Wiebke Toussaint's Page

On our recent expedition to the north Indian Himalaya in Himachal Pradesh, the UCT Mountain & Ski Expedition Team put a variety of gear items to the test to see if they would withstand the Indian monsoon rain, mud fields, glacier streams, a hostile high altitude environment and finally the summit of CB13A at 6239m.…

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It appears to be typical for the life cycle of many adventures to have a long run up to a climax which unravels rather rapidly. And so the last days of the expedition which hold the summit highlight are told rather quickly.

We shifted camp to ABC the day after our technical gear had been ferried. Due to our long acclimatisation period the increased altitude of 4800m was not a problem, though the camp on top of the glacier was notably colder than base camp. The new dome tents presented…

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Batal to elimentary base camp (just over 4000m):



*Food is absolutely delicious. Moreover, there's enough that Matt & Brendan, who were initially scared about rations, can't finish it.

*Hike today was pleasant - short, not very steep and quite slow (mostly due to my foot which is still weak and Hannes not feeling too great because of the altitude)

*12 mules are carrying our supplies for the time being. Very kind of them, leaves us with only our personal gear to… Continue

Ah, what joy to meet up with the guys! Thanks to Tim's SA flag

boardshorts recognising them was easy enough (as I have learned since,

this is only one of seven SA fan items that Tim has packed). Hugs,

greeting, laughter, meeting, mix into Manali morning air. Two days to

make final preparations and explore India's adventure capital. We head

to Kaushal's home to select our technical gear from his store room.

Proudly equipped with mountaineering…

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