It is quite a privilege to be working for Adventure Consultants, a small company operating out of New Zealand, and a world leader in the field of Adventure Mountaineering. (www.aventureconsultants.co.nz)

The AC Everest 2006 team have now assembled in Kathmandu. The Sherpas were here already, packing the expedition loads with our leader Guy Cotter. What an impressive group they are. At the team meeting they introduced themselves in English. “My name is Ang Dorji, I have been on the summit of Everest ten times...”. “My name is Lapka Dorji, I have been on the summit two times...” and so on.

The other team members have traveled from both east and west, all suffering positive or negative jet lag. We have come together from France, UK, Eire, USA, New Zealand and Brazil. One Portuguese speaker, the rest from all over the English speaking world. There is a huge variation in accents and nuances. I guess we will learn to better understand each other during next few days, for our journey is not yet over, now we are ready to fly to Lukla, which, if the weather is good, we will do tomorrow. The next week or so will be spent trekking up to Everest base camp. Our home for the next two months.

For me the traveling began a week ago leaving Chamonix for a short break in London with Jo and Adam. We exchanged skis for tourism and took a mini tour of Hawkesmoor's east end churches. These magnificent structures still take my breath away. You cannot say they are the high point of English baroque, look at them and you will realize that Hawkesmoor was far too strong an individual to pigeon hole like that. There is something pretty modern in the way he carves out the massive rhythms and the way he dispenses with unnecessary detail. As an added bonus, throughout the day we kept meeting the most interesting people. At breakfast was Robin who has started a new stock exchange. (www.opromark.com). A whole new exchange! And later we had tea next to a Belgian professor who screens natural anti cancer products. His field of research was very specific; cancer of the uterus and cervix. He had started his company because the Pharmaceuticals were just too slow.

We finished the day in a pub with beer and television. The English news was delighting itself with a foreign story that day: At the EU Summit, the head* of the European employers' association (who happens to be French) announced that he was going to give his speech in English “because it is the International Language of Business”. It is, of course, disgraceful that a Frenchman could say such a thing, so Jaques Chirac stormed out of the conference. (http://news.ft.com/cms/s/50891a92-baab-11da-980d-0000779e2340.html) If I remember correctly, Chauvin was also French. The English news organizations love a bit of schadenfreude. But there is a more interesting aspect to this below the gloating; Lingua francas (is that the correct plural?) change with time. The international business language maybe English now, but if the BRIC economies grow and if, again, China's population determines it, the lingua franca of the future may not be English at all. The logical thing would be a symbolic language such as written Chinese. We all use at least one written symbolic language in math. Numbers can be pronounced in any way in any spoken language, but always mean the same thing. (2+2 is the same in Japanese as English). The same is true of written Chinese. Perhaps we need to learn Chinese ideograms, but with English (or French) words. Is this possible? I do not know, but I remember reading that the Amerindians communicated across their mutually unintelligible tongues by signing; another symbolic language. Symbolic languages; ideograms and signing, might just be the way to cross language barriers. I doubt that Chirac would agree though.

All this was brought to mind at dinner last night, when it became clear that England and America really are separated by a common language after all. My friend and fellow AC guide, Luis Benitez, explained that he is working on a project for the ABC news people. The idea is to film the professionals on Everest. The ones who return year after year. It could make an interesting story. Dean Staples (also an AC guide) suggested he could contribute a bit.

Luis: I spoke to ABC about that and they are going down with it.
Victor (looking puzzled): Is that good or bad?
Luis: What?
Victor: Is down on it good or bad? I mean when James Brown gets down on it, is that good?
Dean: Down on it could be bad.
Luis: With it! with it! .... ABC are down with it.
Dean:Eh?
Victor: Yes, I understand the words, but is that good or bad? And can I have a translator please?

OK, I give up. Maybe Chirac is right. Lets all speak French.

 
we exchanged our skis for tourism

*Ernest-Antoine Seillière, président de l'UNICE, la fédération des entreprises européennes, basée à Bruxelles.

Posted by Victor Saunders at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

"It's irony Baldrick, do you know what irony is?

"Oh yes, Blackadder, it like brassy, only made of iron."

During the last week we have had some of the best snow this year. It has been snowing on and off for the last ten days. Weather men were comparing the quantity of snow to 1999 when, on 8 february, seven feet of snow fell in 48 hours. (This time the difference is just that, the time. Ten days of cold alternating with warm foehn and melting up to 1600m has created a stable base in the valleys. The strong winds at altitude have loaded many of the east facing slopes higher up.) As in 1999 for a week most of the ski lifts in Chamonix were closed, and Vallorcine was cut off from the rest of France. Les Houches was crowded being the only ski station completely open within an hour of Chamonix.

Then last Monday something interesting happened. The clouds were predicted to clear briefly in the morning but there were supposed to be accompanied by strong winds at 4,000m. Looking up we could see only the flimsiest of snow plumes from the the Aiguille du Midi. A quick phone call confirmed there really was no wind, and the lift would be running to 3800m. The guided Vallée Blanche crowds were absent (the forecast was for gale force winds after all) but the usual locals were there with their wide powder skis. The first lift of the day was filled with the urgency of a football crowd on their way to a grudge match. They were going for the Grand Envers and Col de Plan variations. Not one track led into the the "normal" Vallée Blanche. Patrick, Miles and I opted for the Petite Envers and then gingerly traced a route through the maze of crevasses and seracs into the bottom of the Vraie Vallée. Beautiful untouched champagne powder was our reward.

Photo: Patrick McGrath, 6 March 2006

In the afternoon we picked huge sweeping lines through La Combe des Glaciers. The next day was special in a different way. The weather was great, the Vallée Blanche and Grandes Montets lured the off piste skiers. It always seems slightly ironic that the the great off piste zones become so quickly tracked out that the best off piste skiing is in the lesser areas, where the competition for untracked snow is less. We spent the day tracing sublime lines at La Flégère and on the ski lifts we talked about irony. Irony and politicians in particular.

Our minister of culture, Tessa Jowell, has been forced to save her political career by dumping her husband who is accused of accepting bribes during a corruption trial. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4773468.stm). Ah well, if you are going to take alleged bribes, what better place than a corruption trial?

Meanwhile the top policeman in Britain, Sir Ian Blair, has apologised to the attorney general and the Independent Police Complaints Commission for secretly taping calls." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4801032.stm). The phone calls were about wire tapping rules. Well, if you have to secretely tape conversations, when better? What a great day. We almost choked with laughter as we sliced through the spraying powder.

Posted by Victor Saunders at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (208) | TrackBacks (0)