Singing our way up the mountain
- 28 Mar 07, 10:00 AM
Today was a marvellous day, we got a real bit of filming under our belts. Dave our cameraman and I scrambled up the steep slopes of the hills that surround Namche to find a great vantage point to film some of the Xtreme Everest 
team trekking.
The vistas here are amazing, with the valley just rolling on for miles. Along this valley the main ¡®road¡¯ to Everest winds, it consists of a dirt path that clings to the edge of the mountainside often dropping sharply away to the valley floor about 1400 feet below. This thoroughfare is populated by Yak trains and porters carrying loads that make my eyes water and then the odd western trekker complete with ski stick like trekking poles. On Friday we¡¯ll set out along this very road on the next leg of our trek to Everest.
Evening entertainment was provided by the Xtreme Everest song book. This delightful invention, along with a guitar bought in Kathmandu by Nigel Hart, allowed all thirty of us to break out in full chorus. Most popular number was Bohemian Rhapsody of course, but I don¡¯t know if it was the rarefied air or a general lack of talent but we were very untuneful. Just a small slice of life from a large scale expedition.
Namche Bazaar
- 27 Mar 07, 01:52 PM
We¡¯ve now been in Namche Bazaar for a couple of days. We¡¯ve been doing a bit of filming, getting some shots of the incredible scenery. We¡¯ve also been hacking (hiking?) up and down various hillsides in an effort to acclimatise to the altitude.
In between, we¡¯ve had a chance to wander around Namche. It¡¯s a Sherpa trading village, and the last place before Base Camp where we can stock up on vitals such as sun cream and, in Rob¡¯s case, a cowboy hat to protect against the sun.
Every now and then we come across a Stupa, which is a Buddhist shrine. You have to go round these clockwise, which unfortunately in some cases means going quite a long way round.
Yesterday, through the middle of this, a line of about 20 porters came up the hill. In pairs they were carrying huge metal boxes on poles. Inside was Xtreme Everest¡¯s consignment of liquid nitrogen, which will be used to freeze blood samples on Everest. It is too dangerous to fly it into Lukla, so it was carried on foot from a place called Jiri, seven day¡¯s walk away.
Today, we did some time-lapse filming of the surroundings. Both days so far, cloud has rolled in and engulfed the village at about 4pm. We set up a camera to try to capture it. In the event, this meant standing outside in the middle of a cloud trying to persuade local children not to pull faces into the lens.
Incidentally, I saw a sign on the wall of a police hut the other day, which read: ¡°Lost the time, cannot be resigned.¡± I¡¯ve no idea what it means, but it sounds good so it has now become our production motto.
Healthy Times in Namche
- 26 Mar 07, 01:39 PM
For all those concerned about my acclimatisation today a miracle has happened. I feel like a million dollars, no fatigue, no slow walking. I seem to be able to charge about town without the limitations of yesterday¡¯s dawdle. The human body is a miraculous thing.
Having said that I haven¡¯t used my new found energy that well today, we were planning a walk but by the time we got around to going at 3pm thick clouds had engulfed the hotel we¡¯re staying in and the surrounding area. Will learn our lesson for tomorrow.
The Namche Hill
- 25 Mar 07, 03:06 PM
Today was our first real experience of trekking at altitude. It started early; well for me it started throughout the night when I was regularly awoken by rats scurrying along the floor boards! At 6am the porters who carry our bags up the trail were waking each other up by banging on the doors very loudly which brought out the whole tea house. So after a number of cups of tea (there are three marvellous kinds of tea in the Himalayas: black tea, which is like black tea at home; milk tea, which is very sweet and very milking and lemon tea, which is very sweet clear tea) we started our trek.
Filming Yaks on the trek:
Today's route looked very short on the map. It involved a short hike down hill into a gorge and then up to Namche Bazaar, but this up-part is 700m vertically in less than a mile. For those like me who don't know what that means I can now tell you a very very steep and long climb. The first part of this trek was breathtaking, we filmed some of the group as they walked deep into the valley, crossing suspension bridge after suspension bridge. The sun was out and gave most of the enormous peaks around us a beautiful hazy look. Our filming meant we were some way behind the group when we reached the 'Namche Hill'.
The big bonus for today was our first view of Everest. Here it is with a plump of snow being blown off summit:
Winding our way up this steep path I became aware for the first time how the lack of oxygen affects my body. The path from bottom to top of the 'hill' is a bit like a giant winding staircase, I started off at a moderate pace but after only a few minutes I realised something was wrong. Although not walking particularly fast I was breathing really hard and I could feel my heart pumping in my ears. My legs felt fine but I was experiencing a more general body fatigue as if I was a long way through a marathon. When I stopped to catch my breath I quickly felt much better and set off again but after only ten steps was shattered. The answer turned out to be simple: I slowed down and effectively dawdled up the hill. There seemed to be a very clear threshold between walking comfortably and really exerting myself. Slow and steady they say; today I know what they mean.
