NEWS Hi all, 26th Feb First of all I want to apologise for being so lazy and not updating this page on my website.There is no excuse for it at all really. Anyway, having said that I will do my best to update you and what has been happening and what I have planned for the upcoming year. Last year in September i travelled back to Nepal to climb the only 8000m mountian that lays entirely in Tibet.Shishapangma(8013m). My expedition was run by Asian Trekking and I was on a shared permit. What this means is that I share transportation too and from the mountain. And share base camp while I am on the mountain. I was to share my permit with an Armenian/American climber called Ray Yertisian. I wont go into too much detail because I have already sent emails out at the time this happened explaining more in detials the course of events. But in brief Whilst enroute to the mountian Ray suffered a burst artert in the kidney and a as a result passed away. I organise dand transported his body back to Kathmandu where an autopesy was performed and his body was later returned to USA and his family. I continued on alone to Shishapangma (8013m) but unfortunately due to bad weather, strong winds and deep snow, I made the decision to end the expedition and return back to Australia. It was a tough decision which was definitely influenced by other teams also leaving the mountain, this is the first time I have let my decision on whether to stay or go be influenced by other climbers. The little voice inside my head told me that Shishapangma was climbable yet still I left the mountain. Needless to say, one week after I left basecamp, 2 friends of mine climbing with another group reached the summit in moderate conditions and strong winds. They say out of all life's mistakes, there are lessons to be learnt. I hope I learnt my lesson from that expedition and will never let my decisions be influenced by others. Currently, I am back home in Australia enjoying the company of family and loved ones. I am preparing for this year's upcoming climbs. I will be attempting Makalu (8469m) and Broad Peak (8047m) in June/July later in the year. I am busy training, packing and preparing for my departure to Makalu in the end of the first week of April where I will depart Australia and fly to Kathmandu. I then plan to spend 2-3 days here before flying by helicopter to Makalu basecamp (4800m). Hopefully all going to plan, we should be summiting some time between mid to late May and then returning to Kathmandu by helicopter. I then plan to fly back to Australia for 3-4 weeks rest before boarding another plane and flying to the currently hostile Pakistan. At this stage, it would appear that I will not be guiding in Pakistan and will instead be clibming on a shared permit for myself. I am currently talking with close friend and fellow member Mogens Jensen (Denmark) as we are planning on climbing Broad Peak together in a rapid lightweight ascent. Until now, that's all from me. Stay tuned for more updates and emails in the near future. Please keep sending your emails of support, you can contact me at blair@myeverest.com while I am on the mountain. I check these emails every few days. Until later, take care and hope to see you all soon. Bye for now. Blair | 
