The team is coming home...

The team had a weather window, and made a summit attempt, but fell short of the summit by 1200'. One of the team members was feeling the altitude, and they made the call to descend. Although they still have some time left to attempt the summit again, they are not optimistic they will have another weather window. It seems they have also had enough of hanging out at 18,500' in bad weather, and are looking forward to heading home. They will spend the next few days breaking down their camps, and they are aiming to be back in Kathmandu on the 13th. I hope they recognize their success in all their efforts and work putting this trip together and getting as far as they did, despite not standing on the summit...

Camp 2

Mark sent another update last night. The team spent some time at Camp 2 (23K), but is heading back to Advanced Base Camp to rest. Overall, most of the team is feeling well and adjusting to the altitude as hoped.

FASHISHA update

Todd was not feeling well, so he came back to Kathmandu. He is coming home soon. We are sending him our love and good energy for a safe trip back to the states.
The rest of the group is doing well. They are at Camp 1, 21,000feet. They will be there for 3 days as they establish their camp 2 higher on the mountain at 23,000ft. , and then they will move up to Camp 2. Best of luck to them as well as they push on up this high snowy peak!

9/22/10

After 4 days and nights, the missing cook returned to Chinese Base Camp (roughly 16,500')! The team was very relieved to find him alive and well (albeit windburned). The language barrier made it difficult to understand what happened, and whether he had food or camping gear, but they were just glad to find him safe. The team will continue to shuttle loads higher up the mountain as they acclimate.

9/20/10

Mark sent another update tonight from Advanced Base Camp (18,500'). The team is doing well, although they were surprised by some snow. However, they are quite concerned as they have not seen their camp cook in 2 days. They last saw him when the yaks were being packed, and there has not been a sign of him since. The team will continue the search today. I will be thinking of them and hope this has a happy ending.

9/16/10

Mark sent an update from Nyalam, Tibet, which is the town one day's drive past the Nepal/China border. The team made it across the border without any problems, although it sounds like the drive was fairly rowdy due to poor road conditions. The team was pleasantly surprised by Nyalam (15,000'), which offered cooler temperatures and a super nice hotel. They spent two days there to acclimate, enjoying their last shower and bed for a long time! The started the final stretch of their drive on Friday morning (our Thursday evening) to base camp (17,000').

Border leg begins

After 2.5 days in the the chaos and intrigue of Kathmandu, we are set to depart in the early morning. It has been a busy, humid, and very warm time strolling the streets and checking out the sights.

Saturday marked the annual Teej Festival during which time the Hindu Nepali women, dressed in flowing red dresses and saris, danced throughout the city while fasting for either the health and prosperity of their men and/or for a good future husband. As Mark and Andy filmed the action, we encountered groups upon groups of kind and friendly women that were accommodating to the cameras and who were eager to include us in their celebration.

Sunday led us to the world heritage site Boudhanath Stupa where we met with the holy Lama for a blessing of our journey. We wandered amongst dive bombing pigeons, the rolling waves of prayer flags, and the vigorous hum of spinning prayer wheels. After a day out on the dusty and damp streets of the city, we managed to finish the evening listening to a uber-talented Nepali cover band with the beats of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink Floyd, and Rage Against the Machine.

The road delays appear to be resolved, and thanks to the folks at Thamserku Trekking- Anjan Rai, Jiban Ghimire- Sherpa Shangri-La, we have sorted through our loads, coordinated the necessary yaks, and have everything else organized for our border crossing tomorrow. Our hope is to make it to across but if the rains continue or the the slides haven't been cleared, we may find ourselves on the Nepali side, perhaps at a karaoke bar after a session at the local hot springs.

Our journey to the mountain continues..

- Kim

Still in KAT...

The lingering Monsoon has kept us in Kathmandu for an extra day. We are hoping the bulldozers are busy clearing the alleged 5 landslides between here and our first stop in Zhangmu (just across the border into Tibet).
We are all getting eager to leave Kathmandu, though the additional day will hopefully provide time to sort out the Yak weight negotions (like the Monsoon our personal Yak weight allotments have been a bit shifty). With the Yaks all set the remainder of the day will be spent finalizing details, getting some "epic temple shots", eating, and more than likely some adventure in Kathmandu transportation (uncertain at this point if it will be motorized or human powered).
Overall, all is well... The team is healthy, happy, and typically a bit sweaty.
We will try to post photos later today.
AT

