A blog for updates on the NUS Everest Team

Journey 3

2005-06-28T03:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Just to let you know that I will be appearing on Focus at Channel 8 at 10.30pm tonight, followed by Channel News Asia's 360 tomorrow at 9.30pm. I will also be featured on either Saturday or Sunday's Channel 8 news.

Please enjoy the next installment of Journey 3.

Stefen

Journey 3

31th May 2005, Camp 2 to 3 (6500m to 7300m)

The night spent at Camp 3 was pretty decent. Sleeping on oxygen and an uneven snow surface which I had to pile 3 foam mats on it to smooth out the edges, I felt like the delicate princess who felt bruised after sleeping on a pea. Except that the pea felt more like a yak.

I woke up at 5am, and radioed Base Camp to note on Lindley and Ernest’s’ progress. They had set off the previous night, and were up the mountain as we slept through the night. Lulin appeared fresh on the walkie, her voice crackling away as the reception deteriorated since we were higher up the mountain now. She said that Lindley and Ernest went up strong through the night, and both reached the Balcony, one of the checkpoints up the summit route at 3.30am.

That was when the trouble started. The climbers were supposed to bring 2 bottles of oxygen up the summit, one used for the ascent and the other for descent. The change was supposed to take place at the Balcony, the midpoint for the journey. One bottle would be left behind for the descent, while the climber continued up the mountain with the fresh bottle. When Ernest reached the Balcony, his Sherpa tried to change the bottle, but it turned out to be faulty. The main cause was the broken threads on the thread ring, which produced massive leakage when the valve was screwed in. Both of them were at the Balcony for half an hour, each minute getting more frantic as the situation remained dire. Lindley was with him, and fortunately, Lindley’s system went without much of a hiccup. After much trying and realizing that their efforts were futile, Ernest made the painful but inevitable decision to head back down. He handed the university flag which the 2 of them were supposed to stand with at the summit to Lindley, hugged him and told him to ‘climb Everest for him and the team. The dream had come to an abrupt full stop for Ernest.

When I got news of this, Khong Lean, Yen Kai, Robert, Edwin and I were still in half daze at Camp 3. The information wasn’t crystal clear through the walkie talkies, but we realized that Ernest, one of our stronger climbers had turned back due to no fault of his. It was a setback for all of us, and hard to imagine how Ernest was feeling at that moment. There was frankly little we could do, and proceeded to cook breakfast and dress up for the day ahead.

We left Camp 3 at 7.00am, after the sun had risen and warm up the ambient surroundings. The rest of the Lhotse wall looked formidable in front of us, and I could make out tiny specks in the far distance on the Yellow Band and Geneva Spur which I could only conclude were humans. It seemed like an eternal journey ahead of me, and the worse thing was, the specks were moving more like snails then ants. I decided to just look ahead of me and take it one step at a time.

Before I proceed, I have to brief you on the route from Camp 3 to Camp 4. The route becomes more interesting as we get higher, as there are enough landmarks and recognizable iconic features to have a touristy attraction about it. It was like going to Disneyland finally after hearing and reading about it all my life. It was just like going up to Donald Duck and realizing he remained a respectable icon despite dancing around butt naked for the last 80 years. The climb from Camp 3 resumed with the ascent of the near vertical Lhotse wall, which will ascend approximately 200m before it tapered left to traversing at least 500m to reach the famous Yellow Band. The Yellow Band, at a height of 7600m, was the most distinctive feature on the South face of Everest. A big stretch of 70 degree rock around 50m wide acted like a barge between the snow slopes, and one had to climb over the mixed route with crampons which made all kinds of horrible screeching noises when the sharp points of the crampons come in forceful contact with the rock. Eeek.

After the Yellow Band, the snow slope continues for a few more hundred meters before one reaches the Geneva Spur. From afar, the Spur looked like a mountain. Up close, the Spur looked almost like Everest herself. The Spur need to be climbed and the steep slopes acted as a final obstacle to reaching Camp 4, or South Col as they called it, the last staging point for the summit of Everest.

So I was climbing, and every time I looked up, new slopes emerged and smaller specks appeared further away. I decided to stop looking. As I finally climbed past the steepest part of the Lhotse wall to begin the traverse, I saw a familiar figure in a blue down suit descending towards me. It was Ernest, and he was walking rather steadily with his head fixed on the ground. I instinctively took out my camera, took a few shots of him, and as he neared me, he noticed me and continued on. He halted just a step away from me, and slumped down on the slopes and sobbed.

Ernest is a strong man of few words, and in all the 3 years that we have trained and went for expeditions together, I have never seen Ernest in a weak or vulnerable moment. Ernest has one of the strongest minds among us, and this is a tough nut to crack. His reaction totally shocked me, and I hugged him while he wailed louder. I believed that was the first time he let his emotions out since turning back, and I could really feel his pent up frustration and anguish at his fate. His dream was gone, and 3 years of intense preparation hampered by a faulty oxygen bottle. It would be difficult for anyone to comprehend that feeling, but I felt disappointed and hugged him while finding the appropriate words to console him. I could only say that the team and I were proud of him, and to overcome setbacks like this, one has to be a strong person. And he is strong, and he has to get over this. We stayed there on the exposed slopes for almost half an hour, while I waited him to slowly calm down. Eventually, he asked me to carry on as my journey had yet to finish, and he asked me to bring glory for the team. That message was constantly drumming in my head as I struggled up the slopes to the summit on the final day.

I carried on towards the Yellow Band, overcome it and as I looked towards the Geneva Spur, my body felt exhausted but my mind pushed me through, as I slowly saw a different kind of motivation urging me on. The motivation came from the team, and not individual glory, as my body tried to answer a higher calling. I met Lindley as I was on the Geneva Spur, and he had summitted Everest at 8.30am that morning. A large burden was taken off our shoulders, as Lindley achieved what Ernest and many other climbers in the past couldn’t. Our university at home was in celebration, and the success of this whole expedition cemented regardless the results of the second team’s climb. I congratulated Lindley on this remarkable feat, and he seemed to be in great spirits and shape. He was also sure that we could do it, and warned us about the high winds ahead. Seeing one of my team mates summitting certainly increased my confidence factor, and I no longer see it as an impossible task.

As I ascended the Geneva Spur, I looked back behind me and observed small specks progressing up the Yellow Band. The journey that day was exhausting, and I was emotionally drained. I walked down the gentle slope of slabs and boulders, and reached Camp 4 at 2.30pm that day. I stumbled into the tent, and my Sherpa tended to me while I prepared to rest well for the summit push later the same night. I also noticed that the winds at South Col were considerably higher, as the tents roared around me while the tent frame was tested near its limits and was threatening to break apart. There were already small rips in the fabric, and the winds, unlike at lower camps, refused to take a break and howled continuously for the next 24 hours, each hour getting fiercer and more vicious. It was like camping under a few Boeing jets.

Yen Kai and Khong Lean arrived later, the latter reaching our tent at 5pm. Both were exhausted by the hard climb, and the strong winds were not helping matters. We were supposed to set off at 9pm that night if the weather seemed calm, but the winds were definitely higher than we expected. Later on, climbers would discuss and estimated the winds that night to reach a possible 70 knots, which was almost 120km/h. It would be suicidal to even leave camp that night, and we called off the summit bid at the eleventh hour after it seemed that the weather would refuse to let up.

We stayed at the South Col that night, and staying for prolonged periods at this altitude was detrimental and extremely hazardous for health. South Col was almost 8000m, the magical mark where scientists term the altitude and beyond as the ‘Death Zone’. We didn’t feel death knocking at our door that night, but we almost felt like we were dying in some way. The tents thrashed wildly the whole night, and there were times where the frame just bent under the wind to hit our faces. If our tents did break down during the night, we would be forced to make a retreat. We didn’t manage to catch a wink that night.

The next morning, the winds were just as strong, but the temperatures became more bearable as the sun rose. We didn’t feel rested, but we survived the night to die another day. The 3 of us were actually living in luxury compared to Edwin and Robert, who were in the other tent because we were sleeping on supplementary oxygen. Edwin and Robert survived the night without any oxygen, and it was like comparing staying in the Hyatt to sleeping in the middle of the highway while cars continuously zip past your head by mere inches. Every breath taken could be their last.

Robert was feeling horrible the next morning, and we could fully understand his situation. Out of safety, he had decided to descend before the altitude did any more damage to him. Edwin was left as the sole climber and chance for the Singapore Everest with Oxygen team.

Our Sherpas had also discussed with us saying that if the bad weather persist for another night, we would have to descend the next morning and abort the mission due to safety reasons.

Stay tuned

Stefen/Efung
4.20pm
22nd June 2005
Breeks restaurant, Takashimaya, Orchard Road

Back Home!

2005-06-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

It is good to be back.

I have finally managed to get some breather since coming back to Singapore on Wednesday, as I was caught up with work since.

Coming back home to a crowd of almost two hundred wasn’t what I had in mind, especially when these people were screaming and waving at you. People I don’t recognize came up to hug me and congratulated me profusely, while I posed for so many photographs with people I felt like a hot star chimpanzee at the zoo.

Seeing my girlfriend among the crowd was perhaps the highlight of the homecoming, and honestly, there was no one else whom I miss as much. Our university’s president was there, along with all the senior professors and officers who followed through this Everest programme for the last 3 years. My Hall master and professor were there (they fulfilled my request and bought me carrot cake!), and even representatives from my faculty were there. Many of you were there as well, and I will promise to deliver the coffee for your kind presence. I frankly felt very touched by the surprisingly warm reception, and I believe I will never walk through the gates of Changi Airport without feeling a tinge of pride in future.

And that was the start of what happened to be quite a hectic week. I went down to my photo developer straight after the reception, and gave them all 99 rolls of slides to be processed. I also rush processed 2 rolls of film which contained the summit shots of me and Yen Kai. Some of you might have seen my summit photo on Straits Times the following day.

The next few days consisted of sorting through the 3000 plus shots, and narrowing it down to 60 shots for a photo exhibition next week. In fact, I had just finished the sorting and captioning hours ago. That is 4 days and 4 nights of continuous hard work.

I must say that I was really satisfied with some shots, and I really hope all of you could see these pictures. The exhibition will be launched at the NUS centennial opening ceremony this coming Saturday in campus at the new university hall, and I understand that the exhibition will be displayed for a week or two.

There are also quite a few plans next week. For those with a goggle box in sunny island Singapore, I will be appearing on the mandarin ‘good morning’ show (zhao an ni hao) this Wednesday. Witness me trip over my own feet as I attempt to explain the mountaineering experience in halting mandarin. Expect lots of ‘uh’s and spoken English. I will also be appearing on Channel News Asia, the show called ‘360’ with Glenda Chong this Friday. I have since recorded a radio interview last week with 93.8 FM, and I understand they have a repeat broadcast at 8.45pm today, Monday evening.

It seemed like since I have gotten back to Singapore at its hot weather spell, everything moved so fast that 24hours a day seemed lacking. All the deadlines were yesterday, and the pace of life far more hectic than Nepal. 3 months is a long time from home, and I have almost forgotten what it was like here.

The good thing is, I believe the pace will slow down somewhat. For the whole of next week, I seem to be free for most lunch times, as I will most probably be running errands in town in the morning. Do call me in the morning if you don’t have a lunch date, and I will gladly swing by for a free meal.

I will also try to finish the rest of the essays that I promised at Base Camp before my memory fades. Stay tuned for them.

As a prelude to the photo exhibition that is coming up, I will release my summit shot for all of you, which also appeared on the third page of Straitstimes on Thursday. Note the slitty eyes that are the hallmark of me, and my willingness to take off my goggles but not the oxygen mask at the top of the world. On hindsight, it seemed I would rather go snow blind than to collapse due to oxygen deprivation. Note the guys on my right, who were not related to me. The top of the world could be hinted by the blur patch of landscape on my left, and you might scoff by saying anyone could take a similar shot in a neoprint photo booth.

I have to differ with that, as no mechanical fan would be able to blow a flag like that. I had to take 3 similar shots to get a decent picture of the NUS flag visible in the wind. It was also a challenge trying to keep my hair looking neat and tidy.

Till then, enjoy the rest of your week.

Efung/Stefen
Singapore, home sweet home
20th June 2005
2.00am

The Journey 2

2005-06-14T00:39:00.001-07:00

Journey 2

There is a minor correction in Journey 1. The date was supposed to be 27th May instead of 28th.

The next day, 28th May, morning. Camp 2.

The next morning was fine, as the team recuperated for the day. Spending the whole day at Camp 2 is far more different from Base Camp, as we only brought our essentials up to Camp 2. There were rocks, snow and Everest to look at, but the mountain is always there. Staring at it for more than 15 minutes will make anyone go wild.

The day before, the 27th, saw more than 50 climbers trying for the Lhotse face. Strong winds and spindrift made some of the more experienced guides reconsider their decisions and made the tiring decision of turning back to Camp 2 after 3 hours. All climbers turned back for the day and the whole mountain’s climbers shifted their time table as the season ran near its end. The 28th saw many frustrated climbers lying around in their tents and made small banter among other teams. Being in the second climbing team after Lindley and Ernest, I could only ascend the mountain at least a day after they leave. I was in no rush to leave Camp 2, and finished the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown that afternoon in the lone confines of the tent since Kim Boon left that morning. I could remember the imagined beautiful image of agent Sophia running around chasing ancient artistic clues in my mind as I went up the mountain days later.

That day marked a slight uplift in the mood in the dining tent, as Lulin our Base Camp manager reported improving weather patterns starting the 31st. The winds seemed to have lowered to around 40 knots, and I guess we were willing to brave that winds due to desperation on the timeline. Lindley and Ernest were to set off the next morning with other climbers, and be the team’s first shot at the summit.

The next morning saw the 2 of them leaving for Camp 3, and when the rest of us woke up later in the morning, they were mere black dots on the Lhotse wall along with 40 other black dots. The 2 of them were progressing well, and made it to Camp 3 faster than the last time. The team was finally moving forward after 1 whole month of waiting. The atmosphere was of real joy, as we could finally contemplate seriously coming home the first time in 70 days.

30th May 2005. Camp 2 to Camp 3

The next morning saw the rest of us leaving for Camp 2 early in the morning. Breakfast was indigestible instant noodles, as I force fed myself the gooey stuff and appreciated the fact that this would be the last time I would have someone cook my meals for me until I return down to the mountain. We set off at 6am that morning, and the climb uneventful except that I was climbing along with approximately 20 other climbers, and saw the same 40 dots from the previous day ascending from Camp 3 to Camp 4 inclusive of Lindley and Ernest. It was like witnessing an army of ants marching purposefully on a white wall, except slower. Almost like watching wet paint on the wall dry.

I arrived at Camp 3 in record time that day, 2 hours faster than my last. Khong Lean was in good shape that day, and he ascended the Lhotse wall the same pace as me. I quickly entered my tent and made a cozy home for myself. Drinking hot chocolate at 7300m wasn’t exactly Starbucks experience, but the view outside my tent with the main face of Everest looming on me was hard to beat. I spent the rest of the day breathing in the supplemental oxygen and hearing the progress of the first team, who were making good time over to the South Col.

31st May 2005. Camp 3 to Camp 4. First team making summit bid.

Coming next..................................

Stefen/Efung
2211 hours
12th June 2005
Thamel

Last Night in the Kingdom

2005-06-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

This will be one of the last mails coming out from the land where the greatest mountain range lie, and also to conclude a big chapter of my life.

Lounging around in Thamel is certainly relaxing for the body and soul, as there is frankly little work and exercise to be done. 800kg of gear have been packed and ready to shipped back to Singapore, shopping gift lists poured over and ticked, beer glasses clinking over meals, stories repeated over and over again; it is certainly time to head down south this time.

I have seen my team mates less and less now, since we are different individuals on and off the mountain. On the mountain, we are a team, with a common vision and the same small dining tent. Over here in the city, we are individuals with different shopping lists and different wallet capacities. We only meet for certain meals of the day, and the rest of the day spent wandering around the shopping streets or basking in the atmosphere of our own favourite cafés.

It makes me wonder when I would be able to climb with this great group of people again, if ever again. I am sure all 10 of us will never on the same mountain on the same time again, but they could be some of my same life and death companions up on some adventure in the near and far future.

