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14 Aug 2003 Expedition Day 9: Shigatse - Xegar (250 km)

We were up at 6 a.m. and ready for breakfast at 6.30. Our mechanic and I checked and fueled the bikes while our guide took our clients to the restaurant.

We started driving at 7:15 a.m. as planned. The city streets of Shigatse were torn up because of construction, so it was pretty difficult for us to drive out of the city.

Our day's plan was to eat lunch at Lhatse and to stay at the Everest Hotel in Xegar. Our truck was behind our land cruiser, and the motor bikers were always ahead. Ajs ran out of gas near Lhatse, so our guide, Tenzing, took a half liter of fuel from Annie's bike to refuel Ajs.

We continued to Lhatse and met our bikers at the Lhatse Hotel's restaurant. A few minutes later the truck came and we fueled all the bikes. The mechanic also checked for loose nuts and bolts and adjusted the brakes and clutches.

We had lunch and soon were driving again. After about two kilometers, Annie stopped to wait for our mechanic, who cleaned her air filter and got her on her way again. We met our bike team over a pass at 5220 meters. The rear chassis on Christina's bike had cracked. The mechanic made a temporary repair with bailing wire, which held for the remaining 40 kilometers.

After nine days in Tibet riding in the Land Cruiser, I tried to get a picture of myself riding a bike. I hardly managed to ride for one minute due to the injury to my palm before leaving Nepal. We arrived at Qomolongma Hotel in Xegar (4400 meters) at 3 p.m. The Hotel was fancy, with full facilities in each room. We had dinner at 7 in the evening. Everyone was feeling okay, but Henning got a headache, so I gave him Diamox, a drug which reduces symptoms of altitude sickness. He also received oxygen.

Everest report: 15 Aug 2003; Expedition Day 10: Xegar-Everest Base Camp (120 km)

We are up at 7 a.m. with a cup of Chinese jasmine tea. Today is our exciting day of arrival at Everest Base Camp. We planned to have breakfast at 8 a.m. and to set out for Everest Base camp at 9 a.m. The distance would be about 120 km.

We had to show our visas and passports at the Xegar check point and again at a village near the entry to the Qomolungma Core Zone conservation district.

Then we started climbing 15 kilometers to the Gyawola pass (5210 meters). The weather was beautiful, and we could see some of the world's highest mountains, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, Shishapangma and more. Our motor biking was very exciting.

Everyone was anxious to capture the scenery in their camera. I also took photos.

Soon Christina, Annie, Lisbeth and Ajs were having extra fun on uphill terrain where there was no path. I was glad to see them riding well at elevations above 5200 meters as I thought about the coming days at Everest Base Camp.

After one and a half hours we started down to a river, which we followed to Everest Base Camp. Our first sight of Mount Everest, from Rongbuk Monastery, was so exciting that Carsten and I could not wait to record the scene. We stopped the Land Cruiser and took one photo after another.

Our guide, Mr. Putsu, told us that there would be tent accommodation available at Everest Base Camp, so our team decided to stay there rather than at Rongbuk Monastery Guest House. Until a few years ago, the monastery was the only lodging option for tourists.

We reached Everest Base Camp around 3 p.m. and had lunch at a tent restaurant. The restaurant offered noodle soup, finger chips, fried noodles, fried rice and of course cold drinks.

We ordered noodle soup, French fries, fried noodles and cokes. Then our guide came and told me that the Chinese officer responsible for checking permits did not believe we had permission to go above Everest Base Camp.

If we wanted to go higher, he told us, we would have to pay 400 yuan per person for a single trip up and back. I was shocked and asked if it would be possible to phone Mr. Charlie, our agent in Lhasa, but I was told no phone was available.

Our guide, Mr. Putsu, told me he was willing to go back to Xegar to call Charlie to ask that he fax us a permit the guard would accept. I accepted Mr. Putsu's offer, and he left immediately in the Land Cruiser for Xegar.

After Mr. Putsu had departed, Henning told me to ask the Chinese officer if two of our bikers could ride up to the river. Henning gave me a packet of Camel cigarettes to present to the officer.

I asked our second guide, Mr. Tenzing, to help me with this bit of negotiation. We met the officer, and he granted our request. Annie and Ajs got ready to set out, and Carsten went along to film the excursion.

They tried to cross the river, but it was all in vain. Both got their shoes and trousers soaked.

Both Henning and Annie were suffering from the high altitude, so we decided to bring them down to Rongbuk Monastery guest house. Since our Land Cruiser had left for Xegar, we had to find alternate transportation. I managed to rent another Land Cruiser for 50 yuan, with Tenzing's help. I went with Henning and Annie and we got a four-bed room.

We got a thermos full of hot water, which I gave Henning and Annie along with two chocolates each that I brought from Kathmandu. They said they felt like eating, so I went to the restaurant and ordered one pancake for Henning and one pancake and one omelette for Annie. Henning ate only two pieces of pancake and Annie did not eat anything.

So I ate the rest of Hennning's pancake. Both Annie and Henning took Diamox. I was a bit worried about them and checked on them during the night with the help of my tiny Maglite flashlight. Once I forgot to turn the flashlight off and was snoring when Henning awoke and saw my face illuminated by the light, thinking he was seeing a ghost.

He was laughing next morning as he told me about the apparition.

16 August 2003, Everest Base Camp

I woke before Annie and Hennig. They still were not feeling well, but Henning said he felt better than the night before. We went to the dining room for breakfast and then waited for our transport back to base camp where Ajs, Christina, Lisbeth, Carsten and our mechanic were waiting for us.

I had asked our assistant guide, Mr. Tenzing, to pick us up at 7 a.m. but he did not appear, so I started looking for alternate transport. Another group's Nepali guide, Mr. Bikash, offered to take us, but his car was being repaired, so we continued to wait.

Then, in a few minutes, at about 9 a.m., Mr Tenzing arrived with the truck. Our Land Cruiser still had not returned from Xegar. On arriving at base camp, we decided to pay the fee being demanded for permission to go up to advanced base camp, in order to get the excursion underway tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Ajs and Lisbeth set out on a ride for views of the Rongbuk Glacier. Annie, Henning and Christina were not feeling well enough to join them, but Carsten went along for filming. While returning, Lisbeth flipped her bike into the river. Ajs helped her pull the bike out of the water, but both got wet and Lisbeth broke her brake lever.

We had lunch at the tented hotel where we would spend the night, and we discussed our plan for tomorrow. Our guide, Mr. Putsu, returned from Xegar without the permit he had hoped to obtain. This upset him, but I told him not to worry, because I would pay for the permit at the Qomolungma Core Zone office. This relieved Mr. Putsu, and he looked happy again.

Henning and Annie still were not feeling well, so I suggested that they descend to sleep at the village of Basum, at 4150 meters, and they agreed. They set out by Land Cruiser about 4 p.m. and Christina joined them.

Later Mr. Putsu and I want to the Qomolungma core zone office to pay for our advanced base camp permits. Our guides had negotiated with the officials earlier that afternoon, and we ended up paying only 100 yuan per person reather than the 400 yuan first demanded.

When we entered the office, the official in charge was playing a strange Chinese game with 3 colleagues. I suspected it was a form of gambling. When I handed over the 500 yuan, the official
gave it to his assistant to count. The assistant told our guide not tell anyone else about the payment, which we assumed went into their pockets.

We dined that night on Chinese packaged readymade noodles. The weather became very bad, turning from rain into snow. The owner of the tented hotel came in at 2 a.m. that night to shore up the roof with a wooden pillar as snow accumulated. It was so cold that I pulled a blanket over my sleeping bag.
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