We are in Khatmandu

The entire team has arrived safely in Khatmandu. We arrived on the 10th from our various stop overs in India, Korea or Sigapore. Kim's bags didn't arrive on her flight so there was a bit of stress there... but Jiban took care of business and found the bags.
Today is a festival in Nepal, this festival is for the women to fast for their men. We will go today and watch all the Nepali women parading the streets, Jiban says it makes for some great photo's. We will check it out, but not sure how interesting it will be to watch women not eating. I hope they serve refreshments!
We will do some shopping today and organize or gear, then on Mon. morning we begin our drive up to base camp. It looks to be quite the adventure.

part III at Outside TV

Just posted this morning- Tibetan Travels: Part III at Outside TV

http://www.outsidetelevision.com/blog/outsider/tibetan-travels-part-iii


We hope to post a couple more blogs and links prior to departure, and then run occasional updates from the field.

Thanks for reading!

- kim havell

follow along on Outside TV

For an in-depth story behind our journey, check in every other Friday to Outside Television on-line.

My new blog will cover the "behind the scenes" in story form, in addition to the posts that the team does here.

www.outsidetelevision.com/blog/outsider

The first blog posted today- Hope you enjoy it!

- kim havell

Beyond the Mountains

Our teammate, Andy Tankersley, who is currently guiding on the Grand Teton, has set up the following relationship and information:

With an upcoming expedition on the horizon, we want to share this adventure with you. As we prepare for one of the biggest trips any of us have ever embarked upon, we feel committed to make it serve a larger purpose, and ask for your help.

As exciting as the journey is for us personally, we have decided to use this trip as an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the region. The Himalaya (or the “abode of snow” if literally translated from Sanskrit) is home to the world’s largest mountains and some of the warmest people we have ever met.

The dZi Foundation (www.dzifoundation.org) is an outstanding organization making a difference in the Himalayas, by appropriately and prudently improving the lives of those they assist. Through considerable research and meaningful personal connections we feel the dZi Foundation is doing some of the most effective and innovative work in those regions. The dZi Foundation works primarily in Nepal, and through identifying communities’ specific needs they implement lasting solutions. Many of the projects focus on access to education, clean water and sanitation.

To quote the website, “All projects are community assessed, determined, and implemented — this ensures high levels of local contribution (occasionally exceeding eighty percent of total project costs) and local investment in long-term maintenance.”

We encourage you to visit the website and see the unique work they are doing: (http://www.dzifoundation.org).

Our request is simple:

Please consider joining us in making a contribution to dZi Foundation. Our goal is to raise at least $1,500 for projects that will directly impact some of the most impoverished communities in the world.


Please contact us with questions, or if you would like more information about the trip or the dZi Foundation. We understand these are lean financial times and if making contribution to dZi is not a reality, we appreciate your good wishes.

Thank you for your support and consideration,
Andy Tankersley, Mark Fisher, Todd Passey, Kim Havell

How to donate?

(In the name of team- reference FAShisha on check and envelope)
FAShishaThe dZi Foundation
PO Box 632
Ridgway CO, 81432


posted- kim havell

The Beginning of FA Shisha

It was the fall of 2008 when I topped out on the North Six Shooter tower in Indian Creek UT and randomly encountered photographer and athlete Mark Fisher (with Andres Marin) doing a photo shoot off the summit block.

Mark was immediately one of the most friendly and spirited people I had ever met. We kept in touch over the next year, and by random coincidence reconnected in September of 2009. It was at that time that the idea was born to pull together an expedition to climb and to ski in Tibet.

Our team was carefully built out from there with the additions of Todd Passey and Andy Tankersley, two superhuman strong and talented outdoorsmen and guides (see their impressive profiles on the linked page).

Through the diligence and perseverance of our team members, we were honored to receive a grant in February 2010 from First Ascent/Eddie Bauer that would fund our expedition. We are immensely grateful for the support, and hope to share our experiences with you as we learn, explore, and grow through our upcoming Himalayan adventure.

Why Team FA Shisha? Team First Ascent Shishapangma
Are we going to go ski? FA Shisha

We will be posting periodically leading up to our departure on September 7th. From there, we will rely on loved ones to fill you in via our sattelite phone calls until we can once again access the internet.

Stay tuned..

-kim havell

Read our winning Proposal

you can see our proposal here.

- todd passey