Solo Expedition by Mountaineer: Everest climber David Lim Update Summitted Volcan del Viento, 6120m

Jan 17 (Singapore), 2005: Summitted Volcan del Viento, 6120m, yesterday. Started the climb in the dark of the night. The weather was great. Blue skies that you can almost touch. I took loads of snaps, almost like a regular tourist! Got back to basecamp, drank liters of water, ate some mush and promptly overslept this morning by an hour. (slept like a baby!!) Am packing right now. I will move off from this site and setup tent at basecamp Ojos. Hope to climb Ojos on 19 Jan. For now, a breakfast of oatmeal awaits and if I imagine hard enough it might actually be Singapore's carrot cake... (fried with lots of oil and black with soya sauce). :) dave

Jan 15 (Singapore), 2005: Basecamp is nice, did my chores... put up tent, boiled water, cooked food, eat, drink and now I am preparing to climb up Volcan del Viento on Sunday (local time). This gives me some time to rest and acclimatise at 5500m. Healthwise, am holding up and feeling good. The Sure Step Ankle-Foot Orthotics is a great help. Keeps me walking tall! Have been drinking loads of water to rehydrate. The weather right now is good. Blue skies and not much wind. At 6120m, Volcan del Viento offers a gradual but very long climb up to it's peak. This climb will give me an additional acclimatisation exercise that I hope will prepare my body for Ojos. :) Dave

22:30 Jan 14 (Singapore), 2005: ... in the desert, you can't remember your name... after two days in the desert sun, my skin begins to turn red... hrrumph. I'm alive, barely. The last two days has been a bit slow. Spent a day waiting... it was cold and I felt like a frozen chicken (minus feathers). The desert is dry but not warm. At this altitude, it is actually very cold, especially when a person is not moving about. Had some miscommunication with the mule driver and he turned up a day late. I sat under a rock and waited and waited, with 2 liters of water for the last 2 days, no tent or sleeping bag or warm clothing or food (except for a handful of peanuts). It was a miserable time. I stuffed what little emergency clothes I had in my day pack under my clothes to keep warm thru the long freezing night under the rock. Right now, I am about to move on to basecamp at 5,500m, El Arenal. It's early afternoon right now. A couple more hours of walking and climbing over some rough terrain will get me to basecamp. Then it is setting up a more permanent camp before I begin preparing for the climb up the big hill. About 16 Argentina climbers have went ahead to basecamp. It will not be quiet there....... :) Dave

Previous Dispatches

In January 2005, veteran mountaineer, Everest expedition leader, and corporate motivator David Lim will make a solo expedition to climb the remote peak of Ojos Del Salado in Argentina.

At 6882m, " Ojos" is the world's highest volcano, and the 2nd highest peak in the Americas. Ojos is located in the driest desert on this planet, the Atacama Desert, and lies on the Chilean-Argentinian border. The expedition will be from Jan 4 - 28

The expedition¹s aims include demonstrating that being disabled does not necessarily mean unable.  And if successful, this will be the  first time this peak is soloed by any Asian mountaineer.

David has been partially disabled since 1998 from Guillain-Barre Syndrome and has paralysis below the right knee and left leg.

No climber from Singapore has ever attempted a solo expedition of a major mountaineering objective. In an age where the challenge of adventure has been lessened by all kinds of expedition aids such as support vessels, aircraft, air-drops of supplies, porters, professional guides, the Ojos Del Salado 2005 climb will be a move back to  the essence of climbing: self-sufficiency, uncertainty of outcomes, and calculated risk-taking

Dave Lim, Everest Climber, author and motivational speaker. To book David e-mail

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