November 28, 1997

The expedition has finished. A few members are still in Nepal trying to climb Island Peak in the Khumbu region. A few others are in Thailand enjoying the sandy beaches and rock climbs. The rest are back in Canada.

We were unsuccessful in reaching the summit of Putha Hiunchuli. In fact we did not make much progress on the mountain. We were lucky enough to be hit by the worst weather in living history. The first of several storms hit us the day after we reached basecamp, and it snowed every day thereafter.

We established basecamp on October 23. Two days later we made a reconnaisance trip to scope out a route. We could not see the mountain from our basecamp, and had to trek several hours to get a view. Our basecamp was 11,000 feet below the summit and 3 miles away from Putha Hiunchuli. In normal conditions this would not have been too bad, however with the snow conditions that we encountered we would have required a good 10 days of clear weather to climb the mountain. As it was we never really had a single day of good weather.

After much discussion we changed our objective toward Gurja Himal. A 24,000 foot peak that was more accessible from our basecamp. As a way to approach the mountain we decided to try a smaller peak en route to Gurja. This peak was called North Peak, and at a height of 21,000' it looked interesting. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we were trapped in a valley by the snow storms, we had been unable to resupply the basecamp and we were running out of food. Again some heavy discussion resulted in a change of plan.

We sent some porters down the valley to check out an escape route while the team members carried loads up to a site for camp I. When the porters returned they described snow conditions where they were up to their necks in new snow. This meant that we were going to have a problem getting down from basecamp let alone climbing a mountain. We compromised by sending our porters and Sherpas down the valley to break a trail out to the nearest town, while we would go up and attempt to climb North Peak. We would then rendevous back at basecamp in about 5 days time.

In the end it took 7 days to break a trail down to the nearest town. Normally it was a day and a half hike from the town up to basecamp. The locals in the town had written the expedition off for dead. They had never seen snow conditions so bad, and they figured that we would have been wiped out by the storm. Luckily, word of this never reached home.

While the porters were having an epic of their own, we established a camp I on North Peak. The camp was at a height of 16,500 feet on a snow dome surrounded by mountains and glaciers. The view was impressive and the weather seemed to be improving. The next day, November 1, five members started up to break a trail to the slopes at the base of North Peak. We were traveling through waist deep powder snow. We stuck mainly to ridges, and even so the snow was still waist deep. There was also a nice 8 inch wind slab on top of the powder snow.

As we made our way along the ridges we could see the slopes on the sides break away and we could hear the cracks form as small avalanches broke off due to our passage. The snow conditions were extremely unstable. However, since we were on ridges we felt relatively safe. We continued on until we reached the end of the ridges.

At this point we were confronted by a small face at an angle of about 25 degrees. Beyond this was a much bigger face at the same angle. Norman stepped onto the first slope and was rewarded with the sound and feel of the whole slope settling. Waist deep unconsolidated snow with an 8 inch windslab on top all lying on a slope of 25 degrees is about as unfriendly snow conditions that one could ask for. We spent an hour or so eating power bars and drinking water discussing what to do. Norm made another attempt on the slope and was rewarded with another round of slope settling. At this point we concluded that to progress any further was too risky. Our high point was about 18,000 feet.

We returned to camp I, ate all our food and retreated to basecamp the next day. We then made use of the trail that our porters had made and left the mountains. We arrived back in Kathmandu on November 12.

November 11, 1997

Word has been received from Nepal that the team is down from the mountain, with all members safe and sound. They are presently in Pokhara, a town in western Nepal.

Unfortunately, the team was unable to summit Putha Hiunchuli due to extremely poor weather conditions. While at base camp the team experienced severe snow and wind - in fact, a record breaking storm for that region - and this greatly hampered their efforts. Although disappointing for the team, it's all part of mountaineering. More updates soon.

October 30th 1997

This is an update from the Canadian side of the world. Although we have not had any direct word from the team, we can assume that they are now on the mountain, having arrived in base camp on or around the 25th of October. We do not have reports on the weather, but are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be fine for the next two weeks.

The team did send a video back from Kathmandu, which shows their arrival in the city and views of the market areas. They were all in good cheer and obviously looking forward to their climb.

October 14th 1997

We are presently in Kathmandu. We arrived on Saturday after 4 days of travelling. Clacutta was the hardest stop. The temperature was in the 90's and the airport was very primative. However, we arrived with all our luggage.

We are leaving tomorrow morning for a 14 hour bus ride to the town of Beni, where we will start our journey. If all goes well we will be in basecamp on the 25th October, and on the summit on the 5th November.

October 7, 1997

It is one day from our departure date. All of the major details are finished, and the team is now concentrating on the small details. We fly out of Halifax on the 9^th and will arrive in Kathmandu on the 11^th. We will be celebrating Deborah's birthday on Friday in London, England (probably with a pint or two). If everything goes according to plan, we will be sending an update from a cybercafe in Kathmandu.

Steve Adamson