Climbing in the Pamirs

Pik Korzhenevskia July 18 - August 18, 1996

"Bullets, Bodies & Bacteria" Central Asia is quite an adventurous place to travel to and even more so to climb the high mountains of the Pamirs. The following is a journal from a climbing trip to the Pamir range in the summer of 1996.

7-18-96 - Quincy - St. Louis - Atlanta - London - Day 1

Were on the way! Got our dog Buck situated this morning in his crate outside. His pen is covered and it should be nice for him. I have my usual two duffels and small backpack. I bought a Life magazine that features Everest. There are some great photos of the mountain. We have about an hour in Atlanta which is barely enough considering the Olympics start tomorrow. Didn't check my e-mail this morning and I bet there will be 50 messages when we get back. Looks like a soda and peanuts coming up, oh boy. Well at least the airplane didnt blow up like yesterdays TWA flight out of New York. Finished my training with 100 miles of pulling the sled. Quite a goal I thought and Im glad I stuck to it. Hope I didnt bring too much. We are supposed to only bring 25 - 30 kilos but I could only get it down to around 35 kilos.

Next on the "Indiana Jones Waterfall of Doom" ride was falling rocks careening next to us. Sasha and I dove under a huge rock nearby and boulders came crashing down the mountain. "RUN!" Right, like I could go any faster.

Atlanta - Well, its not really too bad here and we had more time than I thought. We leave at 7:55pm instead of 6:55pm when I thought. Trying to talk myself into London time right now. I always set my watch to the "new" time right away. I think Ill start my Tom Clancy book. Its called Debt of Honor and if its like all the other books Ive read of his it will be great.

7-19-96 - London - Day 2

I took a melatonin last night after supper and slept fine except for my arm going numb from sleeping on it. The weather in London is 60 degrees and nice. We got through passport and baggage stuff quickly and the Speedlink bus was right out the customs door. It was 15 pounds Sterling for one way and about an hour drive to get from Gatwick to Heathrow airport. Were here until 8pm tonight so its going to be a long day. The flight last night was fine and went surprisingly fast. Plenty of leg room and it was relatively quiet all night. At Heathrow we got our bags to Terminal 2 where we will be meeting everyone. We decided to leave the baggage and venture into town. It was only 2 pounds to leave each bag and was far more enjoyable getting out of the airport. Before we left we sent a postcard to Sam to remind him to pick us up on August 18th in St. Louis. We rode in the "tube" for around 45 minutes and got off at a stop wed been at before. All the museums are around this area and it was a short walk to Hyde park. We first got some fish and chips for lunch then headed for the park. Really a beautiful day to walk around. On the way back we stopped in a pub for a pint of beer and enjoyed the atmosphere. With the warm weather, beer and the lull of the train we both fell asleep heading back to the airportor so we thought. I woke up and then realized that we were not headed for the airport but up North somewhere. We got off at the next stop and corrected the situation by transferring to another line. We got back to Terminal 2 and picked up our bags. There was no problem spotting the climbers with all the backpacks and gear. The organizer sorted out gear, tickets and got in line for check in. It really reminded my of the long check in procedures in Bangkok Thailand. The line never moves! Im amazed at how little some of these guys take on the climb. We joined another group of climbers from OTT to pool our baggage allowances. We were heavy for sure but some of the guys were at 20 kg. How the hell do they do it?! Of course some of them had there double boots on and climbing clothes. Anyway after much waiting we checked the bags then tried to make our carry-ons look light. Finally we walked upstairs to got through passport control. Most of us had tents under our arms as well as our regular carry on items but nobody hassled us. The signs were flashing for us to get to the gate but Stan and I headed for a last minute Big Mac attack at McDonalds. We grabbed it to go and walked quickly to the gate. Heathrow is a lot like St. Petersburg Russia, nasty terminal prior to passport control and great on the inside. We had another check of passports and boarding passes and then another 50 feet away and one more time just prior to getting on the plane. The Uzbekistan Air jet is an Airbus just like the one yesterday. We have seats in the front row of economy class and have plenty of leg room. I took a short nap already on this 7 hour flight. The plane is very full with people of all types. The only thing I noticed on the television screen is some strange videos. The food is pretty good so far and consisted of meat and rice.

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7-20-96 - Tashkent, Uzbekistan - Day 3

We landed at around 8 am at the Tashkent airport. Very Russian looking. We were herded outside and on to a "cattle car" bus. Once inside we waited a the Passport control place. We waited in line for awhile, while the guy in charge tried to figure out the paperwork. He wanted to know what hotel we were going to stay at. Someone had the brilliant idea to show the insurance paper that looked sort of official and wham we were through. Its soooo Russia like here. There was a metal detector after the passport stand. I just walked on through and it beeped. I just kept going to the baggage area. The guys in charge didnt seem to know what to do. Some of the people had to take off there packs and go through the entire routine and others like me just walked right through with my pack and tent. With that accomplished we waited to get luggage. We had to match our baggage with the tags, never mind we were the only group in the terminal and all the baggage was going together. Next was customs and more X-rays. I kept my day pack on and I was now on the quest for trying never to have it zapped. I filled out all the forms (twice) and got them stamped. We grabbed the duffels and headed outside to meet our guides, Jon Tinker and George Kotov who had flown here a couple days earlier. Everyone loaded bags into some vans to drive to our hotel for the night. It feels like 4 or 5pm but is only mid-morning. Seems like Tashkent is very Russian and mostly new construction since a huge earthquake flattened everything. We are at the Hotel Tashkent which is a big, old Russian hotel. Tall ceilings with not much of anything else. We had "breakfast" consisting of bread, cheese, yogurt, barley and meat. Jon and George showed us to our room which had two beds, a desk, cable TV (really!) and a fridge that worked. Amazing for this part of the world. They also gave us some bottled water, bars of soap and toilet paper. There was this suspicious wild looking red phone hooked up by bare wired into the wall. I didnt want to try it since it looks like the "hot line" to the Kremlin. The bathroom as always was an adventure. I sort of showered using this little tea towel and splashed ice cold water on myself. Im glad I got my hair cut really short. I later learned that they do have hot water but only in the evenings. I think well skip lunch and stick to dinner at 6pm. We are leaving at 3am to drive to Khojand then flying to Dushanbe. Later - We slept from 11 until 5 then walked around the hotel. The group walked to an outdoor restaurant by a canal where we ate a big dinner. We had soup with noodles and beef then plov. For dessert we had melon. We walked back to the hotel where I watched part of the Olympic opening ceremonies on cable.

7-21-96 - Khojand, Uzbekistan - Dushanbe, Tajikistan - Day 4

Got up at 2:30am and packed our stuff down the stairs to the waiting vans. We were scheduled to depart at 3am in order to drive to Khojand to catch our flight to Dushanbe. We drove and drove really bumpy roads with lots of donkeys pulling carts. There was nothing much to see along the way except tons of check points in the middle of no where. Finally after 4 hours we ended up in a large city which I think is Khojand. The driver asked directions many times and finally we were at the airport. We unloaded and started weighing the baggage. There was another security point that I walked right on through with my pack on. Im beginning to wonder about security in these countries but what the hell. I found the toilet which was pretty disgusting but usable. We watched Green Day on MTV on the fuzzy television in the corner. In a short time we were ready to load up. We grabbed the hand luggage then walked across the tarmac to the plane. Lucky us, were flying Tajikistan Air! Its some sort of high wing turbo prop that seats around 50 or 60. All the other tourist got in and we soon had a very hot, smelly plane. With all our stuff the plane was loaded to the hilt. The guy ahead of us is really smelly and just cranked his seat back and has his arm on his head. Man, its really stinky now. The cabin dude just came by with some sort of orange drinks in a plastic bowl. Not for me bucko. The water is legendarily bad here. I think the flight takes about an hour to Dushanbe. Its a dangerous town and Ive read nasty things about it. Well see about that. I think its overnight then a helicopter out tomorrow. Its a long way to the mountains so I think there is a fuel stop along the way.

