Summer 2008 newsletter

The Mountain Company Summer 2008 Newsletter

Welcome to The Mountain Company Summer 2008 newsletter!

Since our January newsletter we've had a busy season in Nepal. Roland enjoyed leading the Manaslu Circuit in April and the Dhaulagiri Circuit in May. Both of these are superb treks in remote areas and at the moment are his top recommendations for Nepal. These treks are discussed in detail below in this newsletter.

Experienced mountaineer Mike Farris (leading a K2 expedition this summer and author of The Altitude Experience) is leading the Manaslu Circuit trek in October.

And Gary Pfisterer is leading the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek in Octobe. He led a successful expedition to the summit of Dhaulagiri in 1999 as well as leading expeditions to most of the other 8000m peaks.

We are offering a special discount of £50/USD$100 on the October Manaslu and Dhaulagiri Circuit treks if you confirm your booking by the end of July. I am sure you will agree that the price of £1,445 (after discount) is great value!

The Mountain Company has an exciting program of other treks arranged for 2008 & 2009: Upper Mustang (Sept '08), Lunana Snowman (Oct '08), Sikkim Goecha La (Oct '08), Mera Peak (Nov '08) and Makalu Base Camp (April '09).

If you are planning on visiting Nepal in October or November we encourage you to book your flights quite soon as there is always high demand at this time of year.

Roland will be in the UK until the first week of August so please call any time to chat about a trip to the Himalayas or Kilimanjaro. Our office telephone number is 0207 4980953.

The Mountain Company team

Elections in Nepal and Bhutan
In April while trekking on the Manaslu Circuit our group saw the voting for Nepal's landmark constituent elections with many ballot boxes being carried down the trail. These were the first elections in Nepal after ten years of insurgency and were held peacefully with a high voter turnout.

The former rebel Maoists won the most seats giving them the chance to form a minority government. All of Nepal's main political parties had agreed before the election that King Gyanendra would be removed from his throne, ending centuries of monarchy in the Himalayan nation.

Following the election results, there is an optimistic mood in Nepal with the hope that the new government will bring stability and economic growth. The Maoists have announced they are pro tourism hoping to increase numbers visiting the country as a way of earning foreign exchange and reducing poverty.

At the end of March the people in Bhutan voted to end royal rule and to make the transition to constitutional monarchy. It was the King himself who insisted it was time for a change of rule and most of Bhutanese were sad to see their King step aside.

The well organized election was hailed as a success with the highly popular King continuing as head of state and the pro monarchist new government still remaining committed to the notion of Gross National Happiness!

Upper Mustang September '08
The Upper Mustang Forbidden Kingdom trek will be led by Alan Ward in September '08. This trip is now guaranteed to run and there is still availability.

Alan is a very experienced trek leader; in 2006 he was one of 11 worldwide finalists in the Wanderlust Top Guide Awards competition following recommendations from clients.

The trek visits Upper Mustang located north of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri and at an average of 4000m is geographically and culturally part of the Tibetan plateau. The valleys are dry and arid with colourful rock formations often containing many thousands of cave dwellings high up in the cliffs.

"Mustang is one of the few places in the Himalayan region that has been able to retain its traditional Tibetan culture. Unmolested authentic Tibetan culture now survives only in exile and a few places like Mustang, which have had long historical and cultural ties with Tibet." His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The dates are September 3rd to 21st 2008 and cost ex Kathmandu is £1,995 (including internal flights and USD$700 special permit).

For more information on Upper Mustang Forbidden Kingdom trek

If you are interested in joining the group please get in touch over the next few weeks.

Mera Peak November '08
Roland is leading the Mera Peak expedition in November '08.

This trip is now guaranteed to run and there is still avalailability, please get in touch if you are interested in joining the group.

The views from the summit of Mera Peak has to be one of the best in the Himalayas including five 8000m peaks (Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Kanchenjunga).

For more information on the Mera Peak expedition

Lunana Snowman Sept/Oct '08
Roland Hunter, will lead the Lunana Snowman trek in Sept/Oct '08. This departure is now guaranteed to run and there is still availability.

This is an epic 28 day trek through high alpine country crossing the north of Bhutan near the border with Tibet. It covers a distance of 356 kilometers, crosses eight passes, several of which are over 5,000 meters, and stays at an average altitude of 4,000 meters.

