On the mountain
Great mountain - savage mountain
The local people call her "Great Mountain" but with a fatality rate 3 times greater than Everest, many mountaineers refer to K2 as "Savage Mountain" and few in the climbing world would have been surprised when she claimed at least another 11 lives on Saturday. With the fixed ropes taken out by a falling chunk of ice, and some climbers swept away by the resultant avalanche, already exhausted climbers descending from the summit were trapped in the "death zone" (above 8000m altitude where there is insufficient oxygen in the atmosphere to sustain human life).
Almost two thousand people have summited Everest whereas less than two hundred have stood atop K2. Considered 5 times more dangerous than Everest, 27% of K2 climbers (just over 1 in 4) die on the mountain and many regard her as the most difficult mountain in the world to climb. Lack of infrastructure and entirely unpredictable weather contribute to the already hazardous conditions and in the 2002 and 2003 seasons not one climber managed to reach the summit.
Today helicopter and climbing rescue teams continue to search for missing climbers. Incredibly Dutch expedition leader, Wilco van Rooijen, was found frost bitten but alive after 3 nights exposure on the high slopes and we hope and pray more climbers will be rescued.
One thing is certain, though, mountaineers will continue to attempt to summit that "Great Mountain" while non-climbers shake their heads and wonder why anyone would choose to pit themselves again such terrifying odds.
Kilimanjaro diary - homecoming
This evening all the members of the 1st for Women Kilimanjaro expedition are safely back home. Not quite unscathed (hot tea, spilt on the Air Tanzania flight back to Joburg, burnt Andy quite badly) but being back home and pampered by loved ones will definitely help to minimise the hardships of the past week although it will take a while before the muscles stop aching and the affects of high altitude wear off.
Today, on the car ride from the airport to her home, Deshun reflected on the past week:
Kilimanjaro diary - pics!
Here are the pics received so far - none of summit day yet but that could be because the weather was so atrocious.
Tuesday morning - the 1st climbing day
Looking great in their pink 1st for Women t-shirts the team pass through the rain forest early on Tuesday morning.
Everyone would have been feeling anxious and unsure of what challenges lay ahead. "Can I really do this?" at the forefront of the mind. The competition winners were finally getting to try out their new gear.
Rongai route passes through 3 or 4 different vegetation belts each with their own appeal.
The rain forest is Jan's favourite and it's easy to see why.
Kilimanjaro diary - SUMMIT NEWS!!!
Deshun called about around 1415 SA time to say they're all fine and about an hour hike from the lodge! Apparently the bGan switched itself off in the extreme cold on Friday night and they couldn't get it going again. Once they're at the lodge they'll charge the laptop and the bGan and call again with full details as well as send a couple of pics but, in the meantime, here's a little "hors d'oeuvre" to whet your appetite for the main blog later today:
Kilimanjaro diary - Summit Day
No news yet from the 1st for Women Kilimanjaro team but, from the weather forecast issued at 0100 this morning, that's hardly surprising.
They were already higher than the freezing level of 4600 vertical metres when they started out for the summit last night and the forecast sleet (snow and rain) would have made the going extremely unpleasant. Of course conditions may not have lived up to the forecast and it's possible there was just cloud cover blocking the satellite signal.
I'm guessing the earliest news will most likely be when Deshun gets back down to Horombo Hut later today - if there's no cloud cover. Watch this space!
3 Day Weather Forecast
for 4524 m altitude,
issued (local time): 01 am 12 Jan
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Weather Summary:A dusting of new snow Freeze-thaw conditions (max 3°C on Mon morning, min -1°C on Sat night) Wind will be generally light |
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Sat 12 morn- ing |
Sat 12 after- noon |
Sat 12 night |
Sun 13 morn- ing |
Sun 13 after- noon |
Sun 13 night |
Mon 14 morn- ing |
Mon 14 after- noon |
Mon 14 night |
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| Summary | snow shwrs | clear | clear | clear | snow shwrs | snow shwrs | clear | snow shwrs | snow shwrs |
| Snow cm | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - |
| Rain mm | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Max °C | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Min °C | 0 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| Windchill °C | -5 | -3 | -6 | -3 | -5 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -5 |
| Freezing level (m) | 4600 | 4750 | 4650 | 4550 | 4700 | 4600 | 4550 | 4750 | 4600 |
| Sunrise | 5:30 | - | - | 5:30 | - | - | 5:30 | - | - |
| Sunset | - | 17:46 | - | - | 17:46 | - | - | 17:46 | - |
Kilimanjaro diary - pre-summit day
Today (Friday) was an extremely hard day for the team. They climbed to 4639m altitude, the weather was foul, they were hammered by sleet and, as a result, the climb to Kibo camp took 2hrs longer than hoped. They arrived at camp wet, cold, tired, hungry and after lunch everyone got straight into their sleeping bags to rest. Tonight's scheduled departure for the summit meant dinner was served a mere 3hrs after lunch so that the team could return to their tents for sufficient rest before their 2230 wake-up call. Deshun made a quick call back to SA before, too, heading for her sleeping bag so there are no individual comments today. She said that, naturally, everyone is feeling tense and anxious about the huge challenge of reaching the summit.
