MT MERA HIMALAYAS SEPTEMBER 2008 CLIMBED BY KEITH BRAATVEDT

"EVERSHEDS ON EVEREST"

KEITH BRAATVEDT
My trip to climb Mt Mera (6 476m or 21 247ft above sea level) in the Himalayas

I have, for many years, dreamed about climbing Mt Everest (8 844m above sea level) and reaching the highest point on earth. This dream will probably never be fulfilled. However, the dream has most certainly been satisfied by my climb of Mt Mera. This mountain is situated about 25km from Mt Everest and Mt Mera is the highest trekking peak in the Himalayas.

When I summited at approximately 07h00 on Monday, 13th October 2008, I had a magnificent view of five of the world's highest peaks, all above 8 000m. These peaks are :-
• Everest – 8 844m – the highest in the world
• Kangchenjunga – 8 586m – this mountain is situated in the East of Nepal and is the third highest in the world. Interestingly enough the summit of this mountain is "off limits".
• Lhotse – 8 511m – this mountain is the fourth highest in the world.
• Makalu – this is the fifth highest in the world.
• Cho-ouy – 8 201m – this mountain is situated in the West of Nepal and is the sixth highest in the world

There are 14 recognised peaks above the 8 000m level in the world. Of these, eight are situated in the Himalayan region of Nepal of which I was fortunate enough to see five from the summit of Mt Mera.

The Himalayan region is a fascinating and wonderful part of the earth deriving its name from the Sanskrit term of hima meaning snow and alaya meaning abode. The region is a zone of approximately 2 400km stretching across the Asian continent. In this area there are many peaks above 7 000m, many of which are as difficult and is some cases more difficult to climb than the "magic 8 000m peaks". The other six peaks above 8000m are situated in Pakistan (five) and one in Tibet.

Nepal is an extremely poor country, listed as the fourth poorest country in the world. The average income per capita of a person in Nepal is approximately US$200 per annum. 77% of the area in Nepal is taken up by mountains. Our expedition began with extremely strenuous hikes through the Hinku Valley. The hike began at a tiny village called Lukla, which is situated in the mountains and is an hour's flight from Katmandu. The flight itself is rather scary because Lukla is known to have one of the shortest runways in the world. Regrettably a week after we flew into Lukla one of the Yeti Airline aeroplanes crashed killing fourteen tourists and four Nepalese. The week or so of hiking through the Hinku Valley, prior to us even approaching Mera, helped the group with fitness and confidence. The old rule of "climb high and sleep low" in order to acclimatize was strictly applied. Lukla's altitude is 2 840m. After a week or so of hiking, doing between 5 to 7 hours per day we climbed to 5 000m in order to start the serious acclimatization process.

When camping at the Tangmang camping site (4 295m) we experienced a number of spectacular snow avalanches. The last avalanche was actually too close for comfort, about 100m from the campsite. I was, however, assured by a member of our group that this is a form of avalanche (a "powder snow avalanche) that is not that dangerous.

I need to say a little bit about the logistics and what made our group tick. The group consisted of fourteen climbers. The trip was arranged through a London based tour organization, Exodus. Our support team consisted of about twelve Nepalese porters who would carry tents, food and equipment. In addition, we had five kitchen staff under the strict control of the super efficient head of staff, "Mr Bim", who would make three wholesome meals per day (lots of soup, vegetables, porridge in the morning and the odd bit of Yak meat) for the hungry climbers. Needless to say, I still lost a few kilograms due to the intense exercise.

Our climbing staff comprised of the expedition leader, Krishna Gurung, and the Sherpas being Kajee Sherpa, Big Mingma Scherpa, Little Mingma Sherpa and Wang Chu Sherpa. These climbing Sherpas are amazing people. They will catch you if you fall, adjust your climbing harness and rope in the dark and give you Sherpa brewed tea when you feel close to exhaustion which, I guarantee you, will keep you going. It is interesting to note the fascinating combination of religions between the Nepalese coming from India and those coming from Tibet and Mongolia. On the mountains one can see simple prayer flags, altars made of rock and religious statues and offerings. Early on we were advised to walk clockwise around a monument because according to Buddhist theory it is not good Kharma to walk anti-clockwise around a monument.

I was always concerned about altitude sickness and this can be avoided by eating a lot of good wholesome food. Of course, we had to drink a minimum of three litres of water per day. As an added extra to prevent HAPE or HACE (high altitude pulmonary or cerebral edema) I took one Diamox per day. My very good friend, Peter Hey, and I called our Diamox tablets "the Big D". Thankfully I did not get altitude sickness but I must say that half a Big D twice a day most certainly helped. I am firmly of the view that there is no need to rely on these fancy vitamin shakes or energy supplements and it is really a question of lots of good food, water and sleep.

The golden rule in high altitude trekking and climbing is to maintain a constant body temperature. This is always difficult because in the early hours of the morning before dawn it is bitterly cold at sub-zero temperatures. However, after dawn, temperatures can rise fairly quickly and the secret is to take off the various layers of clothing in order to maintain one's body temperature. If the body temperature becomes too high then exhaustion will set in and likewise if you are too cold then the body will not generate sufficient energy to climb. I summited with two pairs of socks, outer plastic boots and inner boots. My legs were kept warm by two layers of inner thermals, a pair of trousers and gortex outer trousers. The upper body was covered by inner thermal shirts, a 100 fleece, 300 fleece, gortex jacket and outer down jacket. Little issues are important line suntan lotion and glacier sunglasses to protect oneself by the blinding sun made even worse by the snow and ice. A great feeling of comfort is the very heavy, but necessary, crampons clipped to the outer boots which prevent falling on the snow and ice. Fortunately, I didn’t experience any great difficulty with clothing and equipment but this is certainly always a big worry for climbers.

For the last two days of the climb we were roped up in teams of four with eight or ten meters between each climber. This is done for safety purposes and for the easy retrieval of a fallen climber.

The three days before summit day were the most nerve-wracking. The problem was the difficulty in sleeping well because of the high altitude.

Summit day finally arrived. We were woken at 01h00 to commence our six hour climb at temperatures of between -10o and -15o C to the summit. The last camp was known as High Camp at 5 800m, the summit at 6 476m above sea level. The majority of the group summited and there is nothing better than scrambling up snow, with Wang Chu Sherpa roped to me telling me that I had only 10m of flat ground to cover to reach the summit. The moment of the summit, as I have said, was probably one of the best in my life. I can really recommend the trip and the experience to anybody.

Generally, the weather was not that good. The normal pattern would be that it was clear in the morning and very cloudy and misty in the afternoon. It rained for a number of days which made camping at very cold temperatures even more uncomfortable. The earlier parts of the hike were most spectacular in the lower regions walking through the rhodedendrum forests and other wonderful flora indigenous to Nepal. A lot of the early morning mists and fog were brought on by the remnants of the latest monsoon rains in the area.

We returned safely to Katmandu to celebrate our success at the Rum Doodle Restaurant. This is a famous landmark in Katmandu and is a haunt of the Everest summiteers. As a member of the Everest Summiteers Club, your main course at the Rum Doodle Restaurant is free for the rest of your life on production of your Everest summiteers card.

I am attaching a picture of Peter Hey and myself on the summit with our firm's flag with the great mountain of Everest behind the flag and Lhotse on the eastern side.