Gav back in touch

Hi All,

Gavin is just off the phone! Every time he rings into the Audio Blogger it is engaged or offline and hence hasn't left a message but our internet whizz, Richard, will hopefully have that all cured soon.

He is now at Bupsa, the village where AA Gap students three years ago started renovating a 350 year old monastery. The Monastery is now finished and Gavin has been sitting with six Lama's going through the opening ceremony for tomorrow. The incredibly detailed paintings of Buddha's life inside the monastery have been finished and tomorrow a huge Buddha will be carried from Karla Pass high above the village down into the monastery with all the religious head Lama's behind it followed by the local community. He reports that the excitement, appreciation and atmosphere are electric.

Sponsor advert:


Sponsor advert:


Gavin was saying that for the last few hours he has been sitting in the candle lit monastery reflecting upon where he has been and what now lies ahead, the importance of both and how they worked together to achieve so much not only in Nepal but also Kenya.

We last heard from Gavin in Namche. He then walked from Namche to Lukla in 8 hrs and stayed the night and then onto Bupsa today in four hours. Having been there many times myself I don't know how he is covering so much distance especially considering what his body has already been through!

Some people have been asking Gavin's high point on the mountain and until now we have only had the audio reports and a rumour that his hi point was at the Balcony. I can now tell you that Gavin was above the Hillary step, the summit was just ahead of him however as reported due to the large amount of people on the exposed summit he felt it was simply not safe to stand and wait especially with the wind picking up.

So as said from the start Gavin was unable to stand on the summit point due to the crowds and with the conditions, the lack of oxygen, the sick photographer and the potentially worsening weather he took the right choice and headed down. If you look at photos of the SE ridge you will see that it's plain sailing from the top of the Hillary step in comparison with the rest of what he had done and he also reports that he felt great. He was a matter of feet from the high point of the summit but he says he has no regrets. He reckons it's out of his system now and has achieved what he set out to do, he was after all at the top of the world.

We will need to now have a chat to Labrokes and see where we stand on the fundraising side of things for Moving Mountains. As soon as I get some news it'll be posted.

Gavin's plan is to head to Bumburi tomorrow and see the micro hydro project and check up on all the people there from Adventure Alternative and Moving Mountains who have been working tirelessly to have everything in place. The reports are sounding fantastic and Gavin sends a big thank you to everyone who has donated and helped.

He then heads back to Bupsa in the afternoon for the Monastery opening and in true Sherpa tradition, the large party that follows. Not to mention a well deserved beer!

Hopefully we'll hear from Gavin over the next few days when the audio blogger is up and running again.

Best Regards,

All at AA

Gavin back at Namche!

Gavin has just called in! I must say we were biting our nails for a bit there! Believe it or not he is now in Namche Bazaar - 3440m!

Following his last update from Camp 2 he spent a night there and decided to get off the mountain and down as fast as possible. He cleared his one and only camp and carried 35kg down in bad weather. He reports the Ice fall was as bad as he has ever seen it.

The ice fall is the bottom section of the mountain which is a frozen, moving, seemingly alive river. It continually moves and creaks and cracks. There are huge crevasses and voids which are crossed on aluminium ladders lashed together - sometimes 4 or 5 ladders long. One of these crossings Gavin reports was massive at 45m with only six inches of ladder each side holding it in place. He admits it took a few attempts before making it all the way over!

Gavin then got into base camp and kept heading straight down to Gorak Shep, his own base camp and the original base camp in 1953. He then stayed for one night and today sped down the valley through Lobuche, Pheriche, Dubouche, Tengboche arriving half an hour ago in Namche!

Considering where he has been until now it is quite unbelievable that he has already made it that far down. He has been trying to leave messages on the audio blogger but seemingly it is under maintenance at the minute. So as soon as it's up and running we'll here from Gav.

There is a lot of chat amongst the Sherpa's that he has met over his tactics on the mountain. He really has flipped the 'normal' method on it's head by having one base camp at Gorak Shep and one camp on the mountain at camp 2. To their knowledge this approach has not been done before and has obviously proved successful. Saying that a large team could not handle this but with Gavin's light weight approach and flexibility and the fact that he was not using oxygen and not having to load camps with bottles it worked very well.

Gavin hopes to meet up with Andy and Helena and all the Adventure Alternative team in the village tomorrow to see the projects which Moving Mountains has been building.

As soon as I get some more news we'll get it posted!

Latest expedition press release

Gavin Bate's Moving Mountains Everest Expedition has reached the TOP of the WORLD!!

Listen to audio from top here:

At 4AM on the 30th May Gavin reached the top although he missed the opportunity of standing directly on the summit due to massive crowds.

