Tuesday, April 20, 2010


One Day out from Basecamp

We have been moving at a steady pace to Makalu Basecamp. We are camping tonight at about 3950m. Tomorrow we move up to base camp at an elevation of 4870m. We are camping at a little tea hut and I have no idea how to spell the name of where we are at although my best guess is Tadosa. There are waterfalls surrounding us and prompting us all to think about coming back in the winter to do some amazing ice climbs. Eric and Robbie have been been treating a porter a day with a mix of the Adventure Medical Kit and personal medical equipment. Most of the injuries are just minor issues like smashed fingers and wounds that have not healed.

Our days are predictable, we get up at 5:30am with Bed Tea and wash water, eat breakfast at 6:30am and start trekking by 7:30am. The weather has also been predictable. We have sun in the morning until about 11:00am then we get clouds moving in and creating a damp atmosphere and obscuring the amazing views that can be seen in the Makalu Barun National Park. Then we get a few light showers as we are setting up camp. A little rain in the night and then clear by about 8:00pm, so that we can see the stars occassionally.

I need to apologize for a little technical difficulty that we had on the blog. For some reason my computer decided that it liked the year 2005 much better then 2010 and decided to send the last two dispatches under that date. So I am not sure that they have been posted. But my wonderful sister is working to fix that problem for us.

Chris Klinke, Tadosa