If you follow our Facebook page, you know that we've added the 5th and 6th members to the group who will be in the Djangart in July. Jamie Maddison, a freelance journalist and reporter for Climber magazine will be joining us to document our trials. We have also gotten confirmation that Abdybek, an Alpine Fund Intern, will be coming along to assist us in translating, hauling loads, cooking, and guarding our camp. We are extremely grateful to have both of them along.
The logisitics are coming together nicely thanks in no small part to Asel at ITMC Tien-Shan travel in Bishkek. We have been sorting through border permits, visas, transportation, equipment, flights, rescue insurance and more. Chris and I booked our flights last week, so we have our itinerary fixed. We'll depart on June 29 and return on August 5. I'm hoping that our visas are worked out without a hitch; after speaking to the Kyrgyz embassy over the phone, I'm not exactly reassured.
In more sponsorship news, I was awarded a Mountain Fellowship Award from the American Alpine Club and the REI Challenge Fund. Thank you for your support!
Possibly the biggest news of the month was getting in touch with Vadim Kodysh. Vadim was the leader of the 2008 Russian expedition that was the first to seriously explore the region. He has been exceptionally helpful in answering some of our questions, and has also supplied us with over 200 photos of the area. Looking through the photos was absolutely stunning and we are more excited than ever to get the trip under way. Dozens of beautiful 5,000 m unclimbed peaks are beckoning. More importantly, the photos are helping us to plan our trip in greater detail as we are working to refine objectives. As it turns out, Google Earth is horribly misleading. Whole peaks are just flattened and steep walls show up as gentle slopes. Thanks to the photos, we will be better prepared for our undertaking. A small photo teaser is included at the end of this post, but if you'd like to see more, check out the link in the Media section of our webpage. Again, we can't thank Vadim enough for the help.
Finally, I'd like to direct everyone to the open letter I am circulating seeking support for the Alpine Fund. The details are in the letter, but in short we are running a weekend climbing clinic for the kids the Alpine Fund serves. We have come to discover that they have no sleeping pads and a total of three quickdraws. So, we are working to fundraise so we can supply these basic items as well as cover the cost of the climbing clinic. Please, PLEASE, help us out and donate a few dollars (or maybe a pad or some draws). No amount is too small.
Less than one month to go...
Mike
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