Observations: Tashkent - very Russian but getting more Uzbek influence. The architecture is very Russian; concrete and rebar. Lots of fountains and monuments everywhere. Prices are fairly expensive in shops. People seem very friendly and nice in the city. On the road: Lot of people sleeping outside on wooded platforms. I saw a few in the orchards also along the road. People were starting to set up shops at 4am in some places. Many of the men have round bowl like hats that are weaved.

Outside Dushanbe: We landed in at a beat up airport in Dushanbe where we headed for the gate. Tons of people everywhere just waiting and standing. I never did figure out want for. We decided to leave the luggage and just take personal stuff to the place we were staying at for the night. Everyone piled in a van and headed out to who knows where. There were police blocks everywhere and we got pulled over 4 or 5 times. All the police had kalishnikovs and handguns at the stops. It didnt look like many cars were traveling around the city. Then of course I dont think I would want to drive around if I got stopped all the time for no reason. We drove about a half an hour to a small village where we stopped. After walking across a metal bridge we hiked up a hill to a block of buildings. This must have been some sort of Russian get-away type place in the country but now it looks like a concentration camp complete with a high fence surrounding the overgrown grounds. There are electric lights surprisingly in the rooms. There is a swimming pool of an unknown depth. Its hard to tell since its all black on the bottom. Believe me, Im not getting in! In another building there is a sauna and hot showers. We had breakfast and tea at around 11:30 before taking a nap from 12:30 to 5. I didnt think I was that tired but obviously I was. Lunch was at 5:30 and was not very tasty. Goat meat and vegetable soup. We decided to take a walk around the nearby village before taking a hot shower. Dinner was at 8pm and we voted to skip it and sleep some more.

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7-22-96 - Dushanbe, Tajikistan - Moskvin Glacier - Day 5

What a day! Lets just say it started with an explosive bout of diarrhea. Very, very yucky. At breakfast at 5am there were also a couple more climbers having the same problem. We loaded up and after a short wait headed back to Dushanbe from our "resort". I went in the car with all the other "sickies". We only got stopped three times by the guys with guns. We got to the airport and hauled stuff to the helicopter. This poor thing was way overloaded. We literally were rammed inside. The tires were going flat because of the excess weight. Lets just say when the Russian pilot looks concerned you better be! They then fueled this thing and of course in the process spilled it everywhere. I quickly prayed nobody was smoking. Finally it was time to go after a quick trip to the outhouse. Some ladies in really colorful dresses are the "line boys" toting the fuel hoses around. We hopped in and prepared for takeoff in the orange and blue beast. We taxied out and did a preliminary lift off then rolled to a smooth takeoff. The big helicopter chugged right through the air with no problems. I was feeling really nauseated and had my head down most of the flight. After the diarrhea in the morning I took some Imodium and started Cipro. We flew for around an hour before landing in the middle of nowhere. The crew took out the auxiliary fuel tank and then reloaded stuff. The people there were very friendly and wanted us to take photos of them. I quickly found the bathroom and led the others over to puke. I felt a lot better after that. The valley was gorgeous and ahead were huge mountains. We took off after about a half hour break and flew through the valley and up on the glacier. After a couple tricky maneuvers we rolled to a landing on the Moskvin glacier. The cabin burst into applause for the pilot on a job well done. We hurried out into the cold and unloaded the chopper. I was really nauseated and extremely tired from the medication and diarrhea. I laid on the grass while Stan and Jon set the tent up. Stan is a doll and of course he knows exactly what Im going though from his past experience. Had I not climbed so much in the past at high altitude I would have thought I had altitude sickness but this wasnt the case. I had no headache what so ever just all the gastrointestinal problems. The base camp is around 14,500 feet and everyone took it slow setting up our camp.

 7-23-96 - Base Camp - Day 6

We both slept relatively well considering the altitude. Most of the other did not and about half are feeling poorly. Tomorrow we are scheduled to make our first carry to Camp 1. It will be a light load but its a gain of 3,000 feet which is quite a gain. I ate a breakfast of eggs and potatoes and thankfully kept it in my stomach. Already today Ive run to the latrine twice with diarrhea so I took a Cipro 750. No more of the Imodium though. That just made me really, really tired and knocked me out. I need to keep remembering to drink lots of fluids. I peed a liter last night which is quite a bit. This morning we got our goody bags full of Gatorade and chocolate for the mountains. Stan and I took a walk around base camp late in the morning. We named it the "great circle route" around the lake and entire base camp. They have a wind generator, solar sauna/shower, shop, bar, restaurant and tons of tent like structures. I guess there is a Jon was saying that with all the private company that runs this place. The expedition pays various fees to them for garbage pickup and the like. We had a very good lunch of meat and vegetables and lots of hot tea. I put my stuff in my pack for tomorrows climb. Going to carry up double boots, crampons, gloves climbing hardware, harness and some food. Jon said it is more of an acclimatization day but Im figuring we have to carry a bunch of gear and food otherwise the next time it will be a very heavy pack.

7-24-96 - Carry to Camp 1 (17,715) - Day 7

Long Day today! Breakfast consisted of porridge which we all had a big bowl of. After finishing up packing we took off as a group at 8:30am. Jon wanted us to stay together crossing the glacier. Its sort of tricky going through and we had lots of ups and downs for the first hour or so. We nicknamed it the mini Khumbu glacier! After the glacier we could go at our own pace. I felt pretty good for the most part. The trail consisted of lots of ups and downs and we lost most of the altitude we gained in the first hour or so. Disheartening at times but thats the route. We had some scrambles up rock that I initially thought were a little tricky. I have this question I asked myself, "If I slip will I die?". I answered yes many times and got sweaty palms! We stopped for a little break and George said "Now we will have some rock climbing." Oh great and I thought the other stuff was hard. We took off again downhill. (I always hate downhill!) We hiked into a valley and then climbed up a high scree like slope that seemed to go on forever. The climbing was a little tricky with the stupid knee brace that I have to wear. I just took it nice and slow and got through in fine shape. There was a massive ice fall with huge blocks of ice clogging many small streams. It was like walking on giant ice cubes! After we crossed that we stopped for a little lunch break. Im testing out a high carbohydrate gel snack this climb. Its called GU and is very easy to digest and tasted good. No chewing required like PowerBars and its lightweight. Onward and upward we climbed more steep scree stuff. This route seems to be endless going on and on. I just kept my head down and didnt look up more than necessary. Thats always been a good technique for me. That way Im usually surprised that Ive come so far. We talked to some other climbers that said it was very snowy and nearly impossible to go from Camp 1 to Camp 2. He told us about some fixed ropes and which ones to use safely. They were headed back down to Base Camp for a couple days. The weather was deteriorating and started to snow so I put on my Gore Tex. Up we went on the never ending trail. Just when you thinks its the top of the hill in front of you it turns to a steeper one! Finally I looked up to see a tent! George and Dave were putting up the Himalayan Hotel. Dave is a fast climber and was up 25 minutes before me. I was getting really cold and started snowing harder so I put on my pile jacket and stored my gear in the tent quickly. I helped a little on the tent but knew I had to get down because I was chilling fast. I slurped down my last GU packet for some energy and soon headed out. This stuff is great! No stomach upset and it really does give you an energy boost. Stan was about 20 minutes away from the top and looked fit. Thank God I had the knee brace on. My knee never could have taken the pounding down hill without it. After some slips and falls on my butt it got easier lower down with less snow on the trail. Jay was out ahead for a while and Andrew was just behind me. Soon George caught up and we made good time heading back. Im glad I stuck with George. He helped me with some holds on the rock section. I would probably still be standing there trying to get down. My legs are so short that the holds are beneath me. We plodded down taking a couple rests along the way. Soon we were through the mini Khumbu and had the camp in site. Very sweaty, hot day today. It felt great stripping off those clothes and putting on dry ones. I drank some tea and waited for the others to show up. The cook started supper and about an hour after they arrived we had fish soup. Later we had hamburger balls (well I thought it was hamburger!) and beans. Stan got in a couple hours after I did in fine shape. I brought him some hot water for a cat bath in the tent. He cleaned up and drank a beer before supper. We hit the hay at around 8pm.

