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Sightings These are exerpts from e-mails we have received from a number of people who have had some form of contact with Gareth in Nepal.
"Hi ! I will try now to answer your questions : 1. We have seen Gareth reading a book. We have not seen him writing in a journal or something like that ... 2. We have NOT seen his camera. When he left Chhukung, he only had his backpack and nothing else. 3.
Gareth left Chhukung definitely on the 8th March at about
We arrived at the 7th in Chhukung (late afternoon) and Gareth had a single room in the lodge, that he left the next morning". Carsten Kopp & Jana Kunze (from Bielefeld, Germany), 1st June 2004.
"Dear
David, For
the moment i can just answer the last 2 questions. It's possible he
has left Chukung on the 8th because we were discussing where everybody
was going that day after we climbed chukung tse and ri, because it was
already late in the afternoon (between I
think he was writing in a journal, a lot of people do, I'm almost
positive I did but I have to ask Alex again, maybe he remembers. I also
think he had a camera with him but that's hard to remember. I didn't see
him taking any pictures but I do see him with a camera on his chest in
my mind. What
are you going to do now? Are you planning on going to
Annemieke Grossenbagt, Holland, 31st May 2004 "Hi again! We just have tried to remember, what Gareth was wearing and we are sure that he had his down jacket on because it was a very cold morning. He had a big backpack with all his things because he was alone and had no porters or guides. My girlfriend (Jana) said, that he started at about 9am his way downstairs after paying his room and food". Carsten Kopp & Jana Kunze from Bielefeld, Germany, 29th May 2004.
"Hi! We just saw the Missing Person Alert on www.mounteverest.net. We are a trekking group and were in a lodge in Chukhung from 7th - 11th March. When we arrived in the lodge at about 5pm your son was already in the lodge and had his dinner with us. He was alone and was reading in a book in his blue down jacket. We asked him where he spent the day, and he said, that he had justt visited Island Peak Base Camp. He had no special plans for the next days, but he said, that he would descent after spending the night in this lodge in Chukhung. We don't exactly know, where he went, but we think he said "Dingboche". In the morning of 8th March we had our breakfast together with him and saw him descent in the direction of Dingboche." Carsten Kopp & Jana Kunze (from Bielefeld, Germany), 29th May 2004.
"I
have checked our journal of Gareth
arrived in Chukung on the 6th, we also arrived there that same day but a
few hours before Gareth. Gareth was coming down from Gorak
Shep and we were on our way up. Gareth walked from Gorak shep to Chukung
in 1 day, that means you are in a very good condition. Chukung is a side
trip where you can spend the night and climb 2 peaks and you can
visit the base camp from When you do the Everest Base Camp trek you walk the same way up to Gorak Shep as you walk down to either Lukla airport or to Jiri (going to Jiri, you've walked the entire trip, if you fly out of Lukla it saves you a couple of walking days. That's what most people do) During the trek you can do a few sidetrips like Chukung or Gokyo. Gorak Shep is the last place where you can spend the night. From there you can do the Base Camp and Kala Patar (the viewpoint of Everest), in one day is possible but hard or you can do it in two days. When I opened the website with his picture on it, it was exactly Gareth, in my memories he was clean shaven and looked very fit. He was wearing a purple down jacket but it could easily be a body warmer. I want to send you the picture by e-mail but I have to make it small because of the pixels but on the other hand you can't zoom in that well anymore. I'm going to figure out how to send you the picture because I'm not that experienced with computers". Annemieke Grossenbagt, Holland, 26th May 2004
"Hello
David and Adam, I
am Annemieke and i'm from He was not last seen in Gorak Shep but in Chukung, we have seen him there. I was trekking with my boyfriend Alex. We stayed in the same lodge and climbed Chukung Tse and Ri the same time he did. He made it back and we had lunch at the same time. After that we went up to Gorak Shep and I believe he went down, back to Namche. That was his plan. He was really fit and healthy.To be really sure I have to make a phonecall. I hope this will help a little bit. I'll be in touch for the exact details of that day" Annemieke Grossenbagt, Holland, 25th May 2004
"Dear Mr Chick & Mr Koch, I have just heard from one of my trekking companions, Paul and he was able to find the names and an email address for the Swiss couple traveling with Gareth Koch. The Swiss couples names are Gina and Beat Nand. If you have problems with this email address you may wish to approach the Kathmandu Guest House because they may have the couples details as they stayed there for a short while apparently. Mr
Koch regarding your question about Mr Napier/Ian, Paul was able to
confirm via his journal that the last time we saw Ian was
I hope this information is helpful. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact me". David Knight, 25th April 2004
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