Satopanth Expedition September '15

Updates and Leader: Paul Etheridge
Satopanth Expedition details and book online

12th September
Paul, Di and both teams have departed and will all arrive in Delhi to finalise arrangements before departing for Haridwar by train. Good luck from all of us at Adventure Peaks!

14th September
Both expeditions are now in Dehli – we are remaining as one big team until the split so very social.  Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF) briefing done. We have just loaded up 50 kit bags for the bus so we are travelling nice and light.  Early start tomorrow for our little train ride to Haridwar!  Journey starts tomorrow ?

24th September
Both our Sudarshan and Satopanth teams are at Base Camp now. Both are doing well till now and have already started to climb up and further acclimatise. So far weather has been good, with clear sky and beautiful view of mountains.

30th September
We have received a message from our Delhi agents that both our Sudarshan and Satopanth teams have now come off the mountain and returned to Base Camp. They will be waking out to Gangotri in the next couple of days. Due to the Indian government’s restriction on the use of satellite phones, we have not had any information from either team about their progress, but hope to hear soon when the leaders reach a place with a mobile signal.

5th October
The team are now enjoying some rest and relaxation after a fantastic expedition. Jeff, Lee, James and Mike have all returned from the mountain having experienced truly awesome mountaineering challenges.

The teams summit day began at 21:00 when they set off from camp two, temperature were chilled to allow steady walking on the snowpack, the team soon joined the fixed ropes they had set up days before. Crossing snow slopes and cravasse bridges they approached an the awesome sight of the snow ridge, a mix of 6 ever increasing ridges needing fixed ropes and a precise footing to achieve the final snow slope. By sunrise the team had all managed to reach the final snow slopes but by this time the wind had built up with strong gusts from the east making progress very difficult.
The team had made great gains during the evening and climbed to 6700m. Having climbed throughout the night at 08:50 we called in a day, with final pictures being taken the team descended, Paul continued for a further hour to gain 6986m but the snowpack was too poor to continue.

Having decided to return to civilisation by the quickest means…… Starting with a climb back down the fixed ropes from camp 2 to camp 1 the team descended to base camp for a huge plate of well cooked chips and coke!

The following day the team began their epic descent back to Gangotri of 34km…..

All now resting in Delhi, having experienced tuk tuk’s and further curry the team are planning their next adventurers.”

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