nepal update

Photos courtesy of Nicholas Rice

By Guy McCarthy

A 24-year-old climber from Hermosa Beach says he has battled winds approaching 100 mph and endured temperatures 40 below zero Fahrenheit and colder to stock high camps for his solo summit bid on the eighth-highest mountain in the world.

Nicholas Rice called Watershed News early today via satellite phone from his base camp on Manaslu in the Nepalese Himalaya to say he will begin his summit push before dawn Saturday.

Getting to the top may take five days or more. Even if the weather holds he may not make it.

"The biggest challenge right now is the depth of the snow - and the winds," Rice said. "It's waist-deep at times, making progress difficult. Winds at high camps knocked me down a few times. Some tents have been destroyed."

The summit of Manaslu rises to 8,156 meters - more than 26,750 feet above sea level - where jetstream-force gales have blown other climbers to their deaths, according to Himalayan climbing records.

More than 50 climbers have been killed on Manaslu in the past six decades. Record-keepers estimate Manaslu has a fatality rate of 22 percent - meaning for every five climbers who reach the summit, at least one has been killed during ascent or descent. A pair of Japanese climbers made the first ascent of Manaslu in 1956.

Rice is attempting his climb solo, but he is not alone on the mountain.

As many as 50 other climbers were attempting to climb Manaslu this week, Rice said. He arrived in Nepal a month ago today. The journey from Kathmandu to Manaslu included a nine-day trek through rugged backcountry and remote mountain villages.


Rice with Nepalese children on approach to Manaslu

Experience has taught Rice when to go for it, and when to back off.

Nine months ago, Rice was high on K2 in northeast Pakistan's Karakoram Range when 11 climbers died in one of the deadliest episodes in recent mountaineering history.

Rice opted to retreat on the world's second-highest mountain due to a delayed start on summit day, avalanche dangers, and crowding on the treacherous route to the top. News of the missing climbers, rescue efforts and deaths unfolded over several days and made global headlines.

The Nepalese Himalaya is roughly halfway around the world from Los Angeles and Rice's hometown. When it's sundown here, the sun is rising where he is.

For more on Rice's current expedition, visit his Web site here.

For previous reports on Rice's ordeal on K2, click here.


View from Camp 1 on Manaslu

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pakistan concerns

Fiza Shah, center, in Orange County

By Guy McCarthy

GARDEN GROVE - When Fizah Shah helped found an international program to educate disadvantaged children - especially girls - in her native Pakistan, she knew she was starting into something that could take a lifetime.

But she is deeply troubled by recent news from her homeland, where the Taliban have reportedly gained more influence in the Swat Valley area of northwest Pakistan.

Educators and human rights advocates in Pakistan and Afghanistan have reported for years that the Taliban's hard-core, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam leaves little to no room for the rights of girls and women.

"The political situation in Pakistan is only deteriorating, especially in the north," Shah, 49, said in a recent interview in Orange County. She is concerned, she said, "Particularly because we promote education for girls. God knows what the future is. But it's bleak right now.

"That is why we must continue educating the children," Shah said. "It has to be done with pens and books, not guns."

In Washington today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Pakistan's government has "abdicated" to the Taliban by allowing the group's leaders to impose strict Islamic law in the Swat Valley region.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan on May 6 and 7 in Washington.

In spite of recent reports from her homeland, Shah said she is encouraged by continuing support for her program, Developments in Literacy - in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

Developments in Literacy (DIL) was founded in 1997 by Pakistani ex-patriates here in Southern California and has since helped establish more than 200 schools in rural and urban areas of Pakistan, according to the group's Web site. In the United States, DIL has eleven chapters in cities including Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.

Shah and her peers at Developments in Literacy are looking forward to a visit to the Southland next week by author, mountaineer and philanthropist Greg Mortenson - who climbed K2 in northeast Pakistan's Karakoram Range in 1993, and has since helped start more than 70 schools for girls and boys in rural regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In 2007, Mortenson published a book about his experiences, "Three Cups of Tea." Mortenson is scheduled to appear Friday May 1 at two schools and two bookstores in Malibu. On Saturday May 2 he and his family are hosting a fundraiser at the Hilton Pasadena on South Los Robles Avenue.