I can imagine the saddest and a mixed feeling of happiness and relief to be the moment when we part at the arrival gates of the Singapore airport, reunited with our loved ones and friends. It will be that moment and place where the Everest journey started 3 months ago, and the same place to end.

The Mera expedition in 2003, China ice climbing, Gasherbrum II, Cho Oyu expeditions in 2004, Everest in 2005 were all done with this group of people and 3 days from now, the entire journey ends. 3 years of training in Singapore together, 9 months training overseas, will come to a close. All my team mates who were with me on this journey along the way also contributed to the success and the joy of the experience, and I hope the memories and relationships will never fade.

As I write this, the skies around Thamel started turning dark, and rain is probably coming. As if the heavens could sense my longing for the company of these people, especially since the weather had not rained since we came back. I also think that I might need to return to my hotel to take my rainwear

Oh yeah, the carrot cake is just a joke. I like mine fresh and piping hot….

Efung/Stefen
12th June 2005
Thamel

The Journey 1

2005-06-14T00:38:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Thin air is bad for the brain. Thanks to Graham for pointing this error out. I am coming back on a Wednesday, 15th June.

I have started my recollection of my journey for the summit bid, and due to bad connection and limited operational hours of internet cafes, they will come in chapters instead of novels.

Enjoy.

Stefen

The journey 1

6500m. Camp 2. 28th May 2005

The atmosphere was tense, the winds howling outside as the team gathered in the dining tent. The light had fallen considerably, as the sun slowly set its orange rays into the range illuminating the Lhotse wall ahead of us for the last time.

I had just arrived at Camp 2 that day, exhausted but proud that I did it in a better timing than the last time. The body felt strong after the month long rest, and I was also relieved that the acclimatization that I had accumulated the past month remained with me. Doctors often said that the effects of the acclimatization will die off after 2 weeks.

Robert was in the centre of the tent, as all of us gathered in a tight semi circle around him. I had come up to Camp 2 with him along with Edwin and Yenkai that day, and the rest of the team had arrived as early as 3 days before us to wait for the appropriate summit window. The weather reports became worse as each day drew nearer, prompting the climbers to wait at Camp 2 instead.

Resting at Camp 2 is not exactly recuperation, as 6500m was already higher than most mountains in the rest of the world. Kim Boon, my tent mate and teacher, rested horribly when he came up 2 days before me, feeling nausea and losing almost complete appetite. It was also the same afternoon I arrived that he decided to call the expedition quits. He was returning down to Base Camp and preparing to leave back for Singapore the following day.

Robert was having an informal meeting with all of us, and concerned with the prolonged insufficient rest at Camp 2, he tried to address our concerns and his own. The weather was getting really unpredicatable, he said, as the Singaporean weather forecast predicted the winds to be really different day by day. Intially, the reports predicted the 29 th to be good weather conditions with winds topping at 30 knots. The following day, the reports adjusted to maxing 50 knots. That was the difference between the speed of a Vespa scooter and a family sedan, and 50 knots near the summit was quite dangerous as the climbers cross over exposed ridges on the way up. It was also unusual for a weather report to have such discrepencies in their forecasts, and a possible explanation could be the current weather systems at the Himalayas being highly unusual and volatile.

The last thing I want to do, he continued, was to send you to do something I wouldn’t do and regretting it for the rest of my life. The consequences for a wrong decision at this time would be too big for me and NUS to bear. He said this with sincere conviction, his eyes redden at the prospect that this expedition may be over.

The weather reports for the next few days didn’t look rosy as well, as various reports predicted the weather to be howling at an amazing 80 knots towards the end of the month. That would be certain death for anyone trying for the summit, and as we returned to our tents for that night, the prospect of packing up and leaving the expedition left a sad full stop to a 3 month journey.

Stefen/Efung
2200hours
11th June 2005
Thamel

Reality

2005-06-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

This is my third day in Thamel, and I must say that I am a great person when it comes to adapting to changing situations.

By now, I have managed to bargain with taxi drivers with ease, and also suck in truckloads of car pollution without much of a bat of an eyelid. The memories from the mountains are now rapidly fading, as the body adjusts quickly to the saturated humidity and hot temperatures of Kathmandu. I am now walking around in a light cotton tee instead of a down jacket, and will always choose to seek refuge of an air conditioned environment instead of baking in the sweltering heat. I also look less like an escape convict now, since I have made the painful decision of shaving my 3 month old mane off for a mere 2 dollars. I now look like a sun burnt convict without hair.

All the exposure to CNN and MTV over our hotel has also retuned me back to reality, neither in a good or bad way. I noticed that some of you wrote to me wanting me to return to the ‘harsh’ reality in Singapore and settle down, and I wonder to myself what ‘beautiful’ reality I was living in for the last 3 months. It was a beautiful mountain environment, yes, and I didn’t have to work 9-5pm everyday yes, but it was in the mountains where life and death was so close in your face one wonders where the actual reality is.

6 people died this year on Everest, the highest since the greatest disaster happened in 1996. 2005 also saw the worst weather on Everest in 46 years, and climbers set a world record by having the latest first summit in history, on the 31st of May. To date, no one had ever summited beyond the month of May except for this year, for the reason that the monsoon usually arrives in the last week of May and the conditions will become dangerous and unstable for climbers to safely navigate across.

This year also saw the first time Camp 1 was thoroughly destroyed by an avalanche in history, and for the second helicopter in 2 years to crash into the Base Camp while I was preparing for my summit bid in the mountains. More than 80 percent of the climbers who came to Base Camp this year turned back or failed on their summit bid, and to conclude in a nutshell, this is an especially bad year for Everest and the people attempting her.

I am not here to boast that we beat the thin odds to emerge victorious, but to state that we were in an ironic way, lucky to survive one of the worst years in Everest history. Lucky to be able to summit after such a long wait at Base Camp, and lucky to see the harsh reality mountaineering can bring, especially with a mountain like Everest. It was a full experience we didn’t expect, and emerged stronger after all this.

I must say that as we trekked out of the Base Camp, we were really counting our lucky stars how fortunate we were to come out of this unscathed and alive. I did choose this path right from the start, and no one to blame should anything would have happened. However, this is dissimilar to a beach holiday at some beach paradise, as there were no bikini babes to start. The stresses were high, and decisions were often made on the basis of safety and little else.

This is definitely different from a normal working life, but I would dare say that the pressure to perform and balancing safety liken to walking a high tight rope without a safety net. There was absolutely no room for mistakes, and one’s actions were able to determine the support or fall of a fellow teammate. There were potential consequences that we would live with the rest of our lives.

But now it is all over.

The journey complete, I am now definitely ready to go home. To my family, and my loved one, and my chinchillas. The mountain will be missed, but the memories and photographs will be gentle reminders of how cold one can get, and how weak the body can be in the face of nature. And how strong willed my mind can be.

For those who might be free this coming Thursday, a working weekday, these are my arrival details as follows. The coffee offer stands….J

Date: 15th June 2005
Venue: Changi Airport
Time: 2.00pm
Flight number: Tiger airways 103
Things to bring: Carrot cake (the fried one)

More articles coming up.

Stefen/Efung
1644hours
Thamel

Civilization!

2005-06-14T00:36:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I have arrived safely in Thamel, Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal this afternoon.

Dusty streets, screaming cars, and sleeping cows in the middle of the streeets brings sweet nostalgia but painful memories of the urban life. Nearly 3 months of mountaineering had cast me away from all forms of pollution and into the embrace of the mother nature, no cars and all.

It is a different Kathmandu this time, with far less tourists now that the season has progressed into its off peak. The recent news of Maoists’ attacks had certainly not brought joy to the tourist dollar, but the common man on the street seemed unperturbed by the fresh violence.

I spent the afternoon wandering around aimlessly in the streets of the shopping, mingling with shopkeepers that I know and fueling the economny with money I found stashed behind my beanie monkey. My limbs were still aching with the punishing trek that we pushed out of Everest Base Camp, completing a 70km journey in 3 days.

I have returned to a world where money speaks and friendships forged over beers.

The past week had been rather dazzling (or simply tiring) for me, as I was out of the base camp in less than 40 hours after I returned from the summit. The last few days were trekking over long hours, drinking obscene amounts of alcohol, and coping with the lack of proper sleep. Each day was full and purposeful, a lot of back slapping and everyone was in a celebratory mood, but everyone was also tired from all the mental and physical stresses for the past 3 months.

It seemed as though I will never recover from this transient state of fatigue, as the level of excitement and activity will continue to rise and persist even after we come home.

I am happy to be back in civilization, and I shouldn’t miss the mountains for some time.

And I should also drink less beer while writing this.

Stefen/Efung
10.30pm
Thamel !!

Last Words at Base Camp

2005-06-08T00:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Guess most of you have heard the news by now. I am now officially the world’s first person who is a Malaysian Singapore Permanent Resident who has more facial hair than a yak and below the height of 8 foot tall and by the surname of Chow to reach the world’s tallest mountain, Everest on the 2nd of June 2005, 9.30am Nepali time, or 11.45am China time because that is where the 2 countries meet.

I would like to write a 16 page essay on the entire ordeal and so on, but this morning when I returned from Camp 2 hoping to enjoy some beer and telling tall (pardon the pun) stories, I was faced with a tight deadline to pack up a few tonnes of gear, do a Channel News Asia interview, change my clothes, run around silly around the Base Camp, and feeling tired from this entire summit leg while preparing to pack up and leave for Base Camp in less than 36 hours.

How do I feel at the top of the world? Tired, deprived of oxygen, want to go down, and extremely proud of myself. Proud that this feat is finally done, and I can see for myself what is the view from up there. It is like seeing my whole life flash before me. I must also mention when I was sitting on top of the world, my ass was freezing cold. My fingers were frozen numb, and the wind blowing in my face was definitely not romantic. But it is a memory to remember and cherish for a long long time.

On the 6th of June, early morning, we will depart for Base Camp for Lukla to fly back to Kathmandu. The entire journey will take around 4 to 5 days, and I might be able to take a break at Namche Bazaar to write more extensively about my experiences.

Many thoughts have gone through my mind during this summit leg, some philosophical, some funny, and some personal experiences which I would like to relate to you. Before I break my promise, these are some of the titles that I plan to write. Look for me if these are not delivered within 2 weeks.

The final journey, Part 1 and Part 2
Highs and lows of Everest 05
Statistics
Top 10 ways to kill your partner at South Col
Has life changed?

I just want to say that I feel extremely satisfied writing all these emails, and the greater satisfaction comes from all your thoughtful and touching replies. It always makes my day thinking of topics to write and intrigue you with simple life at the Everest Base Camp.

In case you are all very free on my arrival day, I might be arriving on the 15th of June, 2pm Singapore time via budget airlines Tiger airways. I will confirm the flight details when I return to Kathmandu. I will offer a cup of humble coffee on my tab for your very presence, redeemable within 2 months.

I hope that through my emails and correspondence, you will realize that most mountaineers are nut cracks, and not all mountaineers are hairy.

This is the last word from 5500m, over and out.

Efung/Stefen
1826hours
4th June 2005
Everest Base Camp

Success!

2005-06-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

Just an update that the NUS team has succeeded in reaching the summit of Everest [Lindley on 31 May at 7.25am, E-Fung on 2 Jun 05 at 9.30am and Yen Kai on 2 Jun 05 at 11.38am. Ernest unfortunately had a faulty vital oxygen bottle, and Khong Lean was hampered by near-frostbite symptoms.] More details on the NUS climb can be found at www.nus.edu.sg/everest (newsflash). E-Fung should be back at Base Camp tomorrow, and will be sending updates soon. Thanks on his behalf for all the well wishes.

Regards,
Hui-Yi
(Email manager)

The Wait and Movie Reviews

2005-05-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

To Everybody,

I have emailed you 2 days ago for my departure. Seems like the weather is playing tricks with me again, since I am still here, typing as we speak. At first, the summit weather for 28th and 29th May looks good, and then as we got later weather updates, the later days even look better. Now we are looking at 30th and 31st May as possible summit days, as the winds have dipped to reasonable levels for the first time this month.

Time is running out at Base Camp, and our permit for our last day of departure in Everest is on the 7th June. That means that if we need to extend our permit on this mountain, it would be easily $100,000 into the pockets of the Nepali authorities. The other constraint on our side is the transition of the seasons, as the monsoon is fast coming in. Our weather reports predict the monsoon to arrive in the early first week of June, and with that continuous snow fall and warmer temperatures will arrive. The warmer temperatures will make the icefall very volatile and dangerous to cross, while the snowfall will make the upper routes more challenging to cross.

Another bugbear that we encountered were our air tickets, as we attempted to postponed our flights 10 days later to a possible 17th June arrival due to
Everest’s prolonged bad weather. We were informed that as our tickets had a
3-month validity period, we had exceeded our expiry by 3 days, and they refused to make it an exception for us. We are now examining the possibility of swimming back to Singapore.

Seems like all the signs are pointing us to go home, even if we didn’t want to. Right now, half our team is already at Camp 2 in position to summit when the conditions look right, and the rest of us will follow up to Camp 2 tomorrow. There is now a one shot one kill situation, as we are unlikely to have the time to do a second summit bid if we fail the first one. I guess we have to make the best of the dire situation.

In the midst of waiting over the past couple of days, we managed to catch 2 movies, one fantastic and the other mediocre.

We watched ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ 2 nights ago, about a cowboy flick starring Clint Eastwood and other names that Ihardly remember. Set in the 18th century in the Americas, the movie is about cowboy bravado and cheesy one-liners. Clint Eastwood smoked a twisted cigar in every single scene, and maintained the consistent ‘I-am-so-cool’ look even when he was about to be hung. The classic cowboy tune was also overplayed at almost every scene, so much so that we were singing to it every time the tune came again during the movie. The movie lasted 3 hours, and it felt 3 days, as the final showdown between the villains and the hero lasted for 2 music tracks and 5 full minutes of continuous eye contact. The movie ended with more than half of the Sherpas leaving before the end and left a bitter after taste in our mouths. We spent the whole of yesterday singing the cowboy tune to each other’s irritation during meal times.

The second movie was ‘Troy’, watched last night, an equally long movie but with far more substance than the first. Set in the height of civilization in
Greece, the movie starred hot throbs such as Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, and Orlando Bloom ‘Legolas’ as they showed respective silly weaknesses to women’s charms. In the end, most of the heroes and villains died because of a few beautiful women and reading of too much omens from a few flying crows. The stunts were amazing, as Brad Pitt put in a credible show as Achilles, the ‘greatest warrior there ever was’. His jumping in mid air and slicing with his sword at the same time is liken to ‘his airness’ Michael Jordan in his prime. The interesting thing here is that in the end, all the great warriors and kings (men) died horrible and embarrassing deaths, while all the beautiful women who slept with their enemies and started the big wars survived.

The moral of the story? I can bet you a dollar the script writer is a woman.

It is just as well that we are going up tomorrow, as our good and bad movies are running out. We are also feeling more confident as the summit days do look like good weather days.

Do check up our updates.

I will see you when I see you,

Efung/Stefen
1100 hours
26th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

The Journey

2005-05-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

To Everybody,

Tonight is a beautiful night, as the full moon illuminates the entire base camp like a stadium spotlight. This is one of the few nights where one needn’t a headlamp to walk around. The path is brightly lit, and the rocks clearly shimmering in the moonlight. This is also the first time I am writing this update in the comfort of my tent, snuggled in my sleeping bag in the still cold night.

Tonight is also the night that starts the journey for the final summit bid. Tomorrow morning, 2 of my teammates, Lindley and Ernest will set off for Camp 2 for their summit bid on possible days 28th or 29th May. The following day, the rest of us will set off a day later for what could be the only summit window for the entire season this year.

The team is finally moving, after sitting around in base camp for almost a month since our last acclimatization cycle. The weather reports for the upcoming week hadn’t been astounding, but they did list the final days of this month as potential summit days, though not perfectly calm days. We will still be expecting winds up to 80km/h, but the season is clearly running out and warmer weather and less stable conditions will without doubt arrive in the first week of June. By then, the monsoon will arrive and the climbing season definitely over.

