We’re back in Joburg. Pierre and I were going to stay on and climb some of the other mountains, but due to some fighting on the Georgian border, we couldn’t get permits. Pierre is also still recovering from his chest infection.
I slept very well in my own bed last night after a very long flight. After a good cup of coffee it already feels like it was much longer ago that we were slogging up that mountain. That’s how these trips go – it’s only real when you’re there. In between we have to work very hard to get the next trip going. And that’s what we’ll be doing from today on. Hopefully, if all goes well, we’ll be in Argentina in December and if it goes really well, we’ll also do Vincon in Antarctica in the same season.
If you enjoy our work and following our progress, please help our cause by donating to The Trust – just click on “make a donation” button on our website that will take you through the process. Thanks for all the support so far!!!
Marianne
We got up this morning and packed quickly before the weather pulled in. However, we were sopping wet by the time we got down. Nothing like a hot shower and dry clothes. We immediately went for some pizza and beers and then fell asleep for a few hours. No doubt that tonight will be a big party in the only pub in town….
It’s all starting to settle down. I can think back on the last week and particularly yesterday. I must say, I felt slightly removed from myself. But in a good way. Although the summit was full of people, they were all generally friendly. A couple of them knew about us. Seems that news travel fast in the mountain world. Some guys had read about us in the London Times and other had seen us on CNN. So looks like the word is getting out there.
From Pierre:
“Was fantastic. We got down the mountain. The hardest tandem take off I ever had to do. Congrats to everyone in the team. I’m sick at the moment but am elated. One down six to go.”
From Peter:
“I’ve never seen Pierre and Marianne ever out of breath and they were exhausted – I didn’t think it was possible. Words cant explain how extatic I feel for them.”
From Kyle:
“It was much much harder than I thought. Especially shooting at that altitude was quite tough. I was very relieved to see Pierre and Marianne disappear into the distance. All and all a very good experience.”
From Guy:
“It was tough. But shooting it was amazing – it was scenically incredibly beautifull. We were really lucky with the weather except for the lack of wind. So we had to wait for three hours.”
From Marianne
“I feel very relieved that we’ve done our first mountain. Wish I could do the flight again just to try and take it all in. It all happened very fast. But what an experience – so wild!!!”
We left camp at 4am. It was a long and hard slog to the summit. Much harder than any of us thought. I had a pounding headache most of the way up. The going was very slow. Pierre has a bad chest infection and took strain. The film crew are amazing! They’re so strong and always running up and down to get the shot. Peter stayed at camp.
We reached the summit around 11am. Although it was a perfect summit day, it certainly wasn’t a day for flying. There was no wind and with the small summit and our tandem, it wasn’t ideal. We tried to run fast down the summit to pick up enough speed to start flying, but running fast at altitude isn’t really possible. Twice we crashed in soft snow and had to walk back up again. The 3rd time there was a hint of a breeze and we gunned it. Everything happened so fast but eventually we were airborne! It was wild! Pierre says it was by far the scariest takeoff he’d ever done (both single or tandem). We landed safely. It took me quite a while to find myself again. Now after a cup of tea I can recall some feelings and I can only say that, apart from many crazy experiences, this totally blew my mind. Pierre was absolutely in control and I have no doubt that he’ll accomplish his dream. Kyle and Guy unfortunately have to walk down… We’ll have tea ready for them.
Marianne
Today we walked our gear up to the high camp. We gained about 800m in altitude and the going was slow. Pierre and Peter flew back down to base camp (Kyle flew tandem with Pierre). Guy and Marianne had to walk down. Tomorrow we walk back up to high camp and wait there for a good summit day.
From Pierre:
“Everyone seems good – had a good flights. It was a good omen. I’m not a man of many words.”
From Peter:
“Life changing! Flying off this mountain is the first time I’ve flown off a mountain outside South Africa. First time I’ve flown from this altitude. There are no words to explain my personal achievement”.