For more information on the Lunana Snowman trek

Manaslu & Dhaulagiri Circuits
If you are looking for a trek exploring a quiet & remote area of Nepal in a scenically and culturally diverse landscape then you should consider either the Manaslu Circuit or Dhaulagiri Circuit.

We recommend these treks as an alternative to the Annapurna Circuit (AC) where in the last couple of years there has been significant amount of road construction. There are now jeeps and motorbikes plying the route from Pokhara to Jomsom and beyond.

Manaslu Circuit
The scenery on the Manaslu Circuit is similar to the classic AC although the trails are not as popular with western trekking groups. The Manaslu Circuit starts a low altitude of 800m passing through gurung and magar villages before reaching the Tibetan Buddhist villages over 3000m.

The Manaslu Circuit crosses over a high pass similar in difficulty to the Thorong La on the AC. This is a spectacular day with incredible views, it is challenging but a good objective for most fit walkers.

For more information on the Manaslu Circuit trek

Dhaulagiri Circuit
Roland has just come back from leading the Dhaulagiri Circuit, this is an amazing trek with virtually no other trekkers! This is a challenging trek around Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain in the world, via French (5,360m) and Dhampus (5,240m) passes and into the Hidden Valley.

We have recently uploaded the Dhaulagiri photos to the gallery ----> please click here

For more information on the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek

Sherpa led treks for 2008
As always we have a program of Sherpa led treks taking place in 2008, please get in touch if you are interested in joining one of the groups that we already have people signed up for.

Kilimanjaro Machame route (Tanzania) August 9 to 17 '08

Everest base camp and Sherpa villages (Nepal) Oct 12 to 30 '08

Annapurna Sanctuary (Nepal) Nov 8 to 23 '08 ----> click here for more information

Sikkim Goecha la trek with Gangtok and Kalimpong (Sikkim, India) Oct 11th to 25th '08 ----> click here for more information
15% proceeds of this trek will be donated to Himalayan Education Lifeline Project. The founder of charity, Jim Coleman, will join this trek.

Island Peak expedition and Everest base cam p (Nepal) April 4 to 26 '09

Chadar Zanskar frozen river trek Jan '09
Roland Hunter will lead this trek in January '09.

A trek on the frozen River Zanskar, traditionally called the Chadar, is an unforgettable journey. You will be exploring a remote area that is cut off from the outside world for over the half year and can only be visited in winter by following the old trade route across the frozen Zanskar river.

For more information on the Chadar Zanskar frozen river trek

Mountaineering news from the Himalayas

Dhaulagiri
On May 1st there were 20 summits of Dhaulagiri from a number of expeditions including the Al Filo Spanish team with Edurne Pasaban and Carlos Pauner. Other summitters included Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ecuadorian Ivan Vallejo, Russian Valeri Babanov and Czech Radek Jaros.

Of note Ivan is now the 14th person to have scaled all fourteen of the world's mountains over 8000m. He has climbed all of these mountains without supplementary oxygen making him the 7^th person to have done this.

Spanish Rafael Guillén, who was a member of the Himalaya Maestrat, fell to his death while helping a team mate coming down off the summit. And on May 3rd Argentinean Dario Bracali disappeared on his summit attempt. On May 4th his team mate, Christian Vitry, who was still at Camp 3 made a search but was unable to find Dario.

The Mountain Company's Dhaulagiri Circuit group met Christian and Guillermo Glass at Italian base camp while they were waiting for a helicopter back to Kathmandu. We also met members of the HRA (Himalayan Rescue Association) search team sent in to help find Dario.

On May 11th there were two further summits from Polish Artur Hajzer and Robert Szymczak.

Manaslu
The Mountain Company Manaslu Circuit group met two friends of Roland, Mick Parker and fellow Autralian Ben, at Samagaon at the beginning of their Manaslu expedition. Mick was with Roland on Kanchenjunga in '03 and Broad Peak in '04.

Kazakh Maxut Zhumaev was the first to summit Manaslu on 14th May followed on 15th by Germans Thomas Lammle and Carsten Otto then Mick and a Sherpa (well done Mick!). Maxut has now climbed 12 of the 8000m peaks.

For the rest of the Himalaya mountaineering news including Everest updates ----> please click here

We hope you enjoyed reading our newsletter, please forward to any friends who you might think would be interested.

We are always happy to chat about our trips, so please give us a call!

Roland Hunter- The Mountain Company 0207 4980953

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