On the 21st May, some mountaineers climbing from the North side, or the Tibetan side bagged the first summit of Everest this season. Since then, more than 40 climbers have reached the summit of Everest from the North side, albeit in appalling weather conditions. From the third hand news that we heard, we got word that up to 3 climbers have also perished during this time, as they fell to exhaustion coming down from the summit.

During this period, the climbers on the South side, or the Nepali side (that’s where I am) have either been turned back during their summit bid or decided not to climb on from Camp 4. 28th and 29th May will be exciting days to look out for as up to 200 climbers will be attempting from the South side to bag the summit.

I have since packed my bag, put in the flags and dolls that I plan to display on the summit, prepared 30 rolls of slides for this final summit bid, packed all the necessary gear, and psyched myself mentally by staring at my girlfriend’s photo all afternoon.

The Base Camp has suddenly gone quieter, far more deserted than the atmosphere we had at the bazaar 2 days ago. Some camps are occupied by only women, as all their boyfriends or spouses have left Base Camp for the summit. There were more than 20 people yesterday in our camp, chatting and laughing the night away. 2 days from now, there will be 4 people left, all women who are either our base camp staff or girlfriends and siblings of climbers. The action will no longer be the contention of the next movie to watch, but the constant update of the specific locations of the climbers as they ascend up to higher camps over the next few days.

Our schedule will go something like this.

Day 1. Climb to Camp 2
Day 2. Rest at Camp 2
Day 3. Climb to Camp 3
Day 4. Climb to Camp 4
Day 4 night to Day 5 night. Set off for the summit, and return to either Camp 3 or Camp 2.
Day 6. Return to Base Camp

Lindley and Ernest will proceed as the first team, while me, Khong Lean and Yen Kai will leave Base Camp as the second team a day after them. The reason for this is to spread the risks in case one of the days becomes a bad weather day. There are also provisions for a second summit bid if there is a need. Our directors, Robert, Edwin and Kim Boon will follow the second team.

Exciting? I feel so too.

I can finally write about climbing, rather than just everyday life at Base Camp. The next 10 days will either create history or be a forgotten tale; to defy whatever critics or bring in a flood of questions and criticism; to have wine on the table or water as usual; to have a beautiful fairy tale conclusion or a bad Hollywood ending to this expedition.

My feelings now?

This is one of the crappiest seasons Everest ever had, and I heard the last time weather this bad was back in 1977. I don’t know whether to consider myself lucky or not, because if the summit is reached with little hardship and obstacles, there could be satisfaction but little appreciation of the challenge Everest had to give. We have grown to respect this mountain for its grandeur and its unpredictability of the weather systems, and know that the mother goddess will only let us sneak up when she feels like it. It is not just our choice, but dependent on many natural factors. Everest, or Sargamatha in Nepali, or Chomoulangma in Tibetan is certainly not interested if you claim you need to summit her soon because your air ticket back home is drawing near.

I feel a tinge of apprehension, but more of excitement building up within me. Apprehensive that I might have lost fitness and acclimatization due to the long lull between climbs, or get caught up in freaky conditions up high, and excited because this is finally it, after the years of toil and sweat we had put into this. This could well be the toughest and most enjoyable journey I have ever been in. And to be frank, I have started to miss home.

Many things have happened while I was away. My sister, whom I happily saw getting married a week before I left for Nepal is now in her second month of her first pregnancy; my girlfriend and hopefully wife to be has steadily matured into her career and recently returned from a
business trip in Ireland and England; my pet Chinchilla, Chow Da just gave birth to a healthy boy, her second birth while I am away on an expedition; my friends have gone for overseas trips and back; one of the American climbing guides I know had his girlfriend come to Base Camp with him at the start of the expedition, trekked back out and completed an expedition to the North Pole, returned to her home in Scotland, toured 7 countries and came back to Everest Base Camp again to accompany him; and I have been in Nepal since mid March.

It is time to finish the business here and return home.

Wish me luck and good weather and check out our website (www.nus.edu.sg/everest <http://www.nus.edu.sg/everest>) while I am away. Watch the news and read the papers during this week as well. My scraggy face might appear on the goggle box near you.

I have also uploaded some exclusive photos on the NUS engineering website, where they have kindly hosted my web blogs. They are the first personal photos of me since this expedition started, and you can see for yourself how hairy and caveman-like I have evolved to be. I think they can be found at www.me.nus.edu.sg <http://www.me.nus.edu.sg>

See you… or in Nepali, Feri bei Tau la …………. : )

Efung/Stefen
2220 hours (past my bedtime)
23rd May 2005
Everest Base Camp. In my tent!

Ps: While I am typing this mail, my ears were being pampered by many songs from the charming voice of Sting. Just want to share some beautiful lyrics from his song ‘My funny friend and me’. It is also the most played song in my song list now.

In the quiet time of evening
When the stars assume their patterns
And the day has made his journey
And we wondered just what happened
To the life we knew before the world changed
When not a thing I held was true
But you were kind to me and you reminded me
That the world is not my playground
There are other things that matter
And when a simple needs protecting
My illusions all would shatter
But you stayed in my corner
The only world I know was upside down
And now the world and me, I know you carry me

High Trade

2005-05-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

To Everybody

Yesterday was a good day, an interesting day.

A flyer was passed around various camps days ago, advertising a bazaar of barter trade of goods among fellow climbers. ‘Dvds, foodstuff, books, and anything you don’t need to change for something you need’ was the heading of the flyer. The voluntary doctors of the Himalayan Rescue Association, who definitely felt we had rubbish to give away, thoughtfully organized the bazaar. The date was 21st May, and the bazaar was to be held at the HRA from
10am till noon.

We heard about this the day before, and excited about exchanging our month old socks for a laptop or ice axe. There was to be no money exchanged, and meant to be a pure barter trade. I had DVDs that have been watched, CDs that were listened for the hundredth time, books not worth reading a second time, some Singaporean memorabilia and redundant climbing equipment. I even brought my extra disposable underwear along, just in case. My team also brought along their superfluous stuff, as well as extra Singaporean snacks, such as ikan bilis (anchovies) and Oreo cookies.

We arrived the HRA site at the stroke of 10, with our knick-knacks and the rest of the Sherpas following behind us. We were greeted by the melodious tune of a harmonica performance, and some of the stalls already set up on the glacier in various messiness. Familiar faces were seen, handshakes pumped, and half the Base Camp seemed to be gathered here due to the prolonged bad weather on Everest.

I found a lonely spot near the harmonica player, and just threw out my things on the ice. 4 books, 27 DVDs and CDs, Singapore flag patches, postcards, a climbing harness, 2 water bottles, a travel mahjong set, and a climbing device just lay strewn on the ground. Before I could start arranging my wares like a decent merchant, around 15 people mostly Sherpas gathered round me in a tight circle and started fingering everything.

An Iranian climber from the other side of the Base Camp started gathering my climbing equipment and started haggling with me. He shot questions like
‘How many dollars?’, ‘half price, half price’ in a rather aggressive tone and I was in a blur. Thinking that this was a friendly barter trade and not a flea market, I was caught astonished that I had to name a price for every single item on the floor. 4 different people were asking me prices for different things at every one time that I was not prepared to have a value for, and I was getting into a fix.

My teammates stood around amused, as my wares were the most fiercely contested. The Iranian climber was bargaining with me as though I was a sly merchant in Bangkok, and when I quoted him a fair price of 70 US dollars for a new harness, a belay device and 2 Nalgene bottles, he gave me the condescending look and shoved a 50 US dollar note and prepared to leave with
my gear. Surprised that I was becoming a cheap salesman, I gave him the money back and snatched my gear to put them back into the main pile.

Slightly surprised, he seemed to swear at me in some exotic language and pushed his way out of the crowd. The mood of the bazaar was affected in some way, as I was earnestly looking to having some fun in exchanging interesting stuff with other fellow climbers and chit chatting. Fortunately, a lot of the Sherpas who were there started asking me for prices for other stuff, in a far more respectful and friendly manner. I started selling the gear one by one at a lower price than I would expect, but I treasure their friendship far more than a few dollars.

Some of my books started attracting attention, as an American girl, Danielle, set to be the youngest person in the world to climb the 7 summits, displayed interest in my book ‘Blink’ and offered 5 rolls of good slide film. I looked at her bag of film, and decided to take the other 2 away by offering an exotic looking mahjong set in exchange for her film. I also offered free mahjong lessons if she needed them.

In the meantime, some of my DVDs were exchanged for novels and magazines as
I was bargaining with the Sherpas. Oreos were being traded for seasonings, and ikan bilis were also barter traded for more novels. Our stall was one of the most popular and interesting, as most of the stuff came from Singapore.

I gathered the remaining of my stuff, and started walking to other stalls to search for something fascinating. I started trading for more slide film for
Malaysian magazines and Singaporean patches, and chatted with fellow climbers about the weather. Just as almost all my stuff were either traded for film or cash, one of the researchers from the Brown University based at Everest expressed interest in my packet of disposable underwear and she gave me a packet of instant Cous cous in exchange.

My last piece of ware exchanged, I started chatting with other climbers as the bazaar ended for me. Then, without warning, the researcher tore out the packaging and paraded an underwear with her fellow researchers. I don’t know the fascination with disposable underwear, but it appeared that Americans have not seen them before. For the benefit of my foreign friends, disposable underwear is simply made of paper that shouldn’t dissolve easily. The atmosphere went up a notch when one of the female climbers took it and wore it outside her pants parading around the bazaar, before handing it to one of the gigantic guides who wore it outside his pants. Suddenly, people were asking me if I had extras left, lest they want to make a party joke after the summit.

The highlight of the bazaar turned out to be my disposable underwear, and the main talking point among various international climbers. It turned out to be an interesting experience as I explained why these are used, and the integrity of the material used in these shapeless diaper-like things.

And I don’t feel like a cheap trader anymore.

Efung/Stefen
22nd May 2005
1100 hours
Everest Base Camp

My Mates

2005-05-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Another day of waiting, another day of scrabble, another day of avoiding green peas and corn at dinner time; the mood among the team is relaxed, yet not highly optimistic as the weather continue to rage and tumble above Camp 2. Majority of the climbers planning to summit on the 22nd May have turned back from Camp 2 after finding out worse weather conditions near the summit in the next few days. The Base Camp is full of frustrated people again.

Instead of dwelling on the inevitable, I shall talk about my team mates today. Some of these names have been mentioned before, some of them were anonymous partners in my articles, all of them have climbed by my side, and all of them are my climbing soul mates for the last 3 years. I cast my fear and put my trust and life in their hands.

Khong Lean. Looking more like a Singaporean politician than a mountaineer, KL has been my longest climbing mate since our pioneering Make It Real days. Possessing a unique ability to switch from being extremely formal for media interviews and meetings to outright blasphemous in front of me, KL is the guy to confide problems and dreams in. When we first entered Make It Real together, we took a mental analysis and the psychologist strongly hinted that we will be the worst possible team mates. Our characters were completely different, where he was an introverted contemplative and calm person, while I was an extreme extrovert (10 upon 10), guided by emotions dynamite. Our relationship grew against odds as we ended up as a pair heading the following Make It Real programme.

KL is now the leader of the Everest team, and he has been doing a fine job of handling team decisions and being the official spokesperson to the rest of the nation.

Lindley Zerbe. The ‘Ang Mo’ (Caucasian) of the team, LZ hails from California and has consistently proven himself to be one of the strongest and most competent climbers in the team. LZ talks a lot, and has fitted well to be my ultimate chatting partner. The Top 20, 20 year list was discussed in detail while we were both sucking in the oxygen on Camp 3, an unlikely place to chit chat where other people would have preferred to zonk out due to exhaustion. LZ is also my favorite climbing partner, as our pace is similar and we like to push each other out of our comfort zones. We also argue a lot (he thinks his socks are decent smelling while I strongly contest that fact), but I feel that I have the most open communication
channels with him, and that makes climbing together safer and more efficient.

LZ is also the communications man where he is in charge of all the power and communication devices. The fact that you are receiving my emails on such a regular basis is to his credit and cannot be lightly taken for granted.

Ernest Quah. The first of the 2 eligible bachelors of the team, I strongly recommend him to any of your girl-friends if interested. I will be most glad to set up a double date or something. He will be happy too. A quiet and unassuming man, Ernest loathes talking unnecessarily but his actions often speak louder than my numerous words. Being the only member among us who summitted Cho Oyu twice, the second time without supplementary oxygen, Ernest is a very determined and strong climber in the mind. Being a food nutritionist graduate, Ernest is able to dissect our meal into different caloric segments, and why munching Hello Pandas, a chocolate confectionary during movies is acceptable at an altitude of 5500m.

Ernest is our food nutritionist, and in charge of all our yucky food above Base Camp. He is also single and available, and the only one among us to possess a decent body. You heard that first.

Yen Kai. The second of the 2 eligible bachelors of the team, I will also put my reputation at stake to recommend him to any of your girl-friends if interested. He will be interested too. YK is the joker and optimist of the team, and almost second to me in terms of churning out sleazy jokes in the dining tent. He was my tent partner during our Mera climb 2 years ago, and we adopted a dog with us that slept with us throughout the month long expedition. In the end, we could recognize all his gear by the amount of dog hair on them. A girlfriend then would have been envious. YK will also become the youngest Singaporean to summit Everest if he succeeds. The Nation awaits.

YK is my assistant to my logistic responsibilities, and also the main video man to this expedition. And I beat him to Scrabble by almost 100 points last night. Hahaha.

These are my teammates in the university team, and you can also find out more about them in the official website www.nus.edu.sg/everest <http://www.nus.edu.sg/everest>

There are 5 others which I have yet to mention, and they are my directors, Robert, Edwin and Kim Boon. I treat them as my inspiration, as well as team mates as we face equal challenges and the same mountain. The 3 of them will attempt to summit Everest without oxygen, and if they succeed they will be the first South East Asians to do so. Edwin will also be the first Singaporean to summit Everest twice if he succeeds. You can find out more about them in www.singaporemountaineers.com <http://www.singaporemountaineers.com>

The other 2, are our support staff, Lulin, our Base Camp manager and mother to all and Nguk Hoon, our doctor and health advisor. Both of them have provided numerous support to what is needed at Base
Camp, and also provide a balance in the conversation topics in the dining tent for what otherwise would have been an alpha male environment. We take their presence with a great sense of gratitude.

There you have it. My team, and I guess I myself don’t need any introduction. This is the team where one is proud to be in, and I am honored and privileged to be part of this unique group where Iam able to openly share our joys and setbacks together.

