More intensive training for challenge8000 team

The challenge8000 team’s training schedule is getting progressively more intense as the team’s first major expedition, an attempt on Mount Cho Oyu which will last over eight weeks, is now only a month away.

Two ambitious mountaineering expeditions are being undertaken by Marco Cremona, Greg Attard and Robert Gatt. challenge8000 represents the first ever attempt by a Maltese team to climb Mt Everest and Mt Cho Oyu.

The challenge8000 is promoting awareness about asthma and better air quality in Malta through its association with the Society of Maltese Asthmatics and the Stop the Dust! campaign.

The team travelled to Chamonix in the French Alps for an intensive training camp with Victor Saunders, the guide who will be leading the expeditions on Cho Oyu and Everest.

During the training week, the weather was unusually warm for the time of the year, with snow conditions deteriorating fast during late morning and afternoon, making the snow and ice routes harder and trickier. The main aim of this trip was learning snowcraft, confidence building and climbing as a team roped.

The training programme included rock climbing in a crag at Les Gaillands which offers varied climbing slabs, cracks and overhangs. There the team climbed several multi-pitch routes and practised multi-pitch abseiling, lowering and belaying techniques.

It also had the opportunity to practice some glacier ropework, snow travel, ice and snow belays and crevasse rescue in the area of the Le Tour glacier and the Geant glacier on Mt Blanc. On most days, the team would wake up at 5 a.m. and have a full day of climbing, trekking and abseiling on varying terrains.

The training week in Chamonix was a crucial part of the challenge8000 team’s preparations for their Cho Oyu and Everest expeditions planned for September 2009 and May 2010 respectively. According to the team members, this experience has given them a new boost of confidence and served to consolidate team spirit and skills.

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