Drukpa Kunley’s Rhubarb: an extraordinary Himalayan vegetable

July 26, 2011 Humour bhutan, blue sheep, drukpa kunley, flora, frank spencer chapman, himalayas, jangothang ri, jhomolhari, joseph hooker, paro, pasang dawa lama, rheum nobile, sikkim, tibet, trekking, weather, wildlife 3 Comments

I’m going to conclude my trio of posts about Bhutan by relating an incident that happened at a place called Jangothang on the Jhomolhari trek. In previous posts I’ve been moaning about the weather in Bhutan, and how the beautiful

The Buddhist Wheel of Life

June 4, 2011 Opinion and advice buddhism, buddhist wheel of life, gompas, himalayas, karma, monasteries, nirvana, shegar, tibet 0 Comment

Be a good person and you too can become a demigod Trekkers and mountaineers who spend a lot of time travelling in the Himalayas often experience the feeling of being gompered out, ie. having visited so many Buddhist monasteries (or

The trials of keeping a travel diary

May 11, 2011 My books and writing 8000m peaks, camping, cho oyu, everest, himalayas, makalu, mountain photography, tibet, travel diaries, travel writing, trekking, youtube 2 Comments

Well, I returned from my last trip to the Himalayas in November, and I’ve just got round to getting my travel diary from my expedition to Cho Oyu online, six months later. Does anyone care? Half the team who might

Cho Oyu 2010: Climbing high on steak and kidney pie

November 28, 2010 Trip reports 8000m peaks, acclimatisation, altitude sickness, cho oyu, everest, expedition food, himalayas, jagged globe, kathmandu, lhasa, manaslu, nepal, potala palace, shegar, shigatse, tibet, tibetan mountaineering association 7 Comments

The story of Cho Oyu, autumn 2010 While we live in a society which offers us a huge amount of choice over what we do, for the bigger events the wheel of life more often than not turns in a

Reflections on Cho Oyu

October 6, 2010 Expedition dispatches baruntse, cho oyu, kathmandu, lhasa beer, nepal, robert anderson, serap jangbu sherpa, tibet, tibetan mountaineering association 0 Comment

There’s an old cliche in mountaineering, getting to the top is optional, but getting back down again is mandatory. There are climbers who ignore this simple axiom – and, indeed, there were some of them on Cho Oyu this year

Hope fading on Cho Oyu

September 28, 2010 Expedition dispatches baruntse, cho oyu, jagged globe, nepal, sherpas, tibet 0 Comment

It was all looking so good. We saw off half of our team after breakfast yesterday morning on their way up to Camp 1 on their summit push. The rest of us, who would be aiming for the summit from

Rest and relaxation at Base Camp

September 25, 2010 Expedition dispatches bottled oxygen, cho oyu, nepal, summit day, tibet 0 Comment

We’re now enjoying our third day of rest at Base Camp. The good news is the heavy snow which has blighted pretty much every afternoon since we’ve been here has now cleared, and we’re looking at a long summit window.

Up to Camp 2 on Cho Oyu

September 23, 2010 Expedition dispatches cho oyu, dehydration, expedition food, headache, richard parks, steve williams, tibet 0 Comment

Back at base camp again after three days on the mountain, including a night at Camp 2 (7100m), the highest I’ve ever slept. We started out for Camp 1 on Monday morning (20th). As usual the weather started clear, but

Avalanche above Camp 3

September 18, 2010 Expedition dispatches cho oyu, tibet 1 Comment

At 10.30 yesterday morning there was an avalanche above Camp 3 on Cho Oyu. Seven climbers from the China Tibet Mountaineering Association who were fixing ropes, fell 10 metres over the Yellow Band, a band of rock high on Cho

Initial forays on Cho Oyu

September 17, 2010 Expedition dispatches cho oyu, expedition food, glaciers, himalayas, kathmandu, richard parks, robert anderson, steve williams, tibet 0 Comment

It’s now been a few days since our puja and it feels like our ascent of Cho Oyu has truly begun. On Monday we made an initial foray up to Camp 1 at 6400m. This involves a three hour crossing