Home
Today's News
8000 Meters Facts
Banners Ads
Bookstore
Classified Ads
Climb
for Peace
Contact
Downloads
Educational
Expeditions
Facts
Games
Gear
History
Interviews
Medical
News
(current)
News Archives
Sat Phones
Search
Seven Summits
Snowboard
Speakers
Students
Readers
Guide
Risks
Trip Reports
Visitor
Agreement
| |
    
 | |||||||
 | |||||||
 Danielle Fisher Summits Shishapangma The story | |||||||
| |||||||
| "We are back in ABC and our computer is still working! Amazing! So, update: On Oct. 11 we started our climb from ABC (18,300 ft) to Camp 1 (20,600 ft). We left at 9:00 and arrived in camp at 3:00. Nima also carried to camp 2. On Oct. 12 we took 4 hours to climb to Camp 2 (22,080 ft). Nima carried to camp 3. Lakpa took a walk to view the south side of Shishapangma where he and Dave Morton were 2 years ago. I sat in the tent... On Oct. 13 we climbed to our camp 3 (22,800 ft). We set up camp before the fixed lines would start. Since no one else had summited Shishapangma yet this season, there were no fixed lines. It took me 3 hours to get into camp. After two days of climbing I was really beginning to get tired. Once we get there and the tents were set up, Lakpa and Nima headed back up to start fixing lines for the next day's ascent. They gave me a job... I set the sleeping bags out to dry... really tough job... On Oct. 14 WE SUMMITTED!!! We started at 3:30 a.m. in the dark and in our down suits. It was about -30 degrees. When the sun came out it quickly warmed up and I took my down suit off. Instead of climbing up the ridge to the right towards the "central summit", we traversed the snow face below the main summit before climbing up where we summited the main summit (the true summit) at 1:00 p.m. It was very windy and cold on the summit, which was just a snow blown ridge, and I was basically hanging off the side of it to take the summit photo. On the way down the wind had picked up and shadow covered much of the way. By the time we reached camp at 4:00 we were so exhausted that we collapsed in our tent, Lakpa fell asleep immediately and I continued to shiver uncontrollably for the next hour. It was quite a struggle but an absolutely beautiful day. The next day, after the 4th night of feeling like we were being strangled by our sleeping bags (I got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep each night), we headed back to ABC. I was definitely more exhausted then on summit day. We'd been climbing for 4 days and my body was completely worn out. Miraculously I made it back to camp and collapsed in my tent for the next few hours. Today was a rest day and tomorrow we walk down to CBC where we start our drive to Kathmandu. I am really looking forward to a shower and a warm bed. After that, it's home sweet home. Thanks all for checking in. Take care! Danielle Fisher" At the age of 20 Danielle Fisher became the youngest person in the world to summit the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain on each continent, on June 2, 2005 when she successfully made the summit of Mt. Everest. "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"
| | |||||
|
|
Send email to 
• Copyright© 1998-2005 EverestNews.comAll rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Visitor Agreement, Legal Notes: Read it