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HADT - DIARY UPDATE FOR: DAY 11 - FRIDAY 2 APRIL 2004 |
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| Camp Location: | Tangnag 4356m | |||||
| Weather Summary: | Bright and sunny morning becoming overcast in the afternoon. | |||||
| Objective: | Rest day - acclimatisation trek to Kusum Kangguru Base Camp | |||||
| Major Occurrences: | Nil | |||||
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SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY BY TEAM |
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| We allowed ourselves a short lie in until 0700 and
were greeted by the strong morning sun and clear skies giving us
good views of Kusum Kangguru to the west, the Mera La (our next
objective) to the east. We made the most of the morning sun and
its warmth, the first for 3-4 days, to enjoy our morning ablutions
and to catch up with the inevitable clothes washing. Meanwhile,
Nima our Sirdar, was overseeing the melee of some 40 plus porters
as they collected their high altitude equipment, including everything
from the socks and boots to warm jackets, hats, gloves and sleeping
bags that they would require to cross the snow-covered Mera La with
us. We set off for Kusum Kangguru Base Camp (KKBC), some 500m above Tagnag, with two of our Sherpa guides who seemed to have a vague idea of the best route through the jumble of boulders and broken moraines. However, it soon became apparent that they were no better informed than ourselves, but after an hour of steady climbing we reached more open terrain and the occasional unconvincing cairn. Despite the swirling clouds, the seriousness of this mountain with its towering granite walls, hanging glaciers and threatening seracs was all too apparent. We eventually reached the peaceful grassy, but snow covered, surrounds of the currently unoccupied KKBC tucked away in a sheltered corrie at 4850m guarded by two Buddhist prayer flag towers. The descent was much smoother now the correct route had been identified and as we neared Tagnag, David Goldsmith our communications and power expert became visibly excited at the sight of the wind generator spinning wildly. Last night after yesterday's report had been submitted we allowed ourselves a short celebration of Sean Yates' change to WO2 in the warm, cosy surrounds of the Mera Guest House. During the evening the RN/RM regained the lead in the ongoing High Altitude Cribbage Competition against the Army. Much to our surprise and after two day's very strenous walking Sean Banning and Shyam Bahadur arrived at Tangnag with their two porters. We had not expected to them for another two days Good effort boys.
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PHOTOGRAPHS
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