The People You Meet: The Lhotse 2013 Climbing Team..!

What I love about expeditions is the experience of meeting new people, with an often similar sense of adventure and enjoyment of a 'challenge', and the evolution of the team. When signing up for an expedition I generally look at the reputation and quality of the guide and the company itself and the pricing of the overall package then becomes a secondary consideration - the rule of thumb, 'you get what you pay for' generally rings true! The composition of the team - your 'family' for the coming 2 months - is reliant on the 'vetting' procedures of the company and is, hence, tremendously important especially when climbing 8000m peaks when previous climbing and altitude experience is very relevant. I've always been exceptionally careful in this respect and, as a result, have had excellent experiences and have made 'friends for life' on my expeditions and learned a tremendous amount about leadership and teamwork in the process. I sense that this season will be no exception..!

This season I'm climbing with Adventure Consultants. Adventure Consultants is a world-renowned mountain guiding company with a legacy of climbing expeditions to the world's highest peaks, and wilderness treks to the more remote corners of the globe. Its philosophy of only operating with small guided groups provides a more personalised service. This minimises environmental impact and continues to have a proven advantage in its success rates.

Adventure Consultants offers expeditions, treks and wilderness journeys to the Himalaya, Antarctica, Arctic, South America, Greenland, and Alaska in addition to a world class mountaineering guiding service and climbing school in New Zealand and Europe with our IFMGA / NZMGA mountain guides.

The Adventure Consultants Lhotse Expedition 2013 guides, team members, Sherpa and staff are:

Expedition Leader - Guy Cotter - Our guide for Lhotse is none other than Guy Cotter, the Director of Adventure Consultants. Well known Everest chronicler Alan Arnette recently did a fantastic interview with Guy as part of an ongoing series he does each season with Everest climbers and I encourage you to read it and check out Alan's fantastic blog in the process (http://www.alanarnette.com). A short excerpt of Alan's interview with Guy can be found below...

"Guy Cotter has been running the company since 1996 with a strong philosophy of keeping it small, and safe. But he is not a behind the scenes boss, but rather climbing with the best of them, including Peter Hillary recently...."

"Guy, a native Kiwi, lives on the South Island of New Zealand in the amazing town of Wanaka on the shores of Lake Wanaka. He takes total advantage of everything his country offers from climbing to skiing to mountain biking. As the owner of Adventure Consultants, his company supports the best of New Zealand by being part of world-class movies, and running guided trips to their pristine mountains and ski slopes...."


Team members:
Suze Kelly, New Zealand
Anthony Baldry, Australia
Heather Geluk, Canada 

Expedition Doctor: Dr Anne Hutchison, New Zealand / Scotland
Base Camp Manager: Anna Simmonds, New Zealand
Base Camp Setup: Caroline Blaikie, New Zealand / Scotland
Expedition Sirdar: Ang Tshering Sherpa, Khumjung, Nepal
Climbing Sirdar: Ang Phurba, Makalu, Nepal
Climbing Sherpas: Dawa Temba, Tshering Dorje, Pemba Ongde Sherpa

BC Members Cook: Chhongba Sherpa
BC Members Cook boys: Dendi Sherpa and Zangbu Sherpa
BC Sherpa Cook: Dawa Thundu Sherpa
BC Sherpa Cook boy: Maila Rai 
Camp 2 Cooks: Pasang Lama and Karma Sherpa
Camp 2 Cook boys: Karma, Nima and Lhakpa Tenzin Sherpa
Water carriers: Karma, Kusang, Dawa Sherpa and Sukuman Rai

For more details about our Lhotse expedition go to
www.adventureconsultants.com/adventure/lhotse 

Team photo at our amazing hotel in Monjo..! Silver service in the mountains!