The Team Sherpa Blog

I was “Sherpa blog quiet” for quite some weeks, mostly trying to combine my work and training for summer Nanga Parbat expedition. Being the leader of the team I have already important tasks now in order to get everything ready in Pakistan before we arrive.
But this is the nice part of the everyday and it keeps me motivated. My “scientific” life at the moment is chopped to various projects and the PhD thesis and I admit it all became very dense so I desperately needed a break that finally arrived at the end of April.

The story goes a bit back – or let me say quite some centuries back! I live in a town that, according to the legend, was destroyed by huge rock fall in the early days but there are no exact data about the event. I was researching the area of the rock fall that is clearly visible in the Kosuta Mountain for my masters but since I was mostly focused on the past glaciation of the area I only described the rock fall as an “event in the past” that has no connection to the glaciers. OK, I ended there hoping that in the future I can get sources and people that would be interested in further research in the area. Sure enough it happened! The group of German and French scientists from Cerege institute (Aix-en-Provence) was testing a new datation method and was looking for historic rock falls and here my Kosuta Mountain becomes finally interesting! Together we took rock samples already last spring and then they made datation that gave interesting results but they should be supported by more work which means more samples. So here I go again – two weeks ago I spend a long day taking rock samples in the area, describing their location etc., packing them like souvenirs and then on Monday the 28^th of April we (me and my climbing partner Mojca) were on the road to Provence with about 30 kg of rocks and the rest of the car filled with camping, hiking and climbing gear. I was determined – I need few days off and that was my moment. At the Institute Cerege we discussed “science” for few days and then we explored Provence for few more days. Our “base camp” was in the camping site under Mount Saint Victoire, the mountain that became famous through the works of painter Paul Cezanne. The very popular spot is known for its nice hiking, climbing, parachuting… but although it can get really crowded it somehow manages to keep its attractiveness. We were hiking and climbing for few hours every day and the rest of the day exploring the cute Provencal landscape which is simply charming anytime of the year but maybe spring is the best time to go…

Now I am back in the “reality” under the rock fall mountain waiting for the results and getting ready for the “big thing” in summer.