::Extreme Summit Team:: Island Peak expedition 2005

04.11.2005. Expedition ‘Island Peak 2005’ has been successfully finished. Participants of the expedition have landed on Surcin airport tonight at 21.25.

27.10.2005. We have received five new photos

26.10.2005. Expedition ‘Island Peak 2005’ has conquered the summit! From 13 participants of the expedition who have left from Belgrade, 8 have climbed the summit.

23.10.2005

Chukung Ri (5550m) – Acclimatization

We had porridge for breakfast, and after that we headed towards nearby summit of Chukung Ri for our last acclimatization before the climb on Island Peak (6189m). It took us about three hours to get to summit of Chukung Ri from the village of Chukung. Everyone’s handling the height well, and we appear homogenous as a group. There’s a great view of the north side from the top, where Gyachung Kang, Cho Oyu, Pumori etc. are situated. There’s an excellent view from Chukung Ri toour direction from the Base to top of Island Peak.

Tomorrow morning we will be crossing two icebergs – Lhotse and Imja, so we could finally settle in our Base Camp.

Best wishes to everyone back home.

Leader of the expedition

Dragan Jacimovic

photo Dusan Matic

21.10.2005

Acclimatization – Dingboche – Nangar Tsang (5085m)

We are resting in Dingboche today for acclimatization. After a good breakfast we are headed towards nearby trekking summit which is located on 5100m. Basic principle of a good acclimatization is : “Climb high – sleep low”. We climbed about 700m that day, and then we returned to our village for the night. The climb itself took us about three hours.

We progressed slowly, step by step, minding out breathing. The top of the summit itself is a sharp reef from which there’s a great view on the surrounding tops. It was a beautiful day for photographing. I was seatting on a rock, and trying to catch all that beauty with my eyes. But I knew that there were things that the naked eye just couldn’t see. Will all this beauty go away if I merely close my eyes? I closed my eyes. When I was a little boy, I thought that if I close my eyes, everything will disappear… I opened my eyes. The clarity of the sight is so strong that is becomes invisible to the naked eye.

When I'm talking to Sherpas, I always ask about their lives, culture and customs. Their life principles are quite simple, and the main one is “To live in harmony with Nature”. They generally know how to do lots of stuff, and they do as much as their way of life requires. They are very hard-working, but they don’t stick up for themselves. They have nothing, because they practically don’t desire material things. Unfortunately, the Western virus of greed has lately reared its head even here. Luckily, philosophy of the majority is simple. It doesn’t matter if you have two houses, you can only live in one, or if you have two beds, when you can only sleep in one! That’s why they are always cheerful.

I have never seen a grumpy Sherpas. They don’t know how lucky they are. That’s simply their way of life. We all yearn for happiness, but do we really know how to recognize it?

They will turn every sadness into joy, every frown upside down, every defeat into victory. Why is that? Because for Sherpas, world is born every day. They are used to it. They don’t consider themselves spiritually enriched, but I myself often feel ashamed on account of (im)morality of the world I come from. I don’t know, perhaps I’m wrong. Time will tell. I hope someday I’ll come here because of the people, not because of some summit yet unconquered.

After acclimatization some suffered from headache. They have hard time drinking more than 3l of liquids a day! We also have problems with solar panels for charging batteries, because of the snow and cloudy weather. Team spirit is excellent.

That’s what matters.

After dinner we all crawled in our sleeping bags. Each with their own thoughts, fears and hopes in mind.

Photo by D. Matic

22.10.2005

Dingboche – Chukung

We moved our camp 600m higher today. We got to Chukung in about three hours. Halfway there, yaks carrying our climbing equipment passed by us. Around 8.00 h Serbian time we reported for Radio B92. In the future, we’ll report every day, until the final climb (if the batteries hold :-) ).

Everyone’s eating well, which is the sign of an acclimatization well done. We met a Slovenian team also heading to Island Peak. They were our guests for tea and talk just went on.

In the future reports will be short because there’s not enough sun to fill satellite modem, Laptop and satellite phone!!

Tomorrow we’re heading towards Chukung Ri (5650m) for additional acclimatization.

Best wishes to everyone in Serbia,

Leader of the expedition

Dragan Jacimovic

Photo by D.Matic

18.10.2005.

