NOVEMBER 2010

NOVEMBER 2010

Jenny and boyfriend Charles came to PE.
Julia went to Plett, African Haven and Wildcliff with them.
MICHAEL GIDDY IN HOSPITAL FOR KIDNEY STONE AND THEN TUMOR REMOVAL
KEITH BRAATVEDT VISITS NILLS BRAATVEDT AT RHODES IN GRAHAMSTOWN
KAREL LANDMAN MONUMENT
NIPPERS AT HOBIE BEACH
ALLY HIP HOP DANCE AT SAVOY THEATER
ALLY ACCEPTED INTO A DEVELOPMENT TEAM FOR JUNIOR SWIMMING
ALLY AWARDS EVENING: SPORTS GIRL OF THE YEAR.
OCEAN SWIM SERIES ONE KAY EVENT



Michael discovered a Kidney stone and had to be admitted to St Georges hospital where he spent the first day comfortably before passing the stone. But in the process of tests the doctors found that he had a growth on his kidney. After a weekend at home he went in to hospital again on Tuesday 8th and was operated on that night. Cathy had spent the weekend with us as support to Barbara and Nicky arrived on Tuesday. Barbara, Nicky and Lene spent the night at the hospital giving support to Michael. The surgery started after 19.30 and went on for around 3hours before Michael was wheeled out. They explained to me later how he had been in terrible pain and spent most of the night in agony.

Wednesday morning he was in ICU still in a lot of discomfort as though he had been punched repeatedly in the stomach. Meahwhile during all of this Nicky was a huge support to Barbara and Michael. We received amazing love and kindness from family and from friends (Cell Group and many others). Prayers from our cell group including Chris who brought some brownies, Ena who phoned me constantly, Patrick, Julia, Ron who read about Michael on Facebook, Michael's work at Russells where he had a short term contract in the warehouse; Scotty, Charine and the managers;

A cancerous growth was removed. We have spoken to the Doctor and will learn later next week the outcome of the Biopsy and the prognosis for Michael's future health.

Barbara, Ally and I went to Oudtshoorn this month for the Freda Barnard Gala. Ally had not been 100% fit with an attack of Bronchitis. Ally was on a pile of medication including an asthma pump. However she swam her heart out and in one event; relay medley, Ally swam butterfly and pulled her team to a third place. The other team members did well to hold their own but Ally was one of the backbone members of the team.

I had a business trip to East London. When there I went for a morning run and met ...... who was a cyclist. Small world; He lives in Hallack Road and I see him and he sees our running group on the days when we do Hallack Road and Park Drive for our morning runs.

Nippers: We had a good practice session on Sunday 7th. Unfortunately there is only a small group of U14's taking part this year. Overall we have the potential for a really strong group but as yet have not developed a team.

Monday 8.11.2010 to Saturday 13.11.2010
Michael goes into St Georges hospital on Tuesday. Cathy has been with us this weekend. Nicky arrives from CT this afternoon. Barbara, Nicky and Lene spend most of Tuesday night at the hospital. Michael finally has his operation to remove the tumor at around 19.30. The doctor probes for around two hours before cutting to remove the growth on the left hand kidney. When Michael comes out of theater he is in agony and suffers the whole night. Wednesday morning Michael stays in ICU for today. Thursday finally Michael is released to a general ward for the next two days and the recovery process begins. Saturday Michael is allowed to go home. The doctor has still not given us results of the Biopsy.

Friday evening I collect Keith from the airport. Ally has a Gala and swims a 100M Freestyle in 1.13 which I think is an excellent time. This was at Newton Park pool. Satuday morning I have an excellent run at the beach. Then Keith and I drive through to Grahamstown. Nicky flys off home to Cape Town. Keith meets up with Nills his eldest son who is studying at Rhodes and who has had a tough year. It is Nils' 20th birthday.

Keith has a long chat to Nills about his studies and we then visit the Digs where he wants to live for his last year at Rhodes. It is a real dive, dirty and untidy. Not at all condusive to study. There are around 5 of his old school friends living in this house. We have lunch at the Rat & Parrot before driving through to Kenton. We try to stop over at Charles & Ingrid's Caravan home in Bushmans but Ingrid does not answer her phone and there is a new security gate. We then take the road to the Karel Landman Monument, through Amakhala to Patterson and past Addo. On the route we saw a variety of game including large herds of Zebra, Red Hartebees, Eland, Nyala (we think) and then towards the end of the drive and near to Addo we saw a g=herd of 5 Elephant. There was one baby and 4 adults relatively close to where we could park. They were the most magnificent, stately animals.

Keith's Son: Nills failed one of his subjects. He did not attend sufficient of the lectures to be able to write. He is smoking heavily and, while it may seem okay to students, I think that he is drinking far too much. He has played around with Dagga and now wants to move out of the Res to a Digs home. This home is a cesspool and not at all conducive to study. Keith is worried about his life there. We had a long chat to Nills with me giving some input as well. But Nills will continue with his current life unless he himself catches a "wake up call". It will not be the result of a chat like yesterday. It is a catch 22 for Keith as he does not want to abandon his son but also he does not want to provide Nills with the financial means to live a slothful life which has no uplifting benefit. Sometimes hardship can be a cure. Remember the Comrades sign on the road with 30kays to go when you are dying on your feet: 'Nothing really worthwhile is easy".