From Kyle:
“Pierre said I needed to run fast so when we were waiting for the wind, I was like a coiled spring while waiting for the wind. When Pierre said “go” I probably dragged him along a bit, especially with the added tension with a huge cloud hanging across the valley. But not a bad place for a first flight.”
From Guy:
“Long slog today up to the next camp, but incredible views. Got some nice shots of the flights too.”
From Marianne:
“I can feel my face got badly burned today – feel a bit like a prune. Tried to bum slide my way back down to base camp and in the process got totally wet. Now back in base camp I feel very cozy in my down kit.”
We started on Elbrus today. Well, that’s if taking the ski lift is considered a start. We’ve managed with a bit of difficulty to get our 200kg bags up to the first base camp where the barrels are (barrels being round tin containers that you can sleep in for a price).
We walked our gear another 300m further up to get away from the circus.That was quite hard work, cause on the ski lift we gained 2000m in altitude so walking another 300m certainly wasn’t easy. Pierre’s resting heart rate was 92 instead of his usual 53 back in Joburg. We pitched some tents and had lunch in horrible weather – wet snow (sleet) and what’s worse is that it seems to be the forecast for the next week. So we’re in for a wet and cold time. Certainly an unpredictable flight too.
We then walked 2000m back to our hotel, completely wet. Tomorrow is our first real hard walk day. We’ll walk the 2000m back up to our camp to spend our first night on the mountain. We’ll have lite bags but a hellava lot of climbing to do.Then, if all goes well, we’ll move our camp higher the next day, and go back to base camp to spend the night.
The following night we’ll spend the night at high camp. And if we’re lucky we can go for the summit the day after. Earliest we’ll summit and fly is on Monday. But like I say, we don’t have great weather so may have to wait it out a bit.
We’ll keep u updated. Check out our latest pix and video gallery!
Marianne
It’s Sunday morning. We leave tonight. I’m not sure how, but somehow we still have to pack, put sponsor stickers on gliders, test satellite modem, go shopping, attach remote cameras to glider and test them, update my ipod, find my missing walking stick… I’m sure I’ve left out a few. Instead of letting stress get to me I thought updating our blog will distract me a bit. It’s sort of helping.
Anyway, I figure, if I keep a list and tick things off as I do them, we should be fine. Problem is, the list keeps growing. It’s not like we left everything for the last day – every minute of the last month has been packed with getting stuff sorted. On top of that my general workload felt like it’s doubled during the world cup so I couldn’t run around during work hours to sort expeditions stuff like I normally would.
We have a long flight to Amsterdam where we connect to Moscow, so between now and then, I’ll remember what I’ve left behind and send an update.
Marianne
It’s now official – the 7summit7flight project is in action! Press launch went smoothly. Now we focus on the next step – to pack for Sunday and not forget anything vital!
We will start to update our site regularly from now on……
It’s our press launch tomorrow at 12pm. It’s taken a lot of work, patience, nerves, headaches to get this far but I think the ball is finally rolling. We have a couple of Radio and TV interviews this week (another new experience for me), but so far it’s going well.
After the press launch, the packing begins. I’m sure that will get me into another level of panic…
Marianne
Currently our passports are at the Russian consulate awaiting visas. We should have that by the end of the week. Then we’ll really start getting exited! This coming weekend we’re off to Lesotho to fly in some cold snowy conditions and do final preparations. We’ll have an official press launch on the 8th of July – will post details of venue and time early next week.
Marianne
Our first mountain has change to Elbrus in Russia due to some last minute unforeseen red tape from the Americans. Little hurdle but we’ve moved on. We leave on 11 July, after the Finals!
Turns out that after the Denali park issued our permit with the knowledge that we were going to fly off the summit, they decided a week before our departure date that they didn’t want this and canceled our permit, regardless of the fact that it also isn’t in their Park Rules. We will continue to negotiate with them for permission. So McKinley will be moved to a later stage and we’ll continue with the rest. Elbrus in Russia is just about in season so it makes sense to go their instead. We’ve been a bit down the last week because of our setback but we’re back with vengeance to start this project!!
