Base Camp Tour 30 Sep 13

Not much to report from Base Camp today, apart from the weather is still crap and the group are beginning to climb the walls with boredom! We thought it would be good to give you all a guided tour of the facilities.

The change in weather can be clearly seen from these two panoramas of Base Camp.

We have had about 15cm’s of snow down at Base Camp which has defiantly made the place a slightly wet and colder affair.

The Cook Tent

This is Phurba the main cook in his workplace. He manages to produce better food than is served back in your normal cookhouse in the UK, with dry stone walls for worktops, Kerosene stoves and water piped in from a nearby stream. Last night we had guests from Adventure Peaks group over for dinner, with Phurba producing an excellent steak and chips dinner. A good night was had by all, Amblesides finest said their goodbyes before heading up the hill back to their own camp! Let’s hope they perform better on the hill than on their route back to the tents..... They got slightly lost.

The cook tent is where the Sherpa’s hang out when not up on the hill. Ours must be quite popular as there are quite often numerous other Sherpa’s from other teams popping in for a quick brew. This is defiantly an advantage as it means we get to find out all of the gossip, like when other teams plan to make their summit attempts.

The Mess Tent

When not up the mountain or sleeping the mess tent is where most of the time is spent. Above Brad and Rob are enjoying one of many books that have found there way up to Base Camp in the ‘Entertainment Barrel’ along with Jim and Chris these four also get involved in some quite lengthy games of Gin Rummy, at the last count Rob was the champion (although he did the count).

Most afternoons we all cram into the tent, Sherpa’s and cook staff included to crowd around our 13” computer screen to watch a film. Today we watch Ironman 3 with the Sherpa’s loving the action and drama of a modern film.

Sleeping tents

We are lucky enough to each have a two man tent which doubles as a private store room.  On top of a foam mattress provided by our trekking agency we have a 2” thick Multimat, just the job for a comfy night sleep when you are camped on a rock moraine.  With all of the recent snow we have awoken each morning to a thick covering of snow on the tents which is removed by a violent shake. Each person has added there own personal comforts to their tents; Jon has a nice little chair and sound system and can be seen getting a tan when the sun is out.

Toilet and Shower

The most important part of Base Camp (After the kitchen) the toilet and shower facilities!! For the toilet (solids only) we have what can only be described as a table with a hole cut in it, on which goes the most uncomfortable toilet seat.  The waste is collected in a 60L barrel and when it is nearing full some poor sole carries it down 1500m to Samagoan where it is disposed, all for 150 Rupees (about £1).

The shower is state of the art gas powered shower.... sort of! The water is heated in the cook tent and transferred into a hand pump object which is probably more likely to be seen in a garden spraying weed killer on a lawn. The drainage is simply a hole cut in the canvass floor and the water drains away down the hill... Flip flops are a must!

However simple the facilities are more than up to the job and a nice warm shower can be quite pleasant if the smell from the next door toilet can be bared for long enough.

Tour Over

We have now spent 5 long days in Base Camp since are last foray up the mountain. People are becoming rather bored and are itching to get on a summit! Please pray, wish & think of a good weather window to alleviate our boredom and give us the best chance of summiting Manaslu.

Thank you.