OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ji Gantor on July 01, 2010, 02:42:12 pm
-
Chomolungma means Mother Goddess of the Earth.
She is considered the Third Pole.
We all know her or at least know her other name Mount Everest.
Not really a motorbike hill climb but still very interesting for those that have climbed her or studied her history. She stands 8848meters above sea level.
Frozen nuts
Ji
(http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww268/Jigantor1963/A1.jpg)
-
Frozens nuts indeed Mr Gantor
I believe that our good friend Shoey is heading there in the not to distant future as one of the base managers ;)
-
Hi Shane,
That is correct.
I just thought it may be a good idea if members knew a little more about what Shoey and others do outside VMX.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
Chomolungma can only be climbed between May and June before the monsoon.
Actually climbing is wrongly used here there is no climbing on Everest, it is a long walk.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
Actually climbing is wrongly used here there is no climbing on Everest, it is a long walk.
Ji
If that is just a long walk, I would hate to go climbing with you Ji. You are the master of understatement. :)
I remember Des Renford [the channel swimmer] talking about 'Frozen Nuts'. He said it gets so cold that if you feel two lumps in the back of your mouth, you have to remember not to chew. So I can't imagine what Everest is like, Shoey might come back with a voice a few octaves higher [or two Adams apples]. ;D
-
Looks like Sagamatha to me !!!!
Can't keep up with Shoey.... I found that the high altitude is like stumbling upon a nude Nicole Kidman ...... leaves you breathless!!!!
I tried climbing Stok Kangri in the Himalaya, but didn't quite get to the top...the last 300m was a peak too far.
Base Camp at 5000m
(http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss106/pirie593/IMG_2197.jpg)
At 5850m
(http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss106/pirie593/IMG_2223.jpg)
-
Hi Pirie,
Yes Alt sickness is very interesting.
It takes all kinds of forms.
There have been a few medical teams camp at the base camp of Everest to do research over the years.
I have read a few books on the findings.
Frost bite is not only a problem for those in the hills but even people down here in Brisbane get it.
Most are butchers working in cold rooms. I got a small touch last December at Coolum while spraying two bikes with silicone lubricant. My first finger hung over the spray button and got coated. When I finished my finger was cold but when I tapped it on the spray can I realised it was frozen. I warmed it up slowly and at the centre the skin had turned white and waxy. A few days later a small patch of skin turned black and peeled off.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
There's other things besides VMX .. :o ......tell me what ?? ;D ;)
cheers A
-
Everest was named after Sir George Everest back in 1845. He was the Surveyor general of India at the time.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
Sherpas are a tibetan tribe who are the best high altitude porters in the world.
Early English explorers called them "Tigers of the Snow"
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
As a primary school boy, the public school I attended made us learn about Everest.
Out of all the readings we did about this and that the spark that kept me interested was the story of two man that went for the top in twead jackets and were never seen again, well until recently. I am talking about Mallory and Irvine.
On the 8th of June 1924 at 12.50pm they were seen at the second step 8605meters just before the mist moved in. No one knows to this day if they made it to the top or not. The world has been searching for the Kodak pocket camera Irvine was carrying so we will finally know how far up the hill they got.
Mallory's body was discovered by a chinese climber in 1960 but never told anyone until 1975.
Conrad anker went in search of Mallory with all the info from the Chinese climber and discovered his body on the 1st of May 1999. The experdition was sponcored by National Geographic. Their goal was to find Mallory or Irvine or both and then try and find the pocket camera. They only found Mallory and there was no camera on him. They did recover some other personel items but no hint to how high they climbed. There is an unwritten rule on Everest, if you can not walk you are dead. Mallory had a broken leg when discovered and it seemed he had slid a long way down to his resting place.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
The first true experdition to reach the top was in 1921.
This was a reconnasissance mission to survey the mountain and find a practical route to the summit.
