Community project update

The whole point of me climbing Everest this year is to fundraise for some major projects for theMoving Mountains charity which I started back in 2001 ...

In Nepal we are building a hydroelectric project for a village called Bumburi - 65 houses - at a cost of £26,000. Also in Nepal we are finishing off the renovation of the monastery in Bupsa with the complete painting by a special Lama who leaves for the village on 28th January. This process of painting is highly skilled and is the climax to two years of work renovating the sacred 700 year old Buddhist place of worship for well over 40 villages.

In addition we are also helping the renovation and supply of the hospital in Khari Khola which has a catchment area of around 35 villages. Currently people need to walk often for 3 days to reach the nearest hospital in Paphlu but this one in Khari Khola would change all of that.

We have a great team of people coming to Base Camp in April with me and many of them are staying on to work in the village and help with the work on the hydro scheme, as well as teaching in the local schools and helping with the harvest. It will be great for me to walk in to Everest with all these people who are linked to the projects and therefore linked to my climb of Everest.

In Kenya the main project is the building of a new wing to the Ushirika clinic in Kibera which will include: an HIV clinic for children; an immunisation hall; a general ward.

The work for this will be carried out by a group of very enthusiastic students from Skerries Community College near Dublin under the overall leadership of Brendan Guildea. It's going to be a very busy summer! Also in Kenya an orphanage is to be built, hopefully up in western Kenya, and we will be running more rehabilitation camps for street kids and looking after more children and their families who are in need of support.

Moving Mountains is all about giving that long term support, something that really is more than just money over a very long period of time. Helping families, communities and children. We are doing it so well now, with so much success, that there is a great future ahead - and I want my climb of Everest to guarantee that future.

All the projects are going ahead very well, but we need your support to help make it happen and to build that future.

You can sponsor my climb of Everest directly by going to www.justgiving.com and donating directly to the Everest page, or by sending a cheque (sterling or Euro) to the office in Belfast.

Please help me achieve the aims of Moving Mountains by sponsoring me to climb Everest.

All donated money goes towards the beneficiaries - we have virtually no administrative overheads because Adventure Alternative covers it. The climb of Everest is not being paid by the charity, and neither does the charity pay for air fares or Trustee expenses.

Himalayas few weeks away

With just a few weeks to go until my trip to the Himalayas, things are going well for the expedition. The first time in 2000 I never believed there was so much work to do, so much to prepare for. I was organising a fully oxygenated, fully supported expedition for 6 climbers with nearly 4 four tons of gear. It took 46 yaks and 22 porters just to get all the kit to Base Camp. We had mess tents, store tents, fresh yak brought in weekly, climbing Sherpas, cooks, even people to dispose of our blue toilet barrels every Saturday.

That expedition was successful, we were the first team to summit Everest in 2000 but I personally turned back from the South Summit, 100 vertical metres from the top of the world.

In 2002 on the North Side with just Will and our one cook Tirta, things were simpler. We took a car filled with all our climbing gear across into Tibet and pitched a tent at Advance Base Camp and we climbed the mountain without oxygen and without any Sherpa support. I wanted to prove that I could climb Everest in a more purist way, without the mass of support that normally surrounds expeditions there.

I learnt that climbing Everest with and without oxygen is utterly different. Being totally responsible for yourself on the mountain, putting in your own supplies and gear, making your own judgements about when to move, and having no back-up other than what you can provide for yourself, makes it as different as chalk from cheese; and I much preferred it. Will was a fantastic climbing companion but it was the dislocation of his knee just above the height of the Second Step, about 100 metres from the summit, that prevented us from summitting.

No matter, our descent was dramatic and I came away understanding that we had in fact achieved something quite remarkable in just getting off the mountain. Will was a hero. The number of people who survive accidents on Everest, without oxygen, are virtually nil.

So the idea of going back seemed natural.

