
Games
Gear
History
Interviews
Mailing
List
Media
Medical
News
(current)
Sat Phones
Search Everest 2004
Speakers
Readers
Guide
Risks
Trip Reports
Visitor
Agreement
| |
    
 | ||||||
 | ||||||
 Dutch Mt Everest 2004 Expedition Dispatch Four | ||||||
| ||||||
|
4/1/2004: March 30th was again an important day for us and our Sherpa’s. We had the blessing ceremony (Pudja) in a monastery near Bodnath, the largest Buddhist temple (Stupa) in the world. We were again surprised how impressive the ceremony is. The monks pray continuously for hours and in between they bless our expedition. We saw also several Western monks. The monks pray for hours while sitting on the floor. We managed to sit in the same position for only 10 minutes. But we prayed together with them for an hour. It is important for us and it is an important gesture to our Sherpa’s. We solve the final issues, like buying a few bolts for the stoves. And we have an interview on the phone with Miss Hawley and later with her colleague in person. She interviews climbers for more than 30 years now and has become a historian in Himalayan climbing. Climbers want her to register their climbs and summit claims.
Time to relax after the Puja. Today we had some time to relax and chat with Dawa and Prem, our two Sherpa climbers. They were happy we had the Puja. Today they will buy their oxygen sets and load the truck with the barrels for our departure, tomorrow morning. We will travel together with three Czechs, a Spanish man and one from Greenland. None of the climbers will use additional oxygen. We will have Sherpa support because it increases the summit chances and the safety. The others have no Sherpa support. We will tell more about our two very experienced Sherpa climbers later. Preparation for departure to Tibet (Zhangmu, 2350 meter) The loading of the gear goes on until the evening when we will have a dinner together, before our last night in Katmandu. Tomorrow morning we leave at 6AM for Zhangmu, the Chinese (or Tibetan) border. The border crossing will take some time: checking papers, discussing wrong forms, paying extra US Dollars, etc. We don’t like it because we lost some time already in Katmandu with arranging the permits, the cargo and the other issues. We start to become fed up with all the bureaucrats who create work for others. But it stays a challenging trip. On our way to Basecamp we will have two stops for acclimatization. Greetings, Wilco, Ron and Rex Pictures copyright the Dutch Mt Everest expedition
| | ||||
|
Trekking Poles
|
Send email to 
• Copyright© 1998-2003 EverestNews.comAll rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Visitor Agreement, Legal Notes: Read it