Efung/Stefen
1130 hours
19th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

Small Things at Base Camp

2005-05-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

To everyone,
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times.
Small things make up full days when you have little else to do. 2 weeks ago, I was telling everyone that we are going up for our summit attempt. 2 weeks later, we are still eating good food and stuffing ourselves silly and talking nonsense at dinner times.
We do have a few highlights for the past few days, but we are just making the best of the time we have here. I finished the Matrix trilogy a few days ago in 2 days, and I beat 2 Americans at Scrabble. They were amazed that I could even spell, and we rematched this morningplaying doubles and Team America beat us. By a humiliating 60 points. The silly fun was all the other Americans came by our table and sang pro-American cheers while the 4 of us concentrated on the tiny table. I guess that in their minds, native speakers of the language simply couldn’t lose to us. We loved scaring them occasionally with big words though. Like Qat and Ex.
We play movies everyday, and our audience kept increasing with each movie. The first hit movie was ‘Sideways’, about 2 middle aged Americans who featured the suburbs of California as a wine paradise.Everyone watching the movie, including the Americans, the Sherpas and us,craved for Pinot Noir and beautiful waitresses after that. 20 people watched that movie that night, in the dining tent that could barely sit 15 people. Subsequent movies garnered more people, when they heard we didn’t mind company. 30 people watched ‘The Rock’, a fantastic action movie involving the Alcatraz in San Francisco. It featured a charming aging Sean Connery and a young balding Nicholas Cage, and the Sherpas simply loved the movie. For this group of people who were on the constant watch out for steamy scenes and will howl with pleasure while the rest of us were simply trying to concentrate on the art direction of the scene (me especially), they all made sure to tell us on their way out of the tent that they found this movie ‘the best ever’ with its explosive scenes and short dialogue. We all felt pretty satisfied for choosing the right movie for them.
I have also started on a new book borrowed from a fellow Australian climber recently, after I have finished all the 15 books and magazines that I bought from Borders. The book is about the autobiography by Richard Branson, with the witty title ‘Losing my Virginity’. It is quite an interesting book, and one of the most readable biographies I have read. This guy is a real hooligan at heart, and his business ideas and methods still seem radical now even when he achieved his early success in the 1980s. There is a passage in the book in which a young Branson wrote a letter to his parents explaining his decision to commit most of his free time in a magazine that seem worthless and a waste of time to his parents, and I could almost relate myself to him on my own pursuit for the mountains. It went like this, “You say Student (his school magazine) is selfish and self-centered of me. ‘Possibly,’ I say. But is it any more selfish than anything else one does in life? It is, in my opinion, a career like anything else. It could benefit many many more people than going to the film etc. It is a beginning to my life like university or your finals were to yours” End quote.
4 years of life is a lot of time for a single activity, but Everest is not just any mountain. My family is very understanding for a normal Asian conservative family, but they still find it hard to see the lure of Everest, and why would anyone die from it. The team has been idling for long enough, and we are beginning to see some action on the mountain after a few teams have set off to try summitting in the early 20s of this month. If these teams succeed, we will be looking at our possible summit dates on the 23rd to the 25th of May. That will mean setting off from Base Camp on the 19th to the 21st.which will give us a few more days to finish more movies and crackers.
And we are getting sick sitting at Base Camp all day long.
Efung/Stefen
1530 hours
17th May 2005
Still at Everest Base Camp

Mountaineering: A life enhancing lifestyle

2005-05-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

As I continue to wait for our summit attempt at base camp (3 weeks now), I was laying in bed one night when I thought of how far I had come with mountaineering.
I was trying to think of what I was before mountaineering came into my life, and how my perceptions and life skills had evolved. As I lay in the warmth of the cocoon, I realized that besides climbing many mountains the past few years, a lot of me had changed.
Just before the great Himalayas hit me in my third year of university life, I was an active student in Eusoff Hall and a struggling student in the faculty of Engineering. I was benefiting a lot from the activities I was involved in Hall, where I was in voluntary services, raising funds for different organizations, and even a choir senior in the hall. Life was a full time student in hall, while studying was a part time job. Living was full and it was great.
Mountaineering came into my life at the beginning of the third year of studies, when a national mountaineering expedition came to my university to recruit mountaineering talents. No experience needed. The people initiating this project were part of the first Singapore Everest expedition back in 1998, who were people that I had known from newspapers and television. People whom I admired and read from media reports. Never in my dreams would I imagine that I would be climbing alongside them as teammates now.
The programme was called the ‘Make It Real’ programme, which was a year long programme to initiate students into the world of mountaineering. The programme is now in its fourth year, and this year’s batch of students will visit our Base Camp later in the month after scaling their first Himalayan peak as a conclusion to this programme. I was like them too 3 years ago when I went to visit my mentors at their Base Camp at Shishapangma, Tibet the 14th highest peak in the world before having my first attempt at a Himalayan peak in Nepal.
Singapore is a small flattish island with no mountains, only hills. The highest hill is Bukit Timah, an impressive nature reserve that boasts the Guinness Book of Records for having the highest density of species of wildlife, and an impressive height of 163 metres. Singapore is also known to have the most vibrant shopping atmosphere and widest variety of food in her many pockets of food centers and shopping malls round the island. A visitorto Singapore will often marvel that Singaporeans only eat and walk around in air-conditioned malls all week. We certainly seemed like a pampered lot to them.
It is therefore little wonder that for such a green and clean city, people seldom meet mountaineers like me, and curious to know how long a beard can grow and why I am perfectly happy to bathe once a month. Why we can survive without world-class toilets and prefer to do our business on any random patch of snow. Why we are inflicting suffering to ourselves when we can sit comfortably on plush sofas and watch movies from all over the world withfrequent censored scenes.
When I entered mountaineering, my experiences with people started changing. People started asking me about life in the mountains,and ways to cope with some of the discomforts and challenges. I started giving talks to friends,with presentations from my photographs, and started giving them to a wider audience. I was barely a public speaker when I gave a public talk in Raffles Hotel in 2002 to an audience of 300. It wasn’t smooth, and I didn’t really practise for it, but I relished the feeling of public speaking. I was able to transport them to my world, the vast landscapes where there is not a single man made object in sight; where it is beyond the imagination of an urbanite.
I became obsessed with improving my presentation skills, and started reading related books and observing excellent presenters. I talked to more people, and gathered feedback as I gave more presentations. I have since given about 30 talks, ranging from government ministries to delinquents in prisons. My last talk was at my alma mater college, where I gave a presentation to about a thousand students about fulfilling your dreams as a student. I felt a great sense of pride to be back then.
Another part of me that had progressed these years was my photographic interest. My father handed me his Nikon F2 camera almost 10 years ago, and told me to take care of it. It was a legendary camera, one of the best ever produced by Nikon, and I barely knew how to handle it. The interest bettered as I headed up the mountains, where the scenery was astounding and screaming to be captured on film.
My obsession with photography grew, and by now I have spent more than $5000 on camera equipment alone. My works also improved with each expedition, as I always volunteered to be the official photographer for the team. My first recognition was when I received an honorary mention in a German photography contest 2 years ago, and I also have a rougharrangement with a photo agency for my works to be marketed to Australia and England.
I was only interested in exhibiting my photos in public recently, as my initial intention for the photos was to enhance my presentations. It seemed that they are now good for an amateur, but I am still trying to improve them to a possible professional standard. I have approached an art gallery in Singapore to have a possible exhibition, but I had word that it had just fallen through. Exhibition space, anyone?
The years in mountaineering had propelled my opportunities to talk in front of people, as well as enhanced my photo interest and skill tremendously. I don’t treat these as for granted, but rather as privileges that I was honored and determined to grab full advantage of. Of course, mountaineering had also made me lose my gut which I was trying for years to get rid of, which might come back with a vengeance once this expedition is over.
My outlook in life had also changed either for the better or worse, as I started seeing risk taking as part and parcel of life. Life and death matters little if your life is not lived to the fullest, and if every minute of the day is spent doing something you loathe. I have also become bolder with people I meet, and realize that in life, very little things matter that much. Like entertainment news, mobile phones, your self-image and opinionsof many. It all matters little.
In case you may all think that I will head up for a hippy life when I return to Singapore, I am convinced that it wouldn’t work too. I will probably shave clean when I return, and start bathing on a regular basis. Then I will look at this journey to be one of the highlights I had in my life, and remember the precious lessons that come with it. And to be a photojournalist if my next dream comes true.
Efung/Stefen
1144hrs
15th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

An Ode to Carrot Cake

2005-05-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

Oh Carrot cake, oh carrot cake
You seem so fine, so spiced and crusty
The fragrance of the pork lard, with a nice egg pastry
Fried over the hot wok, with or without black soysauce
The end result, a golden brown cake of majesty

Oh Carrot cake, oh carrot cake
You are unlike the pale brother of your name
Served in dainty plates and pompous forks
In the comfort of an overpriced café
With little soul, and competing with the likes ofsoufflé

Oh Carrot cake, oh ‘chai guei’
How much I miss you, and not smile without you
Two dollars of happiness, with more chili added
Is what I miss, and the Singaporean flavor elapsed
From my memory, while I yearn and adore

Efung/Stefen
1205hours
11th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

Idle at Base Camp

2005-05-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

I love this quote from a climber, “If you are going to reach the summit, stay there for a while and come back down, why climb in the first place? The reason is simple: Because one at the top knows what is below. But one from below don’t know what is on top.”
Interesting to mountaineers who are trying to find a good explanation for their seemingly aimless purpose. Bullshit to the rest.
These few days have been rather interesting for us at Base Camp. 2 separate groups of Singaporeans trekked to Base Camp to visit us, and we had the opportunity to host them with lunch and one of the groups with lodging. One of the groups were friends of Kim Boon, and when they reached us, they were both dead beat and dehydrated. However, their spirits were high the moment they entered the dining tent, for the meeting of Singaporeans after more than 10 days of trekking excited them to the core.
They also told us how proud they were of our achievement to date, and how frequent they kept track of our progress on the web. They also reminded that I was young enough to sacrifice time and effort for this, and one is only young once. The second group of Singaporeans came by this morning, in better condition and vitality and we hosted them to a standard lunch with “Bak kua” (roasted meat) fried rice. They cried with joy when they saw the fried rice, and I could hear the tears in their croaking voices when they saw that there were fresh vegetables and luncheon meat too.
For me, I never try to take things for granted. A personal philosophy in life, I always believe that taking things for granted is the initial step for you to start losing those things. The actions and the words of these Singaporeans really made me rethink of the luxuries that I am enjoying around me. I also realized how much fun I had in the company of these people, as we exchanged local slangs and attitudes. We never had so much laughter when we mentioned the word “kiasu”. For my foreign friends who failed to comprehend this word, I recommend www.talkingcock.com for a quick lesson.
It never occurred to me that I will cry at the sight of fresh vegetables, but I guess that for them to be served on the table where glacier features and rock are everywhere is quite a monumental task. I remember that for fresh vegetables to be served at every meal, the vegetables need to be air flown from Kathmandu to Lukla, and for a porter to carry them on his back for 5 days before reaching us. That is a lot of work for a few cabbages and potatoes. I promise myself to be more emotional the next time I chew on my radish.
What about being young once? Lulin, our base camp manager and more than twice my age, often seems to have more fire in her belly than people a third her age. She gets about with life like a feisty adventurer, and she scolds me more than my mother. Plus, she summitted Mount Kinabalu, Southeast Asia’s highest mountain last December without much of a worry. I wonder if I can even walk to the dinner table when I am her age.
It is very true, you are young once, and that is all you have got. But ambitions, aspirations can continue even when you are well into middle age, and what separates you from others is choice. Choice to live young, choice to live strong. Choice to live as before.
Coming into this expedition, I see that there are a lot of people around me who serve as a big inspiration when I enter a later life. I do see myself as what many of my friends call me, the “lucky bastard”, and I also hope to continue this exciting life for many years to come. There is simply no reason to say that you can’t climb Everest at 70, unless you had 3 heart bypasses and a consistent high blood pressure. Otherwise, what is there to stop you if you choose this path? Your grandchildren?
On a separate note, there is some excitement within the Base Camp today. There was a meeting among all the expeditions’ leaders at our camp this afternoon, and some of them were planning to make a summit bid on the 14th or the 15th May. In order to do this, they discussed possible sharing of resources such as Sherpas and equipment to fix the route up to the summit. For us, the weather reports weren’t agreeable on these dates, and we are looking at a possible 17th summit bid. But the fact that big teams are determined to fix the route up so high early on has solved an Achilles heel for us.
It will get more exciting for us as the waiting shortens closer to the summit approach.
Efung/Stefen10th May 20051751 hoursEverest Base Camp

The Countdown

2005-05-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

First it was 6th May. Then the forecast changed to 8th May, then to 13th May and 14th May. Then Khong Lean, my leader mentioned to the press that the summit could be changed to the 18th. Now we are looking at 20th May and beyond.
Such is the weather patterns on Everest, being very unpredictable and erratic. The weather forecasts that we have gotten so far seemed to change as the days come nearer, making initial good weather days look like suicidal days now.
We are getting different weather reports from different sources, such as our team receiving weather reports from Singapore and America, while other teams have their sources from countries such as Switzerland, Sudan, Korea, and different American sources. Even these information do come into conflict from time to time, and they have predicted this week to be having pretty bad weather.
Our weather reports had been pretty accurate so far, and our teammates, Robert and Edwin braved 100km/h winds threatening to tear down their tents on Camp 3 the day we predicted the weather to be so.
The bad weather pattern that we are experiencing now will top 200km/h winds near the summit of Everest; a prospect none of us, including the Sherpas will want to be in. I doubt any one us in this mailing list had experienced these winds while standing in the open. One would fly away into oblivion at such an impact.
A little wonder that many of you from Singapore are emailing us how hot and constant the weather has been in the sunny little island. I wonder whether you envy us or for us to envy you.
Right now, the members are idling at Base Camp trying to make sense of all the waiting. This is our day 17 of waiting since coming down from Camp 3, and we have been watching lots of movies and trekking round the region to keep our muscles from degenerating. Our conversation topics have dried up, and my articles are also suffering from a writer’s block.
A jolt of excitement went through the team this morning, as we rehearsed a conference call with our university’s president. The atmosphere within the dining tent was not tense but one with pride, as each took turn to speak to Professor Shih. The conversation was short and to the point, but we could feel the excitement on NUS’s part (National University of Singapore). The pressure is now officially on our shoulders, as this rehearsal was meant to be for the actual run on the summit of Everest.
The countdown begins, as we are very likely to start ascending the mountain in less than 5 days time. Countdown to 3 years of accumulated effort, trainings and meetings. The next 2 weeks will be very crucial for us, as the mood at Base Camp will either change much for the better or for the worse. It will be either beer and Johnnie Walker on the dining table or the usual green tea.
And it is waiting like this that drives me crazy.
Efung/Stefen
1140hours
13th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

Makanan

2005-05-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

There’s nothing much going on at Base Camp these few days, and everybody is getting rather restless. I did finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy within 2 days (thats 9 hours of movies!!) and I must say I was thoroughly impressed by the “Return of the King”, where I have finally gotten to seeing it because I missed the showing on the big screen. A good excuse would be that I was so busy preparing for my studies that I forgot about everything around the outside world then.

The topic today that I will share with you is “Makanan”, which is the Malay word for food. Singapore is a place known for their food, and every time Singaporeans travel, they talk about food. I don’t know about you, but when I go for long trips like this, we always talk about food. Not politics, not fashion, but food. Where is the best fried carrot cake, the best chicken rice, the best ambience for Italian, and blah blah. We even go into deep
discussions how the mountain cocks, a beautiful bird that looks like a pheasant strutting around our Base Camp can be stewed in different sauces. Never mind that the Sherpas considered them to be sacred and therefore not to be slaughtered.

People always ask me, “What do you eat up there?” The general attitude about people in the mountains is that they eat almost everything, raw and barbaric. We seem like cavemen that will catch anything that moves, and eat off the ground if necessary. We will roast anything that we catch over a make shift fire, and that is because you have been watching too much Lord of the Rings.

A bit of clarification here. We do eat normal stuff, and while a lot of food comes canned, we also get fresh food stuff periodically such as vegetables and meat. Our chef, Pemba, who was also our same cook from Cho Oyu had gotten used to some of our quirky tastes. Nowadays, he makes excellent soft boil eggs which are a staple in the kopi tiam in
Singapore. It is a challenge at the Everest Base Camp to achieve something like this, as the pressure differences and lower boiling temperature of water makes the precise combination of factors quite complicated. A cheese omelet takes 15 minutes to fry here compared to sea level where it easily takes less than 3 minutes. A rocket scientist wouldn’t have been able to calculate the optimal conditions to cook a perfect soft boil egg.

Breakfast usually consists of soft boil eggs, omelets, plain porridge, potato rosti, or pancakes. Plain porridge is something we specially requested for, as we brought a truck load of porridge condiments from Singapore. Ikan bilis (fried anchovies), fermented tofu, brovil, canned bamboo shoots, preserved mushrooms, canned duck, mock meat, salted fish, and other stuff you will never think off are well stocked in our dining tent, which all tastes good with the porridge. This is the “Teo Chew” Chinese way of savoring our breakfast, and we usually eat it with hearty spirits.

Lunch is up to the creative genius of Pemba, who will always try to conjure something new for our taste buds. Fried mee Chinese style, fried rice, along with side dishes such as canned leg ham, fresh vegetable salad, or canned corn and something canned will be the standard. The salad is always nice, as it consists of a beautifully decorated plate with beetroots, radish, lettuce, cucumbers all laid nicely like an art piece.