After surveying the mountain the climbers reached a hight of 7010 meters before bad weather forced them back down.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
Going to Mt Fuji we went from 1000m above sea level to 3300m in a car then got out to walk up a small incline to the look out, about 50m later you feel yes breathless and a little giddy. Mt Fuji is a 'walk' to the culdera, but it's about a 60deg incline the surface is powdery dirt with ball bearing size rocks underneath. Which you sink into up to you ankles.Takes from about 2am to 9am to climb and then to about 2-3pm to decend. A full day which one would be completely knackered afterwards.
Mountaineering is a true 'sport' inso much as you must go to the venue, then you climb the mountain and the go down the bloody thing which is apparently the most dangerous part.(??)
Me dips me lid.
-
The second attempt was in 1922 by the same fellows that surveyed the hill the previous year.
They reached a record hight of 8320 meters.
This was possible because of an inventor Mr George Finch.
Mr Finch was a scientist and realised on the first trip that there were two issues that stopped them from going higher.
First was the cold, he was a genius and solved this problem and his solution is still used today. He tailored a double layered jacket and placed duck feathers in between.
The second was the lack of oxigen in the air at the hight, he again solved this problem by manufacturing compressed air bottles with regulators and breathing apparatus. These bottle were made of steel and heavy, today they use the same idea but the bottles are made from titanium.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
Hi Lozza,
Yes you are right 85% of climbing accidents occure on the way down.
Some climbers don't summit because of this reason.
Even after all this time there is a 1 in 4 death rate.
Yes for every 4 people that make it to the top 1 will die.
This ratio has never changed since the first climb.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
In the 1930's there were a few expeditions but they never reach the heights achieved in 1924 due to bad weather. The second World War was brewing and all climbing permits were cancelled. Up to this time all attempts to scale the hill were done on the Northern face.
In 1950 Climbing permits were again being issued.
During the war a British airforce pilot took some images of the hill and in 1953 after scanning the images it was decided to try the Southern ridge.
Sir Edmond Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were members of this team and at 11.30am on the 29th of May 1953 Edmond and Tenzing stood were no man had ever stood before on the summit of Mount Everest. Tenzing being a Buddhist placed an offering of food and the flags of his Gods while Ed placed a crucifix beside Tenzings offering. The two men stayed at the summit for 15 minutes before starting back down. Ed took a few pictures to prove they had done it. On their way down they decided to never tell anyone which of them was the first to the top and to this day no one knows.
In 1974 Sir Edmond Hillary toured some public schools here in Queensland and Mrs Gantor got to shake Ed's hand.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
During the day with the sun shining bright the temp reaches -20 degs C but at night it plummets to -40 degs C and if the wind is blowing the wind chill factor can drive the temp down to -70 degs C.
Only a few people have survived a night on top of the mountain outside a tent and even fewer have escaped severe frost bite.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
I must have woke up on Planet Dweeb this morning..... ???
-
I just checked on a mountaineering forum. You guessed it. Nothing about vintage dirtbikes there!
-
That can't be right. Check again.
-
Fugg, what next.....a political argument?.....I think I'm gonna take up collecting Buttefly's....I'm sure THEY wont talk about vintage motorbikes!!!......and he's a QLDler.....FUGGG me.....now wheres my readers digest?
-
Can we get him a job looking after Kevin?....less idle time.....
-
Orrrr, can we send him down to Victoria.....Geoff, you need somebody to give you a hand....welding pipes, frames, metalurgy testing, come on Geoff, do it for mankind....and it would be kind.... to us at least!!!.....please....pretty please.....I'm grovelling now......
-
If planning a trip to just go to see Everest and visit base camp which you can do, be warned.
The last figures I saw released back in 2000 dating back to 1921 revealed that 300 people have died from Alt sickness getting to or at base camp.
Base camp is at 4930 meters above sea level.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
You should go Ji. Say "hello" to a yak from me will you?
-
I have no interest in being on her flanks.
I suffer from Alt sickness just snowboarding.