7-25-96 - Base Camp - Day 8

Beautiful Day in Base Camp. Lazy start to the day with a breakfast of oatmeal and eggs. Today we mostly sorted out food bags and gear. The weather was superb all day. What a difference from all those windy nasty days in Everest Base Camp. Everybody has brought their Walkmans and we are listening to music. Some of the guys even brought little speakers. Im wondering if Ill every like "Oasis". I hadnt really heard the group in the states but thats all I hear now from the tiny speaker near Joe and Stuarts tent. Lunch today was brilliant. Beans and lots of other stuff mixed right in. I had one of my beers also. Im really glad we carried a heavy load yesterday because tomorrow will be very heavy. Food, ropes, stoves, fuel and much more. Tonight we have a shower and sauna! Nothing like it at 14,500 feet. The mountains are spectacular today. In the fresh snow and bright sun, Pik Communism looks mighty wicked. The route looks as if there could be an avalanche at any second. It really looks like its snowing up on Korzhenevsky.

7-26-96 - Camp 1 (17,715) - Day 9

Had a good snooze last night after a wonderful shower and sauna. After breakfast we packed up and headed out at 8:30 for Camp 1. My pack was a little heavy but not too bad. Obviously we knew the route so we scooted around pretty well. Nothing spectacular on the climb except the weather which was perfect. Many times we stopped to take photos and drink lots of Gatorade. We got to the camp in around 4 hours. First order of business was to clean off a tent platform and get the tent up and secure. I found some flat rocks that we placed in the vestibule of the tent. They will be great for cooking on. Stuart hauled the water from the nearby glacier stream. The water is very silty and we had to let all of it settle for around 20 minutes before decanting it off. Time to fuel up for the climb so we cooked up some boil in the bag dinners called Wayfarers. I had the "Beans & Sausage" meal which is really beans and weenies. Not very tasty at all. Stan tried the "Chili" and Stuart went for the "Sausage Casserole". I think these meals will all taste alike very soon. I would much rather eat dehydrated meals than carry all these ready to ate stuff. You end up carrying all the water weight. These babies must weight a pound each! Anyway, most of the afternoon was spent doing water "management" duties. Fetch, settle, decant, boil, and drink. We had a small supper later and after another drink it was time for bed. Tomorrow we are making a carry to Camp 2 while Kath, Joe, Mike, Tony and Jon come up to Camp 1.

7-27-96 - Carry to Camp 2 (19,027) - Day 10

Long day! I think we had too late of a start. The snow was mush and it was crap trying to climb. The first part was climbing up a steep water fall. There was some fixed rope but it was way too icy to use an ascender. Kind of interesting climbing especially in the really icy stuff. It was similar to giant steps and I was really wishing I had longer legs at this point. After the waterfall there is another camp that we called 1B located on the moraine. We took a short rest and looked at the route. It didnt seem that far to Camp 2 but George said it would take 3 hours. The snow was nasty and it took forever to get to the top. I think it had to be 100 degrees on the glacier. My head and face were burning up even with sun cream of SPF 50! We roped up for a crevasse section at the bottom of the fixed ropes and headed across. The fixed section is steep and very long especially in the mushy condition of today. We finally reached the top and were in Camp 2. We dumped the stuff at the top in a pile and some Russians gave us some tea. Nothing like leafy hot tea when its 95 degrees out!. Well, its the thought that counts anyway. Really a neat looking camp perched on a ledge. We headed down at around 1:30 or so. My crampons soon balled up badly and I was sliding everywhere. Not good when you're on the fixed rope. Very maddening to descend like that. I finally rappelled down the line which I shouldve done at the start. Stan left some of his stuff at the switchbacks and turned around to come down with us. We roped up and crossed the crevasse field in slogging fashion. Stuart and I stayed together the rest of the way down. That was good because it got nasty a the waterfall. The water was really crashing down the gorge that we climbed up in the morning. No longer frozen and fed by all the melt off the water was moving fast. We made our way down the best we could but it got really scary in the crevasse parts. My ankles hurt from cramponing straight down. I should have front pointed but it was difficult with no ice axe. Sasha was down below and was trying to give up directions on which way to go. Rocks and ice were falling everywhere. I was really very tired and trying hard to concentrate on each step. Stuart made it down a section but I decided to rappel through the ice water. It was a wise choice since I slipped and would have been toast had the figure 8 not broke my fall. After that.more ice fall. We decided to try to run to avoid the chunks. Easier said than done since we were running over boulders, loose rocks and ice. We still had to cross the ever widening river of ice water. We threw our crampons over to Sasha and then hopped on rocks to cross. Next on the "Indiana Jones Waterfall of Doom" ride was falling rocks careening next to us. Sasha and I dove under a huge rock nearby and boulders came crashing down the mountain. "RUN!" Right, like I could go any faster. I was dead by the time we walked back to camp. Into the tent and just collapsed on the sleeping bag. Stan traveled down with George and was fine. I was really worried after all our adventures. Stuart cooked tonights "lovely" Wayfarer dinner of which I ate very little. I just drank a lot of silty Gatorade trying to rehydrate and fell fast asleep.

7-28-96 - Camp 2 (19,027) - Day 11

Started fairly early in hopes of good snow conditions. We took the tent down and soon we were headed up. The ice waterfall part wasnt too bad but I took it slow up the "giant" steps. The sun wasnt hitting the snow of the upper slopes yet which was great. I felt strong and anxious to get up before the sun hit the ropes. We had to cross the crevasse section as a group and that really slowed us down. The sun hit the fixed rope part and of course started softening the snow. Bad news bears! Not as bad as before but still a struggle. I got up to the camp and had some tea then we waited for the sun to hit the icy snow platform and soften the snow. I started feeling crappy and soon had a huge headache after chopping our tent platform. There are a lot of people in a small ledge like space so its tricky making the tent fit. Its sitting on the edge of the ledge. Great view but you really dont want to make a left turn out the tent door. The camp is truly beautiful with mountains surrounding it. The crap site is far enough away that it really doent spoil the view. I dont feel like eating anything really especially not those Wayfarer dinners. Stuart cooked some up and I took one bite and just about hurled in the pouch. I took the usual meds for altitude sickness and turned in for the night at 8.

7-29-96 - Camp 2 (19,027) - Day 12

Early this morning the "A-team" got up. Stan and I decided to stay another night to better acclimatize. I think Stan is fine but I know for myself I need another day. Stuart brewed up and ate breakfast to leave with the others. The last of the group left at around 8:30 for Camp 3. Some Belgian guys headed up also. The Russians said they will go up tomorrow with our group. Stan and I just slept until around 10am. We brewed tea and melted snow for breakfast. If I look at another Wayfarer Im going to puke. Ive switched to just drinking Gatorade all the time. Not really too healthy but thats all I like. Jon came barreling up the mountain shortly after we started melting snow. Our plan was to have tea ready for the rest of our group but the Russians beat us to it. Jon said he was glad to see us resting. It really was a wise decision I think. We lazed around camp sorting gear and food for tomorrows climb to Camp 3. I helped them put up the Himalayan Hotel tent. What a beast that thing is! Most of the rest of the day we sat around melting snow and listening to Tony fart a lot. I dont think hes feeling well. He farted more often and louder than Ive every heard in my life. People two tents away were applauding. Its got to be the beans in those damn Wayfarer dinners! I was feeling better every hour and great by the evening. To celebrate a great day the sky put on a super show of pink clouds. It looked as if the sky was on fire and was simply spectacular.