Back home we watch the Springbok rugby team in their tour of Ireland, Wales and England. Last weekend they beat Ireland and this weekend the Springboks manage to hold off a fierce attempt by Wales to beat us at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.


Ally has been at the Gala again today and she is in her Hip Hop dance show this evening. Barbara, Jessica and I watch the show. Ally dances very well and at the end receives an award. At the Gala it was announced that Ally would be in the Develpment team for the next number of years.

This week Julia Giddy had her third prang in the old Mercedes. We have the old Mazda Bakkie brakes fixed and are able to start carting the mountain of rubbish away from the back yard.

SUNDAY 14TH
I dropped Keith off at the airport. Then took a load of rubbish to the Tip. Then it was church where Charles's Music group was playing. Tim Marshall was the speaker. He spoke of the meaning of Worship as being a sacrifice. Michael was in church but this was probably a mistake as he was in a lot of discomfort and pain. Ally, Mike's children and I went to Nippers where we jogged to Hobie beach. Andrew took the boards there and we had a stunning morning doing board work. Then a group of U12's and U14's paddled to Summerstrand on their Malibu boards. I was thrilled to see how their confidence was boosted by their peers. Ally and Barbara passed out for an afternoon nap.

Thursday 18th
We went to Ally's Prize Giving award evening. Last year Ally had been very disappointed that she had not won a prize. THis year Ally told us that she expected to win something. However we were a bit sceptical as the award are mainly centered around Academic and Dilligence.
THe awards came and went. Then right at the very end Ally was given an award. We were quite joyful. Then as the awards were about to end the final few awards were still outstanding. Ally and Mark Zonevelt were called up as Sporst Boy and Sports Girl of the year. As she was presented with this award I cannot describe the feeling of pride for this wonderful young lady. Here she was being awarded with the Sports Girl of the year; this is probably the most coveted award of all awards. Academic is one thing in school but sports girl award tells a whole lot more; to your peers at least.

Ally was truly a deserving awardee and this was confirmed by the Head Master: Allan Lones. He mentioned how she was always there with her bright smile and cheerful nature. Ally has played Hockey and Swimming for EP this year. Ally was in the EP Nippers Squad this and last year and a few years ago represented EP in Biathlon. We have been so proud of her in every event that she takes part.

Now Ally has been chosen for a special team in swimming. While her day to day training will not change; she has the opportunity for special treatment and analysis of her swimming ability. Brian Elliot will be the main coaching co-ordinator but Ally will continue to train with David Glover.

Saturday morning 21st
We started the morning with a 10kay at Hobie Beach and a swim there after. THen I drove to WIllows where I did Marshalling for the Achilles team. Jeanine and mother Christal were there. I left after the 10kay event as I had to be at Hurbert Hurd school for a swim meeting. Then I went to work and watched the Scots beat the Springboks in Edinburgh. It was a really scrappy match in the rain with us giving away one penalty after another.

Sunday morning I did my first Ocean Swim of the season. Ally was due to come as well but had a bit of a cough and had not slept well. I had been very nervous of this event but once I got going I felt a whole lot better. I had chatted to Rob Connacher, Brian & Margie Saunders, Colin McCall, Ronel Scheepers, Clair Breedske, Ant (Charles friend), Ron and Lyn Pask, &, & & .....

I had loaded up the trailer and taken it with me. After the swim I drove to Summerstrand where we had a good training session. Ally and a group of U12's and U14's paddled past the second Pipe and back. I took two young boys for a good swim to the first pipe. Then it was a case of lots of time in the water plus some sprint and flags training.

After Nippers we loaded up the trailer in preparation for the Plett Carnival next weekend.

This week I travelled to Queenstown for business. This time of year can be quite exhausting. I did store visits - some good and some tiring as I have to go over the same stuff again and again.

Back home on Thursday evening> Michael was given a bit of a clean bill of health. We hope that this works out.

Michael has just got back from the oconologist (I really need to check the spelling of this word one day). These are the facts as they stand right now:

You get three levels of cancer:

Level 1 is a small growth that is benign, removed and that is the end of it.
Level 2 is a reasonable size growth of more than 4cm and
Level 3 is more than likely unoperable, large and malignant

Mikes growth is primary, classed as a level 2 only because of its size (6cm). The growth was completely incapsulated and removed leaving no growth behind, There is no cancer in Mikes blood or any other organs. The doctors are also not 100% sure that it is malignant and not benign. More tests on the growth will be done in Cape Town. Mike will go for complete body scans every three months (and Nay will probably sneak in 1 every month at work).

Mike will not undergo any treatment such as radiation, chemo etc. because there is nothing to treat as he stands right now.

There is a 60% chance that it will not come back again. Mike is feeling healthy, a little sore still where the stitches were taken out, but ready to look for work next year and get on with his life.

------------

There is a 40% chance that Mike could get a growth again, not in the same place, but could appear in a gland or anywhere else.
If Mike feels pain anywhere he must have it checked out immediately.
Should the growth come back again it could be agressive.

The doctor, who is apparently world class, is confident and said Mike should concentrate on the 60%.

So there we are. Praying for the best for our son. With the support of many friends and family.

