Getting ready for Mt Everest, week 2: Dubai resident’s ‘live’ video blog

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks hunting down missing pieces of gear for my expedition to Mount Everest, which is now only a week away.

I’ve picked up a bunch of new gear, including a new down suit, and now only a few minor things are missing.

However, gear is something mountaineers like to tweak all the time, as we seek the eluding optimum, so I’m sure I’ll be still picking things out or adding things in, all the way until the night before I fly out to Nepal.

My communications gear also arrived from the US a few days ago. I’ll be carrying a satellite phone, a small notebook configured for high altitude use as well as solar panels for charging both to ensure I can keep filing reports from the mountain.

This may sound fancy, but wandering on a mountain side looking for a good satellite signal to send a photo is all but easy – especially when it’s cold outside!

In addition to the 6.1kg of communications gear, I have another 6.5kg of camera equipment to try to capture some of the breath-taking views on the mountain. I look forward to sharing some of the shots and videos with you in my future columns.

This last week before leaving will involve testing of items I’ve not used before such as some new camera equipment, electric foot warmers as well as going through the communications gear.

I also need to finalise my personal medical kit – the combination of challenging weather and hygiene conditions with tired bodies makes it very easy to catch infections and viruses, so we need to be efficient in getting rid of those right away - otherwise they can easily ruin the entire expedition.

After months of planning, training and pulling gear together, I’m excited to finally get going....just a few more days to wait now. The countdown has begun!

My next column will come from Nepal, but if you want to find out  what’s happening before that, visit www.sevensummits.ae or check me out on www.facebook.com/AtteSevenSummits or www.twitter.com/AtteMiettinen.

 

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