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Latest News
A huge thank-you to my colleagues in Vodafone Ireland Technology Operations for their generous donations in support of the Kitandwe School Project. We would also like to thank the Vodafone Ireland Foundation for their much appreciated significant support for the charity.
We've been back in Ireland for nearly 2 weeks now and have been mad busy meeting with supporters, sponsors, stakeholders and the media as well as sorting out things like car tax, bin charges, NCT, dental check-ups and x-rays! I've finally gotten round to uploading some short video clips so follow the links below.
Irish on Everest 2008 - duo complete their year long journey
Irish climbers Graham Kinch (29) and Ian Taylor (29) today returned to Base Camp after 10 weeks climbing on Everest. Kinch was forced to turn around just above The Balcony at 8600m, finally giving in to a torn chest muscle that had plagued him for weeks. Taylor however went on to reach the summit (8850m) at 12:02am Irish time on Friday 23rd May. (See photo.) In doing so he has become the youngest Irish man and the first Kildareman to stand on the top of the world.
Just to let you all know, we have arrived in the South Col. The main objective at the moment is rest, food and brewing tea - and of course reviewing the situation and finalising plans.
I guess it will be a little while before my next posting.
We are now in Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face. We climbed through the early hours of this morning, and are now settling into the routine of cooking, resting and rehydrating.
We will spend the night on oxygen, and when we move up to the South Col, we will be using the TopOut system to ensure maximum flow and intake. This hopefully will speed our ascent to Camp 4, and help keep us warm against the fierce cold we would experience otherwise, just because of the extreme altitude alone.
Recent news:
Over the past week there have been a number of Irish people passing through our camp, notably Stuart and Padraig Halligan. They came in on a trekking group. Stuart enjoyed a birthday cake made by our Sherpas and then we brought them to the edge of the icefall and showed them the start of the route. Hopefully they enjoyed their time here in base camp.
Tuesday 13th May
Wednesday 7th May The bordom of down time at base camp was broken today with a welcome visit from Martin (53° North in Carrickmines) and his mates from Dublin. It was great to hear some familar accents, and catch up on news from home. We took the guys into the start of the icefall and it was nice for us to show them the route and terrain we have to cross on our way to camp 1.
Some interesting stats we learnt are that there are 37 teams here with 41 permits, 285 climbers and a total B.C community of 1000! Some members of that bustling community are NASA researchers and on Sat last some of them threw a party so it was nice to let the hair down at that for a bit.
See how we look after 48 days in base camp in the 'photos' section - top left hand one!
May 3rd.
We have been off the mountain two days now. We are hoping to go back up on a six day
acclimatisation stint in the next three to five days. That will include a trip to camp three. We are
not sure if we will be sleeping at camp three, it depends on our progress and how we
are coping with the altitude up to camp 3 at 24,000 feet.
We were going to take a walk to Gorak Shep today but it has been snowing at base
camp yesterday and today. It is colder than usual at the moment but hoping for
better weather over the coming days.
Fundraising / Donate
There are 3 ways that donations can be made;
- By electronic funds transfer to account number 42792240, sort code 93-33-92
- By sending a cheque made payable to Fields of Life No 2 Account, to Everest Project, Fields of Life, Tree Tops, Brides Glen Road Shankill, Dublin 18.
- By clicking the mycharity.ie link below
