EverestTibet

This page is not a photographic overview of a country and its people, though I perhaps wish it had have been. It would have cost me a lot less money! Instead I chose to join a commercial expedition to attempt the north ridge of Everest in 1993. I could look at this in one of two ways - either to remain aggrieved at how this expedition was conducted, or to be glad that I went at all and also came back alive, which is more than Karl Henize did.
I decided in the end to see it from the cup-half-full perspective. Besides which, Everest is the only mountain for which my then employer would have allowed me to take 10 weeks off work!
The expedition was a success in one respect - it saw the first Englishman ever to climb the north ridge. This is noteworthy insofar as it was the route tried repeatedly in the 1920s and 1930s by compatriots Mallory and Irvine among others.
I once wrote a full account of our labours for a magazine article and it is reproduced here.

Postscript:
Had I been a wiser steward of my money between 1993 and the present time of writing (2011), I may have been able to afford another crack at Everest. Perhaps I should have cut my considerable driving costs around the Alps by using hypermiling or better yet, taken the advice of the folks at this site http://www.lovemoney.com/ and shaved pennies off my finances in ways I hadn`t thought of.

Mess tent on acclimitisation
trek, Jugal Himal

Walking between trucks on the
Kathmandu-Kodhari road

Toilet tent on acclimitisation
trek, Jugal Himal

Children on acclimitisation
trek, Jugal Himal

Old-growth forest on Bhairav Kunda
acclimitisation trek

Goat sheltering from the monsoon
rain, Bhairav Kunda trek

Trekker dispirited by monsoon rain,
Bhairav Kunda acclimitisation trek

Russian Georgi Kotov on
Kathmandu-Kodhari trek

Boy at police check-post
Kathmandu-Kodhari road

Landslide caused by monsoon rains
on Kathmandu-Kodhari road

Porters crossing landslide
caused by monsoon rains

Curious children at police check-
point Kathmandu-Kodhari road

Father and children,
by Kathmandu-Kodhari road

Curious children at roadside stop
Kathmandu-Kodhari road

Porters crossing landslide
on Kathmandu-Kodhari road

Rolwaling peaks from
Lhasa-Kathmandu road

River on the Tingri Plains;
peaks behind are north of the main
Himalayan chain

Harry the Fin stretching his
legs on return to Kathmandu,
Shishapangma behind

Isolated monastery just north
of the Pang La

Looking north into Tibet from
Pang La

Lenticular clouds over Tibetan hills

Trucks heading for
Everest Base Camp

Everest in the clouds from
the Pang La

Feeling cold on the Pang La

Everest and Cho Oyu from
the Pang La

Yak at first stop on
East Rongbuk Glacier

Yak herder asking for something
at Everest Base Camp

Tibetan boy met en-route
to Everest Base Camp

Unloading trucks at Base Camp

Snow plume on Everest

Tents at Everest Base Camp

Sweet rations awaiting distribution
amonst team members

Everest from a short knoll
above Base Camp

Tibetan prayer flags at
Everest Base Camp

Everest with our Base Camp
in foreground

North face of Everest in
late evening light

Everest from a 21,000 foot
hill above Base Camp

Looking down the Rongbuk Valley
from 21,000 feet

North face of Cho Oyu from a
21,000 hill to the north-east

Everest from a 21,000 foot
hill above Base Camp

Kellas Peak from a 21,000 foot
hill above Everest Base Camp

Unknown peak from a 21,000 foot
hill above Everest Base Camp

North face of Gyachung Kang from
above Everest Base Camp

Unknown peaks from a 21,000 foot
hill above Everest Base Camp

Looking north from a 21,000 foot
hill above Everest Base Camp

Norman Croucher in open bivvy
Rongbuk Valley

Puja ceremony at
Everest Base Camp

Everest in the clouds

Puja ceremony at
Everest Base Camp

Memorial stone to
American climber, Marty Hoey

Memorial stones to various
climbers at Everest Base Camp

Memorial stone to Peter Boarman
and Joe Tasker

Yak ready for the off,
Everest Base Camp

Yak en-route to East Rongbuk Glacier,
here not far from Base Camp

Yaks leaving Everest Base Camp,
heading for East Rongbuk Glacier