Following from our last report Gavin had a change of mind. Everything was set for the summit bid when the sky changed and the wind started to pick up, a sure sign of worsening conditions especially considering the atrocious weather experienced this season. Gavin had decided to do an about turn and head back to Base Camp to sit it out and hopefully attempt her after the weather had passed. At that altitude you can't just sit in your tent, as he was in the 'Death Zone' an area on Everest where your body - due to altitude, is simply dying. Your body shuts down one organ at a time in some sort of defensive measure to combat the conditions and prolong life. If Gavin had stayed where he was this deterioration would have meant the end of any possible summit attempt as your body takes so long to recover.

As a deflated Gavin prepared to make his descent he noticed a slight change in the winds and decided to wait and see how things would unfold. That night the clouds cleared and the winds dropped and it was all back on again.

He left camp 2 that afternoon and managed an astonishing climb straight to camp 4 bypassing camp three entirely. On the way you must climb up the Lhotse face to access the South Col. This climb alone is not easy at sea level never mind at 24'000 feet. It involves climbing a 3'700 ft ice face on crampons all at 40 / 50-degrees with some occasional 80-degree sections meaning the climber must pull and step up the face, kicking in steps, while embedding the front points of the crampons into the hard blue ice. Gavin managed the section fine however he did drop his glasses down the face never to be seen again. This for Gavin was a desperate event as his eyesight is not great and up there you have to purposely watch, adjust and judge every foot placement due to the chances of an unsecured footing leading to a potential disaster.

On reaching camp 4 he then sheltered in the porch of a Chinese tent and tried to get some snow melted to get the much-needed water for his tea. At these altitudes the body also dehydrates rapidly. One step for us at sea level takes an age up there and the panting and breathlessness mixed with the altitude, evaporates and dehydrates the body. After a couple of hours rest Gavin then headed up in the dead of night aiming for the summit.

At 4AM on the 30th May Gavin reached the top section of the mountain. He was weak but happy and an elated message can be heard from him online at www.everestpost.com. As feared by Gavin in earlier updates the slim opportunity of a summit had whipped all the teams into a frenzy. The crowds were huge and at this altitude this can lead to big problems. Certain sections of the climb can become bottlenecked and the last thing you can do is just stand there and wait, with cold, altitude and exposure being very real risks. The estimated wait for the summit was 3 hours so Gavin decided to head back down. He'd done it! Been to the top and achieved what he had set out to do!

Most nerve racking for the teams listening and watching from base camp and home is the descent, this being when most of the accidents happen. When people are exhausted they tend to drop their guard. With the lack of oxygen lethargy sets in and a simple wrong footing can lead to an awful slip, fall or worse. Gavin decided to try and out run the crowds and get back down as far as possible and made it all the way back to camp 2. An amazing feat - in one day he had climbed from Camp 2 to the summit and back, all without oxygen!

He has spoken of complete exhaustion, of stumbling around outside his tent trying to figure out how the zip opens - simple tasks at these heights can become the most confusing. Gavin managed to get into the tent and collapsed for some well-deserved rest.

We believe that Gavin is now heading back to Base for some well-deserved R & R. He reports of being completely shattered with bad sun and wind burn - he's even sun burnt his tongue from all the panting! After a day at his base then it's straight back down for the ceremonies, way of the beaten track in the Himalayas, for the Hydro electric project and the Monastery which the charity that Gavin's climb is supporting - Moving Mountains has been building. He is really appreciative of all the support especially for Moving Mountains - "none of the work that we do is possible without the continual support and help from everyone at home, it makes a huge difference to so many children and families in the developing world".

A few have asked what Gavin's plans are now - well most people need a few months to recover physically from the severe altitudes of Everest but Gavin has other plans! Not being one to sit in one place for long Gavin flies back on the 8th June, he then has one day in Belfast (to get new glasses) before flying to Moscow to meet up with a team climbing Elbrus - Europe’s highest mountain. He then flies directly to Kilimanjaro for the June expedition and then the Africamps in Kenya and other Kili expeditions in July and the Moving Mountains expedition in August. By the end of August he will at last get a couple of weeks at home before travelling back to Nepal for two treks to Base Camp followed by a fantastic (and warm!) trip to Borneo in October! November allows him a month to relax before heading to South America with polar adventurer and good friend Steve Pinfield for a double whammy expedition on South America's two highest mountains Ojos del Salado and Aconcagua. Then in March he travels to the Sahara for a desert trek to witness the Solar Eclipse of the Sun. There are still some places on the above expeditions if anyone has itchy feet! Next year he has another big sized expedition to climb Broad Peak in the Karakorum, Pakistan - where there will also be a trekking team coming with him into this very remote area. I'm sure though by the time Gavin gets back he'll have a whole new list to add to the above!