Friday was a long day at the office for me. I had to collect scull caps and the trailer licence at the clubhouse after work and then make ready for the trip to Plett in the morning. Unfortunately, due to exams, we have a poor turnout at Plett by Summies Nippers this time around.


We stayed at Ena's Flat for our Nippers trip. We had the trailer at the back of our car which slowed us down a bit and used DOUBLE the petrol but it was okay with the trailer and it gave us no trouble at all. While we did not have a big turnout for Summies at Nippers, we accounted for ourselves with Ally as TOP U14 Nipper Girl and Daniel Jones as 2ND in the U14 boys. Ally simply takes part in every possible event. She makes us very proud and we receive a lot of compliments at the strangest of times and totally unexpected.


We had an awesome team of 6 X U14 boys; 1 X U14 Girl and 3 X U12 Girls. Plus Shimone who had not done her level test. Shimone competed where ever she could but had to pull out of the results. Shimone was placed high in all the events where she took part. Swim; Body and Malibu Boards; Long Run etc.


U14 Boys: Daniel Jones; Christian Fraser; Tristan Jonas (14th Birthday =27th); Bradley Odendaal; Bonga Mosola; Taine Finn
U14 Girl: Ally Giddy
U12 Girls; Marion Jonas; Sancha Goliath & Erica van Rooyen.

U14's
We won the Boys and the Girls Sea Swim. (Daniel and Ally)
We had two teams for Taplin including one U12 and came 4th and 5th overall.
We had two teams for Sprint Relay (Also including an U12) and were placed 2nd and 5th overall.
Body Board Relay we were 2nd and 5th
And I think we were the same for Malibu.


Then on Sunday having U14: 3 boys in Sprint and 3 boys in Flags finals; And U12 Erica and Marion in Flags and Sprint finals.
We started the day with Long Run
Marion = 2nd and Erica =3
Tristan = 2 with Bonga a close 3rd. Bradley followed with 7th Place.
Ally = 3rd

Run Swim Run
Erica = 5 and Sancha = 11
Daniel 2 Christian = 4
Ally = 1st


Malibu Board Individual
Erica =12th
Daniel = 3; Christian = 5
Ally = 5

Iron Nipper
Daniel = 3; Christian = 4
Ally = 2

Individual Sprint Finals
Erica = 4
Tristan = 1; Bonga = 2 and Taine =3
Ally = 2

Flags Finals
Marion = 5
Erica =6
Tristan = 2; Bonga = 3 and Taine =7
Ally = 5

Overall Results
U10 - No representative
U12 - Summies were 4/5 teams
U14 - We were placed 2nd to Kings Beach with our small but corageous team.
Overall we were 4th placed team.
Under 14 boys: Daniel was 2nd Best Competitor
Under 14 Girls: Ally was Best Competitor.

Parents who enjoyed this weekend:
Peter & Barbara Giddy
Lawrence and Tess Finn
Andrew and Catherine Jonas
Gary & Deidre Goliath
Joy van Rooyen
Tony, Raylene and Kiliegh Odendaal.


Roger Fraser
Vanessa and Mike Jones
We started the day off on Saturday with a small argument as we were pushed around as to where we could pitch our tent. We ended up where we always are. East London had a full on team; the biggest we have ever seen from EL. Kings Beach had a strong team with the parents supporting the Plett Carnival 100%. Plett themselves had the biggest of the 5 teams while Summies had 10 nippers with Hobie beating us with 12 Nippers.
The events ran very smoothly but the water was freezing cold. A couple of us parents tried swimming but it was simply too cold to stay in the water. It was a hot sunny day and towards the later afternoon it became a "searing heat". I went out on the Malibu board a couple of times to support our brave U12's. This was the very first time that Sancha had ever been on a Malibu Board. She bravely did the course, overturned at the second buoy where we swapped boards and she finished in fine style. Marion is terrified of the waves (What waves?) but she too completed the Malibu Board event.
During the day a couple of the younger group were pulled in as they cramped or just could not take the cold.
We were treated to both a pair of seals and a school of dolphins. The two seals never left the beach as they flopped inside of the Buoys. This gave the Nippers something to do as they tried to follow the seals. There were large numbers of fish that provided a meal for the birds and the seals.
Later in the afternoon we watched Rugby (Springboks play England) in the Plett clubhouse. It was a good festive afternoon with a satisfying end to a hard UK tour. We had beaten the Irish and the Welsh, Lost to the Scots and were delighted to have beaten the England Team in the last of 4 matches.

Sunday morning it was drizzling and raining intermittently the whole morning. The water was even colder today without the warm sun. We enjoyed watching a huge flock of Comorants fly just above the waterline. The events continued to run smoothly. However we always under estimate the time it takes to complete the flags finals. After the results had been called out it was around 13.30 before we could leave.

Plett is always a treat. To those who missed the outing this year: put it in Dark Pen in your 2011 diary.

Peter
28.11.2010




Monday 29th back to PE and work and running in the morning with the group. Tuesday 30th I drove through to Transkei after spending Monday night at the Red Valley B& B in Khomga.

Johannesburg 22 January 2009. Julia Braatvedt Choc Chip Biscuits.

