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Introducing Mike Grocott

• Mike Grocott
• 10 Sep 06, 05:43 AM

Hi my name is Mike Grocott and I am the expedition leader of the Xtreme-everest Cho Oyu 2006 expedition and also the director of Xtreme Everest. Two weeks in and it is hard to imagine things going better. We have had the usual complement of mild AMS (acute mountain sickness) and coughs and colds but despite this we have achieved all our base camp science goals ahead of time and the team are working (and playing) very well together.

The approach to Cho Oyu via Lhasa in Tibet and the Freindship highway towards Nepal has worked well and our very gentle acclimatisation profile has meant that everyone has felt fit enough to complete all the planned tests. The base camp here (known locally as Chinese Base Camp) is not as remote as the name implies. The road past our tents up to intermediate camp sees an occasional traffic of landcruisers and motorbikes in addition to the climbers and yaks heading up the mountain.

Today we have deconstructed our camp and laboratory with its 240 volt power supply and delicate complex scienctific equipment. Tomorrow we head up via an overnight stop at Intermediate Camp to Advanced Base Camp. There our prioritites will change a degree. So far we have concentrated on our scientific goals but slowly our climbing goals will come to the fore. In order to deliver the scientific goals that we have on Everest (have a look at our website: ) we need a team of doctors capable of conducting experiments at extreme altitude and to know that the equipment we are using is robust in these adverse conditions. This expedition (in combination with last years Xtreme-Everest Cho Oyu 2005 Expedition) is our opportunity to do that.

The expedition team of 19 includes some old freinds but also many who have only met recently and have certainly not had their relationships tested by the rigors of expedition life. It is a wonderful thing to see this team work together and acheive our common goals: the atmosphere in the mess tent as another round of cards is completed, the whiskey bottke passed round to "juice up" our tea and the laughter subsides is testament to the way the group has grown together over the last two weeks. My only hope is that the next four weeks continue this way and that we safely acheive our aim of conducting great science high on the mountain and all return home better friends than we left.