Friday 1st October 2010 – Start of the Climb

Frank & Jiji have finished our volunteer work in Xining, the capital of Qinghai. The 2 weeks for us have taken its toll on our bodies so we gotta take it easy.

Sheena, Julia & Mic have now arrived for 2 days now.

The team has now assembled from Australia and is getting ready to go to the first stage of the climb.  We will be leaving our Hotel in Xining around 12:00pm and heading up to spend a day or two at Qinghai Lake.

This will be the first steps as we ascend to Base Camp.

Qinghai Lake ranges between 2000 and 3000 mtrs above sea level and will be a place to do some short walks and spend time getting used to the extra height.

On Thursday the 30th we did a short preparation hike up one of the local lookouts Beishan (North Mountain) – it was good to clear the cob webs.  We were taken up by Carl our Nowegian Guide/Aide/part time porter who we have affectionately nick named the “Crazy Norwegian”. 

Sheena and Julia followed up on Friday (today) morning with Carl on another short walk which they hopefully will provide some details.

Mic who arrived Thursday eve into Xining decided to rest a little more.  Jiji and I spent Friday morning sorting out our kit and catching up after late nights and long days with the other volunteer and charity work we had come to do in Qinghai.

After the lake we will travelling to Golmud to meet  with the rest of the team and have our kit double checked by a guide group and the team leaders.  Here we will meet up with Philip and one other helper to get us up to the top.  We plan to be at Base camp on the 5th Oct (5,050m).  All going well we should be able to post successful pictures and climb details around the 10th Oct.

If we can get internet access or sms out you may also see brief updates by us or one of our home team with the progress

Wish us luck!!!

Frank (& Jiji)