Shah said she is encouraged that in spite of heightened security concerns, some climbers and travelers still venture far into remote areas of Pakistan to visit one of the world's most dramatic mountain ranges.

Each year, trekking operators work with government officials to try to ensure air and land tourism continue in the Karakoram when weather permits.

"This is one of the positive things," Shah said. "It is good to know that some people still want to visit."

Click here for more information about Developments in Literacy.

For more information about Mortenson and his schedule next week, click here.

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manaslu

Manaslu
Originally uploaded by e s c h e r

By Guy McCarthy

A 24-year-old climber from Hermosa Beach is in the Nepalese Himalaya right now, attempting a solo ascent of the eighth-highest mountain in the world, according to his family and sponsors.

Nine months ago, Nicholas Rice was high on K2 in northeast Pakistan's Karakoram Range when 11 climbers died in one of the deadliest episodes in recent mountaineering history.

Rice prudently opted to retreat on the world's second-highest mountain due to circumstances that included a delayed start on summit day, avalanche dangers, and crowding on the treacherous route to the top. News of the deaths and dramatic rescue efforts unfolded over several days and made global headlines.



In the latest information available this week, Rice was 30 days into his current expedition and waiting for a suitable weather window to make his summit push on Manaslu, which rises to a wind-raked summit of 8,156 meters -- more than 26,750 feet above sea level.

Manaslu - a Sanskrit name meaning "Mountain of the Spirit" - stands high in the Nepalese Himalaya and northwest of Kathmandu.

For more on Rice's current expedition, visit his Web site here.

For previous reports on Rice's ordeal on K2, click here.

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Image of Nick Rice in Camp 1 on Manaslu courtesy of Rebecca Rice.

September 2005 image of Manaslu courtesy of Richard Shilling.

blasting winds

Between Tramway Road and Racquet Club Road

By Guy McCarthy

PALM SPRINGS - Winds blasting down from alpine high country pushed a heaving, leaping brush fire into desert neighborhoods this afternoon, forcing some residents to flee and others to do what they could with garden hoses.

Gusts approaching 70 mph below the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and Chino Canyon bent firefighters' hose streams at times and hurled embers from block to block, igniting 40-foot palms, awnings, fences and at least one deck behind a home on Milo Drive.

"It was intense in here, all these palm trees burning," Cal Fire-Riverside County Engineer Richard Tovar said, raising his voice above howling winds at sundown. "It was like the whole street was on fire."

Palm Desert Fire Engineer Kevin McNally stood on Racquet Club Road below Vista, near several blackened palms that hung over the roof of a corner home. Darkness was falling, but still the winds roared at times, and firefighters worked from yard to yard with hoses.

"We made some good stops," McNally said. "We did okay."

No serious injuries were reported. Some homes may have been damaged but none burned to the ground, Palm Springs Fire Chief Blake Goetz said later this evening.

"This could have been much worse," Goetz said. "We could have lost a hundred homes."

Winds were clocked at 69 mph in Whitewater and at Palm Springs International Airport, according to the National Weather Service, while gusts of 90 mph were measured near the top of the tramway, said Palm Springs police Chief David Dominguez.

Dominguez said 125 people were temporarily stranded at the top of the tramway when operators shut it down before the fire broke out. Dominguez said he was not sure what time the stranded visitors descended, but once they reached the tram's lower station they were forced to stay there because of the fire danger.

They were finally allowed to drive down Tramway Road in a convoy about 8:30 p.m.

Several hours after sundown, evacuation orders were lifted for neighborhoods near Tramway Road and Racquet Club Road.

The fire was reported contained by 11 p.m. Goetz said he expected fire crews would remain on watch through the night.

An investigation to determine the cause of the fire was underway.

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