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October
24, 1999
Hello this
is Earle Lowe with the Around the World 1999 team with the journal entry
report for October 24, 1999. This report deals with the first half of the
trip from Golmud to Lhasa. Originally scheduled as a 3-day trip, we
decided to drive the entire distance in 2 days from Golmud to Lhasa to
pick up some extra time that we spent in Golmud. We left Golmud very
early in the morning, preparing for our big drive over both of the very large
passes. First is the Kunlun pass, which is at around 15,600 ft. The
second is the Tanggula Pass, which is at around 17,000 ft. So we were
going through some very high altitudes on this day.
The drive
started out quite well on decent road with very little traffic on the way
to the Kunlun Pass. After the pass, we reached the pass, the drivers and
the rest of the team were doing quite well, and the cars were also
performing very well over the Kunlun Pass. Once we reached the Pass, the
rest of the next several days would be at over 15,000 ft, right up until
the decent into Lhasa.
The plateau
that we were driving on is obviously very high and is flanked on all
sides by impressive snow capped mountains. We started seeing some nomadic
Tibetan people herding sheep and goats and yaks. All the team commented
that we had never seen so many yaks and sheep and goats in our lives,
except maybe for those of us who have been to Africa.
We arrived
at Kotohur around suppertime. This was originally the place we were going
to spend the night. However, we decided to press on. We wanted to cross
over the Tanggula pass into some lower elevations to spend the night
because we were worried about problems with our health dealing with the
altitude. By this time everyone was definitely feeling the effects of the
altitude, mostly with headaches and several people with nausea. Everyone
on the team was taking Dimox, which is an altitude sickness prevention
pill. One of the interesting side effects of this pill is that you will
feel a tingling sensation in your extremities and we were all
experiencing this interesting phenomenon and commenting on it.
It turns
out that our decision to continue would be a bad one. As we arrived at
the start of the pass at night and hit one of the largest traffic jams
you will ever see. Miles and miles of trucks stopped on both sides of the
narrow snow filled road. The temperature was rapidly dropping and the
altitude at this time at over 16,000 ft was really starting to affect
everyone. The traffic jam was mostly caused by the diesel in the trucks
becoming too cold to flow correctly. When this happens, the truck driver
would stop wherever their rig was on either side of the road, and
literally light a fire underneath the gas tank in an attempt to heat up
the diesel fuel. We saw this on several occasions with fires burning
freely underneath trucks and in cabs. It was the most amazing thing we
had ever seen. We do not recommend that anyone try this at home.
Our guides
who were with us, whom we met at Golmud, showed remarkable ingenuity in
getting trucks to move so that we could pass by. However, at one point
their efforts failed and we were completely stuck. We were now quite
tired and cold and little bit scared about spending the night on the road
at 16,000 ft. There was a solution to our problem, though, and that was
to go off-road, down the ditch, onto the snowfield. And so we progressed
in this manner. Getting down onto the side of the road was not a problem.
However, getting back onto the road turned out to be a rather large
problem. Our guides who were in an old Toyota Land Cruiser, got stuck in
the snow, and this caused quite a problem. However, Nick Baggarly,
managed to get the Alaska Land Rover, with the help of a rear locker, back
onto the road. Once he was on the road, he managed to pull both our
guide's truck out, and well as the other Land Rover, Hercules.
By the time
we got the trucks back on the road it was now 10pm and we hadn't even
reached the top of the pass. Several members of the team were feeling
quite ill and we were all very worried. The Tanggula pass stretched out
for what seemed hundreds of miles, although it is nowhere near that long.
We managed to cross over the pass and on to some lower territory, but we
were still above 17,000 ft. We were all very exhausted and stopped at a
town called Pagnag. We all just crowed into the Dormobiles, which was the
first time we slept in the trucks, at around 2am.
We spent a
very cold night there at 15,600 ft. Doug had a very interesting
experience when we arrived at Pagnag. All our gear was stuck into the
guide's truck, but they had left in search of food late at night. So Doug
went to find them. He found them in a restaurant, bar sort of deal, in a
large room with 20-30 Tibetans seated at a large table with our guides
near the stove. All conversation stopped until Doug said 'hello' at which
point laughter broke out among the group. Several of the Tibetan truck
drivers had been stuck in the traffic jam for four days. So although we
were very tired, we were glad to be past our ordeal.
Nick
Baggarly, our off road expert, would like to add some details of our
off-roading experience during this section of the journey.
Hello
campers. This is Nick Baggarly. I'll start off with a question that
someone asked. 12-year-old Caliph Page of San Gabriel, CA asks,
"What did you do to prepare the people and the Land Rovers to travel
over the Tibetan plateau?" Well, Caliph, that's a very good
question. We read the journals from the 1997 rally and we spoke with
people who have done this before. We also watched the video from the 1997
rally again. Specifically to see how the teams were outfitted and
equipped.