 7-30-96 - Camp 3 (20,996) - Day 13

We left fairly early to take advantage of the hard snow enroute to Camp 3. Most of the climbing today will be along and up fixed ropes. Stan and I really enjoy this type of climbing and had a really fun time all day. Mike was having trouble right off the bat switching his ascender from rope to rope. I was behind him and really couldnt find a mechanical problem. He just seem to be thinking slower and moving with an uncertainty. We did lots of jumaring up the steep section and at one of the steeper sections met a group of about 6 to 7 Belgians coming down. Kind of tricky for a while getting our group around there group. Three of the Russians were behind us and decided to pass at this point also. It was like the Hillary step on a busy summit day on Everest. I lost track of how many ropes there were but I can say most were is crappy shape. Kind of scary when you whale away pulling yourself up a steep section then examine the anchor and find the frail nylon webbing has just about slipped off the rock its supposed to be around. We rested a bit on top of a col under a 160 feet rock wall we are going up next. There is a fixed rope but climbing straight up rocks with a full pack at nearly 20,000 feet is a challenge. Stan went before me and before long he was at the top yelling for me to follow. The hardest part was finding holds climbing with thick double boots and crampons. Soon I was up with Stan and we continued up a beautiful ridge to Camp 3. The weather was kind of bad so we started tea for the rest of the guys after we threw off our packs. Andy came down from the summit looking very tired. About and hour or so later Stuart, Dave and George dragged into camp. These guys were beat from a hard days climbing. We cleared off a tent platform and got the tent setup as best we could. Not really a great spot since it is tilted downhill but its the best we could do. The rest of our group was up and already settled into there tents. Nearly three hours after Stan and I got to camp, we saw Sasha and Jay coming down. Jay was totally spent and looked dead. We melted some snow for drinks and tried to force food down. Not long after that I puked out the back of the tent. I felt much better after that I must say. I had a headache from the altitude but not enough to warrant any descent.

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 7-31-96 - Camp 3 (20,996) - Day 14

Got up at 3:45am after no sleep what so ever. We were out of the tent at around 5:45. I felt really nasty but got my crampons on. Stan was ready to got but I just wasnt hitting on all my cylinders. We started up the hills about the camp and after about 20 minutes I told Jon I had to go back. He told me to tell George to wait so he could go up with me tomorrow. I walked slowly back but I knew it was the right move for me. I needed another day to acclimatize to this altitude especially with the summit nearly 3,000 feet above us. I got in the tent and about 30 minutes later the entire group turned around . It was blowing snow and whiting out all morning. Most of the day we just sat in the Himalayan Hotel which I call the "Yellow Bus". We all drank lots of liquids and got ready for a great day tomorrow. Lots of climbing stories and fun most of the day. Later in the day while we were in our tents Jon yelled over to say that Carl Lewis had won the gold medal for the long jump. I just started to cry I was so happy for him.

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8-1-96 - Camp 3 (20,996) - Summit Day - Day 15

Got up at 3:45am after no sleep what so ever again. Originally we were going to leave at 6am but we got going at 5:45. I fastened the top of my pack through my harness belt and put my water in it along with a down top, goggles, food, and gloves. We headed up once again but this time with renewed power. Nice slow pace that kept me warm but not overheated. There really are no fixed ropes so I didnt have any hardware on my harness. Most of us just carried an ice axe. Most of the group stayed together except Mike who was laboring badly. This is an absolutely beautiful mountain to climb. There were clouds in the valleys below with hundreds of peaks sticking up everywhere. We plodded up more aretes and balanced on the insides of cornices. Mike fell further behind with GI problems. My gut started to hurt so Jon took my bum pack. I think the harness strap was pulling tight on my intestines and they started hurting. I tried twice to go with little success. More peaks ahead with a couple rest stops to drink and eat. I brought four GU packets with me today. Its just perfect climbing food especially at high altitude. They dont freeze and are easy to open. Finally at another rest stop and after much effort I went to the bathroom. A passing tourist would thing a high altitude bunny left his calling card but at least I felt much better. We finally got to the cross over to the col for the summit. We were walking very slowly but it paid off in the end. Stan got up first with Jon, me and Joe next up. Tony was still back a bit videoing the moment. We took lots of photos in crappy weather. The snow was blowing and the wind was getting very strong. Tony came up and we took more shots and video. I believe it was around 11:30am when we summited. We finally left the summit at 12:20pm or so with no sign of Mike yet. We walked down slowly since in was really hard to see. After about a half hour we ran into Mike. He looked utterly shot and could hardly walk. We all stayed fairly close which was good with the conditions. Mike took a couple of Decadrons right away and Jon put a rope on him with Joe helping out. It was a disaster waiting to happen with out the rope. Jon did some yelling to keep Mike going but it wasnt going to be easy getting him down. Its just a miracle he didnt walk off the side of the mountain on the way up. The route down wasnt easy. I slipped and had to self arrest on a very steep and icy part. Stan and Tony fell also. On the same section Mike inevitably slipped and went head first in a crevasse. All I saw were green double boots moving back and forth and Jon yelling like crazy, "Get up damn it, get up!" Tony, Stan and I went ahead to make the 6pm radio call and get the tea on for everyone. I kept falling in thigh deep holes which was scary and irritating. Great way to wreak a knee! We were very tired but kept ourselves together on the way down. I got the hot water going and so did Tony once he got in camp. About an hour later Jon, Mike and Joe pulled into camp glad to have the day over. Jon radioed base camp at 7pm to tell everyone we summited. Stan and I tried to eat but we were so sunburned we couldnt. What a day!

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 8-2-96 - Camp 3 (20,996) - to Camp 1b - Day 16

Didnt sleep worth a shit again. Third night in a row! We all got up early and started to melt snow for brews and packed. Were getting more efficient every day and soon we were ready to roll. The tent had a load of ice on the fly which I tried to shake out to no avail. Ill try again when we repack at each camp on the way down. Jon said we would go on ahead but to stop at Camp 2 and wait for the rest of the group. Stan and I quickly got to the big rappel. I hooked in and down I went. It was really fun! I got off and Stan quickly zipped down to the col. The view here is so amazing with the hundreds of peaks sticking up through the clouds. Really is a cool place. We headed down the mess of fixed ropes. I really didnt want to witness Mike on rappel. I tried to stomp a trail and pull out all the snowed under ropes for the rest of the group. Some of the ropes were iced down pretty bad. Parts of the traverses were quite tricky due to the ice and I slipped and fell once. Thank God the rope held and my safety line attached to it. These Russian ropes are just frayed clothes line and I think its a miracle that they hold anything. We maintained a good pace throughout all the lines. Some we rappelled but others were so iced down we just had to move down and pull them out from under the snow for the others to use. We were soon at a nearly deserted Camp 2. One Russian shook my hand when I told him we summited. Stan and I repacked our packs with stuff left here and got the stove out for tea. Slowly more people were coming up the steep slope from Camp 1. Jon came along about an hour later. I was so surprised to see him I asked if everything was OK. He said the path was easy to follow and there were no problems. Tea was on and we all had a brew waiting for the others to join us. Soon Tony and Joe appeared and also about six more people came up. After another hour or so we headed down for more adventure. The slope was getting very slick with melted snow. Jon took off and I followed. The zigzags were no problem but the fixed rope with a bitch. I rappelled down the first but the switch over to the second rope was really icy. I hooked my ascender on the top rope to anchor myself then clipped my figure 8 into the lower rope. My crampons were really balled up and sliding everywhere. I zipped down into the now foggy bowl area. I could barely see where Jon was. I slid most of the way down on my butt which was the smart thing to do in these snow conditions. I got a little too far to the right off the trail and had to do some thigh deep post holing to get to Jon. No fun at all. Stan got off the track and really got into deep holes. He did the smart thing and took his pack off and drug it reducing his total body weight. Jon and I talked a long time since it was close to forever before we all were a group again. Poor Mike he is really dead tired. We had to cross several crevasses so we roped up with a really short rope. That was scary with Mike in front of me tripping over his feet and falling all the time. It was snot slick with the crampons balling up the size of a football under foot. I totally wreaked the rubber cover of my ice axe handle with all the banging on my feet. We finally finished the crevasse and traverse section over the ice fall. I unroped and so did Stan. We slid down the slope together and soon we were at the site for camp 1b. It sits on the dirt moraine of the glacier above the ice waterfall with decent tent sites. We got the tent up quickly and Stan dove in for a rest. Everyone is very tires at one point this afternoon I didnt think we could make it this far with the entire group. Tomorrow we are getting up early and heading down to base camp. I finally brushed my teeth and looked in the mirror tonight since I left my personal kit in camp 2. Argggg. My lips are a wreak, my ears are coming apart in pieces, my chin is toast and my tongue is sunburned. Im really tired of climbing right now mainly because Im starving. Ive just at hot Gatorade for the past 3 days. I would give big bucks for just some raman noodles. Stan is the same way. He looks thinner to me from not eating.