Gavin ran out of phone time yesterday but hopefully we'll be hearing more from him in the next couple of days and I'm sure he'll let us know how he's getting on. By the time he gets some sleep, good food and drops down to the oxygen rich airs he'll be feeling grand again!

Best Regards,

Chris

Gav heading for base camp

Hi All,

We believe that Gavin is now heading back to Base for some well deserved R & R but then it's straight back down for the ceremonies for the Hydro project and the Monastery. Thank you all for your emails, online messages and calls for Gavin. I know he is really appreciative of all the support especially for Moving Mountains - none of the work that we do is possible without the continual support and help from everyone. If I can be cheeky enough to mention the direct debit forms online at www.movingmountains.org.uk - they really help us with our monthly outgoings to Kenya and Nepal!

Sponsor advert:


Sponsor advert:



A few have asked what Gavin's plans are now - well most people need a few months to recover physically from the severe altitudes of Everest but Gavin has other plans! Not being one to sit in one place for long Gavin flies back on the 8th June, he then has one day in Belfast before flying to Moscow to meet up with the Elbrus team. He then flies directly to Kili for the June expedition and then the Africamps and other Kili expeditions in July and the Moving Mountains expedition in August. By the end of August he will at last get a couple of weeks at home before travelling back to Nepal for two treks to Base Camp followed by a fantastic (and warm!) trip to Borneo in October! November allows him a month to relax before heading to South America with Steve Pinfield for a double whammy expedition on South America's two highest mountains Ojos del Salado and Aconcagua. Then the Sahara in March for the Solar Eclipse of the Sun Trek. There are still some places on the above expeditions if anyone has itchy feet! Next year he has another big sized expedition to climb Broad Peak in the Karakorum, Pakistan - he will also be taking a trek team into this very remote area. I'm sure though by the time Gavin gets back he'll have a whole new list to add to the above!

Gavin ran out of phone time yesterday but hopefully we'll be hearing more from him in the next couple of days and I'm sure he'll let us know how he's getting on. By the time he gets some sleep, good food and drops down to the oxygen rich airs he'll be feeling mighty.

Best Regards,

All at Adventure Alternative.

AUDIO: Gav recounts descent

Gav recounts his journey down from the summit to Camp 2. He says he has proved to himself that it is possible to climb Everest with just a rucksack on his back and a good amount of fitness - and that's about it! Also that he good do it using just Camp 2 as a sleepover on the final ascent ... without oxygen and without sherpa help.

Gav resting at Camp 2

We are pleased to announce that Gav has phoned and has reached Camp 2 safely. He is very keen to make it back to Base Camp ASAP though I think his body is telling him to take a pit stop at Camp 2 and return to Base Camp tomorrow after a good nights sleep. More updates as and when we get them ...

Thanks to everyone's support and messages left over the last 24 hours - I'm pleased to say the website is attracting over 800 visits daily from well wishers around the world.

AUDIO: Wind is back on top

Everyone queuing at top - Gav can see loads of people from the S Col (he's back at a tent at Camp IV now). He's really glad he didn't hang around up there. It's going to be interesting to see who makes it to the top and who has to turn round due to congestion.

Keep coming back to the website - he's gonna talk some more about the trip soon. Hasn't got enough breath at the moment!

AUDIO: He's done it!!

Gav calls in from top of the world ... massive number of people on top. He didn't actually step foot on the very top because of the queues!!! His eyesight is a bit shot though - suffering from loss of glasses yesterday. He sounds incredibly fit! It's so hard to believe he carried his own gear up without oxygen!!! Go Gav! CONGRATULATIONS.

Sponsor advert:


Sponsor advert:

SMS system down

Just a quick message for those who have subscribed to our SMS updates - unfortunately due to some techie issues we have been unable to send out messages today and it seems those sent out over the last few days haven't been recieved either. Typically this is a bank holiday in UK and so it is unlikely to get fixed before Tuesday! Anyway - the best way to keep up to date is definitely right here! Below is message from Gav at Camp IV!!

AUDIO: Gav at S Col!

Ten hours after Camp 2 ... Gav is at S Col! Incredible climb to this point. Unfortunately he has lost his glasses - but still has his goggles. You can really tell in this message that the lack of oxygen has kicked in - he sounds exhausted!

He still set for leaving later for Summit. Good luck Gav!!!

AUDIO: Gav dressing for S Col

Gav logs in at 3am as he dresses for S Col ...