Sadly, and through no fault of her own, Allie has had to withdraw from the summit attempt due to not being sufficiently hydrated. She's been drinking plenty of fluids but it seems that her body is not retaining sufficient fluid for her to continue. She reached Kibo Hut today at 4639m with the others but it would not be a good idea for her to continue higher. The body is not able to recover properly at those altitude and, although she is terribly disappointed at not being able to go for the summit she is, nonetheless, comfortable with the decision not to proceed and Deshun and the other team members support her fully in her decision.
NB: To Allie's family and friends - she is fine, comfortable and quite able to make the descent. Hydration problems are one of the many challenges presented by high altitudes and, as with any of the other symptoms, the recommendation is always to descend to a lower altitude. Derek will be leaving for the summit with the others this evening and you know that he would certainly not be doing that if Allie was at all unwell. She will either wait for the team a little way down the mountain or she will descend to Horombo Hut where they will all meet up for the scheduled overnight stop tomorrow night (Saturday) and, of course, she will be accompanied by one of the guides and her porters.
Reaching these altitudes is not for the fainthearted and each member of the team has had to dig incredibly deep into their inner selves, and beyond, to get this far. The group is comprised mostly of non-climbers and even some who are hiking for the first time - Andy, Thami, Kedi, Bonnita, Derek. If none of the team were to climb another step they would still have achieved so much more than most of us and they should all be strutting around with their chests puffed out in pride!
Tonight at 2300 they will leave on 
the
final push for the summit, heading for Gilmans Point on the edge of the crater and then to the highest point on the summit. Everyone's pace is different and 4 guides have been tasked to manage the group members. Deshun's attention now shifts from the group and she and Jan must concentrate on their appointed task of getting to the summit to fly the1st for Women banner and, in so doing, successfully complete this 2nd expedition of her 7 Summits program.
To our climbers, our thoughts are with you. Whether you stand on the top of Kilimanjaro or not you will have stood on the top of many of your personal summits.
Hamba kahle to you all.
Elbrus expedition Summit Day! (Part 1)
Yes, Deshun reached the top of Elbrus today !!!
At 1120 Russian time (0920 SA time) she called to say she was standing on the summit and was feeling just great!
We were both incoherent with excitement so once she's safely back down in camp she'll email summit pics and news of today. Right now a huge tsunami of messages is pouring in from friends, family, colleagues and other well wishers.
A gigantic thank you to the wonderful ladies at 1st for Women Insurance Brokers who so enthusiastically gave their full support and sponsorship to this expedition as well as to the upcoming Kilimanjaro climb. Not only have they enabled Deshun to set her 7 Summits dream in motion but also to do so in celebration of womanhood - a perfect message to women everywhere in Women's Month, August 2007.
Check out Part 2 of this blog later today for summit pics and all the news of the climb!
So much to do, so little time!
With Deshun and Jan leaving for Russia on Saturday we're in the midst of all those final checks and double checks that are so important before every climbing expedition. The last of the climbing gear arrived on Monday - crampons and boots (La Sportiva Nupste high altitude graphite boots) ordered from the ever-helpful Palma of Venture for Africa in Cresta Mall AND the Russian visas were issued yesterday!!!
All the clothing has been branded in 1st for Women's great new logo launched just last week and the outfits look fabulous!
Jan (documentary maker and cameraman) is itching to try out his brand new Sony HDV A1 camera on Mount Elbrus and will, hopefully, be able to send us some footage from the mountain! After the problems we had with a standard sat phone on the April trek to Everest we have had to look at other options for this Mount Elbrus expedition. Weather permitting the Thrane Explorer 500 BGan Inmarsat satellite communications system should allow for fax and internet connectivity as well as voice calls. It is also able to deliver live streaming and we're really looking forward to testing it's capabilities on expedition and, if every goes according to plan, we'll be including up to date expedition footage on this site over the next couple of weeks.
This is Mount Elbrus which, at 5642m high, is the highest mountain in Europe and the 1st expedition in Deshun's "7 Summits" quest. It's a relatively easy climb but, nonetheless, each climbing season several people die on the mountain due to the unpredictable weather. Ferocious storms lash the mountain, often without much warning, and the clouds in this pic indicate that stormy weather can be expected for at least 2 days.
Right now we're in a frantic whirl of foreign exchange, piles of mountaineering gear, packing and pre-expedition excitement but keep checking this site because there'll be an Elbrus adventure blog every day.