 8-3-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 17

We got up around 5 am and started heating water. It snowed during the night abut an inch which was sort of surprising. Packed up and ready to roll we headed down to the dreaded icefall at 7am. A couple of Russians came down before us. Slowly but surely we clawed our way down. I was doing OK but it was sort of scary. The ice was covered with little bits of rocks that made the footing a bit tricky. The ice was really hard this time of the morning and steep enough to be concerned. I envied the few Germans I saw just prancing down. My knees just cant do that anymore. This morning I put my harness on with a figure 8 and Im glad I did. The Russians who went before us fixed a bit more of rope to the fraying clothes line that was already through the icefall. I clipped in for the tricky part not really as a rappel but as a safety brake just in case I slipped. It was really helpful and I did use it to rap the last part of the rope. Most had trouble with this part. We had to rock climb over to a ledge where we took our crampons off. As I was putting my pack back on I bashed my knee cap into a sharp rock. I thought I was going to pee my pants. Damn it hurt! Lucky it was a short walk to Camp 1 where we repacked again. We talked to some Australians who said the ravens are getting into everything. They started describing a ripped up silver bag down the hill from theirs and it was obvious it was our stuff. We walked down to find a big mess. Luckily the only thing missing was the Corn Nuts. Of course thats what the birds were after. My poor Tom Clancy novel is shot now. Its twice the size as normal with the pages all yellow and wet. Ill carry it down and finish it in base camp. We unloaded the fuel and extra Wayfarer meals then loaded up the stored stuff along with the double boots. My pack was huge! We teetered down the trail carefully with our big packs. My feet hurt in the little hiking boots and I really had to pay attention not to trip and fall. Jon said Michael Johnson won the 200 meter in world record time in Atlanta. Cool! We made our way down the trail and stopped to change some clothes as we lost altitude. It was really getting warm out. All of us were moving slowly and probably were very tired. I know I was pooped. We stopped to look for Mike who was above us somewhere. The trail changed a bit from a week prior which was great through the ice fall. No more huge ice cubes to fall on. Jon helped us with the rock bits and even took our packs for us down the trickiest rock part. I guess it would be bad news to have a client "buy the farm" on the way out. The rock climbing isnt that hard but with the huge packs its a little risky. George was down below the rocks and Jon sent him up to carry Mikes pack. Sasha was below also and took some of all of our stuff. Really made a difference. We continued down and soon met up with a group of Japanese. They looked like tourists on an outing. All of them were grouped together and many wore Mickey Mouse hats. The hardest part was picking our way through the glacier. We were really tired by this point. We chopped a few steps in some of the places to get over the ice with our hiking boots on. We picked our way down without incident and finally we were in Base Camp.

Kath came out to greet us which was really sweet. We dropped our packs and walked in the mess tent for a great meal of potatoes, meat and salad. Of course we broke out the beer and celebrated. We slowly dumped stuff out of our packs and got our tent back into shape. We lazed around most the rest of the afternoon looking forward to a shower and sauna at 5pm. Rumor around base camp is that some one legged man just climbed Korzhenevsky. The actual true was it was me with my leg brace on. I just love rumors. My poor face is toast! I have a fried nose, chin, lips, and ears. You name it and its burnt to a crisp. Dang it! I scrapped off the "barnacles" and washed twice with two sauna sessions. The hot shower was fantastic. What a great idea at 14,500 feet. It seems Jay is going to climb Communism with some Russian guides hes hired. He and Tony have to leave early because of work so he wants to try to get up and down the mountain quickly. Last time I saw him was after his summit day and he looked dead there. The first thing he said to me today was, "Wheres your tent?". He looked possessed. Im sure everything will sort itself out in the long run but he doesnt look like he should be climbing anything right now.

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 8-4-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 18

Lazy day all day for us. Jay took off at 4:45 this morning with the Russians and was back at around 7:45. The Russians said he was too slow for them. Jay said he had diarrhea and was carrying the tent while the Russians carried the food. He looked somewhat dejected but I think it was probably the right thing to do. The Belgiums turned back saying it was too dangerous. Right now I think only two Swiss groups and maybe a Russian group are on Pik Communism. My face is still awful but I keep putting lotion on it. Stuart, Andrew and Kath walked up to Camp 1 to retrieve the rest of the stored stuff. Stuart got up and down in a very fast time. We walked around camp this morning but there is really nothing to see. The shop is a very dingy tent and nobody was there anyway. The bar is just surreal. The inside consists of draped cloth and small booths lining the walls. There is a volleyball court with a net along side a tent with a couple ping pong tables. The main camp is really a ghetto with scrape iron and parts everywhere. My knee is still hurting where I banged it yesterday. I hope I didnt do more damage to it. Avalanches are cracking off at an alarming rate. A very large one rumbled last night. Im scared to go onto Communism right now. The people around here call the route "Russian roulette" because of the danger. Right now Im content to do nothing but Im sure that will change.

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8-5-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 19

Slept great! It rained all night which always makes me sleep like a baby. It was shocking to look in the mirror this morning. My face has peeled badly and it looks like I have leprosy. Yuck. After breakfast Jon asked us what we wanted to climb. The Pik Communism people are; Stuart, Andrew, Joe, Dave, Sasha and Jon. The Pik of 4 group is; Stan, Kath, Tony, Jay and George. I have no motivation and besides my right knee feels funny on the back side and hurts. Later in the day Stan and Tony went for a hike up the route to Pik Communism. I stayed back and read my book most of the day and kept my leg up. The weather here is strange with all the changes of rain, snow, wind, and best of all warm sun.

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8-6-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 20

Im just about alone in base camp today. The Communism gang went up the mountain at 5 this morning. I can see them now at Camp 1. It took about 6 hours for them to get there. Another team was coming down. We heard there was to be a rescue of a Swiss climber that tripped on a crampon and fell. The group of ten is moving rather rapidly and it doesnt appear to be a rescue party. I took a short walk around camp but nothing is going on and I may go again later. The Pik of 4 group left about 11:30 or so. They all seemed reluctant to go. Jay has giardia and started Flagyl this morning. Base camp is pretty boring but its not all that unpleasant. The wind is down to about 5 knots and the sky is very clear and warm. My book is great and Ill finish it in a couple days then give it to George. Hes read all the rest of the series. Stan will have a good time Im sure. My knees are getting better but it still hurts when I climb down the bathroom hill. Surprise! Everyone but Jay and George came back from Pik of 4. They decided they didnt want to climb and werent having a good time. I dont blame them. First Kath came down around 2 pm or so. It was great to see her. Then Tony and Stan waltzed in at around 5. Great to see them again. So much for my quiet time at base camp.

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 8-7-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 21

Na da! Kind of sums up the day. Got up around 8 and watched the guys climb the snow fields about Camp 1. Breakfast was had boiled eggs and cold cereal. The only thing I accomplished today was finishing my book. I started Gai-Jin now. Should be good since Ive already read ShoGun and TaiPan. My face is still peeling off and isnt so horrible looking.

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 8-8-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 22

Still here! We watched three helicopters land today which was exciting. Actually it was the same chopper but it was transferring stuff from the little village to base camp. The new title of the sage "Bullets and Bacteria!" We fly out next Tuesday to Dushanbe. Tony and Jay are flying out tomorrow to a small village then driving to Samerkand. I think they fly to Tashkent after that. More diarrhea for me today. My stomach hurt all night so I knew something was wrong. We just heard from the boys up the hill. They are very tired and coming down tomorrow. Thats a shame since they are on the plateau. It would have been Pik Dushanbe then the summit tomorrow. Well the excitement of the day was an escaped sheep from one of the choppers. I tried to herd him back but he was all over the place. I tromped up and down the rocks trying to get him back but he just kept going higher. I took pictures of the helicopter coming in from the hillside. It was really cool watching the helicopter zoom in over the glacier turn and land over the lake. In a scene from "Apocalypse Now" the chopper seemed to pop up from behind the glacier before hovering for a touch down. All we needed was a huge sound system blaring "Ride of the Valkyres". Tonight we are scheduled for a shower and sauna. That ought to feel great. My face is getting better since most of the skin has peeled off. Later: Yippee! I got my face back. The sauna was really, really hot. The shower and sauna helped soften the burnt skin. After some rubbing on my face the skin started washing off. Its a little raw but lots better than the leprosy look I had for the past couple days. I washed out some clothes in the shower which was badly needed. After the shower Evgeney invited Kath and I to watch a video at the caf. We grabbed some chairs and watched him slope soar off some of the mountains nearby. This was a crash and burn tape and we saw him fly into a rotor and get hurled to the ground where he broke his wrist. The next video was a montage of photos and video clips from last year. Actually it was quite entertaining.