Namche – Deboche

We left Namche Bazar early in the morning. First break will be at “Ama Dablam” lodge.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to order some tea and enjoy the view. I remembered the first time I’ve been to Himalayas. I was sitting on this very bench. Now I know that from that day on, my life was mesured: Before and after my first visit to the Himalayas. Nothing would be the same anymore. Yaks that carried our equipment interrupted my train of thought. Others soon followed. I had to concentrate my mind off the surrounding mountain-tops because we continued. Road now descends down to the river of Imja Khola. When you cross the wired suspension bridge you find a couple of houses by the road to Tengboche monastery. We had another break there. We had some tea, and after that we had a wonderful nap in the sun. From this point on there’s a constant climb to the monastery, which is located on 3800m.

There’s a big statue of Buddha in the central room, and in front of it were hundreds of flaming candles. There were small rugs on the floor, for the monks to sit on when praying, and behind them were two gongs. While we were going to the garden, praying flags were singing their song. After the tea, we went down through the woods to the village of Deboche and the lodge named “Rhododendron” That place is also known as “The valley of rhododendrons”. Lodge owner is an old lady who grows medicinal herbs and heals her people.

In the evening, old lady fired up the heater, and it was very nice. I dined a Dalbat, traditional dish of the Sherpas. It’s rice with boiled lentils and with plenty of other ingredients. Although it was a rough day, everyone’s feeling great.

Best wishes to everyone in Serbia,

Leader of the expedition

Dragan Jacimovic

photo by D. Matic

19.10.2005.

Deboche – Pangboche

We were off to an early start because we wanted to catch a bit of shade. It’s much easier hiking when sun is not shining on the path, because of the warmth and humidity rises considerably. We were in the village of Pangboche in an hour and a half. Ama Dablam is within our reach. Six years ago, I was on top. It’s an expedition closest to my heart, and also the most attractive one. We rested in the Kami Nirua’s house, where we had lunch. He’s our Sirdar on Island Peak expedition (6189m).

Kami told me that Henry Todd would come down from BC Ama Dablam to meet us in Pangboche. Henry came by in the afternoon while we were sunbathing and having tea, just like on the seaside. We greeted each other sincerely. This old Scotsman is one of the best expedition leaders on the Himalayas. I was really happy to see him. We had tea, and he introduced us to another legend of the Himalayas – Simon (the movie “Touching the void”). There are people who bear the truth within themselves, and use no words to express it. Things they do resemble instant-novels. One of them is Pasang Dawa. He is a Sherpass from Pangboche. People here posses virtues acquired not by studying and practice. Some of them are illiterate, and yet they seem to read the laws of nature infallibly. They have the virtue of harmlessness, and you can’t practice that. Perhaps that’s why I love them.

Best wishes to everyone in Serbia,

Leader of the expedition

Dragan Jacimovic

photo D. Matic

Henry Todd is on the far right side of the picture, sitting at the table.

20.10.2005.

Pangboce – Dingboche

It is a village located on a Imja Khola river bank. On the other side of the river are already the slopes of Ama Dablam mountain. Straight north rises the south side of Lo-tse (8501m), which is known as one of the hardest routes in the Himalayas. While Dule was taping children in the yard, I washed my socks on the tap. Children innocently play their simple games. We all are a bit like children pretending to be adults. You quickly lose that direct approach you once had in childhood games.

A boy with sunburns on his cheeks came up to me. My hands were numb from the cold water, so I often paused my washing up. He just laughed and put his head under the water, rubbing his hair with his hands as if he was washing it. I felt chills down my spine!

He beckoned me to the tap, as if he was saying : “Come on, it’s your turn”.

No thanks, I’ll take a rain check. I’ll do that tomorrow :-) It snowed all day. It’s bleak and dark. You can’t see no summits around us. We get together in the cantina tenth for a cup of tea and to share adventures from previous expeditions. A smile can cure even the height disease :-)

We’re all alive, healthy and smiling.

Acclimatization – surprisingly good!!

Best wishes to everyone in Serbia,

Leader of the expedition

Dragan Jacimovic

photo D. Matic

16.10.2005.

Tok-Tok – Namche Bazar

I got up a bit early. A morning in the Himalayas is a special experience. It’s like witnessing the world being reborn. I like to take a walk, while the others are still asleep. Pease and quiet. Only thing disturbing this harmony is the humming of the river from the deep gorge. Air is so fresh. You can’t smell those typical everyday scents, such as food being prepared in the lodge-cabins, or the smell of burdened yaks. It feels good. This really wakes you up!