Say hello to a yak for me
frozen nuts
Ji
-
Ji, altitude sickness was not the problem. It was a case of not acclimatising enough to the altitude before attempting the ascent. Breathlessness from lack of oxygen (or seeing a nude Nicole) is different from altitude sickness...no nausea or headache, just no energy. This was not a technical climb, and the last 300 metres was going to take 3 hours. My Sherpa guide (there were only the two of us in my group) told me that I needed to have enough energy for the descent because of the high risk of an accident. I was totally knackered at that stage but we were running out of time and my energy levels. So we turned back. As it was I hallucinated on the descent and almost didn't make it across a couple of crevices which had opened wider during the early afternoon sun.
Now that I am much wiser, the mountain beckons. But Everest is too big for me. Shoey can have it.
Stok Kangri is the peak on the right. 6150 metres.
(http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss106/pirie593/IMG_2280.jpg)
-
I suffer from Alt sickness just snowboarding.
Ji
Wouldn't that make for some pretty boring snowboarding? No hills?
-
Mt Ruapehu and Corronet peak is where we snowboard.
Mt Ru is about 2800 meters above sea level.
At about 2000 meters I get a pounding headache.
I still walk up these two great hills as the experiance is fantastic.
I also walked up the Southern Alps of the South Island of NZ.
Head pounding for the first few days and then started to get use to it.
We went from 0 degs C to -20 degs C in one day.
Your shoe laces are frozen and you have to break the flap of your tent to get out in the morning.
Hot food must be eaten fast or it freezes.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
There are so many ways to die up there but there is one that is not talked about much.
At Camp 6 the tent area is about 6 meters wide.
As soon as you get there you eat, drink, make some more water and try and get some sleep.
You are now at 8000 meters.
The danger is when nature calls, you get up take a step out side your tent without crampons and slip on some ice. Being so narrow you keep sliding and are never seen again.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
Camp 6 is the last camp before your push to the summit.
You feel like throwing up and you have a pounding headache. You have to keep hydrated and energy level high. About all you can eat is soup, some can eat energy bars and others poridge. It is -30 degs C with a 30 knot wind holwing outside making a lot of noise. You have to try and get some sleep as you will be leaving in a few hours.
Most climbers leave camp 6 at around 8.00pm.
There is another rule, where ever you are at 12.00pm noon the next day that is it you turn round and start walking down. Some climbers have been within meters of the top only to turn around and start down. If you don't you will joint the others that did not retreat.
8000 meters is called the death zone. At this level even the best climbers will only last for 3 to 5 days. There is so little oxigen. That said if you are on oxigen you are like down at sea level full of life ready to go. But it would cost a fortune to be on oxigen for every step from camp 6 up and back. Also the time it would take to drop off bottles along the way.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
Out of all the images I have seen from the many books I have on the subject this image stands out.
It shows how hard it is to walk up this large hill.
It basically wears you down until you don't care if you summit.
The experiance is not pleasant.
The image was taken from Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air"
Frozen nuts
Ji
(http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww268/Jigantor1963/D9.jpg)
-
Talking about altitudes ( not attitudes plently on here ;D) Did you manage to watch the doco on ABC "Miracles" last night about a German paraglider ( Ewa ) being sucked up over 9000m in a thunder storm in NSW a few years back .
Some of the figures mentioned are mind blowing @ 7000m metres your out of it ....black out
rising at a rate of 45m per secound
falling at a rate of 200 klm/ h
She was one tough or lucky woman.
-
Hi Oldfart,
No I did not but I now wish I did.
That sounds like a true adventure.
But don't try that at home kids, me included.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
Ji you would nees a big list of rules "to knock the bugger off" as sir Ed said
-
Hi Bazza,
No question !
Every trip would be different.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
I don't remember who said it but,
"It took more effort, time and lives to put a man on top of Everest than it did to put a man on the Moon"
And seeing how the average guy can not go to the Moon yet I guess Everest is the next big adventure.
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
"There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
-Ernest Hemingway
-
Nice one Mick
Frozen nuts
Ji
-
"There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
-Ernest Hemingway
Well one out of three ain't bad…