Danielle Fisher: Shishapangma 2007

"This is Danielle checking in from ABC on Shishapangma.  We have been here for three days, but have just figured out our computer problems and can finally send cybercasts, at least for the time being.   

We arrived in CBC on Oct. 6 after driving 4 hours on a very bumpy road.

I swear the driver was trying to make the ride as rough as possible as he kept swerving sharply off the road to drive over the only bump in sight.  

We spent two nights in CBC while we waited for our yaks to arrive to carry our things to ABC.  Lakpa almost lost his sunglasses before the attempted thief was forced to return them saying, innocently, "I found them in the tent!" 

On Oct. 8, at 10:00 we and our yaks began our 12 mile hike up the valley to ABC at roughly 18,300 ft.  On the way, I ran into an old friend, Nick Rice, whom I met climbing Gasherbrum 2 last year in Pakistan.  He was leaving Shisha as I was a arriving and it was a nice surprise seeing him.  Lakpa and I cheated on the last part of the hike when we rode Tibetan horses a little less than half the way.  My horse was so small that I thought I was going to break it in half as it trotted up the valley.   

Yesterday, Oct. 9, Lakpa and Nima carried to camp 1 while I stayed behind with our base camp helper, Chuldim, who speaks only a few words of English, although he's fluent in Sherpa, Hindi, Nepali, and Chinese, as well as his native Tibetan.  He makes me feel quite the amateur, not knowing any foreign languages.  I washed some clothes yesterday (which was good since I had just run out of clean underwear), and I continued reading the first book I have read since I left Seattle on Aug. 26:

"Three Cups of Tea".  It's a good book and is bringing back memories of my time in Pakistan last year.  We had a visitor once Lakpa and Nima returned: Blair, whom I met on Everest in 2005.  It was fun reminiscing and hearing stories of the climbs he's been on since 2005. 

It's getting colder and colder here as it gets later and later in the season.  Last night it was 20 degrees F. in my tent when I jumped into my sleeping bag around 8:00.  I'm beginning to dream of sitting in front of the fire at home which my family starts lighting about this time every year.

The climb is still clearly on my mind, however, as I look forward to starting our ascent of Shishapangma tomorrow morning.  It's going to be a long day, and an even longer 5+ days as we make our way to the summit.

We may not be able to do another cybercast until we get back into base camp and depending on the weather, we may have to come back to base camp and try our summit attempt another day, so keep checking in and I will update whenever possible.

Danielle" 

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