This time though it is an ascent on the more commonly climbed SE Ridge, without oxygen and without Sherpa support and alone. It's not strictly a 'solo' ascent since that would indicate putting in my own route; I will be following the well trodden path of the SE Ridge and there will be fixed lines. That doesn't mean I am being complacent about it though ! Not many people climb Everest without oxygen - about 5% statistically over time (western climbers) - and fewer still do it alone.

Now I have my kit packed and it's a lot less than the 2000 trip ! And a lot less than the 2002 trip ! In fact just a few bags in my hallway, and all my new Berghaus clothing to rely on. I'm supported by Berghaus and looking forward to trying some of the new lightweight kit they are pioneering.

I'll just have a mobile satellite phone this time - no laptops or fancy gear - and I'll ring into a website so my messages will be recorded by Everest IT expert Richard 'Baz' Sheane as MP3's on my website. It's www.everestpost2005.co.uk.

I have my permit - it cost $10,000 - and I have to pay a portion of the Icefall Doctor fee and the Nepalese Liaison Officer. Because I have no base camp support, no cooks, no Sherpas - then I only have to buy food for myself ! I'll just pitch my tent on the Khumbu Glacier for 8 weeks and I'll eat in the lodges and have some bagged food to boil up in my tent while I'm high on the hill.

No doubt I'll be taking a book along aswell. A lot of climbing Everest is spent sitting waiting to acclimatise and trying to stay healthy.

I'm flying to Kathmandu in a few weeks for about ten days to make the final arrangements, pay the royalty fee and buy a few bits'n'bobs around Kathmandu. Spare batteries, food, gas canisters, books. Then I'll go up and take a look at the projects which I'm raising money for.

I'm training every day - about three hours at the moment - mostly cardiovascular stuff, and I'm getting my head round the whole thing. A lot of the success is in preparing mentally for climbing Everest. I feel better this year though, I've been up there twice and I've still got my fingers and toes which must mean something! Course, I could have used up my lucky lives !

Departure date for going is 24th March to Calcutta, I'll then travel overland to Delhi and Kathmandu, then fly to Lukla and start trekking upwards.

Gavin Bate

What are we actually doing?

These are the words of one person, a Nepalese, who knows more than most - the son of Tenzing Norgay:

"The Sherpas own culturally prescribed hospitality has been good for business and public relations...For many foreigners it is during their outing to the Himalayas that they form friendships for the first time with people markedly poorer than themselves. This experience brings on feelings of guilt and a yearning to give their hosts something in return...

"I have to commend the Khumbu Sherpas on their skill at eliciting such support, but I feel the time has come to focus more on the opportunities they have within their own community... It is natural for people to want to have a positive personal impact on others. Generosity is a noble and natural character trait. I feel however that the best way to help the Sherpas is through community-level projects that benefit all villagers more or less equally, such as building schools, health posts or dental clinics... Foreigners who have invested in the tourism industry (too) have hired, trained and supported many Sherpas, providing opportunities at which the smart and hardworking excel.

"The mayor of Namche told me he wasn't convinced that tourism and prosperity have been universally good for the Sherpa community because of the social upheaval and divisiveness that accompanies them. When two brothers go trekking with different groups and one of them returns with a foreign sponsorship for his child and the other doesn't, the seed of family and clan division is planted.

"The have-nots become the haves overnight. Thats fine in terms of equality and redistribution of wealth, which people in the West speak about so much. Foreigners charity is not always based on merit or performance, however, and often the arbitrary and excessive nature of these changes can upset a social balance that has developed over centuries.

"'Mikaru (white eyes or Westerners) are much like cattle' a Sherpa woman told me in Namche as we discussed the Sherpas' success in the tourism industry, 'They are happy wandering about aimlessly all day long...they are constantly getting sick...and you have to lead them by the nose over difficult terrain or they'll fall off the trail...But if you feed them well, they'll produce a lot of rich milk for you.'"

This is why Moving Mountains adopts a community-led approach, with years of experience behind us, to ensure our money is spent properly, without damaging the community itself through misguided generosity.