There is a control gate at the entrance to the National park of “Sagarmatha” somewhere halfway to Namche in the village of Monjo.There are some government officials guarding the entrance, as well as one soldier equipped with a World War II rifle! To this day it is unclear to me why is he there, since the only ones passing are trekkers, expeditions and locals. Never mind that, he’s still dead serious, even a little grumpy!

Our license turned out OK, and we carried on. After that road winds down almost to the river, from where there’s a beautiful view to the fields of grain and vegetables from the suspension bridge. They are mostly lentil and potatoes, that grow up to 4000m. Before Namche Hill climb there’s perhaps the most attractive suspension bridge in the Himalayas. After that we had a first serious climb on our way to Namche Bazar. Sometimes you can sew wild goats in the pines that grow in this hills. They are quite docile, since no one is hunting them. We got to our destination in the afternoon. We send an e-mail immediately. After this point we can’t use telephone or send e-mails. We have internet equipment so you can reach us a few more days. By the way, Namche Bazar is cultural, administritave and trade center of the Solo-Khumbu region. Tibetans provide the local market with smuggled goods from China. And the border with China is almost on 6000! Locals are very hardworking and resourceful. A few years back they constructed mini centrals on the mountain streams so they could power the whole village. An old story goes, that one of the kings of Nepal once forbade locals to trade beyond their region, since they were so cunning merchants.

After a good diner we went to bed in high spirits.

15.10.2005. The second report arrived, as well as the pictures from the expedition for previous two days.

Lukla – Tok-Tok

We got up at five, as we agreed. There’s a great crowd on “Tribuwan” airport. Most of them are trekkers, who are the loudest ones.

I slept through the flight to Lukla (2804m).Others enjoyed the sights looking through the window. Distant Himalayan snow’s glowing in the sun. After arriving to the village, airport was full of Sherpass looking for a job. Little did they know we had our old friends from Pangboche waiting for us. When you make a good communication, you don’t change the team that wins. In Lukla we visited “Paradise Lodge” for a cup of tea. After repacking our gear and putting our crampons, ice axes and plastic shoes in the transport bags, we went to Tok-Tok.

If there’s a place in the Himalayas that deserves to be written about, it’s surely Tok-Tok. I’m not familiar with what it means, but I know for sure it has something to do with that waterfall besides the lodge. By the way, if you come from Lukla, first thing you spot is that beautiful waterfall on the left side of the road. A thin line of water falls from some 30-40m, and halfway down it sprays into a million little drops. A black rock and differently green vegetation fulfils this marvelous picture. The lodge owner worked very

and has built a dam that made a little lake beneath the waterfall. The thing I’ll remember Tok-Tok lodge is the low doors. I hit my head quite a few times on the wooden beam while going from room to room. There’s an ornamental tap and a toilet in the backyard.

On the right side of the tap there’s the most cultivated garden in the whole of Himalayas.

There’s everything in it : spinach, swiss chards, carrots, onions, paprika and a lot of, to me, unfamiliar vegetables. And in the corner there was an actual greenhouse! It was as if I was looking at a field in the middle of Sumadija. And the pretties of all, flowers all around the garden. Beautiful flowers are even prettier and distinguishable in the middle of all that green. In the evening they fire up the stove, which is in the middle of the dining room, and they light candles made of yak fat. When the rooms heats up, shadows dance on our faces and people relax and talk. And the talk never end. After a big meal, all you can do is crawl into your sleeping bag and close your eyes. Then you just let the nature take its course.

Leader of the expedition

Dragan Jacimovic

photo D. Matic

- 14.10.2005. Expedition have landed on Kathmandu airport

photo D. Matic

- 12.10.2005. The beginning of the “Island Peak 2005” expedition! Our climbers left early this morning to Katmandu across Athens and Bahrain. We expect first reports with pictures soon.

- 06.10.2005. Press conference was held about the “Island Peak 2005” expedition.

Taday, in the “Dzentlmen” restaurant, 23 Zahumska street, a press conference is held about “Island Peak 2005” expedition which should prepare us for next year’s attempt to realize “Kabru 4 – Serbianway” project. Leader of the expedition, Dragan Jacimovic, thanked the press for attention paid to this attempt, as well as the sponsors, companies “Altamed” for their product “Revita”,based on royal jelly, concern of health food “Bambi” from Pozarevac, “Saneco Union” (official distributor of thermal underwear MOIRA for Serbia & Montenegro). Expedition starts 12.10.2005. and the first reports are expected as soon as 15.-16.10.2005.