Baruntse & Mera Peak 14th Oct 17

Baruntse & Mera Peak

14th October – 17th November 2017

Expedition Leader: Sam Noble

3rd November

Summit success on Baruntse! Fergus summitted at about 12.30 this morning. The rest of the team are planning to set off tomorrow, looking to summit on 6th November.

30th October

Summit Success!  The team have reached the summit on Mera Peak and are now at Baruntse Base Camp.

26th October

The team are down from the Mera La and have reached Mera Peak base camp (5350m). Everyone is well and they are looking forward to heading up to high camp tomorrow.

25th October

The team has reached Khare at 4850m. A beautiful walk with stunning views of Mera North and our first view of the glacier that we will be climbing up onto tomorrow on our way to our Mera Peak base camp, which is just a short descent from the Mera La at 5400m.

Everyone is now getting excited about our imminent two day ascent of Mera Peak. With that in mind we unpacked the climbing gear and spent the afternoon practising our fixed rope ascending, traversing and descending. All ‘enjoyed’ the challenge of completing this wearing their high altitude big gloves.

Everyone is well and we are now enjoying tea and biscuits back in our lodge.

23rd October

The team are at Khote, and everyone is happy and healthy and going well.   They all had a good night at 4,200m last night, the international team are having lots of laughs and learning loads from each other…

The team stayed with the Ama Dablam team at the Mountain View Lodge in Lukla.  Very good rooms with ensuite toilets!

Initially the weather was very hot and sunny however by the 20th we were getting some afternoon cloud and on the 21st at Chalem Kharka it started to rain in the evening and then rained heavily all night. For the last couple of days we’ve had a couple of cloud free hours in the morning before we’ve become enveloped in cloud at around 9am which has been pretty cold and damp. We’re hoping to start climbing above the cloud soon.

17th October

It was a 6am breakfast this morning before goodbyes to the Himlimg Himal Team and both the Baruntse and Ama Dablam teams driving up to the domestic airport to fly to the Tenzing /Hillary airport at Lukla. This challenging mountain airstrip is often disrupted by the weather at Lukla. There often are very frustrated trekkers and climbers waiting for their flights at Kathmandu, many becoming increasingly impatient as the day wears on. Of course there were delays today but caused by international flights getting priority over the smaller aircraft. We didn’t fly until the last plane of the day, arriving around 4.30pm,  certainly the latest I have ever arrived in Lukla. The team were very patient, entertained by Eric’s ‘missing history of France’ lecture.

Sadly not all our bags could come on the flight but we are very happy to be here! As a result we are staying in a nice lodge in Lukla tonight, with teams heading out tomorrow after the gear arrives. Dinner is done, I suspect an early night is coming!

16th October

Teams from Adventure Peaks’ Himlung Himal, Mera/Baruntse, Island Peak/Ama Dablam  were all out to dinner tonight before heading their separate ways tomorrow. The Himlung Himal team leave on the coach while the others head out to the airport to catch the always interesting flight to Lukla.
Today was a day for briefings, shopping and eating while leaders sorted last logistics, visited supermarkets and the ministry.  Some people had a tour of the city visiting the main attractions. Heartening to hear repairs are coming along in areas affected by the earthquake. The main area of Thamel has quite a few new shops, and looks very smart!