 8-9-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 23

Tony and Jay flew out today at around 11:30 this morning. Quite a huge prop blast but I think I got some great pictures of the landing. Tony said he will try to meet us at the airport in London with photos already processed. That sounds fun. The weather today is great and were mostly sitting out sewing, reading and sunning. We can see the guys coming down from the plateau. They are moving very slowly and it should take them until later tonight to get to camp. Stan rigged up an antenna for Georges radio so the BBC comes in nice and clear. Great to get the news. Later: Well, the guys are back. We heard a radio call at 2pm that said it would be a couple hours until they reached camp. Stuart and Joe were the first ones down. Stan, Kath and I walked up the glacier to help the guys down with their packs. Stan carried Jons pack for the last bit and I offered to carry Daves. Andrew is just beat and he was very slow coming down.

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 8-10-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 24

Good morning Moskvin Glacier! Beautiful morning today. Joe and Stuart are preparing to hike up to Pik of 4. They look fit and ready to roll. Andrew has a cough and bad diarrhea. Lazy morning for the rest of us. I just went to the bathroom and lets just say it wasnt pretty. Damn it. The Iranian team is up past Camp 1 and I think they are the only ones on Communism. My right knee is still hurting so Im taking some pain pills for it. Evgeney just parachuted off the nearby hill. The Russians make a big production out of it which is very amusing. The guy on the ground shoots off a signal flare then Evgeney on top of the mountain shoots one off also. A couple minutes later he pops the chute over his head and steps off the hill. The gusts were blowing him around a bit but he landed right where I thought. The canopy looks as if it had around 1500 jumps on it. The name on the side was Edelweiss and I think its an old Swiss canopy. He attached it to a harness with a carabiner. Rather crude but what the hell. Stuart and Joe are slowly getting ready to go and Im sure theyll have a great time. Straightened out the tent this afternoon. There has to be about two pounds of dirt in there. I swear there is a pound on my pants alone. I thought about washing out stuff but thats just silly in this place.

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8-11-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 25

Not much going on again. We get up went the sun hits the tent at around 8. Frosties for breakfast again. More bad news on the bathroom side of my life. I even had to get up in the middle of the night. Evgeney jumped off the hill again with the same production as yesterday. The flares and smoke are really neat to see. I started to pack later today and got the backpack almost finished except for my sleeping bag. I might leave the small bag out of the pack and use it in Dushanbe. It sounds like we are going back to the "prison camp". Actually its probably the only thing in Dushanbe. The Soviet troops have taken over the only hotels. The entire country is not set up for any tourism at all. I took a look again at the "visa" we have for Tajikistan and I think its for Uzbekistan. Details, details!!? Right now the weather is great. A little bird just landed next to me on the table. Stan gave George and Sasha some pens and watches for their kids. George gave me a postcard of himself on the summit of Everest. Hes unbelievably smoking a cigarette! Its a hilarious photo especially with the oxygen bottle right in front of him. I just thumbed through the Central Asia guide book and found out there is absolutely nothing to do in Dushanbe. Dang. Wished to hell that we could have gone to Samerkand. At least there is one thing to see there. George is playing chess with some old Russian named Anatoly. They are both very good players. Kath traded him for a hat he had. Its really a neat looking Kazak hat made of wool.

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8-12-96 - Base Camp (14,500) - Day 26

Packing up time! We are cleaning up the cook tent now and packing the extra stuff away. Last night the guys got a little drunk. Joe, Stuart and George were feeling no pain. They went through three bottles of vodka and three beers at the dinner table. Joe was hilarious. He got up to go the bar and fell backwards into the biscuit box. Stan and I went back to our tent to sleep and could hear Joe asking the Russians if they wanted to go to the bar with him. This morning Stuart was looking for Joe. He wandered out of the tent looking a bit hung over and asked if we had seen Joe. Joe finally stuck hes head out of one of the tents lets just say the "boy wonder" looked rough around the edges. He was walking around in the rocks asking if anyone had seen his plastic Scarpa boot. How the hell did he lose his boot!? He wandered around between us and the lake and finally he yelled that he located it. The boot was at least 100 yards out. Youve got to be pretty damn drunk to lose a boot and wander home on these rocks. Theres lots of clouds out today. I think the Iranians are summating today. Lots of avalanches last night. I thought I was going to have to jump out of the tent one way so close. Lunch was the same old, same old. Pieces of meat (I havent yet figured out what type), potatoes, and "salad". The salad is pieces of cucumber, tomatoes and onion. I put salt and catsup on everything now. We took half the dining tent down and packed what we could. I started on Cipro again for the diarrhea. We learned today that the "official" altitude for base camp is 4100 meters even though its more like 4400 meters. Why? Because the limit for landing the helicopter is 4100 meters. Clever huh! This place would really be a great place for high altitude research. Easy to get the equipment in with the helicopter and the facilities are perfect.

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8-13-96 - Dushanbe - Day 27

Well, were here sort of. We got up at 7am in order to pack and get the rest of the kitchen packed up. Sveta the cook packed the bowls so we had Frosties in our metal cups and used spoons from the tins of fish from last night. The helicopter was supposed to be in at around 11:30 but we got word it was going to be at 10. Time to pack quick! Glad I did my packing early. We wandered over to the landing area after we loaded up the tractor thingee and waited for the chopper to arrive. Many tears from "little" Sveta and Nina on saying good-byes. The helicopter landed and soon we were piling in waving to our friends at base camp. The flight out was spectacular. Stan had a window seat and took lots of shots out the open window of the surrounding mountains.

We landed at the small village we had stopped at on the way in. Stan and I gave the kids pens, watches and stickers. They were so cute. Negotiations were underway for a body pickup. Jon asked if we would mind if the pilots flew up the valley to pick up a body of a villager that had died. The location was about 10 minutes away. We stayed and talked to the locals. It was great fun trying to communicate in Russian. The small building only served tea. There were also beds outside the tea house. They are very common here. They are mattress things on iron frames that are built like a platform. Some of them had tents covering them. The helicopter was back soon and they unloaded the body. They also unloaded some sort of farming tools. I gather he was the father of the men that went and picked him up. The pilots struck a bargain to get the mans body for the villagers. They flew in trade for 2 goats and a freshly butchered cow. When we were ready to go, they led the goats over to the back of the helicopter and loaded them in along with the bloody bag of meat. There was much confusion and many people tried to jump into the helicopter when it started. Finally we sorted out who was supposed to be on and we ended up picking up some old lady and a younger women who knew George. The rest of the flight was uneventful and took about an hour to fly to Dushanbe. On the way we flew past yurt villages with large herds of cattle. The view was beautiful down the valley.