The organisation that I work for is known as JDG. This is the Joshua Doore Group. Morkels is a division of this organisation and I started with Morkels in June 1984 as a manager of the PE Main Street (now Govan Mbeki Avenue) shop. This was a new store opening at the time. I worked as manager of this shop for around 3 years and then moved to the North End shop where I was the manager also for about 3 years. The then Regional Manager, Cliff May, resigned and I was given the task of RM for the Garden Route area.


This meant the shops in Oudtshoorn, George, PE and Uitenhage. This was a great time for me but then Tony Ashton who was running the East London shops resigned and I had this region added to mine. I think that I botched up some of my decisions and Arthur Flemix (my GM at the time) changed my job title to Regional Credit Manager and Johan Claassen become the RM in my place. Botha DuPlessis was the Regional Personnel manager but under Johan this did not go well and he resigned and took up a contract position with both the University and the CCMA. For a short while I was appointed to the postion of PM but when to opportunity came I moved back to Retail Regional. Justin Strydom became our PM. And then after Justin resigned some years later to join the RMI (Retail Motor Industry) as a HR consultant we had Lynne Vogel join as PM. Our division became part of the Western Division under Johan Sadie and I moved back to RM when Johan Claassen moved to JHB for a promotion.


Again I had a bit of a tough time operating under a elderly man (Norman Daniels) but when he left I did exceptionally well working for Joahn Sadie. For a short while this changed and I worked under Glen Phillips but when JDG took over Morkels he resigned to open a Bottle Store in Port Shepstone. And I moved back to work under Johan Sadie. In 2007 JDG decided to split finance from Retail and I became the Regional Finance Manager once more. I had to do a lot more travel as the Border Transkei was once more part of my region. Around this time Johan Sadie took a Regional Position and Martin Labuschane became my GM with Belinda Deyzel operating as Divisional Credit Manager and my immediate superior. Early in 2008 Joahn Sadie resigned and opened a Pie Shop. we saw him in the middle of the year when we had a super with him and his wife Poppie. He was having all kinds of trouble in the business. Early in 2009 Johan became extemely depressed and was booked into hospital for sleep therapy and I hear that they will sell of fhte pie business.


My position as Regional Finance lasted for a year from September 2007 to October 2008. JDG decided to completely split Retail and Finance and I applied for the position of GM in the Eastern Cape. I was interviewed by Corrie Neven who would become my new senior.


In the position of GM Finance I was asked to attend a meeting in Johannesburg from 22 to 24 January 2009.


Nicci and Stefan were also in Joahnnesburg as they had launched the Little Pink Book (Gauteng) on Tuesday 21st January and had a big function at the Indaba conference hotel. Susanne Braatvedt went to see what was going on and reported to me that it looked like a very fancy party. Some important Celebrity people were there including TV people, the top make up artist in SA & the "You" magazine. Nicci and Stefan had stayed with Keith when they were first in Joahnnesburg to set the whole function up.


Nicci has a way of attracting people as she tells me she asks people: "Would you like to become involved in the Little Pink Book" rather than asking them to sign up for advertising. She had good response and the whole function was sponsored and all they had to pay for were the flight tickets. Unfortunately while they were there they discovered that a "Friend" from Knysna / George area was trying to copy their idea by producing something similar there but without consulting them. I spoke to Nicci after she returned to Cape Town and by all accounts this was a huge success and now she has a tight deadline for the publishing of the final product.


I was also able to stay with Keith and Susanne rather than staying in an hotel. After work, Susanne picked me up from the Randburg Contact Centre and took me to their home in Bryanston where I have stayed before. I met up with their long time maid, Ellen. Nils was off at a camp in Sterkspruit. He completed his Matric at St Peters in 2008 and had enrolled at Rhodes for this year. Julia has two more years to go at St Peters and is in Grade 11 this year. Edmund has four years of school left and is currently in Grade 9. He is three years ahead of Ally who is in Grade 6 this year. Edmund was also off at a camp somewhere.


Julia had to go off to Waterpolo training. Julia loves the sport and plays for her school, for Gauteng province and even was in Trials for the South African team. The pool "Wahoo" is located at her school and is a huge commercial aquatic centre. Susanne & I dropped Julia at the pool and then after a short stop off at the Spar went home where I met their friend Claire who was also staying with them for a while. Claire had been in a car accident and in a coma as a result. while she was in a coma a curator sold off her house and left her destitute. she took then Curator to court and won but lost on appeal. Keith is assisting Claire to appeal to the Constitutional Court.


Susanne made the supper and Keith & I went to fetch Julia from her Waterpolo training. Susanne made us a delicious supper of lamb, potato, butternut and gem squash. Keith showed me his album of his climb up Mount Mera with his friend Peter Hey. It was a three week trip taking two weeks to climb up and then just four days for the (short cut) climb down. Mt Mera is within striking distance of Mt Everest which is in the background of many of the photo's.


I was reading a collection of thillers and went to bed after a coffee and choc chip biscuit that Julia made. Julia gave me this recipe as a swap for my crunchie recipe.


Julia Braatvedt's choc chip biscuits.

