Mountain diary

30th August (1997)
     Travel by bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara.

31st August
     The approach is underway. They sleep in Birethanti (1100m)

1st September
     Way up to Ghorapani (2874m). Overcast conditions don't let them enjoy the views of the Annapurna and Dhaulaguiri.

2nd September
     They trek down to Tatopani ("warm waters" in Nepalese language) (1300m). Beside the river Kali Gandaki, they enjoy thermal waters.

3rd September
     They follow the river Kali Gandaki bank to Kalopani (2300m). About 6000m above us, arises the Mt Annapurna -on the right- and the Mt Dhaulagiri, on the left.

4th September
     They reach Marpha (2600m), last village on the approach to Mt Dhaulagiri.

5th September
     They start the acclimatization. They sleep in a yak shepherds' hut in Yakharka (4200 m), on the approach to the Dhaulagiri.

6th September
     They reach Kalopani (4900m) in a very foggy day, that caused them to get lost for long time. They spend the night here.

7th September
     Accompanied by clouds -as the day before-, they reach the Dhampus Pass (5200m), and later, they pitch the tents on the Mt Dhampus or Thapa (6012m)

8th September
     They go down to Marpha, in Yakharka. They meet the cook, the liaison officer and the porters, who are in their way up to basecamp.

9th September
     Rest day in Marpha.

10th September
     Quino returns to Kathmandu. Álex as cameraman, Julián -guest mountaineer to Dhaula-, Toni and Jesús go on. They sleep nearby to the French Pass (5300m).

11th September
     They arrive at basecamp (4800m), which is not pitched down yet. The cook, the porters and the liaison officer had arrived the day before.

12th September
     Julián, Jesús and Toni start the climb up to Mount Dhaulagiri. It begins to snow and they must stop at 5700m, close to the usual place for Camp I.

13th September
     As bad weather persists, they head back to basecamp.

14th September
     Rest day at basecamp.

15th September
     Julián and Jesús climb up to Camp I (5900m). Toni looks for a donkey, which he had seen days before lost in the glacier, with the intention of feeding it, but he cannot find it.

16th September
     Álex and Toni move up to Camp I. Julián and Jesús climb up to Camp II (6200m) .

17th September
     Toni moves up to Camp II at night, where he meets Julián and Jesús. They follow a route up to 6800m, where they spend the night. Álex remains at Camp I for filming.

18th September
     Julián, Jesús and Toni leave intending to climb up to the summit, but at 7500m they realize that they move too slowly to climb safely. So they return to the tent, which is at 6800m.

19th September
     They return to the pass where is Álex and they all move down to basecamp.

20th-21st September
     Resting up at basecamp.

22nd September
     They climb up to Camp I (5900m)

23rd September
     Julián, Jesús and Toni move up to Camp IV (7500m). Álex waits at basecamp.

24th September
     At 15.00pm they reach the Dhaulaguiri summit. They return to the tent at Camp IV (7500m) almost in the dark.

25th September
     They climb down directly to basecamp with all the equipment.

26th September
     They remove the basecamp.