Dinner is where the highlight of the day is. This is when our supply side gets creative. We could have fried bee hoon (Singapore style), chicken rice, clay pot waxed meat rice, pineapple rice and other Singaporean dishes as the main, with fantastic side dishes like canned curry chicken, yak meat kebabs, yak meat curry, yak steak, yak yak yak, stir fry vegetables, and etc. We will also start the meal with a soup, either a cream soup or a good clear Chinese style soup. The dinner will usually end with a desert, either fruit cocktail or a nicely baked cake, chocolate or butter.

Food is nice at Base Camp, and in between meals, we pamper ourselves silly with snacks from Singapore too. Hello Panda biscuits, imported chocolates, Pringles, seaweed snacks are just some of the snacks that seem to be in inexhaustible supply on the table, and I personally purchased 2 kilos of “Famous Amos” cookies for my private benefit while I take my siesta in my tent.

Beverages. That seems to be pretty well taken care as well. Juices in all flavors, teas of all kinds, gourmet coffee, instant coffee, milo, holicks, hot chocolate fill our table like a mini bar, but alcohol are off limits till the summit is over. One of our favorite drinks of all time happened to be an almond blend drink from one of my café owner friends, which we drank like crazy even though the drink was in short supply and now gone. You can visit him at www.gonefishing.com.sg and you can safely say that the entire Everest team loved it.

You will probably have one more question. “What do you eat up above the Base Camp?” Frankly, that is something I am less excited about. We eat instant noodles, and many other things that will make us puke. I will also dream about fried carrot cake when I am above the Base Camp. Does that answer your question?

Efung/Stefen
1220 hours
9th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

Intense Relationships

2005-05-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

To: Everybody

I realized that my previous 2 emails are not exactly bright and happy, so I will examine one of the topics always on the minds of readers: “How do you people keep sane and stop stabbing each other out of rage?”

Mountaineering is in the business of making lifelong friends enemies, total strangers into lifelong nemesis, brothers into hated siblings, you get the picture. Read books about mountaineering, and it is usually the tale where climbers disagree on the mountain and start stabbing each other with ice axes and pitons while panting from the thin atmosphere.

A perfect example to illustrate this is the book by Jon Krakauer, “Into thin air”, the best selling mountaineering book of all time and accounts the Everest 1996 disaster in detail. In the book, he wrote about the happenings and the facts that lead to the disaster where the worst accident in the history of mountaineering happened where he was a key witness to these events. He also pointed out possible culprits during the disaster, and most of them were dead so weren’t able to defend their actions. Fortunately or unfortunately, almost every climber who survived the disaster wrote a book too of their own take on the event, and most of them had differing views and in their view, the correct account. There were books from climbers like Anatoli Boukreev, David Breashears, Ed Visteurs, and versions from clients like Lene Gamarlaard, Jamling Norgay, Beck Weathers, and many more. I actually read all these books, and even spoke to 2 of the Sherpas who were involved in the disaster and in my team now.

What I found out is this. All started as friends or mere acquaintances at the start of the expedition, and by the time the books were published and royalties collected, there were little mutual admiration and friendship left. A lot of the books discredited other books for factual errors and value judgment (Jon’s book took the worst beating) of the climber author,and set out to correct the case by having their own take on the situation. After reading all these books, I realized that most mountaineers, if not all are pretty muddled headed and bitchy people.

Relationships get intense in the mountains for the same reason relationships evolve in reality shows like “Survivor”, “Amazing Race” and “America’s next top model”. All, in my opinion are dead boring shows and one can easily be a contestant by being in the mountains. Day in day out, you see the people you will climb with, eat with, watch movies with and sleep with. The only downside is that you are not able to vote the person out because you
hate his guts. You will live with the person for the next 12 weeks, every single day, whether you like it or not.

Niceties, a forced smile, a hypocritical email can all exist in the office, classroom, or even in the bedroom. You may hate the colleague of yours ever since Day 1, but those plastic grins and spastic laughter can happen over 6 months and even 5 years and you can still continue that kind of relationship. That is because people have their private space, and they can also vent their frustrations on their pet chihuahua or sheep doll when they
return home.

Imagine in the mountains, where everything becomes less private, everyone’s proximity becomes closer, relationships get more real than ever and meal times a congregation of stressed up people in a small pent up tent. Anonymous farts become less funny, recycled jokes and stories getting tired, random comments could ride up built up discrimination
and direct condemnation, and the snatching of the last piece of salami in the pot could
well end up as a fist fight or fork fight.

There is little room to release yesterday’s frustrations, so the pressure builds day by day, week by week, month by month. A perfectly normal chess game could well lead to the cross examine of the relationship for the last 2 years, and the accidental taking of one’s cup lead to the forensic tests of the culprit and his family’s’ entire life history.

Little habits of your team mates may well crawl up your back, and whether the habits are good or bad, they will still build up. Imagine someone who farts mysteriously in the communal dining tent, with no commotion and little fanfare. Little by little, you swore to yourself that you will rip out his guts the next time you catch him doing it, and you might slowly find yourself having the actual pleasure in doing it. Or the person who never fails to make a smart comment on what another had said whatever the nature of the topic, and no matter whether he was really right or wrong. Husband-wife relationships never get more intense than this.

How then, is my team still going on well without any manslaughter cases? On the surface, in the press, in the internet, we are going on too well within the team that seemed rather diverse. It is true. We have a Caucasian in a Chinese environment, an age gap of more than 30 yearsin the team, different cultures and educational backgrounds, and too much ego
and hot air for Everest to contain.

What we have then, I guess, was open communication. It allowed everyone to have tolerance of one another, yet able to let off steam the moment it builds. No bringing up of old grandmother stories from 2 expeditions ago, with little baggage brought around. Just measure the conflict at that given moment, and solve it with the particular incident in mind. It is a good natural arrangement, and this team is really as good as it gets.

Unless we really start poking each other with ice screws and pushing one another into the crevasses.

Efung/Stefen
1523 hours
5th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

Thoughts

2005-05-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

The Everest Expedition started like a normal expedition, frankly with little excitement and fanfare. I tried to arrange myself in a mood that prepared me for previous expeditions such as the Cho Oyu climb and Gasherbrum II climb, but also knowing that this could well be the biggest and grandest scale expedition that I would ever be part of. Knowing this still kept my expectation to a minimum, but while I want to get through this now, I often wonder if this would ever be THE highlight of my life. Reliving the moment again and again from years from now would be sad, if not pathetic that there are little bigger mountains to be climbed in the far horizon.
I was wrong. This expedition turned out to be more eventful, more scary, and larger than life than I ever imagined. Before coming to Everest, we climbed Island peak, which was given little attention until we finished climbing it. The night we arrived Island Base Camp, a Japanese climber died of heart failure while attempting to summit the mountain. Hisbody was carried through the night into a lower village and passed our tent as we were having dinner. Within those 2 days, we also heard that an Iranian trekker passedaway on the Everest Base Camp route.
While trekking to Everest Base Camp, we also heard that a neighbouring mountain, 7000m high Pumori claimed 4 climbers even before the Everest climbing season started. Not a good start, I guess.
Now, with 2 climbers dead on Everest, 8 climbers injured in varying degrees on the mountain, the people resting at base camp are seriously wondering if this is normal on a typical Everest season. The avalanche on Camp 1 happened the day two of my teammates, Robert and Edwin ascended through the Ice Fall and proceeded to Camp 2. They witnessed thedevastation on Camp 1, and realized that if there were any people sleeping in our camp the previous night, consequences would have been very very serious. None of our tents were anywhere in sight, and with all the equipment left there, only the broken handle of a ski pole was dug out 20 metres from where our tents were. One shudders to think what kind of impact could have broken a solid aluminum pole into pieces.
Yesterday, Robert and Edwin were preparing to ascend up to Camp 3 to spend the night, and they got to the bottom of the Lhotse face in the morning. The weather had been snowing steadily for the past few days, and a good few feet of snow had accumulated on the steep face of the Lhotse. Some of the Sherpas were already up the wall clipped to the fixed rope,and Robert was about to walk up to the wall. Without warning, an avalanche the size of a football field triggered off above one of my Sherpas, Kami.
Kami was briefly unclipped to the fixed ropes just before the avalanche, and by a stroke of what I can call good karma, he clipped into the rope above just before the avalanche struck. The snow came up to his chest, and he hung on to the rope while the flood of snow swept through him. A moment of reflex later would have swept Kami off the Lhotse wall.Robert was below him, and when the avalanche came, he actually ran downhill away from the avalanche. The snow caught up with him, and Robert started swimming with the tide to keep afloat on top of the snow. He swam with the avalanche for tens of metres before the momentum of the snow died due to flatter surfaces below.
All this time, Edwin was a distance behind Kami and Robert, and he filmed the aftermath. Robert visibly looked shaken in the video, but tried to maintain his composure by reporting what had happened. Kami was walking downhill quickly behind him, and when he reached Edwin, he broke down and cried. It was the first time he encountered an avalanche as bad as this. In his Sherpa career of nearly 20 years and having summitted Everest 4 times, he had never seen death so near in his face. Sherpas are a group of strong personalities, and I had mentioned how much I admire this group of people, especially Kami, who accompanied me up to Cho Oyu last year. After I saw the clip, I cried too.
What is next then? Everest had seemed increasingly unstable, but recent weather reports had predicted better skies ahead. The summit window is possibly scheduled on the 16th of May, and the rest of the team is waiting at Base Camp for almost 2 weeks now. A lot of thingshave also happened this time, and could have possibly shaken some of our confidence on the stability of the mountain conditions up high.
This is turning out to be a greater adventure than expected, and what do you do in the face of such uncertainties? For me, I have been trying to keep calm, and somehow, there is a feeling among us that if it happens, it has to happen. We can certainly be more careful, more vigilant with one another, but there is seriously little we can do if the mountain decides to crap up on us. This is the little gamble mountaineers take, the unpredictabilityside of mountains that makes all other sports and activities totally different, and certainly more dangerous.
The good side is that mountaineers can be real forgetful and optimistic people too, as shown by Kami. By now, he is telling people he was getting a pretty good wash from the snow, and his jacket is rather clean now. Robert and Edwin are waiting at Camp 2 to wait to ascend again, and you can detect their steely resolve coming back through the walkietalkie once again.
We can only hope for the best.
Efung/Stefen
1230pm
7th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

2005-05-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

[this was an earlier email from Stefen sent on 7 May; got jumbled up; apologies for late delivery :)]
The Everest Expedition started like a normal expedition, frankly with little excitement and fanfare. I tried to arrange myself in a mood that prepared me for previous expeditions such as the Cho Oyu climb and Gasherbrum II climb, but also knowing that this could well be the biggest and grandest scale expedition that I would ever be part of. Knowing this still kept my expectation to a minimum, but while I want to get through this now, I often wonder if this would ever be THE highlight of my life. Reliving the moment again and again from years from now would be sad, if not pathetic that there are little bigger mountains to be climbed in the far horizon.
I was wrong. This expedition turned out to be more eventful, more scary, and larger than life than I ever imagined. Before coming to Everest, we climbed Island peak, which was given little attention until we finished climbing it. The night we arrived Island Base Camp, a Japanese climber died of heart failure while attempting to summit the mountain. His body was carried through the night into a lower village and passed our tent as we were having dinner. Within those 2 days, we also heard that an Iranian trekker passed away on the Everest Base Camp route.
While trekking to Everest Base Camp, we also heard that a neighbouring mountain, 7000m high Pumori claimed 4 climbers even before the Everest climbing season started. Not a good start, I guess.
Now, with 2 climbers dead on Everest, 8 climbers injured in varying degrees on the mountain, the people resting at base camp are seriously wondering if this is normal on a typical Everest season. The avalanche on Camp 1 happened the day two of my teammates, Robert and Edwin ascended through the Ice Fall and proceeded to Camp 2. They witnessed thedevastation on Camp 1, and realized that if there were any people sleeping in our camp the previous night, consequences would have been very very serious. None of our tents were anywhere in sight, and with all the equipment left there, only the broken handle of a ski pole was dug out 20 metres from where our tents were. One shudders to think what kind of impact could have broken a solid aluminum pole into pieces.
Yesterday, Robert and Edwin were preparing to ascend up to Camp 3 to spend the night, and they got to the bottom of the Lhotse face in the morning. The weather had been snowing steadily for the past few days, and a good few feet of snow had accumulated on the steep face of the Lhotse. Some of the Sherpas were already up the wall clipped to the fixed rope,and Robert was about to walk up to the wall. Without warning, an avalanche the size of a football field triggered off above one of my Sherpas, Kami.
Kami was briefly unclipped to the fixed ropes just before the avalanche, and by a stroke of what I can call good karma, he clipped into the rope above just before the avalanche struck. The snow came up to his chest, and he hung on to the rope while the flood of snow swept through him. A moment of reflex later would have swept Kami off the Lhotse wall.Robert was below him, and when the avalanche came, he actually ran downhill away from the avalanche. The snow caught up with him, and Robert started swimming with the tide to keep afloat on top of the snow. He swam with the avalanche for tens of metres before the momentum of the snow died due to flatter surfaces below.
All this time, Edwin was a distance behind Kami and Robert, and he filmed the aftermath. Robert visibly looked shaken in the video, but tried to maintain his composure by reporting what had happened. Kami was walking downhill quickly behind him, and when he reached Edwin, he broke down and cried. It was the first time he encountered an avalanche as bad as this. In his Sherpa career of nearly 20 years and having summitted Everest 4 times, he had never seen death so near in his face. Sherpas are a group of strong personalities, and I had mentioned how much I admire this group of people, especially Kami, who accompanied me up to Cho Oyu last year. After I saw the clip, I cried too.
What is next then? Everest had seemed increasingly unstable, but recent weather reports had predicted better skies ahead. The summit window is possibly scheduled on the 16th of May, and the rest of the team is waiting at Base Camp for almost 2 weeks now. A lot of things have also happened this time, and could have possibly shaken some of our confidence on the stability of the mountain conditions up high.
This is turning out to be a greater adventure than expected, and what do you do in the face of such uncertainties? For me, I have been trying to keep calm, and somehow, there is a feeling among us that if it happens, it has to happen. We can certainly be more careful, more vigilant with one another, but there is seriously little we can do if the mountain decides to crap up on us. This is the little gamble mountaineers take, the unpredictability side of mountains that makes all other sports and activities totally different, and certainly more dangerous.
The good side is that mountaineers can be real forgetful and optimistic people too, as shown by Kami. By now, he is telling people he was getting a pretty good wash from the snow, and his jacket is rather clean now. Robert and Edwin are waiting at Camp 2 to wait to ascend again, and you can detect their steely resolve coming back through the walkie talkie once again.
We can only hope for the best.
Efung/Stefen
1230pm
7th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

Another Tragedy

2005-05-06T03:03:00.000-07:00

To everyone,

Just another tragedy happened today. At 5.15am this morning, an avalanche swept through the entire Camp 1, obliterating more than 50 tents from different teams in the process. The entire site seemed like a war torn site, and nothing was left standing. Tents, sleeping bags, oxygen bottles were all buried under a layer of snow and debris.

7 climbers were sleeping overnight on that camp last night, and were all found in various injuries by climbers coming up to Camp 1 this morning. One had bad facial and possibly head injuries, while one is currently being stretchered down to Base Camp due to back and spinal injuries. Others were in varying conditions, and could walk down assisted by rescuers.

These climbers were soundly asleep in their tents when it happened, and the avalanche rolled down from the Everest side slope unannounced at daybreak. The avalanche came with such a massive impact eye witnesses at Base Camp estimated the highest point of the cloud of snow and stones to top 20 metres. I believe you can check out the pictures on our official website, www.nus.edu.sg/everest

The upside of this situation was that only 7 climbers were there that night, and the rescue effort went into full throttle almost immediately. Big commercial teams such as ours the International Mountain Guides, Alpine Ascents International and Mountain Madness wasted no time in lending out crucial resources such as manpower, medical supplies and coordinated efforts through a common radio channel. Within 2 hours, Camp 1 had 2 stretchers transported, full medical supplies and a doctor on site to have the situation under control.

It is amazing and heartening to see the big teams putting their heart and soul into this rescue effort, considering that none of their own clients or Sherpas were hurt in this episode. They gave up resources as if their very own peoples’ lives were at stake, and there was little shirking of responsibility when asked. It was the Everest Base Camp as one, all 200 climbers into this crisis together, which was unlike the mood we usually get
from mountaineering expeditions where it was every man for himself.