• 300 ml Cape Flour
• 1 Mil bicarb
• 2 mil salt
• 125grams of butter
• 50 ml firmly packed brown sugar
• 125 mil white sugar
• 1 X Egg beaten
• 5ml vanilla
• 100 mil cooking choc chopped

1. Mix flour, salt and Bicarb
2. Cream the butter and sugars until light & fluffy
3. Add Egg and Vanilla
4. Beat well
5. Stir in the dry ingredients and chopped chocolate.
6. Drop tea spoons onto the greased baking tray
7. leave room for spreading
8. Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 Degrees
9. Cool....Makes about 30 biscuits.

And this is the Recipe for Cruchies which I gave to Julia

Mix together

Two cups oats, One cup sugar, one cup flour and one cup coconut

125g (half a small block) of BAKE margerine, melted together with two table spoons of syrup and put in one tea spoon of Bicarb when it is nearly melted.

Mix into the dry ingrdients and press the mic\xture firmly into a glass baking tray.

Put this into an oven at about 140 Degrees for about 45 minutes.

Take it out and while it is still fairly warm cut into biscuit size and then leave to cool. Should make about 5 X 8 or 5X 9 = 40 to 45 biscuits.

Thursday at the JDG Contact centre was a real bore. We looked at how the follow up , trace, granting of credit etc was done and hung around for the day. I tried to get an earlier flight but it looks like I will be spending a day at the airport.

This evening Claire told us about her efforts to sort out the debt that had piled up while she was trying to sort out her court case. Road Accident Fund seemed okay, Vodacom were reasonable, Netstar refunded her but Nedbank did not even grant her the time of day. I advised Claire to see the National Credit Regulator 0860 627 627 or the Ombudsman 0861 662 837 to apply for Debt Review or for Debt Counselling.

Susanne made us a delicious supper of stewed beef, rice and vegetables cooked in a special dutch sauce. Julia showed me her scrap booking that she had taken time to create showing pictures of her family and various activities since she was a baby. Keith showed me a number of pictures of his Game farm in Clarens in the Free State. He leases some of the land for cultivation to a neighbour and has Game on the farm for their own pleasure. They employ a manager to run the day to day activities.

While I was in Johannesburg, Barbara was opening her school. The first day was Wednesday 21st Jan 2009. today Barbara brings in the New Mom's and has a tea and introduces the children to the school. Benita Barton and Michelle Elfic were two moms who are also running friends. Then Thursday was the first day of school. Barbara now takes the Bigger children. One Mom arrived without confirming her booking for the year. She had not completed an application form. Barbara decided to not turn her away but this means that she has 29 children alltogether with Suzanne Gendall taking the Littlies and Barbara and Gloria with 20 children in her class.

Friday 23rd: Susanne & I dropped Julia at school and then took me to the Randburg office where we met Corne who took a small group of us to the Airport. I spent the entire day at the airport as BA refused up change my booking. I felt like Tom Hanks who acted in a movie about a man who spent a year in an airport. I alternated between coffe, reading, walking around with my bags over my shoulder, sleeping on a bench and staring out the windows at the comings and goings of airplanes.

Saturday morning I met up with Ben Carver for a run. We were joined for a short while by Adrienne, Susan, Gerald & Maryna. They all turned around at the Engen next to the beachfront spar. Ben and I continued up Walmer Boulevard, up to the airport and back via Strandfontein road. IN Admiralty Road we heard a voice behind us. It was a young lady (Martie) from Pretoria who had met Adrienne. Adrienne had suggested that she join us. So we Ran together as far as the Summies Club where we also met up with Elmarie and ran back together. As we approached Hobie beach we found two women with Champagne and muffins. It was a celebration of one of their Birthday (Caroline). we wished he the best and went off for a swim.

As we came in from the swim, Ben elected himself as guardian of the Muffins while the girls had a dip. I had to leave as I had a bit of a rush. After a shower and change I headed back to the beach for a Nippers Level Test. There were 6 U10's and 2U12s there. We took them through their theory and then Paul Lynch tested them. The two U12's really struggled with the swim. So we took both of them out for a second swim and they passed their test.

I had to spend some time in the office to try to catch up on some work. Later that afternoon Michael & I went to Kings beach where we teamed up with some parents to set out the Arena's for Sunday's Carnival.

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.

KILIMANJARO 2000 -- BE PREPARED FOR A REALLY TOUGH CLIMB

Kilimanjaro September 2000

Peter & Barbara Giddy
Keith Braatvedt
Nico
Petera
Dawn Kumm

Kilimanjaro is a tough climb. Preparedness will help. Talk to people who have been up the mountain recently if possible as their memory will be fresh. Here is an account as best as I can remember it.

Barbara had this thing about wanting to climb Kilimanjaro. I had no such desire and so left all the organising to her. I felt that we could not afford such a trip and also that this would be something too taxing on the physical side of things. Nevertheless she continued to talk to various people and a fair number showed interest. But when it came to putting money where mouth is it was Dawn and Keith who were going to be with us. Keith found an associate of his from Johannesburg who was also keen to take on this adventure, Nico. Dawn had mentioned the climb to a man who Tracey knew from her work, Peter and he too agreed to come along.

