Combined 2004-2012 Update to the Himalayan Database

The combined 2004-2012 update to the Himalayan Database adds new records for expeditions in the 2004 through 2012 seasons and provides corrections and additions to records for the previous seasons from 1900-2003.

Note that the combined 2004-2012 Update is for those who have not applied any earlier updates to the Himalayan Database. This update should be applied to the original Himalayan Database as loaded from the Himalayan Database CD.

Those that have already applied the 2004 through 2011 and the Spring 2012 Updates should apply instead the Autumn-Winter 2012 Update to their current database.

This update also includes two new fields to the EXPED database (COMRTE and STDRTE) that indicate climbs that were done on the commercial routes for Ama Dablam, Cho Oyu and Everest and the standard routes for the other 8000m peaks; and adds two new fields to the PEAKS database (HIMAL and REGION) that further describe the location of the peaks. These new fields are only included if you first download and install the new Himal 1.5 version of the database program before applying the update. If you apply the update with an earlier version of the Himal program, the new fields will not be added.

The complete instructions for updating the Himalayan Database are given in Appendix E of the Himalayan Database Program Guide. A brief summary is given below.

Updating the Himalayan Database

First download the compressed combined 2004-2012 Update files from the web site onto your hard drive and decompress by double-clicking on the update package.

For Windows users, the update package is in the file Himal 2004-2012 Updates.zip

For Power Macintosh users, the update package is in the file Himal 2004-2012 Upd.sea.hqx

The result of the decompression is a folder with the name "Himal 2004-2012 Updates" containing 14 update files:

expchgs.dbf

expchgs.fpt

expchgs.cdx

explog.dbf

memchgs.dbf

memchgs.fpt

memchgs.cdx

memlog.dbf

refer.dbf

refer.fpt

refer.cdx

peaks.dbf

peaks.fpt

peaks.cdx

The files of the form "exp..." and "mem..." contain the changes to be applied to the EXPED and MEMBERS tables. The files of the form "refer..." and "peaks..." are replacement files for the current files in the Himdata folder that are automatically loaded during the update process.

Make sure that you have your original Himalayan Database CD available (and inserted into your computer) before starting the update process as you may be required to reauthenicate the database when you restart the program after completing the update.

Start the Himal program and use the Update command in the File menu to apply the updates to the Himalayan Database. Confirm that you wish to proceed with the update and then navigate to the Himal 2004-2012 Updates folder and select the first file named "expchgs.dbf" and click the OK button in the Open dialog box. All remaining update files are loaded automatically during the update process. Confirmation messages are given that each of the four tables (expeditions, members, literature references, and peaks) has been updated.

For Windows users, the Himalayan Database may be updated using either the original version of the Himal program or versions 1.1, 1.2.1, 1.3, 1.4 or 1.5 of the Himal program that is posted on this web site.

For Power Macintosh users, the Himalayan Database may be updated using either the original version of the Himal program or versions 1.1.1, 1.2.1, 1.3 or 1.4 of the Himal program that is posted on this web site. Do not use version 1.1 which was posted earlier as there is an error in the update processing in that version. There is no Himal 1.5 version available for Power Macintosh users. Himal 1.4 is the last version that is compatible with Power Macintosh.