Our own expedition doctor is on standby when the victims are brought down, and we offered our stretcher and medical supplies when needed. There is little we can do, but we pray for the rescuers and victims to descend safely.

Efung/Stefen
1425 hours
4th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

Reality of the Mountain

2005-05-06T03:02:00.000-07:00

To everyone,

One man passed away in the Khumbu ice fall 2 days ago. This is an American, age unknown, but known to be rather experienced and strong among a group of thread bare mountaineers at the Base Camp who have little Sherpa support and logistic luxury. The man was descending from Camp 2 the same day there was plenty of snow fall, and visibility was bad for any standards. It was also the same day one of my team mates, Kim Boon decided to head down to Base Camp instead of climbing up to Camp 3 due to bad weather conditions.

Kim Boon passed that section 3 hours before this man did, a crumbly ice section that resembled more like a demolition site with hidden crevasses that extend tens of metres into the void. One of the ways to keep one safe was to attach oneself onto the fixed ropes that string the entire route out into safety, which Kim Boon mentioned having difficulty locating the ropes as they were buried deep under a couple of feet of snow. It took a lot of effort and attention to probe the snow with gloves or ice axe to source for the thin ropes, and a bit of temptation to bypass the section without clipping to the safety.

Not trying to speculate here, the man was crossing the same section at 2.30pm, a time when the snow was dumping like crazy and the visibility a mere 5 metres. He was with his team mates, and as he crossed a vertical ladder section, he ascended the slope and was walking along when he somehow slipped into the same crevasse that he crossed. He fell 10 metres into the void, and landed with his legs perhaps broken. He wasn’t clipped in to the fixed safety line which was just above the ladder section.

The team mates immediately tried to assess his situation, and found that it wasn’t serious the way they conveyed through the walkie talkie channels. At that moment, I was having a normal rest day gambling with the Sherpas in their Sherpa tent, when they got word about the accident. Normally, an accident serious enough would have warrant a rescue effort from Sherpas of different teams, and the reaction would have been instantaneous. However, the Sherpas got back to their cards after learning that it wasn’t that serious. I didn’t think it too.

Up at the ice fall then, people have begun forming round the accident site. The victim was still conscious then, exclaiming to his mates that he was alright. His legs were just injured, and his team mates felt it wasn’t that serious. A puzzling note was that no one tried to extract him, due to a lack of mountaineering equipment and devices among them.
There wasn’t even an ice axe among any of the climbers, a rarity among mountaineers on Everest. An hour later, the man started complaining about rib pains and internal injuries. He lost consciousness a while later, and two of his team mates, including his brother who was medically trained, abseiled into the crevasse to perform resuscitation techniques on him for the next 2 hours. On the third hour of the accident, the man was pronounced dead.

By then, the Everest Base Camp had gotten word of this tragedy, and we got our information from our in-charge who had direct contact with the people involved and the doctors who were in consultation with the victim’s team mates. This is the first time that a fatality had
occurred in the Ice Fall in almost 5 years, and a darker mood set into the dinner atmosphere that night. Questions, alternate theories and possible explanations arose
during the passing of plates and in between chewing of the fried rice that day, but none can deny that the mountain towering in front of us had gotten slightly more sinister, and our vigilance in the mountains definitely need to up one more notch. There is little that separates us and this climber, and there is little fantasy that this couldn’t happen to us. The tragedy was real, right at our door step, and at the moment when we were preparing for our summit bid. It was bad news for everyone.

The rescue effort had since gone underway, and up to 20 Sherpas and climbers are conducting the effort to transport the body down. The man weighed a hefty 120kg, and up till now, 2 days after the accident, the body has yet to reach the Base camp which would have normally taken a climber less than 2 hours to get down. It is a tremendous effort, as the route down is still filled with crevasses and traps that would have endangered the lives of the rescuers.

As we looked at what had happened so far at Everest this season, one person had died in the Ice Fall, while one Canadian climber had also passed away in his sleep in a lower village while resting from the rigors of climbing Everest. An American guide had broken his leg in the Ice Fall, and numerous climbers had given up their quest for Everest to leave for home after finding out that this is not a fairy tale climb. The voluntary doctors stationed here for the entire season had seen more than 150 patients so far, about half of them slightly serious.

My team, now resting at Base Camp, felt shaken but have taken a practical approach to things. All these things have had happened in the course of history throughout mountaineering, and over here at Base Camp, the statistics seemed more real and bold. Human error creates such mishaps, and human spirit is what stands above this.

Take care.

Stefen/Efung
1100 hrs
3rd May 2005
Everest Base Camp

30 Min

2005-05-05T03:13:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I do have a bit of time left before dinner, so would just like to fill your day with some thoughts at the moment.

I was just climbing up to Camp 3 to sleep that morning, and my thoughts were suddenly distracted by some stuff, which seldom occurred to me before. I mentioned this in my earlier article, “Little Adventure”, but I said more about this later.

I was thinking of the things I could do when I got back, and frankly speaking, the one thing that I miss most during these expeditions is my girl friend of 5 years, Hui-yi. She is also the kind soul who had been forwarding all these mails to all of you, so I must really thank her for taking care of matters at ‘home’.

Anyway, as I was up the vertical ice wall, I was thinking of instead of doing things immediately with her after I return from Everest, I was thinking of things on a longer scale, one that could possibly take 20 or even 50 years.

I was thinking, do couples ever think of long term plans for themselves? Not in the sense that a couple would think of having 2-3 children, have a nice house, in a nice car, and blah blah happily ever after?

When I was young, I always dreamt of having a world map in my room, and I always imagined that it would be cool to have these stickers with you, and every time you visit or touch down a place, you will put a sticker over the country of interest. Over time, you will have lots of stickers and nice decorations on the world map. Cool.

Now, instead of having that life to yourself, you share your vision and dream places with your loved one. I call it, the “Top 20, 20 year plan”.

There are a few things I would like to do in my life, and these were just some things that ran through my mind as I was up the ice wall. Mind you, I was climbing and fending for my life when all these were going through my head. I had such a fun time thinking this through that my teammate couldn’t understand why I had this smile plastered on my face throughout the climb.

The list goes something like this:

1. Cycling from Singapore back to my hometown in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2. Live in China for more than 6 months
3. Romantic cruise to Artic
4. Backpack in Nepal, Tibet
5. Walk the Inca trail, Peru, South America
6. Do the Milford Sound trek in New Zealand
7. Visit the blues festival in New Orleans, USA
8. A candle light dinner on the top of Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
9. Jeep tour from Europe to Middle East
10. Catch the sakura flowers fall, Japan

I will let her fill up the next 10.

The idea is simple. I watch many couples have fun, get married, and get bogged down by things that they did or didn’t expect. Work comes in, children enter their lives, and suddenly, life is life. It’s no longer us, it’s we.

I will rather see this spark through, and sometimes if you have a plan, you make an effort to see it happen. The 20 things might not materialize over 20 years, but when you have that list hanging on the fridge door for a long while, it might just take off. Just looking at the list will tell you how much you might be missing. And how much you loved each other to share these dreams.

Just like the imaginary world map in my head, with multiple stickers in Nepal.

South America, anyone? Or suggestions?

Efung/Stefen
6.00pm
29th April 2005
Everest Base Camp

Morning Blues

2005-05-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

It’s me again, your friendly roving reporter in the Everest Base Camp. I have received encouraging greetings and interesting letters from many of you, so much so that my teammates are now complaining about me hogging the computers too much.

I haven’t got the time to answer each and everyone of you, but please ensure that I have read every single letter addressed to me, and I appreciate you for doing so.

Are you a morning person?

I always thought that I am a pretty morning person. When I was working as an engineer (briefly), I woke up at 5.30am every morning however late the previous night was, drowsily make a cup of coffee (the same Nescafe 3 in 1 I drink here) in the microwave, drink it, my senses briefly lit up, and soak in the tranquil state of the transition between night and dawn. My body felt slightly lazy from the slumber, I slowly walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth, plait my hair, and read any magazine in the bathroom while I did my daily routine of warming the bathroom seat. Then at 6.00am, I am fresh, with my office attire walking out of the house towards the nearest bus stop where I start my daily 2-hour commute to my office.

When I enter the commuter train at around 6.30am, I am always faced with trainloads of half dead pale yellow faces plastered on the windows of the trains. Their ties slightly crumpled, make up more smeared on than patted on, this sight is certainly not representative of “Uniquely Singapore”. I squeezed among these sardines, made a bit of elbowroom for myself, and take out my book of the day to start reading. And read continuously for the next 1.5 hours till my train reached the other end of Singapore. Then I will enter my office and start napping.

In Everest, this is certainly not the case.

You wake up; the darkness hits your eyes. You look around you, and slowly realize that this is not the bed with your favorite teddy bears, or the one with nice scented candles round the edge. Your toes have frozen numb over the night and your fingers are also icy at touch. You wouldn’t touch yourself so as to freeze yourself. (Go figure.) The entire interior of the tent is covered with hoar frost due to the condensation of your breathing. You look to your side and you see your teammate still sleeping rather soundly, and rather loudly. You can also smell his 5-day-old breath as he failed to brush his teeth while climbing up the mountains. He claimed that toothbrushes are too heavy. Smells like yesterday night’s macaroni and cheese. With a bit of Oreo stuck between his teeth.

Its 3.00am, and -20 degrees Celsius in pitch darkness.

It is a typical morning in the mountains. You are supposed to roll out of your sleeping bag, the only warm thing you have, and start the pots boiling. Go slightly outside the tent, and collect snow and ice to be melted for water. Your teammate slowly rolls out of his sleeping bag as well, his unkempt grassy hair looking like one of those Mardi gras performers, looks at you with one half opened glassy eye, and rolls back into his cocoon.

45 minutes later. The water finally starts steaming, as you and your teammate are barely awake by now. You sort out your cold metal climbing gear around in the small confines of the tent where it is hard to sit upright without bumping the top, and as a good hearted morning joke, you place one of the freezing cold karabinars (a climbing tool) onto your buddy’s face. His steel cold expression suggests to you he is not amused.

You prepare your breakfast by pouring some of the boiling water into your cup with nutritious milo, and your bowl with some piping hot water mixed with gooey milk mix and froot loops. The milo has some of the cream of mushroom after taste from the previous night, while the bowl still has an oil film of curry instant noodles soup and flour bits plastered on the bowl. Yummy….

45 minutes later. Both of you are engaging in a wrestling match in a tiny ring, as both try to wear your appropriate clothes for the mountain environment. Wearing your pants and pulling over your jacket seemed more like a contortionist show than a tiger show. As you start equipping yourself with the mountain gear, such as the ice axe, crampons and big boots, you realize they are all layered caked with snow from the blizzard last night. Brushing them off cause you more numbing pain on your fingers, as you curse yourself why you didn’t bring them into the tent the day before.

30 minutes later. You have put on your equipment, packed the things in your backpack, and decided to dismantle the tent as well. You and your buddy cursed and swore as you kicked the pegs loose that were frozen solid to the ground, collapse the body under the windy and snowy environment, and froze your hands off as you wrapped the tent into a small clump of nylon and into a bag.

5.00am.The sky had barely brightened, the air still frigid cold, and you have stood out of the open prepared to start the day of great mountaineering. And already your pack is half filled with snow as the down pour of snow continued.

Then you realized that you forgot to brush your teeth, comb your hair, warm whatever snow patch there is. Again.

Efung/Stefen
28th April 2005
1517 hours
Everest Base Camp

Warning: Long, long, long post ahead

2005-04-29T03:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, E-fung has outdone himself this time. The recent post came up to 3 pages (Times New Roman, font size 12). Chatty guy, isn't he? Anyways, for those of you who have kept up with his postings so far, well done, keep it up. For those of you who haven't: Hey! just click on the postings that you've missed, and you can even view the archives over the past months. Better read hor, E-fung's gonna quiz us when he gets back...

For those of you who are too lazy, the story thus far: Well, basically, the team is doing very well. For a taste of what they face, do go onto the NUS website, they have excellent videos of the team. My personal fav: http://www.nus.edu.sg/everest/gallery/video/meta/everest_khumbu.asx

Little Adventures

2005-04-29T03:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,

It had been 6 days since I left Base Camp, and came back yesterday weary and worn from all the climbing and bad food that we had to suffer.

On the 21st of April, the team set off from Base Camp at first light with more anticipation than the first time. The Ice Fall seemed more familiar, as the crevasses that seem like random deadly traps at first impression seemed more like necessary obstacles that tested our mettle. The multiple ladder crossings that we overcame like frightened ducklings during our virgin crossing were completed with more resolve and with a slight indifferent attitude. The focus wasn’t on the immediate dangers of the Ice Fall, but towards Camp 3 where we were heading. It was a different mission, not one to familiarize ourselves with the characteristics of Everest, but to break new grounds.

This time round, we trekked up to Camp 2 in a single day. The first time took us 2 days and nearly 12 hours of trekking, while this time, with heavier loads and more posing with the peace sign in front of the camera, we were able to goof up the mountain in a straight 9 hours. Everyone felt more comfortable, as we felt more acclimatized on this terrain and altitude.

Camp 2 is a whole new world compared to the last time we touched it. Looking like a mini clone from Base Camp, Camp 2 is situated on a strip of morrain next to a vast snowfield and icefall terrain. A village of tents had invaded the grounds there, and a rock face nearly 2000m high marks the line where the invasion ends. Our camp was situated at the top of this strip, and from the first tent to our tent was 1 hour of hard trekking. I can assure you that we were cursing and heaving all the way to our tent as we saw that the next tent and the next next tent wasn’t ours.

Camp 2 had transformed into an alternative Base Camp for those who are apprehensive of the Ice Fall, as the Camp has similar facilities to what is offered below. 2 kitchen staff have been thrown up there at an altitude of 6400m to be permanently stationed till the season is over almost 45 days!), and their job was 2 fold. One, to feed lazy climbers like me who can’t be bothered to cook, and two, to safe guard the oxygen supplies which are precious like Microsoft shares up in the mountains.

Reaching Camp 2 with these facilities was certainly a blessing for us, as we could just reach out our hands and hot Sherpa tea will be served. Open our mouths and steamed potato will be stuffed right in. A knowingly nod with our heads and additional rice will appear magically on our plates. Twitch our ears and our bottles will be filled with hot water. You hardly have to do anything here, and we felt like kings in a paper castle. Cool.

In other mountains, reaching Camp 2 or a similar height will make you want to dive into the tent first, and then go out and collect snow or ice and start cooking. If you are hardworking, your first cup of Sherpa tea will appear 1.5 hours after you finish scraping the snow, setting the pot to a boil, wait for the ice to melt slowly, spill the water on your lap a few times, and pouring the tea leaves in the confines of your little shelter and enjoy it with your tent mate while he ups the sensation with the sweet aroma of his freshly peeled off socks. Everest Camp 2 in comparison is heaven.

We rested at this Camp for a full day, soaking in the atmosphere and admiring the view of the route up Everest. The Lhotse face was right in front of us, a formidable near vertical face of 2000m high with hard ice and snow blocks that were threatening to tear off the wall at any moment. On the left was the iconic Geneva Spur, an interesting feature that looked more like a mountain that we had to move around to reach Camp 4. From there on, the route looks beyond what we could see and beyond, was the South summit that was 400m below the summit of Everest. Everything looked real and scary, and never before was this sense of scale and challenge so close to the face. Every time I stared at the route, the roof of my mouth goes parched and my bladder feels a bit fuller.

On the 23rd of April, the team with some of the Sherpas ascended the Lhotse face to try to reach Camp 3, 700m higher than Camp 2. This could well be the toughest stretch so far. Nearly vertical and the face covered with extremely hard ice, climbing up the wall was a challenge even on the toughest heels. Loading our bodies on ascender devices on the fixed rope, the surface was very harsh on our heels as we had to hammer our heels into the hard ice to stay on the face. I was practically hurt to tears as my heels had to dig into the solid surface which seemed to be undeterred every time I pounded them onto the surface.