Of all of us there was only Peter who had any climbing experience. As far as I can remember he had climbed in the Andes in South America and the Himalayan Mountains. Barbara & I were completely new to this and had to do a huge amount of shopping before we felt prepared. We visited Cape Union Mart on a number of occasions before we had bought the necessary down Sleeping bags, Sturdy Hiking boots, Thermal underwear gloves, headlamp torches, Special water bottles that don’t freeze up and big winter anorak jackets that had special fleece lining for the extreme cold. Another major purchase was the anti altitude sickness pills. I can’t remember the name of the stuff but we read extensively on the subject and made sure that we would be well stocked.

We set off to meet in Johannesburg The airport was our rendezvous place. The flight to Tanzania was Air Tanzania and we really did not have any illusions about the comfort levels that we should expect. I think that the flight was in the region of 4 hours and we landed in the evening at the Moshi Airport. Here we loaded all our stuff onto a bus. Peter could not find his luggage. It seemed to have been lost. But we had to leave so piled into the bus and headed off for Moshi. We had no idea what to expect and as we got to the hotel we were ushered into bungalow type accommodation. Keith and I shared, Peter & Nico shared and Barbara & Dawn shared rooms. That evening we went to the main dining area of the hotel and had a good meal. After this we gathered in a large entertainment area where we were given instructions for the next day. I had no idea what the man was saying and thought that I would just follow everyone else the next day. We bought ourselves some of the local Tusker and Kilimanjaro beer and settled down for the night.

The next morning was the most chaotic day that I can ever remember. We had a breakfast and then packed our things up again. Peter had still not found his luggage and so the rest of us men clubbed together to make sure that he would have enough clothes for the climb. We, of course, had brought way too much for ourselves. Fortunately Peter had the foresight to have retained the essentials for the climb on board the plane. He still had his video camera, Boots, jacket and I think that he had his warm sleeping bag. After breakfast we were introduced to our guide, Tobias. He had piles and piles of stuff that had to be loaded onto vehicles. We each were allowed a large tog bag not weighing more than 15 kilograms.

Finally it seems that we were the last to leave and left in a Landrover type vehicle. We drove into town where there seemed to be more chaos and filled up with petrol. As we drove we saw the mountain for the first time. It seemed awesome. It is not far from Moshe to the base of Kili where the climb was due to start. As we arrived at the base we were in even more Chaos than before. We had to sign in as climbers and sort out the tip with the head guide. What we did was to write it down. We had heard that a tip of about US$90 was expected from each of the climbers in a party. Most transactions were conducted in US dollars. Each of us had a small day pack and after quite a time we eventually started the walk. There was total confusion all around but somehow our bags and all the equipment for the climb was sorted out. At the base there were probably a couple of hundred people including porters and climbers. The porters loaded the equipment on their heads and began a brisk walk up the pathway. We had heard that the way to climb Kili was “Poly Poly” which is Swahili for slowly. The first day was along rough pathways and in enormous forests. We stopped a few times and I learned my second word of Swahili – Twende – This is the word for “Let’s Go”. At this stage we were having fun. It was not over taxing and luckily there had not been heavy rains recently so we were not in mud or slush. At the end of the day we walked into thinner forest and into our campsite. The first camp is the Machame camp. The walk had probably been about 5 or 6 hours that day. Our tents had been set up and after supper in the main tent we were in bed fairly early. Keith & I had done a bit of exploring to see if we could buy some beers at a hut in the center of this campsite.

On our first morning on the mountain we were greeted by a porter. His name was Richard. He had a Skeef eye but was one of our favourites as he offered “hot water washing” in the mornings. He seemed to be the equivalent of a Mountain butler and would be there to see to all our needs in the camp. We had ourselves a bit of a wash. It was freezing cold in the early morning but we soon warmed up as we began the days walking. Some teenager had a CD player but we had decided to enjoy ourselves and were tolerant to everything around. As we looked back to the Machame camp through the morning mist we saw how quickly we had ascended. At lunch time we were treated to hot ginger tea, soup and good food. Each time we stopped for a meal the porters would lay out a table cloth, stools and set out the meal as if we were picnicking at the beach next to our car.

This was a long days walk with plenty of climbs and no more forest. A lot of Lava rock and desert looking vegetation. On these first two days I had walked in shorts and a t-shirt. I was very grateful of the solid boots that I had as the pathway was rough and stony. At this stage this was still just a tough hike. That afternoon we reached the Shira Plateau. We were above the clouds. This afternoon many of the climbers were not feeling well as the altitude sickness was starting to take its toll. I realised that I had left my allocation of the anti altitude sickness pills at home and so had to share with Barbara. Fortunately I was not too bad at this stage.

Keith & I walked up and around the nearby koppies. Peter “super C” did a much longer walk along the plateau. As Keith and I looked down on the campsite below it stretched across a vast area and counting the number of tents I did an estimate that there were in the region of 300 people at this camp. I remember that the toilet facilities were (excuse the pun) the pits. There were these huts with a hole in the ground. And my apologies if I disgust you but many of the people using the toilets missed. Ugh! So we would mainly use the spade method. Littering is a big problem on a popular mountain like this. However the main litter to be found is toilet paper.

This evening we were all exhausted and asleep early. We had a talk to our main guide (Tobias) about the route. It seems that the way to overcome AMS (acute mountain sickness) is to walk high and then sleep low. So we should be doing a walk and then coming back to the same camp for the night. I am not sure if it was our or the guide’s decision that this was not a good idea in our case but the next day we packed up and walked up the plateau and away from the camp.

