Outside Online's Mount Everest correspondent, Jane Bromet, spoke with Frederic Bloomquist in Nepal. Bloomquist is a Swedish filmmaker who is documenting Goran Kropp's incredible trip by bicycle from Stockholm to Nepal. In late April he began his completely unaided climb of Mount Everest--no Sherpas, no fixed ropes, just Goran and his gear. Here's an update of the trip from Frederic Bloomquist:

Goran is going alone from Sweden to Mount Everest. He's 29. He's going to bring all his equipment alone. But not his food--he's buying it from shops along the way.

On October 16 he left from Stockholm and went through Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, and finally Nepal.

In Nepal he had a short break in Kathmandu. And then he carried all of his equipment up, 65 kilograms. At Namche Bazaar he split it into two loads and then went back to get the rest.

And now he has gone to base camp. He's not going to use any support but what he can bring from Sweden. Equipment, medical equipment, everything he will bring from Sweden.

If he is successful, he will take the bicycle and go all the way home on bicycle. It's about 12,500 kilometers.

It took about five months, and going back it should be a bit shorter because he will not be bringing all the equipment with him. He should get home in November, after being out about a year.

The whole idea came when he was sitting at home having breakfast. He thought, "Why don't I take my bicycle, take my climbing equipment, ride to Nepal, climb the Himalaya, Everest, and come back home again." That is the major idea. No help from others, just do it.

Goran is quite an experienced climber. In 1988, he had his first high-altitude experience. It was Peak Lenin in Russia (7,134 meters). In '89 he took a lot of summits in South America. In '90, Mustagh Tower (7,273 meters), very difficult climbing there. In '91 he climbed the world's most north 7,000-plus peak (7,349 meters). In '92 he climbed Cho Oyu (8,200 meters). In '93 he climbed K2 (8,680 meters), the second-highest mountain in the world, and what people think is the most dangerous summit. He went alone from Camp IV to the summit and was only the second person in the world to reach the summit without oxygen.

In '94 he climbed Broad Peak (8,047 meters), did it alone from the base camp and alone to the summit in 18 hours.

There have been many things that have happened. In Pakistan he lost his patience. There was a crowd around him, he was trying to have breakfast, and one of them tried to take his map. And Goran held it and it broke a little bit, it tore. When Goran pulled it back the man got angry and tried to pull Goran's sweater over his head and hit him, but missed. Then Goran did the same thing and pulled the sweater over his head and really hit him. The man fell down. Goran thought he would have people on him, but they disappeared.

He is a bit ashamed that he hit a person, but he had run out of patience after so many people.

And in Iran a lot of people wanted to try and talk to him, stop him. "Stop, stop, I want to talk," they said. And he didn't want to do that, so one of them took his car and pushed Goran aside with it so he fell from his bicycle. And Goran was angry and ran around the car and shook the driver, just shook him. "Don't do that," he said.

Letting go again, the driver was so upset he sent for his friends on the motorcycle. Goran was bicycling, heard a motorcycle behind him, turned around, and saw a bat in full swing. And Goran leaned forward, so they hit him in the back and just touched the head, but hard enough to break the bat. Goran was so scared he tried to escape on a small road, but the motorcycle followed him, but then disappeared. He was lucky that more didn't happen.

I think it was in Romania one morning, he was sleeping in the park and a lot of kids were stealing equipment from him. Among that was a video camera, a small high-eight camera. He was running for them but he had to turn around because he couldn't leave his bicycle.

He figured out they had to be in the school not far from there. He went to the head of the school, and they managed to bring almost all of the equipment back from the students. But not his helmet. So the head of the school promised that when he comes back, they will have his helmet back for him.

Editor's note: Goran reached the summit in mid-May, without oxygen. He spent only four minutes on the top; his fingers had turned blue from lack of oxygen so he headed down as quickly as he could. He is now preparing to return home by bicycle.

-- Frederic Bloomquist is a member of the Swedish film crew documenting Kropp's trip.