We landed around noon and it was lucky I changed into lighter clothes since it was very hot. The helicopter taxied up to the parking spot and all these armed men stood at the door. Many of the guys had two guns; a Kalishnikov and a these short Uzi type of weapons. We didnt dare take any photos of these guys. They watched every move we made while we unloaded the chopper. Now the fun begins. Jon wants to ditch the guys who first "arraigned" stuff for us the first time through here and use the services of the younger lady we picked up at the "body" stop. There was much discussion as we sat on the tarmac. We loaded up things in vans and trucks then drove about 200 meters and got out again. Oh boy here we go again. Thank goodness, Sasha bought us all drinks. They really hit the spot. After much discussion we got back in the vans and took off for the original "prison camp" to eat lunch. It took about an hour to get there. We walked back to the cabin and sat at a table on the porch. First round was bread, then some nasty soup and then the main meal which was suspiciously just like the soup but without the liquid. They brought the awful salty mineral water then a melon. We walked back out to the road where I bought a beer. It was got but it quenched my thirst. A large but pulled up and we noticed that all our luggage was in one of the vans. We loaded up the bus and soon we were off again. The place was supposed to be 10 kilometers further but it took about 40 minutes. The bus got hot so we had to stop once by a stream. Finally we arrived at an old Russian climbing school resort. Ill use the word resort rather loosely since it was probably nice in its time but its a dump now. Kind of spooky really with all the abandoned buildings and open windows rattling in the wind. The lady set up everything with the mystery caretakers which Ive havent seen yet. We only have spoken to some very drunk Russian who looks dangerous to me. We picked out our rooms and then had a Pepsi. I have no idea where they cam from but we drank them. They did have a nice hot shower which we jumped in. Stan and I took a walk and saw a very abandoned swimming pool with dark nasty water. Close by there was a climbing wall with some ancient belay machine that weve seen before in Russia. A basketball court was close by as well as a type of amphitheater. Everything is totally run down. Besides the building we are in, there are two more. One probably was more administrative and the other looks like a bar and restaurant. There doesnt seem to be electricity here so Im no sure how we are going to see to eat dinner. Dave is on pins trying to get a flight out. He was hoping to get out today but with the dead guy and all he had no luck. Now were 1 hours from Dushanbe. I think tomorrow we are going to "tour" the town. That ought to take about 5 minutes. The guide book says there is absolutely nothing to do there. This place reminded me of the "Shining" Scary really. I accidentally broke some of the already broken glass of our door out. Hope theres no bugs. Later: The electric came on at 8:30 or so with the help of a generator. The main wiring doesnt work but they have some lights strung up in the dining room. We drank some beer and ate dinner at around 9:15. The meal was great and just what we needed to cap off a busy day.

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8-14-96 - Dushanbe - Day 28

Slept good in the little cubby hole room. Breakfast was great! Pancakes, eggs and much more. They have bee hives around the area so we had fresh honey that was wonderful. After breakfast we went on a hike in the surrounding valley with one of the local guides and his wife. Jon and George went back into Dushanbe to argue with the previous trekking company. We all put on our hiking boots and started out along the road. After crossing a bridge we followed a goat path along the stream. The stream was mostly fast moving white water from the glaciers above. Our destination was a mountain home build by a mountain kinda guy. I pictured some old hermit dude that didnt want any visitors so I wasnt really enthused about the hike. Besides my knee started really hurting bad. I was very thirsty and drank out of a couple streams joining the river. They were ice cold and the water tasted fantastic. After about two hours we came upon a wonderful little house surrounded by acres of wildflowers. We entered a little gate and crossed several wooden bridges that connected the path to the house. The setting was fairy tail like as we walked down the flowery path. To my surprise the "hermit" was a young man dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. There was also a small boy of around seven who was his son. We all took our shoes off and entered his cabin. There were beautiful black and white photographic enlargements on the walls. The captured the local scenery as well as his son. Our guide had brought along some grapes and melon that we enjoyed at the table. The man put some water on for tea and brought out some bread for us. He later took us to his workshop where he showed us many carved items with inlaid woodwork. He also had some exquisite pencil drawings that he had drawn. This is one talented man out in the middle of absolute no where. We soon left his house and walked on back to our lodgings. It took about an hour or so to get back. The sky was a bit overcast and it looked like rain most of the way. We took a shower once back in camp. Since it had been cloudy there wasnt very much hot water produced by the solar panels. One of the ladies working in the kitchen served up some tasty compote and soon after we had lunch. They had asked us this morning what we would like and we all said "something light". It was anything but light. Rice and meat with sides of spicy sauce with much more. Very tasty and filling. We all stuffed ourselves. The tea we had sort of smelled and tasted like weeds to me but I tried to drink it anyway. After lunch most went up to their rooms for a nap. I sat out and read my book and watched these two little boys riding donkeys. One of the staff tried to get me to hop on but I declined the offer since it was all glass and concrete everywhere. Stan and I petted the goat tied in the front yard. We also petted a dog also. They must cut the ears off dogs here for some reason. Everyone Ive seen has lumps of nothing where the ears go. He was a pleasant dog but very beat up. Jon and George got back very late in the afternoon after much arguing with the tourism people. There is much corruption in this country and they made sure the officials knew about it. They heard bad news from the mountain. The Iranian three member team summited but had an accident descending. They summited very late and two members fell. One fell 1000 meters to his death on the plateau. The other fell only about 30 meters and is injured. The rest were OK and are awaiting rescue. Apparently a helicopter is going to bring down the body. That ought to be a tricky prospect at an altitude of over 6000 meters. Thats probably the safest way considering the man power needed to bring a body down and the speed necessary through the tricky parts. Kath was out for another walk and said an entire division of armed soldiers just drove by. She said they looked battle worn and were headed for Dushanbe. Jon brought back some drinks for us. I had a couple Pepsis and some very strong beer. The man who led us on the hike brought out some jewelry and medals for us to buy if we wanted them. We bought a medal which had some farmers and a bulldozer on it for Dad. Stan bought me a silver necklace also. He got a Tajikistan pin also. Party tonight at dinner. Of course farewell dinners in Russia always go on and on with plenty of toasts. One of the Tajik men told a story that went on and on. We didnt understand a word of it but he was very funny telling it. He used plenty of hand gestures and facial expressions. After twenty minutes he led up to the big finish and we all applauded enthusiastically. Stan and I headed off to bed leaving the younger crowd to drink the night away. Its going to be a long day tomorrow and I dont want to be hungover.

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8-15-96 - Dushanbe - Khojand - Day 29

We got up at around 5:45 to get breakfast. I really couldnt believe it but we had fried chicken! Kind of odd but it tasted good. We loaded up the bus and headed off to Dushanbe. Most had a wild time last night that even included skinny dipping in the horrid swimming pool. That thing is so full of algae and moss they could hardly get back out. It would have been a sight to see! On the way in Dave got rather gray looking and we quickly stopped the bus so he could hurl. Way too much to drink! It took around an hour to get there and we dropped off the staff at various places along the main road. We unloaded at the airport "foreigner" entrance where they weighed and tagged our stuff. There was a nice coffee shop where I got a couple coffees and four cookies for a buck. I didnt need any Tajik rubles so I made sure it all equaled a dollar. The lady spoke German so I switch from really crappy Russian to marginal German. She gave me a couple pins when we left for souvenirs. The flight was due out at 9:45am so we headed out to the gate in another building. We walked through with no security again. Amazing place. They have all these metal detectors and X-ray machines but really dont use them. However they want you to walk through them anyway. What a country! I followed some big lady out to a green military bus which took us out to a Tajikistan Air, i.e. Aeroflot plane. We hopped on and soon there were tons of people trying to get on. We filled up the "foreigner baggage" with all our mountaineering gear. They were cramming more people in and some guys were sitting in the aisle. I looked outside and saw them shove four soldiers in the baggage compartment with a multitude of guns. I swear I must have seen a dozen people go up front towards the pilots cabin. We took off a little late but it was an uneventful flight really. It only took 30 to 40 minutes to get to Khojand. We piled out on the tarmac after landing and started walking toward the terminal building. It was really windy and we noticed a large round table-like thing blowing across the tarmac and down the taxi way. No one seemed to be going after it to my amazement. In the building we were herded to the passport place were they examined our documents carefully. After many questions we were told we could leave. A guy was waiting there with a small bus. We then collected the luggage and rammed it in the back. The place we were going to go to was closed so we drove to the lake to figure out lunch and a possible place to stay. After Jon and George came back from checking the place out it seems we are going to stay the night here. Its some sort of old Russian holiday camp. The place is packed with cars and people and I hear loud music playing. I guess people can swim and boat in the very large lake next to this resort. Stan and I are on the third floor in a large two room apartment like place. There are beds for four. The bathroom really, really smells bad but at least we have one. Of course there is only ice cold water but what else is new. Stan and I bought a beer in the park and walked around until lunch at 2pm. We entered a very Russian looking building and were told where to sit. Everything is the same for all who stay in the resort. There was a choice of two main meals that were equally nasty. Extremely greasy. We have dinner at 7pm at the same tables. The restaurant was very full with people and they all looked local to me. After a "delightful" lunch we walked around the resort. The paths run through very wooded areas and were pleasant. We were heading to the lake and when we got nearby I thought I saw a bear cub. We walked closer and found a bear cub chained to a tree. The poor thing was only about 6 months old and looked pitiful under a filthy water fountain. I wanted to strangle whoever owned it. The lake was just down the stairs of this open air bar and wasnt very active. The wind was blowing quite strong and probably kept the tourist from swimming. Besides that there wasnt any sand on the beach. Only large pieces of concrete and rocks. There were three more bars along side the lake as we continued around the place. Further in the park we noticed an abandoned outdoor cinema and tennis courts. Really run down but not bad considering where we are. Further in the park we found a group of our guys and we stopped to drink more beer. Stan and I decided to go back to our room to take a shower (ice cold) before dinner tonight.