It is a mystery to me how the porters are able to pack up the tents, load all the provisions and our bags on their heads and meet us at the next camp with the tents already set up. But that is what happened each day. Our third day was a long and tough day. Tobias and Pascoe urged us to walk “Poly-Poly” and to conserve energy. I remember finding it so amusing that Tobias was entrusted with the bag carrying the eggs and Pascoe was carrying a gas cylinder for cooking. He would carry the cylinder on the back of his neck. The Guides of Kili have to undergo fairly rigorous training. They learn to speak English, to cook, basic first aid and have to be fit and accomplished climbers. Tobias had climbed this mountain many times before.

The terrain became increasingly harsh. We walked in biting cold winds. We saw less vegetation and by lunchtime we were all pretty exhausted. During the breaks we would sit or lie down and relax for as long as we were allowed. After the break today the walk became extremely tiring. We walked into a wind with sleet beating down on us. I put my Kili jacket on with the hood covering my head and face and walked in total misery. Eventually we reached the Lava Tower. The weather cleared to some extent and we were able to explore our surroundings. Some of the other climbers were extremely sick and we were able to assist with the AMS pills.

The Tower is this huge outcrop of rock and I think that Nico, Keith and Super C all climbed it that afternoon. I was too tired and flopped down to try to recover. There were not nearly the same number of other groups at this camp. I think that most of them had walked to the Baranco Wall and would take a different route to the summit. It was very cold here and I remember sleeping with all my clothes on. I would sleep well every night on the mountain.

The next (fourth) day Super C had walked up the west face of the mountain before breakfast. He called down to us to wave as he was filming with the video camera. He must have lost it I thought. I had just enough energy to walk to the breakfast tent and here was this man walking way up the mountain for fun. As we emerged from our tents it looked like it had been snowing in the night. But what it was, was the early morning frost and sleet making the ground appear white. We were told that today would be a very short walk.

We started off in heavy mist. We had absolutely no idea where we were going. We could see that there were gouges made by ancient glaciers that had slid down the mountainside and we walked through these mini valleys. It was really not long before we were at the Arrow Glacier camp. The wind was whipping up at the tents and it seemed that they would not last. But our guides were clearly experienced and secured everything down.

The four men decided to do a bit of exploring and walked over to the Glacier where we did a Zulu Warrior dance for Super C’s camera. The porters collected water from pools of melted ice. That evening we had a meeting with the guides who explained the routine. We would try to get to sleep as early as possible and they would wake us up at about 23.00. We would then have something to eat and drink and then start walking at midnight. We looked up to the rockface that we would be climbing and tried to imagine doing this in the pitch dark. But we were in the hands of the guides and had to do what they told us.

Sure enough, after some tea and biscuits we set off at midnight for the ascent through the Arrow Glacier. We did not have to climb through any ice. It was just a rock face that we walked and climbed with the aid of our headlamps. There were a number of other parties but they seemed to go at a quicker pace than we did. At this stage we could see the snake like line of lights up and ahead of us. Eventually it became light and we could see how high we had walked this morning. It was freezing cold. We had our big gloves on as well as the Kili Jackets and beanies to try to ward off the biting wind and cold. At one time we stopped for tea.

This was one of the toughest times of our lives as we huddled in the rocks to cut out the wind. Barbara was in total misery as she now had her own, plus the guide’s gloves on. I was in no state to help her and she wanted us to press on and she would follow later. Fortunately the guide was able to understand how she was feeling and eventually got her going again. I remember Super C taking pictures of the clouds below as the early morning sun shone on them. And how he nearly fell to certain death as he took a step backwards and nearly over the cliff face. We tried to be extremely careful as we climbed up but being so tired and out of breath it was difficult to think clearly.

Eventually after about six hours of climbing we reached the top of the rockface. The sun shone onto where we sat and tried to recover. I had this dilemma that I needed to breathe and wanted to take the beanie off my mouth but if I did that my face froze. Super C walked over to the Glacier at the top to measure how big it was. I think that it was about five times his height. It was huge and vast. At this stage we were in a kind of valley just below the highest point of the mountain. We walked in single file to the base of the very last part of the climb. We saw that some of the groups had gone ahead and up this section. Barbara, Dawn and Pascoe were behind us.

In hindsight I was selfish and thoughtless and worried about my own preservation only. But we went on and up the final section. Keith does Karate and counts to ten in Japanese. So what we did was contour up this section at ten steps at a time with Keith counting in Japanese. After each ten steps we would stop and rest. Once we crested this section it was a flat 100 meters to the signpost saying that we had reached the top of Kilimanjaro. The Uhuru Peak. This point is just short of six kilometers above sea level.

It seems that what most people do is to take pictures and immediately begin their descent. But we had to wait for Barbara and Dawn. We looked down to the valley where we had just been and there we saw them. It looked like they were resting. So we decided to do the same and had a good sleep before they eventually joined us on the top of the mountain. It was midday and we had been hiking for 12 hours by now. On the top of the mountain there are some vast Glaciers. We hear that these Glaciers are melting and may soon disappear and may be a thing of the past for future climbers. We took a few pictures and began the descent.