I reached a height of 6900m before turning back to return to the paper castle of Camp 2 to recuperate. We rested there for a day more, before returning to attempt to spend a night on Camp 3. By then, some of the members have returned to Base Camp as the altitude on
Camp 2 wasn’t good enough to have a good enough rest. 4 out of 8 of us remained, and we headed towards the Lhotse wall on the morning of 25th.

This time round, like the Ice Fall rotation, we felt much better. The heels either went numb with pain or hardened with resolve, as we kicked in the ice with more precision. The breathing went smoother, and we ascended the wall in almost half the time we took the last time. It was amazing, and I remembered I was dreaming about things I could do when I go home. More about this later.

I reached Camp 3 that early afternoon with Lindley that day, and I looked around the camp. There were no piping hot Sherpa tea waiting for me, but the scenery really took me away. It was at this juncture that I really felt I was climbing Everest, as I saw the famous yellow band of Everest on a similar height as me, and I could see the minuscule details on the summit face of Everest without binoculars. It felt similar to staring up at the Eiffel tower at the ticket booth below, or staring up at the nostril hair of your best friend. It was so close I could smell and breathe Everest. The Dream suddenly seemed so close.

Camp 3 was also one of the most dangerous campsites I have encountered, as the camp was situated on a 60 degree snow and ice slope, and the tents precariously pitched on the sloping face. Numerous accounts of climbers coming out for a dump in the middle of the night and slipping off the face never to be seen again was no myth, and last year a fresh account of a climber who fell into a crevasse after he slipped off remained fresh on the minds of our Sherpas. To solve that problem, Lindley and I resolved to shit in the tent if necessary. Lindley stayed true to his word that very night, as I was appreciating my Nescafe while we were so close parts of our bodies touched. This is team bonding at its very best.

We settled in that night with an oxygen tank shared between us, as winds blew over our tents and sent spin drift snow into the interiors of our tents. We still slept well, tired and spent from the day’s journey but comfortable with the supplementary oxygen up our throats. The next day was started fresh, and we descended all the way down to Base Camp in time for lunch.

Tiring, but satisfying. Now we are ready for the summit bid of Everest.

And to interest or bore you with more stories now that I am momentarily back at Base Camp.

Efung/Stefen
Everest Base Camp
27th April 2005
1200hrs

Back at EBC

2005-04-27T23:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,

I have just reached base camp after 6 long days above Camp 1, and have managed to touch Camp 3 and sleep there. I am now tired, famished, and movie hungry. My socks stink, my body ache, and my boxers smell worse than my socks.

I have also thought of a few topics which might interest all of you, so stay tuned as I consolidate my thoughts and dirty laundry together.

Prepare for an avalanche of tall tales starting tomorrow …..

Efung/Stefen
26th April 2005
1519 hrs

Short note

2005-04-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Just to let everyone know that I will be departing for Camp 2 tomorrow, after spending too many nights watching countless movies and consuming more potato chips than I have over the past year.

This will also take a break from all the columns I have written, and will be doing some serious climbing (hell yah!) for the next 7 days. I will be attempting to sleep on Camp 3, at an altitude of 7300m on oxygen before coming back to prepare for the summit bid of Everest.

For those who are in the dark or just choose to be blissfully ignorant, you may wish to know that I will be spending my 25th hatch day the day I depart, to do the thing I most love. I have a simple wish for all of you, and that is to send your best wishes over. It will also be good for those who have yet to send me an email all this while to know that my mails don’t get into your junk mail folder or ignored list.

The team will still be updated over the official website, www.nus.edu.sg/everest http://www.nus.edu.sg/everest everyday while we are gone.

Take care, eat fried carrot cake the next time you think of me, and may the mountain gods be good to us.

Efung/Stefen

20th April 2005
1432 hrs
Everest Base Camp

The Nature of Things

2005-04-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Just to let all of you know that I have been getting lots of feedback from many of you, and I really appreciate it. Thanks for making the effort to replying to my stories, and also update me with your lives.

I realize that the number one question in many of your replies is, “you seem to be so free to type all these long winded emails, I thought you were climbing??!”

To answer that question, I must first talk about movies. Everyone in this mailing list have watched a movie before, and most movies last for 2 hours for the sole purpose of fishing 10 dollars out of your pocket to capture your ultimate attention. If a movie like “Gangs of New York” had actual real time playing out scenes like having meals and growing up, the movie would have lasted for 18 years. Every night Leonardo Di Caprio sleeps, the movie reel would have followed his every turn on the bed and picking of his nose. Or scratching of his butt. If movies are like this, the audience would have lost the distilled message of the movie, and gone to sleep by the time Leonardo Di Caprio’ character celebrated his 4th birthday.

It’s the same for mountaineering. Enough national geographic programmes, extreme adventure shows and hair brained movies like “Vertical Limit” have convinced many of you, including me, that extreme sports like mountaineering is made up of tall handsome burly men who exchange ice axes and go flying around attaching themselves to cliffs and snow caves. They seem to emanate that “gung-ho” and mysterious spirit that wraps them in an invincible-like aura. And all these happen within the allocated time of 2 hours. No time to show these heroes going to the boulders for their call of nature, and no time to show these idols trimming their toe nails in the comfort of their tents.

Climbing Everest, as I have said, is a 3 month process. It took 3 years to prepare coming here, including going for smaller mountain expeditions and training aggressively almost everyday for the last 3 years. The actual climbing on Everest is a fraction of the actual expedition of 3 months, but they will certainly be the highlight of the entire journey. There are many other factors concerning an expedition, including adequate recovery time, setting route schedule, and most importantly, weather.

On Gasherbrum II in Pakistan last year, snowfall came for a week continuously, and by the time the snowfall ended, we had to wait for 3 more days before resuming our journey up the mountain. 10 days went by watching the snow flakes fall, and you cannot imagine how utterly bored we were. The only things that kept us busy were endless games of chess and exhausting all the topics we could talk about.

And wait we must.

This time round, the expedition is similar. Instead of facing periods of bad weather, the advancement of the route is dictated by the speed our sherpas are setting up the route. The Everest Base Camp is made up of over 20 expeditions, and each expedition has their own sherpas and crew. For the interest of their sherpas, every group is waiting for the first group to pull through the route up the mountain so others can follow. And waiting are all the rest of the expeditions. It is a tiring mix of politics and leadership, but our group is going to be the first pushing up the route to Camp 3. And we aim to depart for the Ice Fall on the 22nd April, for a total of near 10 consecutive days up in the mountain.

And if all these succeed, these moments of triumph, whether it’s a picture of the members crossing the icefall, or standing on the summit of Everest, will enshrine in our memories for a long moment to come.

And you will not remember that I had too much time to idle around at Base Camp.

Efung/Stefen
Everest Base Camp
1509hrs
18th April 2005

Amazing People

2005-04-17T00:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone

It will be almost a week before I head up to the mountains again, so there is plenty of time for me to update you all with some of my observations on mountaineering in general.

I have mentioned this once on my last Cho Oyu trip in Tibet, and I would like to highlight it again in this column. Sherpas are indeed the most amazing people on the mountains, and I find new things to admire about them almost everyday.

A short info about these people.

Native to the villages around the Everest region, Sherpa is one of the many dialect groups in Nepal. They were brought to prominence in 1953 when Edmund Hillary summitted Everest with Tenzing Norgay, the most well known Sherpa ever. Ever since, “Sherpas” have been forever linked to being excellent and loyal guides to mountaineering expeditions, though “Sherpas” are not necessarily made up of people from the sherpa dialect, but other dialects such as Gurungs, Gurkhas, and others.

Incidentally, most of our local guides for this Everest expedition are Sherpas, and I have been really impressed by their work rate and great personality. Strong, hardworking, cheerful, carefree and dedicated, they form the bedrock of almost all expeditions here.

Without them, it would be really hard to imagine stepping beyond the Ice fall. The notorious Ice Fall, made up of huge crevasses and unstable blocks of ice is only made passable by a group of “ice doctors”. These “ice doctors”, made up of a group of Sherpas, come to Everest every year with a few kilometers of rope and numerous ladders to string up series of amazing crossings so that mountaineers like me can cross 5m cracks with ladders strung horizontally across. In the past, the main dangers of the ice fall is when climbers move between towering blocks of ice and these blocks of ice can collapse at any time of the day without much hint of collapse. These days, while still volatile, the crossings are made safer with ladders and fixed rope attached throughout the route. It’s hard to imagine dragging yourself up the mountain, let alone with five 3m
ladders strapped to your back.

The sherpas in our team, have also been working extra hard for the past few days. Every morning at 5am for the last 3 mornings, each sherpa carries 35kg of load up to Camp 2, drops the load, sets up the infrastructure, and comes back to Base Camp in time for lunch. This cycle will take us climbers almost 3 days to complete, albeit without the loads.

These loads include oxygen tanks, food, a huge tent to be set up as a second base station (I heard it weighs near 100kg), underwear, and many more. On the oxygen itself, we are transporting 40 bottles at 8kg each up to 7000m, and none of this carried by us till the summit push. These Sherpas are actually ferrying up to 1.5 tonnes of gear up to 7000m without having climbers do a thing, and I do feel really guilty sometimes.

A normal climber is to pass by the Ice fall an average of 5 times before summitting Everest, while an average Sherpa would have ferried loads past the Ice fall 15 times before guiding his client up the summit of Everest.

If there is anything that will make me admire them more, is their extremely positive sense of humor and wide natured smile that shows little hint of hardship. Humble and fiercely loyal to their clients, these people are not just excellent mountain guides, they are also widely revered as soldiers and personal body guides all over the world. The Sherpa personality is certainly to be admired, and even as a model where materialism
and status hunger have yet to rob them of their innocence and outlook in life.

As I have said last year, it is the amazing competence of the Sherpa that it has made possible for us to sneak up Everest, or many other mountains in theHimalayas.

PS: I have just visited my blog site at <http://www.supportnuseverest.blogspot.com> , and thanks to Mark for doing an amazing job! Do forward this link to all your friends and enemies!

Stefen/Efung
Everest Base Camp
16th April 2005
1538hrs

Love and Great Personalities

2005-04-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

Hi all again,

I realize that people come to Everest for a wide variety of reasons. Everest is famous in many ways, so much so that I can bet you one yak butter tea that people know more about Everest than Nepal. And I can also bet you 2 yak butter teas that these same people didn’t know that the north side of Everest lies in Tibet.

In a way, Everest has certainly reached its ‘celebrity diva’ status, so much so that there is only a fraction of people who come here to climb the mountain. The rest of them come here and soak in the atmosphere, tour the base camp and stare at us climbers like chimpanzees in an open safari, get married, play ice hockey (yes!!! More bizarre than the pop corny ice fall), do scientific studies on the climbers, and many other monkey business.

Everest Base Camp can be the ideal place to do the “highest” thing on earth. 2 voluntary doctors from Belgium, attached to Everest Base Camp for the entire season of 3 months to aid mountaineers who succumb to altitude sickness, have also decided to get hitched on the “highest” place on earth. Their ceremony was a really sweet one, as they dressed in traditional Nepali dress and got their vows over the puja, a traditional ceremony to appease the mountain gods. We did our part by presenting the bride with a pair of Singaporean Orchid earrings, and “love” is in the air. However, no sherpa dared to tell them that intimacy between couples is frowned upon on Everest Base Camp. I hope they wouldn’t do anything beyond holding hands in their own tent.

Canadians are the next very interesting group of people we have met on the Base Camp. Claiming themselves to be scientific researchers, they have come from a few reputable universities to access the changing behaviors of mountaineers on high altitudes. They have also come to Everest Base Camp to play the “highest” ice hockey game on earth.
Explaining that the Canadian hockey season is out due to a league strike by all the players this year, the whole of Canada is craving for a hockey match, even if the match is played by a group of researchers who all looked like they had altitude sickness and food poisoning after arriving EBC. If anyone watched the telecast, please let me know if
It’s interesting….

Even within the same expedition group, there are people with very different agendas. Some are attached to the expedition to trek to the Everest Base Camp and back. Some come here to climb the ice fall, and that’s it. That’s it will cost them the actual permit to climb Everest, which will easily reach $30,000 USD per person. Some come here with the intention of trying to see if they like climbing Everest. If they don’t like it, it will merely cost them $60,000 USD to find out.

It’s strange that at the gathering of so many people at the base of the world’s highest mountain, it’s harder to find out a common reason why people want to climb it. Instead of thinking that all Everest climbers are like-minded, it gets more and more confusing at getting a uniform answer. Maybe that’s why Everest has such a ‘diva’ status. Because its there.

And yes, you can keep the yak butter tea that I won.

Efung/Stefen
Everest Base Camp
13th April 2005
1804 hours

Lost in Translation

2005-04-14T01:56:00.000-07:00

To all viewers and loyal followers of this blog: My apologies for the lack of updates on this site. I've been lagging behind in getting the posts from E-fung, mainly cause I've just changed my e-mail account. Anyway, the issues have been settled, and now, back to our regular program...

Mark

To the Icefall and Back

2005-04-14T01:48:00.000-07:00

Seems like stories start coming in when you are doing something new.

I have just returned from Camp 1 of Everest, where I reached Camp 2 yesterday despite having one of the worst weather days since reaching Everest Base Camp. I will try to contain the entire experience within the next page or so, but I know its quite impossible.

Anyway, let’s go on the ride with me. We started the day on the 10th at 5am, and started walking out to the icefall which is about 3 stone throws away from our camp. I have never described the ice fall to you before, but for Everest’s fame at being the highest mountain, the icefall has a rather notorious reputation as well. An ice fall is basically a big piece of ice block, hacked into millions and millions of pieces by nature. In Singapore, where there is the famous“ice kacang”, you can imagine it so being a small mountain of ice hacked into juicy pieces topped up with sugared syrup. Now imagine having all theSingapore’s ice kacang sellers whirling their ice kacang machines together,pour them into Orchard Road at the same time, and you will still get nothing like the Everest Ice Fall, or the Khumbu Ice Fall, they call it.

The Khumbu Ice Fall is almost 1km high from bottom to top, and it takes a guy like me 6 hours to cross. Unlike flurries of ice that meet me, huge chunks of ice the size of big bungalows lay on the path like a bad traffic accident that goes on and on. In fact, the ice fall is so massive that cracks between them need to be crossed with ladders tied together, either horizontally or vertically. The most that the ladders were strung together was 5 ladders, and it takes a good ballerina with articulate balance to cross those. For me, I looked like a duck with 2 left feet trying to break the ladders apart.

By itself, the Khumbu ice fall would have looked beautiful. Just as I was remarking at its pristine beauty in its disarray, a tower of ice not lower than 4 storeys high less than 50 metres from me collapsed right in front ofmy eyes. The booming explosion that followed was so deafening I could only stare in shock. It also reminded me why the Khumbu ice fall was so feared amongst the sherpas and climbers, as the ice fall is in constant motion ofexpanding and contracting, and the ice fall has so far claimed the most number of lives on Everest. The incident caused me to quicken my pace through the ice fall.

We reached camp 1 at around 12 that day. Just when you thought thehighlight of the day was over. We got into our tents, into our sleeping bags, and thought the worst of the day was over. The winds started pickingup around the tent, and I was looking at my tent mate, Edwin, and gave a grimaced smile. The day shouldn’t get worse, right?

By mid afternoon, the wind was picking up to a point our tents were absolutely roaring into us. We couldn’t even hear ourselves speak, as the winds got up to an estimated 80km/h. We were forced to set up our stoves inside our tents, as our tents flapped wildly around us. It’s not everyday that the top of the tent comes down to kiss you on the forehead and back. It ’s a clear sign that if the winds got any stronger,the tents would have collapsed. Since when does the three little pigs story come so true to us?

That night was a pretty eventful one. The tents were roaring throughout thenight, andEdwin had to stretch out his arm to keep the tent from collapsing. We could hardly sleep that night, as the winds probably reached a high of 100km/h. Later on, I had people at base camp telling me the night was so windy atbase camp they felt that it sounded like an airport. To me, that night probably sounded like we were just behind the turbine engine of a jetliner.

The next day was exciting as well, but uneventful compared to the first. We basically went up to Camp 2 despite high winds, and we came back to Camp 1 to stay overnight. We are also the first team this season to have made it this far, and I heard that the sherpas are making rounds that they arepretty impressed by us.