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8-16-96 - Khojand - Tashkent Day 30

What a night! It started at around 9:30pm with some guy knocking on our door. I didnt have any clue what time it was or who the heck was beating on the door so I opened it. Way dumb but I did it anyway. This guy was asking me about some other man and was very insistent about it. Lucky for me after about five minutes Jon and George appeared in the hall way and I handed the guy off to George. Back to bad for me. At about 12:30am more knocking. I yelled Russian phrases telling them to "Go away" and "Get lost." Again at 1:45 and 6:30am more knocking. It was a total pain in the ass. I guess some guys smashed a car window and the front door on our "apartment" building. I was just about to get the ice axe out with the last one. Anyway we all gathered at 7 and walked to the restaurant building for breakfast. Kind of nasty really. Some cold meat cuts to start off with then spaghetti with same fried meat. Finally some cream of wheat which I did eat. This was really a different kind of place to say the least. We piled on the bus and headed towards the airport. Jon wanted to get the refunds on Tonys and Jays tickets. It took a while but they did it. We then started the four hour journey to Tashkent. Nothing really unusual besides the many, many stops by the police. At the border the Tajik police really gave me a look over and held on to my passport. Finally he handed it back before he left the bus. We then got a speeding ticket in Uzbekistan. I really cant believe that the damn radar worked but he said we were going too fast. Finally we were in Tashkent. Somehow it looks much more Cosmopolitan than I remembered only 3 weeks ago! Much nicer than before. We got to the hotel and unloaded everything to the hotel lobby. I guess there was a problem with our visas. They ran out a couple weeks ago but we are only going to be in the country less then 72 hours so we should be OK. Somehow I dont believe it and I just know we need a visa. Nobody gives you a grace period in these countries. We walked to a park restaurant for a huge lunch of soup, bread, beer, coke, plov and shes kabob. Very tasty meal! We waited some more at the hotel and around 3 or so we got a room. Really pretty nice. The bathroom doesnt even stink and we had hot water!! Stan and I took a walk around in search of an illusive postcard. There were none to be found anywhere. We did however find a Dove Bar ice cream and devoured those. I just cant get over how the city looks so nice compared to before. We took a shower when we got back and I washed clothes. After a beer we met the guys at 6pm for dinner. We walked around same then bought some vodka, orange juice and chips for a snack. A little later we walked to a restaurant by the canal. It was very busy with a nice atmosphere and great food. After the walk back Stan fell fast asleep. I decided to repack trying to get down to the 20 kilo weight limit. Im going to wear my plastic boots and packed my crampons in my day pack.

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8-17-96 - Tashkent - London - Day 31

What a day we had. Got up at six after a very noisy night. The guys partied into the wee hours and I heard them get home at around 4 or 5. We packed up and hauled the luggage down stairs to the bus. We were off at around 7 for the airport. At the airport bar we had a sort of breakfast. Max, bless his heart, ran around like a mad man getting coffee, bread and cookies for everyone. Actually the cookies were really good. We messed around for a while then left for the main terminal. Stan looked all over for a place to spend our Uzbek money but there really werent any places to buy anything. More paperwork snafus while we waited patiently. We filled out the currency forms and waited more. There was a departure tax stamp that was ten dollars US, and only in US dollars. I guess it was a problem that we didnt have a visa. Anyway after much delay we walked through to the X-ray place. I didnt put my backpack down as usual and as usual no one said anything. He checked our currency forms and passport here. ThenCHECK IN. YAHHHHHHH. We lined up our little carts up to the London line and didnt move a muscle. There was much confusion all around us. Another group of some type of musicians were there. They looked like they played those damned musukis that was in the Monty Python cheese shop skit. After 2 minutes those guys got on my nerves too. Jon and Kath were 50 kilos and they wanted 6 dollars a kilo over which made it $300. Jon gave then $150 without a receipt and then got through. When we got up we piled the bags up so they rested on the edge of the scale and we came in at 43 kilos. Should have been no problem but they decided to close that post. The guy kept tossing the bags off the scale and back at me. I kept putting them back on and he was getting pissed off. Max tried to straighten it out and promptly got yelled at loudly by he lady. She was very distressed and kept holding 4 boarding passes. Obviously they were running out of seats fast. Only me, Stan, Mike and Joe were left to check in. The guy put the bags back on the scale and immediately said they were over weight and they wanted $20 dollars. Jon yelled, Max got red in the face and I dug out two 5 dollar bills and handed them to Max. I told him to tell the guy it was enough and shut up. No problem. Tags went on the bags and boarding passes were given out. Our seat was 1 E and 1F. Could it be.First Class?! We grabbed our very heavy hand luggage and proceeded to Passport Control. Now we had five minutes until the flight was supposed to leave. More delays with the group visa. Finally, stamp, stamp and we were through the line. More delays at the gate which was fine with me since I then could take off those ridiculous boots and heavy pants and more importantly go to the bath room. Finally we loaded into the "cattle car" and were hauled out to the plane. It was a mad dash for the seats. We thought we probably had the first row of the economy class but we found out it was really first class. Well, as it turns out those seats were already taken so we were told to sit anywhere in business class. We had great seats up front on the side with lots of leg room. Mike and Joe had business class seats also. The rest of the crew was back in economy with about a "thousand" Indians. We were soon off the ground and headed towards London on a short seven hour flight. There were plenty of refreshments, food along with 3 movies. A little into the flight there was a call for a doctor on board. Stan called the flight attendant and then took care of some Indian women who passed out in the back. She had been flying from New Dehli and hadnt eaten or drank any thing for days. We landed actually a little early in London but with the long lines at Passport Control and the luggage claim we were late getting out. When we came out Tony was there with a stack of photos for everyone. That was so nice of him. We said all our good-byes to everyone and told Joes mom what a great climber he was. She looked very relieved to see him. We hauled our bags over to the Speedlink bus and grabbed the next one to Gatwick. Kath had told me about a cheap hotel nearby and I gave them a ring outside on the taxi stand. Stan was inside confirming our connections for tomorrow. The Travel Inn did have a room and came right over to get us. Really a nice hotel for the money. Sort of like a Super 8 in the states. The rate is 35.50 pounds for a night which is just around 52 dollars. Its only about 5 minutes from the North terminal. We settled in the room which was very comfortable with remote TV, coffee, tea, cookies and a wonderful bathroom. We decided to go to McDonalds so we walked to the North terminal and took the shuttle bus over to the South terminal. Then we walked a little down the way to Micky Ds. I had a pounder with cheese meal then a hot fudge sundae. Really was great. On the way back we looked around the North terminal and found another McDonalds and decided to eat breakfast there. There are tons of shops of all types here sort of like a shopping mall in the states.

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8-18-96 - London - Atlanta - St. Louis - Home - Day 32

This morning we drank coffee and tea in the room before leaving. After a ton of questions at Delta check in, "Where have you been, Where did you stay, etc", we checked the bags and headed to McDonalds. Big breakfast time! We checked out a few shops then headed to the first check in stop. It was packed to get through the departure area and there were more passport checking along with boarding pass checks. After that there we more great shops. We walked to the gate and promptly got our passports checked and boarding passes checked. Soon we were on the plane and headed to Atlanta, St. Louis and finally drove home. By the way, we stopped at McDonalds for dinner on the drive to Quincy. I just had to have an Arch Deluxe!