Trip Reports

Mera Peak - 3 to 26 Oct '08

Written by Leader Paul Donovan, October 2008

“Disappointment on Mera Peak as ‘Team Mera’ are forced to retreat due to cold conditions. The team remained in good spirits as they returned to Base Camp.”

The whole team met up at LHR for a flight to Kathmandu via Delhi. All went very smoothly, arriving on time in Kathmandu. The plan was to fly out of Kathmandu the following day, to Lukla. This didn’t happen due to airport closure in Lukla so the next day we tried again. This time 4 team members made it into Lukla before bad weather closed Lukla airport yet again. After a third night in the Summit Hotel, Kathmandu, the whole team were reunited and 3 days late we began our trek, heading southwards down the valley on the main Lukla to Jiri trail before branching off eastwards to the village of Poyan. It was great to be on trail after such a frustrating time in Kathmandu airport. That’s adventure travel for you!

At Poyan came a torrential storm. Thank goodness this was not the shape of things to come! The itinerary changed somewhat when we reached the Khari La as we took a ridgeline northwestwards to the Zawtra Wak, reaching 4,200m on our fourth day before descending to Khorte, via Tuk Tok, in the Hinku valley. We were now back on schedule, although one team member had decided to return to Kathmandu due to illness. The remaining eight team members continued. Today we gained our first views of our objective – Mera Peak. This enthused the team no end, although the big descent through the Rhododendron forest managed to take some of that enthusiasm away. After a night’s sleep at Khorte (3,600m), we awoke to a glorious day and views of Mera Peak as it loomed above us. It was great to get a bit of sunshine on us, after a number of days in the rain and low cloud.

We reached Tangnag (4,300m) on Day 10 and looked forward to our first day of rest. We had to forgo a previously planned rest day to enable us to catch up. The team may question the term ‘rest day’ since we gained 200m on the hillside above Tangnag to acclimatise, as well as familiarise ourselves with plastic boots, crampons, glacial travel and fixed rope ascents & descents.

Suitably refreshed, we continued, initially to Dig Kharka and then onto Khare for two nights. During our time here we ascended to 5,200m for our glacial school, in preparation for our summit bid. With the whole team acclimatising well, it was time to move up to the Mera La and our Base Camp at 5,350m. The views from here were stunning, especially the sunset. A night here saw two of our team return to Khare, due to illness, while the remaining six continued to High Camp (5,800m), a precariously placed camp beneath a rock band. The team ate and slept where possible until 01:00 when it was time to get ready for the summit bid. At 02:00, we departed in two roped teams and made steady progress until we were hit by the extreme cold some 200m from the summit. Unable to recover from this (frostnip fingers & toes) we bid a hasty retreat back to High Camp and a two-hour sleep.

There was disappointment throughout the team but all were fit & well and able to return to Khare under their own steam, to meet up with the remaining team members. The team remained in good spirits as we now made our way back down the Hinku valley before ascending through the Zawtra La and down into Lukla. This trail took us a total of four days, which gave us time to reflect on our experiences and enjoy the views that we had missed on our way in. After a night in Lukla and a party with our Sherpa & Porter team, it was back to Kathmandu and the luxuries of the Summit Hotel

Big THANKS must go to our Sirdar (Lhakpa), the Sherpa’s, the Cook Team & Porter Team, without whom we would not have been able to achieve all that we did.

Congratulations must also go to all team members for reaching their own personal ‘Everest’ along the way. To:

Mary, who kept the toilet tent porter waiting patiently each day!
Steve, who ensured Mary knew her place throughout (10 paces behind!)
Clare, who ‘faffed’ so much that nobody else had to!
Tessa, who’s laughter kept us going. I never was really sure if this was the altitude or not!
Rob, who’s daily diversions kept us on our toes!
Tom, who’s love of soup was second to none! Not sure about the ‘mountaineering mattress’ though!
Nick, who kept his ‘chin up’ throughout the trip!
David, for not being ‘dangerous’!
James, who’s early departure left us……

Da iawn a llongyfarchiadau pawb!

Paul Donovan
Expedition Leader – Mera Peak « Previous report | Next report »

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