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Kenny
Chomolungma Expedition 2010
A brief summary

Organising company: Himalayan Ecstasy, Nepal
Team members: Expedition leader: Anil Bhattarai
Climbing guide: Roshan Bhattarai
Nga Tenji Sherpa
Lakpa Sherpa
Climber: Ed Laughton
John All David
Kenny Cheng
Route: North/North East Ridge, Everest, Tibet.

Nepal
I was the last team member to arrive at Kathmandu, on 4 April 2010. The team spent the next two days packing and performed last minute checking of everything before departure.

Tibet
7 of us departed for Kodari, the border crossing point in the early morning of 7 April. Our expedition truck has departed for Tibet the night before. We arrived there after a 4.5 hours ride. After we cleared the Chinese customs, we entered Tibet in the early afternoon. Our welfare was then taken over by the China Tibet Mountaineering Association, CTMA. Traveled on their land cruisers, we shortly arrived at the town of Zhangmu (èæñÿ) at 2,200m and stayed overnight. The weather was excellent.

We left early again the next morning (8 Apr) and continued going up. After about 1.5 hours ride, we arrived at our next stop Nyalam (ƒÙ¿$ƒæ) at 3,600m. It was a significant gain in altitude in very short time and we planned to stay here for 2 nights. The temperature dropped a lot; it was cold and windy, but the sky remained clear. On 9 Apr, we went to a nearby hill for an acclimatization hike, going up to 4,400m or more.

On 10 Apr, we left Nyalam and continue to our next stop Tingri (?®»’), where we also planned to stay for 2 nights. The road lead up to Thongla Pass at 5,000m, before descending down to Tingri at 4,200m. On the way to Tingri, we have our first view of Everest in Tibet. The ride last about 4 hours. The weather was still great at Tingri, but the wind was even stronger with occasional dust storm in the afternoon. The next day (11Apr), half of the team (3 guides) left for Everest base camp for preparation work while the rest of us have another acclimatization hike on a nearby hill, where I could have good view of Everest and Cho Oyu.

The Climb
On 12 Apr, we continued our journey to Everest base camp. It was a bumpy ride and again a significant gain (1,000m) in altitude. After a rough 4 hours ride, we arrived Everest base camp at 5,200m. All the tents have already been set up by our guides the day before. Many teams have already set up their base camp, including the Chinese team which had 11 climbers. We stayed in base camp in the next few days, acclimatizing. At base camp, our team recruited two Tibetans as kitchen staff and porter, and with our expedition cook also joining us a few days after we reached base camp, our team have a total of 10.

During this period, we walk up and down a nearby peak. We have also visited the old Rongbuk monastery as well as the tea houses nearby base camp. Before we pack up for advance base camp (ABC) we have our own “Puja” on 15 Apr. After the ceremony, our guides started to pack our gears, to be transferred to ABC by yaks. The weather was mostly fine during the day, but we started to experience evening snow and even a few thunderstorms.

The team left for intermediate camp on 17 Apr, while I stayed one extra day at base camp for more acclimatization, and also because of stomach problem. On 18 Apr, despite the stomach problem, I continued to intermediate camp at 5,800m, while the rest of the team continued their journey to ABC. I stayed there in the next 2 days due to my problem, and also the fact that there was no food at the camp. We ended up need to ask for some instant noodles from the Chinese; they were very kind. It was very windy up there; it almost blown my tent downhill.

On 21 Apr, I was good enough to continue walking up to ABC and reached there after a 7 hours walk. I then spent the next few days resting and prepare the gears and stuffs to be transferred to higher camps, and visited the other teams around as well. Weather at ABC was unstable and generally deteriorating, and temperature keep dropping. One morning, while walking around, I have some problem with my eyes and I lost some of my vision. I was not sure what the problem was, and decided to rest and see if that will clear up by itself.

26 Apr was a day to remember. I was supposed to climb up to the North Col, camp 1, but something bad happened. Our guide Dippen was extremely sick after waking up. A doctor from the Chinese team came across to our camp and confirmed his problem was Appendicitis and need an operation in hospital ASAP. A team consisted mainly of Nepalese Sherpa was formed immediately to carry Dippen down to base camp, follow by road transport back to Kathmandu. Most of our guides were involved and therefore our trip to North Col was aborted. Not long after Dippen has left us, an avalanche occurred near the bottom of the North Col. One climber was buried and one other was injured. We were lucky…

With most of the guides went down to base camp, and my eye problems persist, I decided to descend. On 28 Apr, I reached base camp after another 7 hours walk. It was snowing hard during the last 3 hours of the journey. I spent the next few days resting and tried to figure out what was going wrong in my eyes, which were still bad. It was then concluded that most likely I was suffering from retinal haemorrhage, and the best option was to descend. It was a hard decision to make but after spending few more days, more or less alone, thinking, I decided to go home. The weather was getting worst now and the team was deciding to retreat to base camp as well.

I radioed Anil at ABC, telling him my decision, and he came down to base camp on 5 May, helping to arrange my journey back to Nepal. On 6 May, I pack up and left base camp for the journey to Zhangmu. The rest of the team also retreat to base camp on the same day and wait for the weather to improve. On 7 May, I returned to Kathmandu and was transferred to the hospital for eye check. Doctor confirmed I have haemorrhage in both of my eyes, and vision of my left eye was seriously affected. However, it should heal itself after about 6 months.

The rest for the team finally have their summit bid open up after weather report indicating good weather around 22-24 May. On 16 May, they walk up to ABC and stayed there a few days to prepare for the summit attempt. They started their push on 20 May and in the early morning of 23 May 2010, Ed, John, Ngaa Tenji and Lakpa reached the top of the world. They all went down safely and left the mountain on 28 May to conclude an overall successful expedition.

Kenny
June 2010