Latest Expedition News
1st news from the Base Camp from July 16th to July 18th
We are finally on our way the much anticipated ISLET 2005 expedition Pik Lenin in Kyrgyzstan. Doug flew from Colorado Springs, Nikki flew in from Manchester in the UK, David Panofsky arrived from Madison, Wisconsin and Lisa Seaman was already in Austria so joined everyone in Milan on July 16th. Leaving Milan on Saturday morning we arrived in St Petersburg after a 2 hour flight.
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The
entire expedition is made up of 24 member: 18 Italian, 2 Welsh, 2 Americans and
2 Catalunyans. After a few minutes of suspense on account of Corriglianos
backpack which was temporally lost in the transfer, but which then turned out
OK. Many of us are seeing each other again after a long period of time, its great to see each other and share a new adventure. Others are meeting each other
for the first time but it seems as if they have known each other for ever. The
official language is Italian, but with Davids help who is an American with
Italian roots it is not difficult to
understand each other in English.
We left for St Petersburg under the hot sun of Milan, and arrived in Russia with the same scorching heat. We begin signing more than 2000 postcards in the airport hall all the while curious onlookers observe with amusement. In the evening we depart for Bishkek the capital of Kyrgysztan, where we arrive at approximately 0200hrs. With some difficulty, we claim our bags after going through the bureaucracy of the entry visa system, but we find ourselves with one bag less, which happens to be Davids' ("thankfully" says Doug!!) Dimitri and Elena from ITC Asia Mountains met us in the arrivals hall and kindly offered their assistance with the next phase of the journey.
We
start to feel really tired after all our travels and crash in the airport
waiting area whilst waiting for the our next flight which will take us to Osh
the entry gate to the Pamir.
Osh 8am
It appears from the air that this is a city in the greenest of valleys which
contrast starkly with the ochre coloured surrounding mountains which see their
first rays of morning sunlight. In the distance we get our first glimpse of the
high snow covered peaks of the Pamir Alai. This sight brings even the sleepiest
of heads to the windows in anticipation.
We find ourselves catapulted in such a short space of time into a world where
time has stopped and everything has its own rhythm. The Kyrgysz are very
hospitable people and welcoming in their approach. The day begins with a morning
nap and a visit to Osh's enormous bazaar ? one of the largest and most diverse
and expansive of Central Asia. Wed have time to taste the local cuisine especially tonight where we are eating at the edge of the river in a garden
restaurant with a meal based on fruit, tomato, cucumber and onion salad, meat
filled rice and bread.
We
also to take the opportunity to add our signatures to the many hundreds of postcards which we will hand over to Anotoli to post, our local guide. We are
going to bed early (Yeah, right! Its 0015! Ed.) Early because the real adventure
begins at 0600hrs with our destination being Achik Tash at 3800m, our base camp
for Pik Lenin.
David, Doug, Lisa and Nikki.