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Welcome to The Mountain Company's New Year 2008 Newsletter!
Looking back on last year, as you will read in this newsletter, it was a fun and action packed year for The Mountain Company.
And 2008 is looking even more exciting....
Roland will be in the UK until the last week of February so please call any time to chat about a trip to the Himalayas or Kilimanjaro.
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Happy New Year and all the best for 2008!
The Mountain Company team |
| World record for highest concert in the world! |
 In October, The Mountain Company organised a charity trek to Everest base camp for the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHSF).
LHSF was founded by Leukemia survivors Mike Peters of the Welsh rock band The Alarm and entertainment insurance executive James Chippendale, as a way to give back by building a support network for cancer patients worldwide.
"Everest Rocks" was a fourteen day trek and acoustic concert at Kalapathar near the base camp of Mt Everest followed by a grande finale concert in Kathmandu. The concert at Kalapathar has entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest concert ever performed!
Over USD$250,000 was raised for the Bhaktapur (Kathmandu) cancer hospital. The entire journey was captured by a documentary team headed by Alex Coletti (the acclaimed producer of MTV's 'Unplugged' series).
"I cannot say thank you enough for everything. You guys went above and beyond and made the Everest Rocks event a worldwide success. Thank you!!!" Shannon Foley, executive director Love Hope Strength Foundation
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| Manaslu Circuit October '07 |
 In October Gary Pfisterer led the classic Manaslu Circuit trek for The Mountain Company.
The feedback from the group was very positive with all of the group rating this as a must do trek to a remote area of Nepal visited by few other trekking groups.
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| Mera Peak November '07 |
Later in October, Roland led a group to MeraPeak, it was a successful trip with all nine members summitting in perfect conditions.
The views from the summit are superb including five 8000m peaks (Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Kanchenjunga). It has to be one of the best view points in the Himalayas!
The Mera Peak expedition is described well by one of the trekkers, Keith Jardine, in an email to Roland after the trek:
"Well at last I think I'm fully recovered from the trek! I must be because I can only remember the good bits now. Seriously I just thought I'd let you know what a great time I had despite the cough. Yes it was hard work, yes it was cold and very tiring in the last few days. It was also exhilarating, rewarding and let me see views of the highest mountains in the world that will stay with me forever. It also left a superb feeling of achievement.
The whole experience of the trek, from the earliest enquiries about booking through to staggering onto the top of Mera and returning to Kathmandu, was a positive one which I would not hesitate to recommend to others seeking to do something similar. Thanks again and best wishes for the New Year." Keith Jardine, Mera Peak October '07 |
| Western led treks in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet in '08 |
After the success of the Manaslu Circuit trek in October '07, Roland is looking forward to leading this trek in April '08. The Manaslu Circuit trek is one of the classic treks in Nepal, starting in the middle hills and heads north towards the Buddhist highlands before crossing the high pass of the Larkya La at 5100m. For more information on the Manaslu Circuit
In late August Alan Ward is leading a trek to the hidden side of Everest, the Kangshung face, followed by a visit to Everest northside basecamp. In 2006 Alan was a finalist for the Wanderlust Top Guides award. For more information on the Kangshung face trek
Moving on to the post monsoon season, we have five western led treks in October and November in Nepal and Sikkim (India).
In October why not join Roland on the epic Lunana Snowman trek? This trek traverses the remote north of Bhutan along the border with Tibet. The Snowman is known as one of the most challenging treks in the Himalayas. This trek is now guaranteed to run. For more information on the Lunana Snowman trek
After leading the Manaslu Circuit trek for The Mountain Company in 2007, Gary Pfisterer is returning to Nepal in October in 2008 to lead the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek.
Gary organised a successful expedition to the summit of Dhaulagiri in 1999 and has previously trekked over the French pass so you will be in good hands for this very challenging trek. For more information on the Dhaulagiri Circuit trek
In October Jim Coleman, the founder of the Himalayan Education Lifeline Project ("HELP"), will join the Goecha La trek in October.
Each trekker is expected to raise £350 for the HELP charity to support their projects in a number of schools across the Himalayas and their volunteer teacher program. You will also have the chance to visit one of the schools supported by HELP. For more information on Goecha La trek
We encourage you to book international flights early if you are planning to visit Nepal in 2008, there are many people returning to the country and there is still only limited flight capacity to Kathmandu. |
| Western led treks in Pakistan summer '08 |
After a very busy summer in Pakistan last year where we ran three K2 base camp treks, The Mountain Company was planning to return this summer for the Snow Lake trek in July and K2 & Gondogoro la in August.
However, with the assasination of Benazir Bhutto and the following instabilities in some of the cities the Foreign Office has recently changed their travel advice to "only essential travel".
We will closely follow the events in Pakistan with probably the key event being the planned elections on January 8th (if they are not postponed).
We are still hopeful about visiting Pakistan this summer so lets hope the situation settles down. Knowing how important tourism is to the Baltistan region we would like to support our friends there if at all possible.
Everyone who visited Pakistan in '07 was impressed by the exceptional friendliness and hospitality shown to us by all Pakistanis we met along the way. |
| Mountaineering news from Himalayas and Karakorum |
The biggest mountaineering news to report since our last newsletter was the summit of K2 by the Kazakh climbers Denis Urubko and Serguey Samoilov on September 30th. Not only is this the latest summit of K2 ever but also the first north side summit in 11 years!
On October 21st, Valery Babanov and Sergey Kofanov made the first ascent of Janu's west ridge (7700m) in alpine style.
A Canadian team plus the Australian Mick Parker attempted to climb Manaslu in September '07. Mick had been a member of the Broad Peak expedition organised by Roland in summer of 2004. Unfortuneately, poor weather and bad conditions resulted in no summits, for more information on their expedition | |
We hope to see you in 2008, we are always happy to chat about our trips, so please give us a call!
Happy New Year and best wishes for 2008!
Roland Hunter
The Mountain Company
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| Western led treks for 2008 |
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