Chomolungma The tallest Hill Climb

[Ji Gantor]

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

[STW996]

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

[Ji Gantor]

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

[Ji Gantor]

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

[vmx42]

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]. 

[pirie593]

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



At 5850m

[Ji Gantor]

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

[VMX247]

There's other things besides VMX ..     ......tell me what ??   
cheers A

[Ji Gantor]

Everest was named after Sir George Everest back in 1845. He was the Surveyor general of India at the time.

Frozen nuts

Ji

[Ji Gantor]

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

[Ji Gantor]

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

[Ji Gantor]

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

[Lozza]

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.

[Ji Gantor]

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

[Ji Gantor]

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