By this morning, when we returned from Camp 1, we were pretty exhausted by the entire journey. I was even numbed by the navigating through the icefallas I had my sights on the base camp, the nice meals, and the laptop. Comingback was like returning to paradise, as I tried to think back and feel thatthe experience wasn’t so bad.

I guess it was, and it was pretty good test of our limits.

Efung/Stefen
Everest Base Camp
1426hrs
12th April 2005

More from the Everest Base Camp

2005-04-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

It’s me again, your resident story teller.

Hope you don’t find me too frequent and irritating, but I will be up in the mountains doing what I amsupposed to in a couple of days.

What’s going to be the topic today? Today, I will talk about what is in my tent. A tent to many, is a shelter that someone lives in during short outdoor trips or when chased out of the home by your mother or wife. More likely wife, and when she keeps your wallet as well. The tent will be your shelter for the night, or the next many nights as you beg her to allow you to re-enter back into the house.

To me, a tent in Everest is special. It’s your home for the next 2 months, not a mere refuge for you to take comfort in the night, but a soulful placewhere you find yourself and your close ones. For me, I surround myself in the tent with happy things, and it definitely looks like my hostel room when I was in varsity. This is of course, with the exception that I can hardly sit upright in the tent without bumping my head, and I cannot freely outstretch my limbs without knocking my usually full pee bottle over. This is despite the fact that I am not a big guy.

To the point. When you enter my tent, the first thing that you will see is the flurry of flags hanging around the top confines of my tent. Flags representing Singapore, Malaysia, NUS, Eusoff Hall, (which I had stayed during my varsity years), my family business all surround me. There is even my Temasek Junior College tie which I hang at one corner of the tent. These are
are all organizations that represent me, which I am also proud to represent, and they remind me of my purpose and place.

At the very top of my tent, I hang my little monkey (beanie) doll namedMooch, given to me by my girlfriend at the beginning of my travels. This monkey has been to all the mountains I have climbed, and all the foreigncountries I have stepped on. It’s quite a survivor, and it intends to climb Everest without Oxygen!

Around the floors of my tent, I have all the good food that I have surrounded myself with for good morale. 2 kg of famous Amos cookies, 3 big packets of nice salted fish from Hokkaido given by a good Japanese friend, 2 pounds of beef jerky bought from America all keep my mouth busy and moving when I am reading a good book in my tent.

On the other side, I have more than 10 books with current affairs that keeps my dull brain working, with titles like “wisdom of crowds”, the economist, and lots of photography books. I have recently finished reading a book titled “Blink” by Malcolm Galdwell.

All other parts of my tent is filled with my camera equipment, mygirlfriend’s photos, CDs, MP3 players, warm clothing, and of course my peebottle, which I use every single night.

All these keep me sane and happy, and takes me to another part of the world.

I will be leaving for Camp 1 in 2 days time, and will only be back in themiddle of the month. Take care, and you can catch another update from me onthe www.nus.edu.sg/everest<http://www.nus.edu.sg/everest> . There’s even a recent photo of me inside.Bless all, and may the weather in everest and at your home be bright andsunny.

Love,Efung/Stefen

Yak Talk

2005-04-07T01:33:00.000-07:00

To everyone,

Well, as promised, I am going to talk about yaks today. Nothing much has happened since my last email, except for eating well and watching a coupleof good movies. I have also gotten my first shower in 3 weeks, right in the middle of the morrain where the water was gas powered to keep the water heated. Now my dandruff is getting worse, and my skin is still flaking fromthe dead skin cells from yesterday.

Yaks. Right.

For those who have yet to see a yak before, it’s an animal that looks likea cross between a cow and a furry me after spending 3 months in themountains. It stands around 1.3m, has 4 legs and a bushy tail. It should weigh quite heavy as I failed to carry one the last time. I have encountered yaks since my earlier Himalayan climbing days, and they are used extensively on high altitudes in the Tibetan highlands and the Everestregion in Nepal. They are also just about the cutest and most intelligent animals I have met in my life, apart from my pet chinchillas.

Yaks are sort of a god-send for the locals who use them, using them as food, labour, fuel, and all sorts of things to do with them. Do you know that before the introduction of synthetics materials, yak hair is the main material for Santas’ beards in America? And do you know, apart from yak tasting great in curry, yak dung is also used as fuel in the highlands ofNepal and Tibet where trees are rare? Nak, the female version of yak,produces milk for the production of yak cheese and disgusting yak buttertea, a local drink for both Nepalese and Tibetans that taste like bland tea

Yaks live to an average lifespan of 20 years old, while zopkios, a hybrid between a nak and a bull, live to a healthy age of 25. Yaks could bedefined by their long shaggy hair and upturned horns, while zopkios can bedistinguished by their well shaven legs (like models on a catwalk) andslightly straighter horns. For some reason, I find myself being more attracted to the zopkios’ soulful potato-sized eyes and the uncanny abilityto clean their nostrils with their tongues.

Under the sharp observations that I had of yaks, I also noticed that they are able to scratch their ears with their hind legs with grace. Imagine that you, while sitting there on your desk reading my email. Now try to scratch the back of your ear with either of your toes. Cannot right?

Now imagine yourself to be 5 times heavier, and the fact that you have so much hair on your body that you cannot distinguish your nose from your ears. It’s really amazing what these big beautiful beasts can do.

Apart from all these amazing things these yaks can do, they can also haulloads up to the everest base camp for us. At the beginning of summer, wherethe pasture is still sparse, they are able to haul 60 kg of loads for 8 hours without a spot of drink or food. At the end of this expedition, when the pastures are more readily available, they are able to haul up to 100kgof loads without a sweat. And they don’t even make irritating noises like baboons or me.

And are these creatures hardy. At one of the campsites, the weather wasturning in bad and all the weak humans had to don lots of artificialclothing to keep themselves warm. And the yaks? They were happily sittingdown on the field outside us and napping in the minus 10 degree weatherwhile there were strong winds and snow. They looked so comfortable thatnight I had fantasies about sleeping with them instead.

I was also watching how the yak herders were interacting with these animals, and I came to the conclusion that while the yaks cannot understand people like me, the yaks have mastered the Nepali language to a T. The yakherders just have to say some thing, and the yak will either turn left or right on the trail, or continue to move. The amazing thing that I have witnessed was one early morning, when a female yak herder was speaking somestuff to the group of yaks, and yaks promptly walked out of their stableand to an open field almost 150 m away! I was there in my pyjamas and bunny slippers and my jaw just dropped.

There you have it. Where else can you find something that tastes so goodand yet so intelligent?

Till the next issue, I will see you guys again.

Efung/Stefen
6th April 2005
1546 hours
Everest Base

3400m high!

2005-03-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I am now in Namche Bazaar, a place which is often mentioned in expeditions and travels in Nepal. At an altitude of 3400m, it is one of the highest civilizations where Tibetan and Nepali traders meet to exchange produce and services.

Its also amazing that at this altitude, there is a pretty decent bakery, an internet café (!!!!????), stores that sell the same stuff as Nepal at sea level, and a North face shop that sells proper mountaineering gear. Its like walking into a shopping district in any major town, except that you can see humongous Himalayan peaks in the background, indicating what a unique place this location is.

Namche Bazaar is a 2 day walk from Lukla, and we stayed in a smaller town the night earlier. As I was trekking along the route that leads us to Everest Base Camp, I couldn’t help but wonder how beautiful life can be. The moment we landed in Lukla, it felt like miles apart from Kathmandu, and worlds apart from Singapore where I was just less than a week ago. It felt like ages.

The fresh air, the picturesque landscape that greets you at every corner, little children so adorable coming up to you for pens and sweets, the easy trail that allows you to admire the surroundings and work up an easy sweat at the same time, travelers you meet along the way, its all part of a experience I find really beautiful. There were many moments that I reminded myself to tell all of you that you MUST, make a trip to Nepal at least once in your lifetime. And do a trek that offers so much to change your perspective. A simple walk in the national park will teach you more lessons and reflections than you would ever imagine.

-As the team slowly gets ready to expedition mode, we do have a few struggles of our own. We had dahl baht at practically every meal, and its this dish where there is rice, and heaps of green bean gravy over it. Not the most appetizing, but thats what make all the sherpas nice and strong. Now, my breath smells of dahl baht, my friends smell like dahl baht, even my farts smell like dahl baht. Nepali food does change you, I guess.

Sleeping in tents, and sharing the space with team mates is also a habit resurfaced from past expeditions. Just because I have shared tents with them for the last 3 expeditions doesn’t mean I love it. The combination of 2 pairs of stinky socks peeled out of our aching and wrinkled feet doesn’t do the magnificent scenery around us justice and more so within the small confines of a small tent. Now the tent smells of our feet, and this is only day 5. wait till we scrape the socks of our feet together at day 80.

I am really surprised that I was able to connect with you all this time round, as I thought the entire trek would encounter yaks and yak dung. A internet café out of nowhere really appeals to us, even if it costs 900 rupees an hour to surf the net. And that is around 12 usd if you convert it.

For the next few days, we will probably just relax, and resume our trek to higher places. I am told that this is the best Nepal can get, and there is no dental clinic or internet café until everest base camp.

So until the next time we meet, have fun, and I heard it’s a Friday. Happy weekend to all of you….

Stefen/Efung

Namche Bazaar

19th March 2005 [Hui Yi: woops, sorry for timelag in sending..]

1036hrs

Day 3: Kathmandu

2005-03-16T04:19:00.000-08:00

I am now onto my third day of Nepal, and I have been getting real pampered. Eating gourmet food, lounging around at cafes, getting mistaken for a japanese in every corner of the street, every street peddler offering me full massage services and drugs twice, bathing in the rustic atmosphere which is so uniquely Nepal, it really doesn't seem like I was going to climb Everest.

I speak a lot to the locals here (in Singapore as well), and when they asked me where I was going, I said with a rather proud and smug "Everest". Afterall, I have been here the last 4 times, and each time I had to name a mountain which none of them have heard before.

"Everest? to the top? Oh well..." and carried on doing their work as if I just told them about the correlation between weather changes and sociological climate in Nepal for the last 50 years. In fact, that very answer almost put them to sleep!

My my, the first time I hear it, I was slightly pissed. Then I slowly realised that nepal is a country is one that is virtually obsessed with the word everest. there is everest beer, everest bank, everest trekking, everest wool, everest condoms (i made that up...any takers?) , everest whisky, everest style fried noodles, everest photo lab, etc etc. when they know i am an everest climber, it just puts me in the same lot as all the other provision stores. not very glamorous....

For the rest of you out there, everest does strike something in us which is rather mysterious, to the point untouchable. It was for me as well, and I have yet to demystify this aura. I will let you know on that after the entire expedtion.

I will be flying off tomorrow, to a town called Lukla, where it is a rather famous starting point to everest. I was there 2 years ago to climb a peak called mera, and the town is rather pretty with a 200m runway barely enough for planes and passengers to have their first "life flashing before their eyes" experience.

From there, i will start my trek proper, and we will be doing a peak called Island peak before arriving Everest base camp on the 3rd of April. This will be 3 weeks long, and the everest base camp trek is often said to be some of the most beautiful treks in the world. There will be no contact from now on, until i reach the base camp. You can run through the team's official website, www.nus.edu.sg/everest and see my face inside.

Many have emailed me to say that reading my emails seem to put them out of their world, from the office desk to the great wilderness. I hope to offer you a glimpse of my 'window', and I take no responsibilities if this makes you sick of Orchard road (for my foreign friends, its the fashion and shopping street of Singapore) and of your work.

My beard has started growing, and I have also morphed into a typical Nepali hippie, complete with my little accessories and scraggy hair. Nepal has a strong effect on anybody, and it makes you want to embrace their culture and pace of life in its entirety.

Tommorrow, I will start experiencing a different Nepal, one which is rich in its mountains and mountain folk. I will be your humble guide on this journey, and I will see you at 5500m next.

Efung/Stefen

16-march 2005

Kathmandu

First E-mail from E-Fung

2005-03-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

Day 1 of the expedtion has started.

I arrived in Kathmandu this afternoon, and the sudden air of nostalgia hit me right away. The rickety looking building that is also the airport, the same mousy faced nepali who was in charge of the visa applications, the faded marble tiling that i vividly remembered 5 months ago were all there, all there.

I looked around my team mates, and all of us look subdued, unexcited by the flight. All of us, inlcuding me, hardly slept the night before, as we rushed about the weekend running errands, buying last minute stuff, typing emails, and spent quality time with our loved ones. 3 months is a long time, and all of us are quietly excited at arriving nepal, but the fatigue is also showing.

I remembed that when I sat in the plane before it took off, Khong Lean, my team mate started sleeping the moment he buckled his seat belt. Everest's magnitute is taking extraordinary effort in training, logisitics, time and mental strength, and we have barely started.

After we got out of the airport, it was straight to our hotel, a quaint place which is like 3 worlds away from Singapore. The temperature was nice, the air cool, and for the first time this year, the entire team was able to sit down and chit chat and have tea. And to the women everest team, the brownies were good...:)

The rest of the day was spent lounging around in Tharmel, the main city slum of Kathmandu. I actually took the opportunity to walk around and greet shopkeepers that i have known before, and they all remember me! Either they get really little tourists for the last few years, or they are used to people like me who spend heaps of time in their country. I guess its a combination of 2.

To those who were worried about the political situation in nepal, all i can say is that everything seems normal. the fact that i have to pay 30usd for a visa to enter nepal shows that the government exists right? Everything seems the same, and locals i have spoken to were hardly affected to this. Its just the way Nepalis live, i guess.

So, in a nut shell, everything's cool, the country's alright, and the next few days will be devoted to packing.

Nepal's a great country, and I have a great feeling about this expedition.

Regards,

Stefen/efung
Kathmandu
2058 hrs

Time to Walk the Walk

2005-03-12T04:17:00.000-08:00

The journey has started again, and this time the goal is a little longer, a little harder, and a little higher.

Some of you are familiar with my style the last time in Cho Oyu, and some of you are either new found friends I have met in this rather short journey back in Singapore, or some of you are just email addresses I have just gotton and added to this list.

I am in my final weekend in Singapore, sunny Singapore where it is difficult to feel cool nowadays. I last time I saw snow was just in October last year, less than 5 months ago, and yet that felt really far away. As I looked at the pictures I have taken for the past few months, its still hard to imagine that I was there. Till now, its hard to comprehend that I will be truly focused on my climb on Everest 2 days from now.

I just had a long day yesterday, having attended a big media event in campus. All the media entities that I know were here, and it was kind of like a testament that this project is really quite serious. The day quickly advanced to a farewell party in the evening, at my favourite café (gone fishing) where more than a hundred friends and fellow climbers came to celebrate.

I was hoping to catch up with all of you while I am back in Singapore, but wasn’t able to catch up with all. I apologize for this, but I also know that we are all able to connect with one another from now on via mail.

For all my friends who might not be familiar with my system, the team has satellite communications at Everest base camp. The team will churn out regular official reports through the internet, while I will provide slightly irrelevant and humorous accounts of how I feel about the expedition as it goes on.

Feel free to forward this to your friends, but do not use it as a spam mail to irritate the friends you like less. Bear in mind that 3weeks from now, emails will be sent from 5500m above sea level, thousands of kilometers away from any of you. It takes a lot of brain cells and oxygen to type at that altitude, so I urge you to bear patience with me.

As always, I love feedback, and stuff that you do back home. Try not to let this be a one way street, and I will make an effort to answer all mails, except when I am climbing, which also happens to be the main activity there.

For those who may wish to catch a last glimpse of me or my team before I leave, I will be taking flight TG402 on the 14^th of March, Monday. The timing is at 0820, and the team will be there from 0600 onwards, and expected to enter the gates at 0745.

Be with me along this journey.

Stefen/Efung

NUS Centennial Everest Team

Show your support for the NUS Everest team

2005-03-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome to this blog!

First of all, would like to clarify that I'm not part of the NUS Everest team in any way; Heck, I'm not even a climber. The sole reason for starting this blog is just so that I can post the e-mail updates from the NUS Everest team, and thus share the latest updates on the expedition with everyone.