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Diru
Diru is the last populated outpost on the journey to Base Camp. The town, small enough to walk from end to end in 10 minutes, mixes backwoods beauty with a down home third world squalor. Morning is greeted with loudspeakers announcing the news according to Beijing - 1500 miles to the east as the crow flies. The team’s Liaison Officer declares that no pictures can be taken. Apparently local authorities were uncomfortable with the presence of foreigners.
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"Bought Chinese long johns for the intense cold we will have on the mountain... The travel is getting old. We’ve been traveling for a week - thank god I did that last 50-mile ride right before we left. Tomorrow we reach the roadhead. Yaks will be found. We will make Basecamp. Then the trip will start. Then people will begin to have to start working. Only time will tell then how the trip will unfold. Right now it feels like a family outing - boys and girls on a picnic.
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After Camp 1 I doubt very much we will be a group of seven. Above Camp 2 it will get tougher and pray tell who will feel like leaving Camp 3 at 3am for the top.
I am the weakest skier here but it won’t matter at all. The question will be who will remain healthy and who will feel like working hard. This is a very inexperienced team with altitude related efforts. Maybe I am just reacting, but I see all these expeditions play out their destiny long before they even get on the mountain."
- Carlos Buhler, 10 September 2002
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"Massive pot holes, dips and ruts - the journey is as hellacious as any I’ve ever been on. We pulled into Nakchu around 7, and after fueling up at one of those gas stations where the hose comes out a window in the wall of a building, drove to the China Telecom Hotel, the newest hotel in town and a cover for an outright cat house.
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After the evening was interrupted by three phone calls soliciting sex, I got a good night of sleep, despite the elevation of 14 something thousand feet (guide book said there’s only 60% of the oxygen available at sea level).
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We ate a late lunch in a Tibetan town. Thick yogurt, full-fat and very yogurty followed by a bowl of noodles with yak meat. Something over the past few days got hold of Carina, and she finished the ride nauseous and aching in every joint. Last night she skipped dinner."
- Mark Newcomb, 11 September 2002
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