Before we
arrived in Beijing we stocked up on cold weather gear such as expedition
weight polyester long johns, socks, down jackets, fleece sweaters, and
that sort of thing. To prepare the vehicles, we had that extra rest day
in Golmud. Since the road to Lhasa is mostly paved, we made the call to
install a couple of Canan air filters to increase air flow to the
carburetors. And yes, we did oil them. We also re-jetted the carburetors
with .042 inch jets. That allows you to match the thin air with less fuel
for a proper air-fuel mixture.
I'm not
sure if Kalif is interested in vehicles. But, I'll give him the whole
rundown of what we did. Also, if you're familiar with old Volkswagen
buses you might know about Everspotcher heaters. This is a company that
is still around under the name of Espar in North America. They have a
line of vehicle heaters that run on gas, kerosene, and diesel fuel. We
installed a couple of their 12,000 BTU petrol models before we left
California. Doug and Todd's do-it-yourself skills came in real handy to
pull off the installation, which was more technical than we imagined. We
put Earle's electrical skills to the test wiring up the power and
thermostat lead. He did a great job.
We told
Espar, Canada that we were taking two of their heaters over the Tibetan
plateau and they were skeptical that the heaters would work up here. Nevertheless
they took our application very seriously, and we thank them for that, and
they built two custom fuel pumps especially for this expedition. Espar
Products is a Canadian company and we were glad to use a Canadian product
on this trip because Earle is Canadian. We're happy to report that they
work above 12,000 ft and they've worked up to 14,500 ft.
Now -
South, southwest of Golmud, we crossed two major mountain passes that
Earle mentioned, the Kunlun and the Tanggula passes, the highest of which
was 17,000 ft. The highest pass at Nielum is yet to come. Three or four
days ago this pass was closed due to snow and a landslide. But, we're
several days off and our guide thinks it will be open by the time we
arrive.
At the top
of each pass, there is always a Tibetan prayer flag monument. Some of the
passes resemble the aftermath of a ticker-tape parade. They are littered
with millions of colorful swatches of paper containing Tibetan prayers.
Although littered is a poor choice of words because it looks real cool.
As Earle mentioned, we did something we're not supposed to do, we drove
from 10,000 ft in Golmud, quickly to 13,000 ft and we ended up at the
foothills of the Tibetan plateau. Our GPS read 14,000 ft for a while.
Finally, we settled out at 15,500 ft where we stayed for most of the day,
except for the times we went over those crazy mountain passes.
As Earle
mentioned, the 1962 Rover is equipped with an ARV locker. Thanks go to my
friend Matt Jackson for helping me install it. Hey Matt, we really used
it. The Rovers did well, but I'm beginning to think there is something
wrong with the carburetor on the Alaska Rover. It made it though both
passes without using low range, though we had to use low range a couple
of times to start from a stop when it wasn't safe to pass a stopped
truck. Before we left Pagnag our vehicle preparation genius helped me
with some vehicle performance calculations. According to his
calculations, when the carburetor is at an elevation of 6,000 ft the
vehicle would experience a 20% reduction in horsepower, at 12,000 ft a
40% reduction, and a 58% reduction at 17,000 ft.
This had me
real worried in Golmud. I didn't know if the Land Rovers would make it
over the pass. They are under powered to begin with. They only have 80
horsepower and a 4-cylinder engine to carry an estimated 5,900 lbs.
That's what we weigh when we're completely full of fuel, people and gear.
Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as I thought. The Canan air filters were a
good choice. Although the horsepower is less than half, we simply select
a lower gear and keep the revs high, around 3,000 RPMs. That would get us
over. One of the gentlemen from the 1997 rally, Andy Mann, gave us some
great advice about jet size and timing adjustments as well. Thanks go to
Andy for giving us all that advice.
Along the
way, as Earle said, we saw lots of trucks preparing to drive over the big
pass with fires lit directly underneath their fuel tanks. One man had set
fire to a blown out tire because tires stay on fire, as we know from the
Modesto tire fire. He moved it underneath one of his tanks to warm the
fuel for the Tanggula pass. Diesel fuel has a tendency to gel in cold
climates. I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but back home, most
diesel stations provide diesel #1, which has anti-gel additives. But here
they make do with what they have and you have to admire that. What's
funny is that we had to come all the way to China to find vehicles that
we could go faster than. The Land Rovers aren't the fastest thing on the
road, but here in China we're kind of peppy. We spend the day carefully
passing other vehicles.
What else
did I want to talk about... We did all that off-roading before the
Tanggula pass. That was very exciting. We should have some pictures and
video to share when we get home. Hopefully we can share some stuff on the
web site. I also want to mention that the Tibetan people are just the
friendliest people you've ever met, although Jeff and Doug often talk
sarcastically about how mean they are.
This is
Nick Baggarly, Around The World 1999, signing off. Thanks for tuning in.
Bye bye!
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