Pascoe found a glacier pool and fetched us water. Water is so essential on the mountain-top. This is what we should have been drinking to stave off the headaches. Super-C had no medication, only water. We were going down a different way. It was shale and loose rocks for most of the way. Keith was not feeling well. But we had to continue down. Again we became separated from Dawn and Barbara. We did not know how far we would have to go before we met up with our camp. We had been told it was called Millenium (or High) Camp. We passed though a camp with huts and fires on the go. This was not ours. We finally reached our camp and found our tents. Keith & I looked around to find the place where beers were on sale. We paid double the already exorbitant price but were happy to do so as a celebration was in order. We had no idea where Dawn & Barbara were and after a while we became anxious.

It was getting late and it was dark. The Guides put together a bit of a picnic supper boiled eggs and some ginger tea and sent out a search party to find them. Eventually at about 23.00 they walked into camp. Barbara was severely sunburned and they had been on the go for 24 hours. Probably for both of them this was one of the very toughest days of their life. They had been having illusions on the pathway. Seeing all kinds of things and not knowing where they were.

The following morning there was frost on the ground and the tents. It was cold but we were feeling good having all achieved the climb successfully. Barbara was in a bad way with sunburn. Today we started off in high spirits and although it was a fairly long trek. We finally made it to the check out gate where we were certified as having reached the Uhuru Peak. Tobias did the paper work while we waited. There was quite a long queue of people at the gate.

After the formalities we walked on for a little while to an outdoor restaurant type of place where we were given a plate of Stir-Fry and rice. We also bought ourselves a beer each. This was a real treat. It was delicious. After our meal we were loaded onto busses and rode back to the Moshi Hotel. Here we booked in again to our Bungalows and had a good shower. And finally after we had washed up we all met outside the hotel with our group of Guides and Porters.

Tobias handed out the Certificates while we treated everyone to beers. The Porters then sang us the Kilimanjaro song. To which we replied with a version of I-Zika-Zooma-Zoomba-Zey. They delighted in this. We had gathered a whole lot of stuff that we would not be needing back in PE, including snacks and clothing that we had made them carry up and down the mountain. This pile of stuff we handed to the porters together with the pre-negotiated tip.

For the six of us climbers there had been a team of about 15 guides and porters. Not all of them had been with us all the time. While we were hiking it was Tobias (Head Guide) and Pascoe (assistant Guide) who had stayed with us. Richard was the Butler and I think one of the cooks. The rest we had hardly seen as they would hike up the mountain with our stuff and often run down again. Others would carry tents and equipment to the next camp, set up the tents and begin the meal and so everything would be ready as we arrived into camp.

After a good nights rest in the Bungalows we loaded our stuff up the next morning and were driven by bus to the airport. The airport wait was quite pleasant as we chatted to other hikers and visited the shop there where we purchased a tape with the Kilimanjaro song. We were shown onto our airplane through the rear entrance and were told that there was “free seating” and that we were headed for Daresalam.

Daresalam is Tanzania’s largest city and is on the East Coast. This was a mystery for us as we though that the flight was direct to Johannesburg as it had been on our trip up. Anyway, Who were we to argue? An amusing feature of this flight was the coffee that was served in the thinnest of plastic cups imaginable. If the cups had been any thinner they would have melted and leaked. It was a short trip to Daresalam and we were ushered to the transit lounge. I think that it must have been Sunday as none of the shops were open.

We sat in a café area and watched the Olympics that were on at the time. After a while we were told that there was to be a delay as “the plane, she are broken”. We were issued with meal tickets in the form of boarding passes which when we tried to redeem them were handed a packet of Simba Crisps. After a while the trays of Airplane food were wheeled into the lounge area and we were fed this. Then I think that we were either told or a rumour spread that we would be boarding soon. So we checked through the security x-ray machine and sat in the waiting area for a while until we became bored and walked back to the restaurant area. All during this Dawns Ice Pick was frozen on the screen of the X-ray machine!

It seemed that we were going to be there for a long time and the airport officials were getting sick and tired of us so they gave us an outing to the city. We were loaded into taxi combi's and driven through town to a plush hotel. The streets of Daresalam were some of the worst I have ever seen where we would have to ride over onto the side of the road to avoid huge donga's in the road. The Hotel was something quite different. Here we were treated to a sumptuous meal and given a room to change so that we could have a swim.

We had been told to be ready at 18.00 at the front of the hotel and there we waited for quite some time as even when the busses came to collect us there were arguments about how the bus drivers were to be paid for all their efforts. We were at this time concerned that we should be back at the airport for our flight back to Johannesburg. But it all worked out okay and I think it was about 21.00 when we finally boarded a Nationwide flight that had been chartered specially for us to fly home. As the doors of the airplane closed and we taxied on the runway I realised how it must feel to be a hostage and then to be freed. Our own experience was hardly a hostage one but we felt a huge sense of relief as we headed home and were being flown by South African Pilots and were being served by South African Stewards.

Our day in Daresalam had been an experience on its own. When we finally reached Johannesburg, Keith’s wife, Suzanne was waiting to collect us. She drove us to their home where we spent the night telling stories. The next day we were able to fly home to recover from this amazing experience. We have an album of photos as well as a copy of a Video that Super C Peter had taken.

Peter Giddy
September 2000