Ben on the other hand seemed totally unaffected. He walked up at a normal pace, stopping to wait for me or take photos. So first signs suggest that at least one of us will cope with the altitude well.
We arrived at Namche Bazaar at about 1.30, the sun was hot and I don't think I'd have liked to walk much further. Namche is an extrodinary place; it is a small town perched on a steep slope. The town unfolds along winding terraces that climb steeply up the hill. Everywhere you look you are greeted with the view across the valley to the most enormous mountain that seems to tower over this place. Clouds rush in and out of the valley sometimes engulfing the town, sometimes swirling on the crests of the surrounding peaks.
A very restorative vegetable chow-mein and sweet tea has put the walk behind me. Now at last I feel we're in a landscape like no other.
Flight to Lukla
- 24 Mar 07, 10:03 AM
The trip begins today. After three wake up calls, bizarre, we were bused back to Kathmandu airport. The security at the terminal was interesting. I was asked if I had a knife or lighter on me and then just let through (incidentally I don't know why they even bothered to ask this as there are axes on all the planes!). There was then a customary wait before we boarded our winged chariot. This twin engine plane was operated by Yeti Airways which gave me a chuckle. The plane was pretty small, holding 18 people but I found it very romantic, sort of like being in a Humphrey Bogart movie.
The flight was 50 mins and traced the Himalayan ridge before turning sharply to fly straight at it. Lukla airstrip is perched on a hill-side with a cliff wall at one end and a cliff drop at the other. Sitting in the front seat I got a pilot's eye view as we came in, the runway growing as we approached but looking perilously short. A text book landing prompted us all into spontaneous applause, not my usual response but well deserved in this case. Stepping off the plane we were finally in the Himalayas.
The Xtreme Everest team gathered over a cup of tea and then we started our trek. From Lukla we went downhill for about two hours stopping for lunch on the way. The landscape is grand in scale but feels like a pine wood you could find in the Rockies. We passed lots of children en route who were all delightful and seemed very pleased to see a bunch of trekkers come along.
After lunch was a shorter and steeper walk until we reached the tea house that would be our bed for the night. A large white building with innumerable rooms separated by paper thin walls. It was a bit of a maze to get to the bedroom. Mostly the group was knackered and we lay about a large communal room drinking tea. Disaster struck though because night fell and my bag failed to make it to the tea house. A very depressing problem as I have been rather excited at the prospect of trying out my new sleeping bag which is now stuck somewhere between here and Lukla. I'm off to drown my sorrows in an odd dice game called Perudo.
Kathmandu
- 23 Mar 07, 06:59 AM
Right now we're in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu. We've been here for about four days, and it feels like the calm before the storm. Normally on a filming trip, we'd be frantically rushing around filming within a few hours of stepping off the plane. But this trip is so long and complex that we've been spending the last few days testing our equipment, finalising logistics and getting to know the expedition team.
We've heard that the trek up to Everest Base Camp is very snowy at the moment, so we went into the centre of Kathmandu yesterday to buy some gaiters. I've never been to the Indian subcontinent before, and Kathmandu is great! As everyone says, the roads are crazy, with no discernible separation between cars, motorbikes, bicycles, pedestrians and the odd cow. The people are extremely friendly and polite; there is much less hard selling than I had expected.
The weird thing is that in the middle of the crowded bustle, there are dozens of mountaineering shops selling every piece of kit you can imagine. It's also beautifully cool here. It's sunny, but we're already about 1400 metres high, so the temperatures are quite low. Together with the ubiquitous mountaineering equipment, it's a consistent reminder of why we are here.
We found some gaiters with no problem. On Saturday we leave Kathmandu to fly to Lukla, where the 14 day trek to Base Camp starts. Then the real adventure begins.
The Expedition Begins
- 19 Mar 07, 06:02 AM
Hello from the Horizon filming team! For the next three months we will be out here in Nepal, filming an extraordinary medical expedition to Mt Everest. We hope to keep you posted on what we are doing, how the expedition is going, and any other news between now and when the programme is broadcast, in the Autumn 2007 series of Horizon. We'll also be posting some short broadband films on the website while we're out here, so keep an eye out for those.
The expedition we are filming is called Xtreme Everest. It's a team of doctors and medical researchers, whose goal is to perform the largest ever experiment on how the human body copes with low oxygen. They'll be climbing the highest mountain in the world so that they deliberately deprive themselves of oxygen; and they'll carry out a barrage of tests while they're doing it.
What they learn will apply directly to people suffering from all sorts of medical condions at home. If you have a problem with your heart, your lungs or your circulation, the result is that your body doesn't get enough oxygen. Ultimately, if it can't get enough oxygen you will die. By putting themselves in a low oxygen environment the team hopes to discover more about seriously ill people in hospital.
This blog is intended to be a personal account from us, as we follow the expedition into the Himalayas. We will be trying to share what it will be like to live and film in this harsh enviroment.
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